Fanaza's voice echoed loudly in Rwaine's ear, almost making him develop an ear defect. Something finally caught his attention. When he passed through the boundary, he had no idea where he was. The place was like a void; he couldn't make sense of it or describe what he was seeing.
A bright light almost blinded him, and he covered his eyes in reflex. Looking around, he walked slowly through a lane and finally got to a place filled with mirrors. He hesitated before moving closer.
Afraid of seeing who he truly was, afraid of seeing his deformities. He swallowed hard and finally got close enough to see his reflection. What he saw made his jaw drop.
Even though he had a cloak on, the mirror did its one and only job: it reflected his true self. He took off the cloak and stared right into it.
"Guess I can't truly hide who I am." He scoffed and hissed.
He had finally accepted his true self and who he was. An ugly, deformed, and mutated outcast who no one wants to have anything to do with.
There were thousands of mirrors in the place, and all of them reflected all that. He was pissed and disgusted by the reflection that stared back at him.
He hit the mirror one by one with his bare hands, leaving a print of black blood on the shattered pieces. His hands bled black.
"Poor boy, why do you have to be so mean to yourself?" A voice echoed in the void.
He halted as he was about to hit another mirror; confusion clouded his thoughts, and he tried to get where the voice was coming from, but he couldn't.
"You are special," the crispy voice said firmly, and finally he saw someone.
An old woman in a black cloak, her white hair swept the ground, and as she walked towards Rwaine, he stepped backward, marching on the broken pieces of the mirror.
"You can break all mirrors here, but that won't stop you from seeing the real you." The woman smiled softly.
"Who the hell are you?" He asked.
The woman stood in front of Rwiane.
"I am Latisha, the queen of the house of mirrors and the boundary keeper." You disturbed the balance and peace of the boundary."
"So?" Rwaine hissed. The woman was literally uttering nonsense.
"No human can cross this boundary, but you did, and not only that, you crossed it and came out unscathed." The old woman was marveled.
"So?" He raised an eyebrow.
"You are special. I've said that before, and I'll say it again."
"Why am I here?" He asked, bored by all that the old woman was saying.
"Son," she started her nonsense again.
"I am not your son, and stop spitting; they could fill a river." He was disgusted and dusted off his cloak.
"Silence!" the woman screamed. The place echoed, and the mirror cracked.
Rwaine wasn't moved at all. He was expressionless and just allowed the woman to keep on talking. Yes, let her keep on yapping.
"Old woman, can you take me away from here?" "I promised a friend I would find someone," he said.
"A friend?"
"Yes."
"I know it's more than friendship here, Rwaine." "You have feelings for her, but you can't process them yet; you feel unsure about them or her, and you feel your deformities are a hindrance," the old woman said.
"We are done here," he sighed and walked away. Unbelievable, that's coming out from a stranger?
"You cannot walk out of the house of mirrors." The woman snapped.
"Watch me!" he screamed out.
The old woman smirked, and in a minute Rwiane was thrown away by some supernatural force; he fell and hit a mirror.
The old woman laughed, and he shot her a deadly glance.
"I told you, son, you can't leave," she said.
"I need to find someone. How can I leave here?" He asked in frustration as he stood up from the ground; the broken pieces of the mirror were glued to his cloak.
"I will let you leave once you give me one of your eyes."
If looks could kill, Rwaine was sure the woman would be dead by now; that was a crazy look.
"You want my eyes?" He was sarcastic and mocked her perfectly.
"Yes." She screamed out loud.
"What for?"
"I need it; it's unique." The woman took off her cloak, revealing a huge burn and hollowness in her eyes. Rwaine knew she was blind.
"Okay," he swallowed hard.
"I need the eyes of a god, or don't tell me you don't know where those eyes are from." The old woman asked.
"I have no idea; my father never said much about our background."
"How about your mother?"
"My father told me she died when she had me." He said softly.
He had no idea who his mother was, never seen her or heard anything about her.
He had brought up the conversation many times with Moaz, but he would always shut him up. He wanted to find answers about his mother, why she left and gave birth to an abomination like him.
The old woman laughed.
"You have no idea, little one, what a great destiny you hold." Give me an eye, and I will let you cross over and save your friend. I'll even help you defeat the wendigo." she offered.
Rwaine scoffed.
"I shouldn't have passed through this forsaken boundary," his voice was above a whisper.
"I am waiting, and I could wait all day." She tapped her feet on the floor.
"The person I want to save, his life is in danger." Free me; let me save him, and I will come back and give you my two eyes."
"Lies." She shrieked.
"I can't escape anyway. I still need to come back here if I want to go back to the real world, so let me save him." He tried to get into her mind.
"Fine, but I will wait, and once you are back, give them to me." She said firmly.
Rwaine nodded; he fooled her.
"Find a mirror that's unbroken, a special one that does not reflect you, and pass through it. It's a portal to the valley, and it can also take you back to your friends who are waiting on the other side. "You have 20 minutes before it closes," she warned.
"Does this same portal take me back to them, and I won't have to come back here?"
"Yes," she blurted out.
Rwaine nodded and walked towards the mirrors. He whispered when he saw an unbroken one.
"Fool"
He passed through the mirror and got out of the void. The place looked different, and the atmosphere felt eerie. He saw a lot of birds unusually flying in the sky, running away from something.
"If she brought me to the wrong place, I'll definitely slaughter her." He hissed quietly.
He walked forward and saw a tunnel. He navigated through the twisted corridors, his eyes scanning the shadows for any sign of the creatures. Suddenly, he heard a faint whispering; the words were strange and sinister.
He followed the sound to a large, dimly lit chamber; the air was thick with the stench of death and decayed wastes.
A necromancer stood at the far end of the room, his eyes glowing with an unnatural energy.
"What are you?" the necromancer said, his voice dripping with malice. The instant he saw Rwaine, he felt uncomfortable.
Rwaine's eyes scanned the room carefully, and he spotted Sage tied up mercilessly and wounded badly at the other corner of the room.
He couldn't tell if it was Sage, the one Fanaza was searching for, but he guessed right.
He wasted no time and charged forward, his sword flying with a great speed that seemed almost supernatural.
The necromancer laughed, raising his wand to summon a wave of dark energy to shield himself. The cloaked man dodged the attack with ease, his agility and quick reflexes allowing him to weave between the necromancer's spells.
He landed a series of swift kicks, but the necromancer merely stumbled backward, his eyes flashing with anger. The battle raged on; one was in charge of spells, and the other was in charge of a sword.
Rwaine's mutated skin seemed to absorb the necromancer's dark magic, allowing him to withstand attacks that would have killed a normal man. But the necromancer was relentless, summoning wave after wave of wendigos to attack Rwaine.
Rwaine never gave up; the wendigos ran like their lives depended on killing him. They charged with rage and hunger towards him. He kept on slashing and cutting them into pieces.
The necromancer watched in awe.
He had never seen someone like that, relentless and strong. One thing caught his attention: Rwaine's eyes. He couldn't stop staring at them.
Rwaine was finally getting tired; the wendigos kept coming nonstop and with full rage. They all jumped on him, trapping him in a tight corner of the room.
Rwaine tried to escape, forcing himself out of their grip. He let out a very loud growl that created a great fear, and the whole place shook. Debris fell slowly to the ground.
The necromancer was stunned.
"Are you human?" he asked.
The wendigos ran back to their hideout in fear. Rwaine's eyes glowed more; he looked more furious and enraged, like a beast.
"What are you?"
Fear engulfed the necromancer like flames; his spells and dark energy had no effect on him.
" You know, someone actually called me special some minutes ago."
Rwaine finally gave him a final blow to the jaw, and blood splashed out. He fell to the ground, dropping his wand.
The necromancer became powerless without his wand by his side. He crawled to pick it up, but Rwaine was quick enough to stop him by stepping on his back.
He screamed out loud; his spleen was about to be damaged.
Rwaine kicked the wand far away from his reach.
"You are so silly and stupid, holding a wand like a fairy," he hissed, applying more pressure to his foot, which was on the man's back. He groaned in pain.
"Please, spare my life," he pleaded to Rwaine.
Rwaine pulled him up and raised his sword to his neck.
"Give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you." He said his voice was cold and menacing.
The necromancer swallowed hard, his eyes wide with fear.
"Because I can grant you your heart's desire,' he stammered.
"A new skin"