Nightly Mirage

6. Stare Into the Mirror

The warrior's shock lasted little more than a second. Then, her innate reflexes gained control of the situation and got her out of harm's way. Right before the spirit of fire could incinerate her where she stood.

Ignoring the enemy before her, the nymph jumped back with the intention of running away. But her ankle suddenly quit under her weight, making her fall down a slope until the snow stopped her.

... What's happening to me?

A glimpse of lucidity sparked in the warrior's confused mind, confronting her with the folly of her behavior. She had faced all sorts of foes, in the past. She had even sneaked into the lair of a dragon, coming out of it alive by some miracle. Why, then, was she paralyzed by terror, now?

She could not tell for sure. Indeed, she was not even sure it actually was fear. There was something, in that burning creature, which made her uncomfortable, something more than mere fear. No matter how hard she tried not to think about it, the image of the nahz'reim, transfigured by the very might he had used against her, kept coming back to torment her.

She knew what it was about, how to call it, but never before she had witnessed that event with her own eyes. And, thinking back to those dark veins, extending over her body like a sinister web, the warrior felt her legs trembling.

Behind her, the spirit of fire was advancing slowly, like a river of lava descending from the slope of a volcano. The nymph glanced towards the frozen torrent at the bottom of the slope, then she turned to face the spirit. The sight of that otherworldly entity felt somewhat less shocking than before, and this made her feel afraid.

Is my grip on reality actually faltering?

Raising both hands in an almost mechanical gesture, the warrior started to chant a prayer. Beneath the spirit, the melted snow rippled and rose in a whirlpool, fully engulfing the creature. The water soon turned into vapor, but the nymph kept feeding the vortex with the ice crystals melted by the heat of the flames.

As the world around her faded into a blur, the warrior could not help finding the feel somewhat familiar. No matter how long she searched through her memories, the world she had lived in was a world of loneliness. Events, people, friends and foes appeared and drifted impassibly under her eyes, like raindrops down a blade's edge. Whether she lived or died, the world and its inhabitants kept going around her, through her past as well as through her present.

No. Not always.

A memory among the others took shape in her mind. A sleeping girl, her lids barely open. Her voice, like a distant echo, called her back to reality. And the girl's reply, faint like a breath.

Hi.

The warrior would not have been any less surprised if she had seen a raindrop stopping in midair. ... Hi, she had said in return, and the world had resumed its flow. But for that moment, brief as it was, she felt like time had not gone by impassibly under her eyes. Just like now.

Just as reality around her turned momentarily clear once again, the magic she had used to trap the fire spirit faltered. The nymph did not have time to figure out what happened. With its last forces, the spirit let out a flash of fire against her, before its heat was finally put out by the snowstorm. The warrior reflexively summoned a spell to shield herself, but she could not avoid being knocked back by the brunt of the blast.

The nymph landed on a patch of ice below, but despite the blunt impact she did not feel any pain. Slowly, she turned around until she found herself facing the frozen surface. She barely managed to discern her own reflection. It was so twisted that she doubted it was her own. The black veins had reached her chest, her neck, and almost her whole face. An unnatural light was glowing around her wide green irises.