Chapter two: the curse of mirrors

[After we check out we head for the newest store in town]

Kiari: Have you even heard what this new store is supposed to be?

Shadow: not a clue all I know about it is it opened yesterday.

Kiari: I wonder if it’s an everyday craft supplies shop. I know the book store and the school supply most of what we need but I’m sure the town’s people need it.

[Shadow looks up just as the sun starts to set. At that moment we rounded the corner and the shop came into sight but before I could get a good look at it, a tall figure stepped from the shadows in front of us. I jumped as they spoke but Shadow was calm as though he expected them.]

Heartless: Shadow may I have a word. [He eyes me almost amused by the fact he has frightened me yet again.]

Kiari: [with lack of breath I manage to speak.] Hello professor.

[He simply nods]

Shadow: ill catch up with you Kiari [he steps back motioning to the ally I can only assume Heartless stepped out from.]

Kiari: okay ill see you in there. Take care professor. [his dark amber eyes turn on me.]

Heartless: You as well dear Kiari. [He smiles a toothy grin. I smile nervously as I move on to the book store.]

[Getting to the store seems to take longer than it should for my mind was bubbling with thoughts. I had often wondered how many others had actually seen these features of professor Heartless… I knew that my closeness with Shadow had granted me to see thing Heartless would hide from his students and perhaps even he fellow instructors. I myself never spoke of it because unlike the rest of the student body besides a few Halflings and the rare dwarf I wasn’t human. Well at least not entirely human… In school Heartless always wore rounded sunglasses that were tented anywhere from red to purple to hide his eyes and he never smiled, but I was unsure if that was because he was stern or because of his teeth. Which were all pointed from front to back. He also wore a short top hat over his shoulder length wavy black hair and that’s what made me wonder most of all was it for the same reason I tucked my hair over my ears or wore a hood up… was he a half elf or even full blooded? Even to a half elf like me not much was known of my kind but rumors were they could take on the aspects of animals. Heartless wasn’t all that bad looking he stood about six two and built at that. He always wore a long sleeved shirt under one of his many leather vests with the sleeves rolled above his elbows and black or tan slacks. He also always had a planetary pocket watch in his vest pocket. Only the best of astrologers could read from these clocks just at a glance. Oh and his voice! As smooth as silk and as sweet as honey… I may have even found him attractive if he didn’t seem to intentionally creep me out... my thoughts cease just as I reach for the door. As I open it I’m almost blinded by the white of the room.]

Unknown: Hello and welcome to Fortunes Hand.

[as I open my eyes I see a Halfling standing on a stool behind the counter. His hair is blond and his eyes an emerald green. He appears to be middle aged and he has on a white shirt and tan pants.]

Kiari: [smiles back at him] thank you, it’s a lovely shop you have here.

[I look around taking in the white marble floors, walls, counter tops and even the celling. No wonder I was almost blinded… none the less it is beautiful and yellow candles float in the corner of the rooms. Behind the Halfling is a row of shelves with odds and ends. I can spot out bones and a crystal ball among the selves. I approach the counter and sit on the bench.]

Unknown: my name is Perch and I would say… [He looks me over closing one eye and chewing on his lip] yours is Kiari.

Kiari: [I smile at him] you would be correct. Nice to meet you Perch.

Perch: So what can I do for you? [He smiles rushing around] perhaps a reading from my cards [he puts a leather pouch in front of me] or a casting of Drake bones. Oh how about a reading of tea leafs!? [He sits a cup of tea in front of me]

[Just as I start to reach for the cup a door in the corner catches my eye. It’s hard to spot out I can tell from my studies of ancient cultures it’s of Dwarven make… I furrow my brow. The door is white marble like the rest of the wall but lined with gold and has no handles which is custom for sacred crypts of the dwarfs so how did this Perch acquire such a door?..]

Perch: [slowly Perch puts away the cards and tea.] so the Devine’s call you. You are the first to be drawn to that door here.

Kiari: that door is Dwarven make, how did you get Dwarfs to construct that here and not only that but that’s a sacred door.

Perch: Aaahh someone who is knowledge able in Dwarven culture. [he smiles and his look dazes back to an old memory] I have a good standing with the Dwarfs. [he claps his hands together] so shall we get to it then? [he heads over to the door before I can say anything.]

Kiari: what is in there? [I follow.]

Perch: The future [he giggles.]

[Perch recites the words to enter the sacred door and as the doors swings open I’m meet with a room of mirrors. The entire room is covered the floor and ceiling and all. In the center of the room sits a clear glass table and chairs on either side. Sitting on the table is a beautiful crystal ball that seems to admit light from within and its base is gold shaped into dragons at three points. Perch sits at the far side and motions me to the empty chair. As I move forward the doors swing shut behind me its surface is also covered in mirrors. I move forward taking my seat.  As I do the mirrors begin to change its reflection.]

Perch: I see your past and the death of your family… [The mirrors show a stone road and my elder sister dragging me away from the shadows of my parents being slaughtered by the shadow of a beast. My parent’s screams and my own come through the mirrors as though muffled by water and my own heart screams with them. As I feel tears streaming down my face the image fogs and shows a cloaked figure. The man holds what appears to be a chain and a dead flower.]

Perch: I see a man taking you into their life but I cannot see them they are hidden from my view, but they burden you in ways that are unknown to me.

[The image changes again to a man in red robes his face is coved but his eyes are golden brown and another man stands in the foreground his robes are a black red like dried blood. He raises his hand as though offering it to me.]

Perch: I see two men in your life one who you love and one who desires you, but each are not as they appear. No wait…

[The image shifts to three shadowed men and they are fighting with flame and sword. then the room begins to fill with black smoke and something begins to form. Perch leaps from his chair almost knocking it over a beast begins forming in the smoke. Its fur is matted in what looks like blood and its eyes are as dark as night.]

Perch: No no no no.. This can’t be.

[The beast growls at me and flesh drip from its teeth. It raises it arm and swings down cutting through my shirt and into my chest. As I scream I see a light flash from Perch’s hangs and the beast is gone. There is a banging on the door.]

Kiari! Open this door! Kiari!

[Perch rushes to the door opening it. Shadow and Heartless rush through almost knocking Perch down. My chest burns with heat and I can feel something cold running down my chest. Heartless picks me up an carries me to the counter, as he does my hood falls down.]

Perch: Oh by the Gods she’s an elf… [He falls back against the door frame holding his chest and weeping.]

[Heartless stops in his tracks staring down at me just as shadow dose. They quickly move again placing me on the counter. They both place their hands over my wound. I scream in pain as they chant. Green energy flows over the wound as it begins to heal. They remove their hands and I reach up to feel three large scars.]

Kiari: Shadow please don’t let anyone know. [I reach up and grab his hand as I do my vision fades…]

[I wake up to a familiar voice, it’s the head master Kane. I’m in a bed I try opening my eyes but my vision blurs and dizziness hits me]

Kane: she should recover quickly. From what Heartless and Perch told me she is lucky to have made it out with what she did.

[Someone speaks up with a commanding yet gentle voice.]

Unknown: will the school be able to protect her or should I send her to the manor in the woods and you send a private tutor for her.

[It didn’t sound like a question but a threat.. I hear them move towards me.]

Kane: We are starting winter break soon and we gave the kids an extra day off if we started tailing her off of school property she would become too noticed or notice us.

[Someone rolls me over causing the world to spin even faster I moan from the sickness and try opening my eyes I see a man holding my shoulders but everything is fuzzy. His hair hangs loosely around his shoulders it’s a light brown. I close my eyes trying to still the world.]

Unknown: It’s alright Kiari your safe. You’re in the school infirmary. Now I’m going to take a look at your scars ok.

Kiari: [I manage a weak] okay.

[He opens my shirt and I can feel my face go red as I realize the scars lay across my breasts. As his hands go over my scars goose bumps cover my skin. He nervously clears his throat before buttoning my shirt back up.]

Kane: the scars couldn’t be removed though any chance of infection and muscle damage was taken care of…

Unknown: at least there’s that… how long do you think it will take her to fully recover though? [He stands and walks away from the bed.]

Kane: We dealt with the poison as best we could. We‘ll just have to wait for her body to deal with the damage or adapt.

Unknown: did this professor… Heartless see the demon?

Kane: No only Perch and her. Unfortunately Perch was too panicked by the situation to clearly see the beast, and well she is in no position to tell us what she saw.

Unknown: [paces around the bed a few times before brushing my hair back behind my ear.] inform me of any changes in her condition… I have to be going.

[Through my haze and dizziness I manage to open my eyes and watch him disappear, after that I fall back asleep. For what feels like eternity and yet timeless I wake up at random points feeling my body ache in pain and burning with fever as people rush around me cooling me with rags and an occasional needle in my forearm.]

I awake to the dim light of the moon gazing in on me from the other side of the room. The memory of the beast plays over and over in my head and I begin to weep silently to myself and my thoughts overflow within me. That beast was the same one that killed my family I had no doubt in my mind about it and now it was after me. My mothers and fathers screams echo through my head. Me and my sister begin running for our lives and we hide behind a gargoyle. We sit crying and holding each other for what feels like hours before my sister kisses my forehead and tells me we are safe now that the gargoyle hide us but just as she steps out of the shadows the beast is upon her. I yell at the gargoyle, save her save her! It does nothing I beat on its side hearing my sisters flesh being torn from her bone and the nasty chewing. I beat the gargoyle until my hands throb in pain and I scream until my voice is gone… At last I hear someone running towards me and I manage a broken help me. There was a flash of fire and the beast ran yelping away. I was dragged out from behind the gargoyle and the last thing I remember seeing before the orphanage was my sisters mangled body… my tears finally lull me into sleep.