by Kealohilani
How he hated himself now! He had failed two entire worlds— all because he was too prideful to make amends. He looked up at the ceiling of the cave, as if he were looking through to the stars in the sky, and spoke quietly.
“Oh my dear Mother and my honorable Father— how I wish you were here to guide me. I have done so much wrong. I have failed so many people. Worst of all,” his voice broke and became even softer, “I have killed the woman I love...”
A moment passed in silence as he struggled to continue.
“Help me to find some way to redeem myself that I may be with her in the next life. Help me to be strong and never succumb to evil again. Help me find a way to make the rest of my mortal existence mean something once more.”
Emotions exploded within so that he could barely speak to finish his address to his departed parents.
“Please, let Lani know how sorry— how sorry I am! And that— I love her.”
Jharate could speak no longer. Tears flooded his eyes and his throat felt as if it were blocked.
He pulled his legs up with his arms, so that he could rest his head on his knees as he held them and cried— crying for Lani most of all. What he had done to her was unthinkable. Unbelievable. Unforgivable.
She had died feeling alone and unloved. If only he could go back in time and restore what he had taken. All the lost moments of their past. All the lost moments of their future.
When he had been under the spell, he had been so sure of himself. So sure he was in the right. So sure that she was the problem. So sure he would regret nothing. And now— he regretted everything.
He would have given anything to set things right— but how could he ever do so?
Trapped
Lani was beyond confused. She had passed through to the other side of the mirror and was now looking at her own body as it floated in the machine.
Is that my body?!
As she realized it was— and ignored her initial panic— she wondered if the electricity from the machine was damaging her body. Was it floating in water or just in air? She couldn’t tell.
Why am I not dead? Or am I dead?
She heard the mechanical beats of a heart she could no longer feel and saw her chest rise and fall with breaths she could no longer take. There were no bubbles. Her body seemed to be on life support— and not under water.
But where am I?
Lani continued to stare at her floating body as she tried to make sense of what was happening. Then she looked down at herself and noticed that she still seemed to be wearing the riding dress and boots that Rezarahn had given her— as was her body in the tube— which only created more questions.
She thought back to the cave when Jharate had told her that he didn’t love her and remembered everything going black— and how, suddenly, a bright light had appeared. The light was peaceful and inviting and had beckoned her forward. But— before she could reach the captivating light— something had grabbed her and yanked her back.
Then, all at once, she was with Jharate again, reading the scroll and then… this.
What is this exactly?
The details were fuzzy but she attempted to piece them together.
She had finished reading…
The cave had disappeared…
She had seen her reflection in the mirror…
Electric current had surrounded her…
She had started to float…
And then she was flying through the air…
She had looked behind her only to discover that she was drifting away from her body! When she turned back to look where she was being pulled to, she had seen the mirror.
Afraid she was about to crash into it, she had closed her eyes and had thrown her arms over her face reflexively.
But she did not hit the mirror.
When she opened her eyes again she seemed to still be in the same room she thought she had floated away from— staring directly at her body in the tube, just six feet in front of her.
Disoriented, she had spun around to look behind her at where she had come from.
The same gilt-framed mirror she had thought she was going to crash into, stood where she had just come from— on the wall— but now framed what seemed to be a crystal clear pane of glass.
Looking through it, she could see the tube with her body still floating within it— once again, directly in front of her— approximately six feet on the other side of the glass window. So now there were two machines?! One in front of her on the other side of the glass and one behind her on her side?!
How can my body be in two places at once? And why am I outside of it?!
She looked down and realized that her feet were on the ground again.
“What on Earth is going on?” she asked herself quietly. “Wait, how can I speak if I’m outside of my body? I can’t breathe but I can talk?!”
This was maddening. She looked back through the window/mirror once more.
Suddenly the entire machine floated off deeper into the room— and she watched until it gently descended and settled into the far corner.
She turned around and the machine on her side of the glass had moved to the same spot.
“What?!”
Unnerved, she turned to look back through the window in the mirror frame. There stood Drakne!
She reeled around— thinking that since it was a reflection he must actually be standing beside the machine in the corner behind her. But there was no one there.
She turned to look through the glass once more. He was inspecting the device that held her body. She glanced behind her once more to make sure he was not on her side of the glass. Completely perplexed but satisfied as to his location, she spun around to face him.
“You!”
“Is that any way to speak to the man who saved your life?”
“Saved my life? So I was— The cave— I really did die?”
“Yes… and at the same time, a categorical no. You see, Jharate was killing you and you would have died. However, on the last ‘I don’t love you’ that he spoke, I stopped your heart and lungs artificially.”
“You did what?!”
“You were really only unconscious before I did that. He would have had to say it one more time to kill you. I am quite certain he would have done so— but I couldn’t have that. That kind of death is permanent. It was much harder to undo than it should have been even as things were.”
“Why ‘undo’ it at all? I am a Half-Heart, aren’t I? Isn’t it kind of a goal for you and your keeper to kill every last one of us?”
“Can you really be that in the dark as to my motive?”
“I’m not clairvoyant.”
“You truly cannot see why I have done all of this?”
“No I cannot. And I don’t want to guess.”
“I have done this all for you. For us… I love you.”
Lani’s mouth dropped open. Had she been able to feel anything physical at all, she was quite sure nausea would have been at the top of the list. It was strange to feel emotions without the commonly associated physical effects— but she was completely and utterly appalled.
She didn’t think that Drakne was even capable of love, in any form. And why he had set his sights on her was beyond her comprehension.
They were nothing alike. She loved light, love, truth, and righteousness. He loved darkness, hatred, lies, and evil. How could he possibly expect her to return any love at all?
And he’d only seen her once. He didn’t know her at all. Wait…
“It was you that I kept sensing! When I couldn’t see anyone there— it was you! You’ve been following us ever since the sanctuary?!”
“A little off topic— but yes. It was rather impressive that you almost caught me— more than once. The first time was a closer call than you can imagine.”
“Hold on a minute… Did you create a kitten as a decoy?!” Lani asked, thinking back to the copy of Keanu that Drakne had created in the first chapter of her book. “At the warm pools? Is t
hat how that thing got so far out in the middle of nowhere? Was I cuddling with a soulless kitten?!”
“I do admire your mind,” he replied with a smile. “Impressive that you put all that together.”
“Yikes! So you’ve been stalking me for a few weeks and you suddenly think you’re in love?!”
“Anything sounds bad when you put it like that… Look. I will be the first to admit this is all quite sudden. I didn’t even realize that I had fallen for you at first— not until quite recently, in fact— but I have. I am very much in love with you, Lani.”
Seeing the disbelief in her eyes, Drakne slowed his speech and softened his voice— putting a pleasant expression on his face.
“Don’t you see? We are currently in the fifth dimension. Vranah cannot sense us here. He will not know that you are alive. Especially now that your double is complete.”
At first, Lani looked at the machine to see what Drakne was referring to— but realized that he was gesturing past the tube that contained her original body.
She leaned closer to the window so that she could see more of the room on his side of the glass and looked to the very far right in another corner to where he was indicating.
There, floating horizontally in mid-air was a duplicate of her body, lying with arms folded across the waist.
Despite no longer having a physical form, it chilled her to look at the double— and so she looked away. She determined that she would not turn around to look into that part of the room on her side. She did not want to see it.
No one would be able to tell that the suspended thing was not her. Any hope of rescue she had now faded away. Drakne strode over to the double and examined it with immense admiration for his own work.
“You will have to excuse me. Vranah is expecting your body. I need to take this copy to him immediately to avoid suspicion. I will return shortly.”
With that, he and the double vanished.
Lani looked out through the glass at Drakne’s room. It was dimly lit but surprisingly stylish.
A giant cherrywood four-poster bed stood majestically centered against the largest wall. It was draped with sheer black silk curtains, which fell gracefully from the canopy to the floor.
The bed was made up with deep burgundy satin bedding— embellished with metallic gold embroidery on the edges of the bedspread and pillow shams. Other gold accents were tastefully incorporated into the bed itself and around the room.
The entire room was furnished in the style of Louis XIV. A great wardrobe stood opposite the bed. The window was draped with thick burgundy velvet curtains, with black satin lining. A large and plushy rug with a medieval-like pattern covered the floor.
Lani pushed against the glass in front of her to see if she could get out. It did not budge at all. She struck it a few times— harder and harder each time, until she cried out in exasperation.
She turned around to face the duplicate room— which was now her prison— and realized that she could move anywhere on this side of the glass. It was the exact reverse of Drakne’s actual room on the other side of the glass— including the writing on the books in the bookshelves. It was English alright— but every last letter was completely mirrored.
Bad luck, she thought as she realized that reading would not be an easy option for distraction. Not impossible though.
Lani realized now— at least partly— what had happened. She was trapped inside the mirror. That would explain why everything was backwards. But why was her body in the glass tube?
Lani walked up to it in her realm and examined it— unconsciously placing her hand on the glass.
There were bruises and cuts where she had hit the wall and fallen to the ground in the cave. But, as she continued to watch closely, they began to disappear before her eyes. Her body was being healed.
That still doesn’t explain why I am outside of it.
“It must be the only way to keep me in the mirror,” she thought out loud. “The words I read must have had something to do with it.”
Drakne must have posed as Jharate in my mind to get me to read it! I guess the victims of this spell have to be willing. How stupid I was! I knew it wasn’t right! I knew it!
“Tsk! Anything for Jharate.” Lani rolled her eyes.
She sighed. It was an odd sensation because her spirit body acted as if she were sighing— in that her chest moved in the same way it always had— but she felt nothing. The sigh released no air and gave her no comfort either. It was horrifically unfamiliar to be breathing without breathing!
Worse yet was the lack of heartbeat. Although she had already noticed it— it was even more sickening now that there were fewer distractions. It was living without being alive— like a ghost cursed to stay in the land of the living without the comforts of human life.
The echoing metallic pulse of the machine taunted her as if to say, “Here’s what you can’t have anymore,” with every beat.
Drakne reappeared on the other side of the glass. Lani jumped as she turned and saw him. Once again, where her heart would have skipped a beat, there was a hollow emptiness— and her surprised gasp contained no air within it. This undead state would take some getting used to.
She suddenly realized that the mirror did not duplicate people— otherwise Drakne would be in the reverse room with her now, as well as on his side.
But the mirror image of her body was on both sides… Maybe without my spirit, my body is merely an object?
Lani stopped trying to make sense of things. She walked up to her side of the glass and waited for Drakne to notice her. He did so almost immediately.
“Oh no, my pet, you’re angry. I’m sorry.”
Lani said nothing.
“But you will see in time— this really was the only way. I can’t have you in your body— or there would be a chance you could escape. At least you can’t be in your body yet.”
Lani didn’t respond. Drakne waited a moment, then— somewhat nervously— began the conversation again.
“Vranah was most pleased to see that you had been killed. Your double really was my best work. I was even able to duplicate the Half-Heart signature in the double’s heart so that Vranah would be able to ‘sense’ it was you. Ha! I love it!”
“Congratulations…” Lani replied flatly.
“You don’t know how strong you are. Vranah was worried we would never be able to kill you. You are protected by powerful magic that you both somehow have and seem completely unaware of.”
Lani didn’t answer. Drakne kept prattling on as if feeling the awkwardness of any silence very keenly.
“That is why almost no one else besides Jharate could kill you— or bring you close enough to death for me to do what I did. Only the one who has your heart has the power to hurt you the very most. Odd, isn’t it? Odd… but fascinating. Vranah was absolutely delighted by my solution.”
“So, what exactly am I doing here then?” Lani asked— her tone a mixture between exasperation and genuine curiosity. “Am I just here for you to look at? A trophy on display?”
“Oh no, my darling! No, no, no. You are here until you fall in love with me.”
The thought alone made Lani shudder. Drakne noticed but continued calmly.
“I realize that at first you will resist. You are very much in love with Jharate. I can see that. But you will learn to love me in time. He could not care for you the way I can. He is the reason you almost died— whereas I saved your life. Don’t you see? It was all for you.”
“I think you mean it was all for you.”
“How can you say that?”
“Because, this isn’t what I want. And Jharate would never have done those things without your influence. He was under a spell— your spell. I heard you pushing him to say those awful words. And trapping me in here until I fall for you isn’t for me. That is one hundred percent for you.”
“I can see why you would think that. But let me make one thing clear. I cannot force any human to do anything, really. True, I do have the
power to do things to the body— but not to the soul. I cannot counteract free will. Take your situation, for instance— you are in there because you chose to be.”
“I did no such thing!”
“You read the words that separated you from your body. I could not have done that. Likewise, Jharate could have focused on the power of your love and resisted me at any time— as you did to break out of the same spell I placed you under. Jharate chose to say those words. I merely gave him the suggestion.”
“You tricked him as you tricked me! I would never have consented to have my soul ripped from my body!”
“I had no choice!”
“There’s always a choice, Drakne!”
“No!” Drakne took a deep breath, forcing himself to remain calm— despite feeling as if he were somehow on trial for perhaps the first good deed he had done in over a decade. “Vranah would have found a way to kill you eventually. I acted out of love to save you.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“That’s just because— Wait a minute— Confound it! Let me explain! You see, I knew if Vranah thought you were dead, that you would be safe— but only if I could keep you hidden. So I found a way into the fifth dimension and here we are— completely invisible and intangible and safe from everyone in the normal realm. But—”
“I was already safe and out of his reach! I was in Destavnia!”
Drakne ignored her logic and continued his explanation.
“But if you had a body, your gift would eventually show you the way out. You could then leave the fifth dimension at will. You would leave— and then you would be caught. Again Vranah would find another way to kill you.”
“I was already safe!”
“The fact that you think Vranah could not touch you in Destavnia is— quite frankly— adorable.”
“All you had to do if you really cared about me and my permanent safety was to take the spell off Jharate. He and I would have gotten married and Vranah would have been defeated! I would have been more than safe. I mean, if my safety was such a concern.”
Drakne completely ignored her again and continued with his defense.
