Episode 5: The Mirror of Silence
Thunder rumbled above as Aarav and Maya stared at the message written in blood on the wall:
"THE BLOOD MOON RISES."
The silence between them was heavy. Maya finally spoke.
"We need to find the Seven Mirrors. That's how the ritual was powered."
Aarav nodded slowly.
"You mean actual mirrors?"
"Yes. Each one holds a trapped spirit — or a memory. Maybe both. We'll start with the one in the nursery."
Aarav's blood ran cold.
"There's a nursery?"
Maya looked at him grimly.
"And something still lives there."
The Nursery
They climbed the stairs to the east wing — a part of the manor Aarav had instinctively avoided. The hallway was colder than the rest of the house, its wallpaper peeling, the air unnaturally still.
At the end stood a pale wooden door, carved with flowers. A child's lullaby played faintly behind it, but there was no music box.
"Do you hear that?" Aarav whispered.
"Yes," Maya said. "That's not good."
They opened the door.
Inside was a perfectly preserved Victorian nursery — untouched by time. Dust hung in the air, but the toys were arranged neatly, and a cradle swayed gently on its own. The mirror stood on the far wall — oval, with a golden frame and an etched thorn-eye symbol at the top.
As they stepped inside, the door slammed shut behind them.
The First Spirit
Suddenly, the room grew freezing. Their breath turned visible.
A child's giggle echoed from the corner.
Aarav slowly turned toward the mirror. His reflection was normal… until a small, pale child appeared beside it — not in the room, just inside the mirror. A boy, no older than seven, with empty black eyes.
The child lifted a hand and wrote backward on the glass:
"He took my name."
"That's the spirit," Maya whispered. "Trapped since 1899."
The boy began banging his fists on the glass — not out of rage, but desperation. The mirror began to vibrate.
"What do we do?" Aarav asked.
Maya reached into her satchel and pulled out a chalk circle inscribed with runes, placing it on the ground.
"We release him."
"Release him? You're serious?"
"If we don't, he'll become a Wailer. Once the Blood Moon rises, all trapped spirits will feed on the living."
The mirror suddenly cracked, and the boy screamed silently — a high, piercing noise only in their minds. Aarav dropped to his knees, clutching his head.
Maya began chanting in an old dialect, her hands shaking. The candlelight flickered wildly.
Suddenly — silence.
When Aarav looked up, the mirror was no longer cracked. The boy was gone.
In his place, a name appeared on the glass in golden light:
"Jacob Blackthorn"
The First Seal
"That's one down," Maya whispered. "Six more to go."
"So this is how we stop the ritual?" Aarav asked, standing slowly.
"No," Maya replied. "This is just how we stop them from completing it without us knowing. The real gate — it's beneath the house."
Aarav stared at her.
"And how do you know that?"
Maya paused.
"Because I've been there… before."