The Crow Behind the Mirror_Book One of the Mirror Wars

by Sean M. Hogan

  Stabs and scratches, like knives hitting wood, echoed throughout the cabin. The kinds of sounds insects make when they crawl.

  Whatever it is, it isn’t human.

  Eric’s breath grew cold and white. His eyes moved with the sounds overhead, following it as it scurried around the roof, this way and that, looking for a way inside. Then abruptly, silence. Just absolute terrifying silence.

  What Eric saw next was beyond anything mere words could ever hope to convey. The expression on Able’s face. Gone was the cold, calculating, and heartless tyrant who watched his world and his people burn to ashes while he played the lyre on the steps before his throne, simply because he thought the horrid spectacle needed a soundtrack. And in his place, a shaking child, pale as waxed bone and brittle as rotten wood, gripping the arms of the red cushioned chair in a feverish sweat. Now Eric understood why he was chosen. Legacy had nothing to do with any of it. Able cared nothing for this existence. Whether mankind flourished forever or the universe imploded in on itself tomorrow. All meaningless in the face of his suffocating nihilism.

  What was the point of passing on this blasphemous knowledge if it benefited no one? Eric asked himself. Why go on preserving and guarding secrets no one wished to hear? The very definition of meaningless. No, I was chosen for one simple task. To hold the hand of a scared little boy before he passed on into oblivion. I was chosen because Able didn’t want to die alone.

  “Hello darkness, my old friend,” Able said, his voice trembling.

  Out of the darkness behind Able’s chair, a long slender spider leg, black as sin and the size of a bamboo pole, poked out. The leg bent over him, feeling him, slowly caressing his abdomen and moving up to his chest. Able closed his eyes and braced himself with a tightening of all his muscles. Another leg poked out, this time ensnaring the boy’s legs.

  Eric pressed his back to the wall, standing flat against it, unable to move. He wanted to avert his eyes but something inexplicable compelled him to look on.

  Lightning struck, illuminating the room. For a brief second the creature, Able’s sin, became visible. Its face was almost human, as if a man’s face was skinned and stretched over another less human. Its dozens of eyes and slender fangs and jagged teeth reflected the room like black glass. The creature puffed out its torso, raised its spider body to striking position, and unfolded its mantis-like arms. And as the lightning faded it lunged at Able—snatching him up and out from his chair—dragging him into darkness.

  The chair fell. Dead silence followed.

  Then, after a long insufferable beat, horrifying sounds filled the room. They leaked out from the darkest corner of the ceiling of the cabin. Eric froze with fear at what he heard, a sound akin to locusts feasting.

  It’s eating him.

  Eric vomited on the floor, the shadows of Able’s feet dangling over his face. He stumbled backward, the world spinning and rocking as if the cabin was adrift at sea, and fell against the door, pushing it open with his weight. Then only black.

  The searing cold of the snow on his face woke him sometime later. Whether minutes or hours passed, he did not know. He forced himself to his feet and fled into the woods, not caring where he was going, not stopping even when dawn broke. The tears flowed as the bitter reality sunk in.

  This is my future.

  CHAPTER 14

  The Garden of Eden

  “WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU and Morrie after?” Sharon asked, her hands resting firmly against her hips. Her eyelids narrowed as she studied Joy atop the wall.

  “What everyone is after,” Joy replied, tossing her the rest of the pear. “Whether it’s through things like religion or not, we all seek some form of eternal bliss.” He placed his hand over his eyes, shielding them from the harsh desert sun. He scanned the horizon for familiar landmarks to pinpoint where they were and which direction they needed to go.

  “Then you’re wasting your time,” Sharon said. “No one stays happy forever, believe me. The world won’t let you. That’s the bitter reality.”

  Joy jumped down to her side. “Why do you think I left Earth?”

  She finished off the pear and tossed the core aside. “And what makes you think you’ll find it out here?”

  “I already did. It’s the eternal part I’m still missing.” He offered her his hand. “Come on, I want to show you something.”

  She hesitated a moment, reluctant to place so much trust in this strange boy, but his warm smile and his fearless eyes were far too inviting. Besides he was cute and with his rebellious style and tall, slender build he was her type entire.

  She placed her hand in his and felt the ground leave her feet. “Where are you taking me?”

  “Somewhere to get a better view. Tell me, why do you want to go home so bad?”

  “You ever met a reeker?”

  “I mean it just seems odd.”

  “How so?” Sharon watched the ruins shrink beneath her feet as they reached the clouds.

  “Think about it. You’ve just traveled—what—maybe a million light-years to another galaxy. To another world. Seen things most can only dream about.”

  The clouds cleared up ahead. Sharon’s eyes adjusted to the bright sun. Her expression changed as she took in the world of Tuat. The vast beauty was overwhelming, a gorgeous planet unmolested by modern man. Flocks of birds soared over a crystal blue ocean to the west. To the east mountains gleamed with pure white snow. Behind her, a desert of ruby red sand burned with the passion of a volcanic river. Beneath her a lush green forest of ancient trees as wide and tall as roaming dinosaurs piercing into the clouds. And another detail. The shape of the green forests and the desert against the ocean like a perfect diamond cut with a laser from heaven. Snow and ice covered everything outside the Pyramid of Life.

  They trailed above a twisting river that cut the diamond-shaped landscape down the middle, leading from the sea to the forest. The center of the forest their destination.

  “Breathtaking, isn’t it?” Joy asked, taking in the clean fresh air. “This world is my Garden of Eden.”

  Sharon didn’t answer. Her face said everything words could not.

  “How many would kill to be in your shoes right now?”

  “They can have my shoes. Or what’s left of them,” said Sharon, remembering that one of her boots was at the bottom of a river and the other in the belly of a reeker.

  “So, you’ll go home and then what?”

  “Well, I’ve got high school to finish and college after that,” she replied, finally giving thought to the matter. In truth, her only real goal was getting out of the modern hell-hole known as high school. She planned on leaving it with the dust and shrinking scenery in the reflection of her rearview mirror. Now if she just had a car to go with that fantasy. Preferably a convertible. College was just an excuse to move out and avoid her mother for four glorious years. She had no destination or end game after that. Maybe I could save up enough for a one-way plane ticket to an exotic tropical island no one could find on a map. Disappear among the palm trees. Leave the modern world behind like Anthony Hopkins did in the movie Instinct and embrace my primal natures. If only Tuat wasn’t filled with hungry reekers and bloodthirsty pig-runs, I just might have wanted to stay awhile. “You know... a future,” she said, her mind trailing off in absurd daydreams.

  “So, you’ll become one of them?”

  She snapped back to reality. “What?”

  “Conform to their rules and trade in your individuality for a matching gray uniform.”

  “No...” she said, her horrid school uniform coming to mind.

  “Tell me, Sharon. Do you really think you’ll be happy once you get home?”

  “I’m happy now,” she said with all the conviction of a pet rock, forcing a smile.

  “Somehow I don’t believe you.”

  Her fake smile shrunk. “That’s your problem—not mine.”

  “Is it?” he asked.

  She averted her gaze to the passing tree canopies below and the glidin
g birds in the air around them.

  “Sharon, if you’re not happy today, what makes you think tomorrow will be any different?”

  They descended into the forest and into the rising mist, landing on soft emerald moss. The surrounding plant life dwarfed them with their towering presence. It was if they had been transported to some prehistoric forest, a chorus of chirping insects welcoming them to a land time had forgotten.

  “So, this is the place you wanted me to see?” she asked. “It’s beautiful...”

  “You won’t find any place like this back on Earth,” said Joy. “Human greed and apathy made sure of that.” He took her by the hand. “Stay with me here. Just for a little while longer.” He locked eyes with her. “Take a much-needed vacation. You’ve earned that at least. Then I’ll take you to a mirror if that’s what you still want. Deal?”

  She removed her hand from his. “I don’t even know you, Jeff.”

  “Isn’t that the whole point of a first date?” He placed his finger beneath her chin he lifted her gaze to his.

  Her heart raced, her cheeks blushed, and her lips grew hot.

  “I may be a mystery,” he said. “But you? I know you better than you ever could imagine—little lost girl from behind the mirror.” His confidence was overwhelming. “I know what misery they’ve caused you. What you’ve sacrificed to conform to their hypocrisies. I’ve been there, witnessed their cookie cutter existence. They spend half their lives in plastic desks just so they can spend the other half in cardboard cubicles. They drive the same cars, just different models. They wear the same clothes, just different shades. They spend all day reading magazines ads and listening to commercials that tell us we’re all too fat, too ugly, and far too single to be happy. Wake up to their lies, Sharon. Happiness isn’t one size fits all. It isn’t found on an assembly line. Open your eyes before it’s too late. Or one day you’ll find yourself looking in the mirror and wondering why you’re so damn miserable.”

  Sharon shrunk back. “I can’t just take a day or two off.”

  “Why not?”

  “I can’t make my mom wait any longer.” She turned from him. “God, she must be worried sick about me right now.”

  Joy grabbed her hand. “Look me in the eyes and answer me. Are you truly happy?”

  Sharon’s emotional wall of defense came crumbling down. “No...”Tears followed suit, sliding down her face.

  “You’re not alone, Sharon. Not anymore. I can make the sadness go away.” Joy caught her tears with a brush of his thumb across her cheek. “I know how you can forget all those bad memories and erase the emptiness in your heart. I can fill the void your father left when he abandoned you. All you have to do is trust me.”

  ***

  “I don’t think this is a good idea,” Matthew said, as he stood in the doorway, peeking out into the flickering light of the fireplace.

  Michelle opened the closet doors and retrieved her armor.

  She instructed Matthew to assist her, as any good squire would, and he fastened her chest plate on.

  He recovered the helmet from the top shelf of the closet and handed it to Michelle.

  She glided her fingers across the grooves of the golden face mask. From the brow down past the bridge of the nose. Her fingertips rested over the lips. She lifted her fingers to her face, pressing them against her own lips.

  “This mask is my crown,” Michelle whispered to herself. “My husband’s crown. A symbol of my duties and responsibilities to my world, to my people. I’ve been running from them for so long that I’ve forgotten who I really am. Can you forgive me?”

  “Michelle,” Matthew pleaded. “I don’t want you to go. I’m scared... you might not come back.”

  She tied her hair up and slid the helmet over her head. “I have to go after her, Matthew. If it wasn’t for her, we’d both be dead right now. And I refuse to stand by helplessly and watch as they take what they want from us, again and again.”

  He hugged himself, unconsciously. “But what can you do alone against an army? It’s suicide…”

  “I don’t care,” she snapped back. “I won’t let another monster take someone’s family away!” She fastened the golden mask over her face. “For I am the Queen of Tuat and everything and everyone is subject to me by divine right. Even the very gods—false or otherwise.”

  Michelle draped her fur cloak over her armor and slid the hood over her helmet. She retrieved her bow, quiver, shield, and sword off the bed and headed for the door, pushing past her little brother.

  “Stay here,” she ordered him without looking his way. “So, commands your queen.”

  ***

  Sharon stepped under a fallen tree resting atop a boulder covered in moss. She brushed aside the hanging vines, swatted back the warm mist, and gazed up at a tree that pierced the clouds.

  “Whoa,” she said, taking it all in. “So, which one of these behemoths is the right one?”

  “I wouldn’t know,” replied Joy as he ducked under the fallen tree. “I’ve never actually seen it.”

  She helped Joy untangle himself from some snagging vines. “You’re joking, right?”

  “Afraid not—in fact, I’ve been searching for it ever since I got here.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Another piece of your equation, Jeff?”

  He didn’t answer.

  She hugged herself. “Is it really true? What you said about erasing bad memories?” You forgot about us, dear old Dad, so it should be fitting I forget about you. For good.

  Joy finally glanced back at her. “For those who’ve unlocked their souls… you’ll not find much in the way of impossible.”

  Sharon brushed a lock of hair from her eyes back behind her ear. “I haven’t made up my mind yet—just to make things clear—got it?”

  “Crystal clear, gorgeous.”

  “First home, then I’ll think about it… Well, all I can promise is that I’ll think about your offer.” And I’ll think about erasing every last bad memory of my crummy childhood… so can I finally move on. Baggage free.

  He surveyed the area, noting the landmarks and checking them off on his personal hand sketched map. “Shouldn’t be much farther now. The place I last spotted one of them was just ahead.” He pressed on to a creek below them.

  Then he stopped, his body tensing as his gaze shifted to the twisting stream.

  Three bodies rested face down among the polished smooth rocks and emerald green algae. A man, a woman, and a child. Small arrows stuck out of their backs.

  Sharon gasped as she reached Joy’s side. “Oh, my god…”

  He shook his head, his grin still tattooed across his face. “Now this is what unhappiness leads to. Must have been refugees trying to flee Khaba and the endless winter. They should have known better than to trek through the Sacred Forest alone and unarmed. We’re in the lands of the Kingdom of Heaven, deep in tree-sprite territory. Humans are forbidden here, most of all citizens of the city.”

  Sharon stepped closer. This was the first time she had seen a dead body, not to mention three. She knelt down next to the child, and turning the body over, discovered he was a boy, no older than nine, with bronze skin and charcoal eyes.

  She brushed his eyes closed. Tears swelled in her own.

  Joy looked on, his curiosity peaking as he studied her face. “Why are you crying?” he asked. “It’s not like you know these people.”

  She dragged the bodies out of the stream and laid them down face up. “Why do I have to know them to care?” She closed their still eyes with a gentle glide of her hand.

  “For one, you have no emotional attachments to them. They’re strangers.” He picked up a small green arrow and examined it.

  “How could I be happy while others suffer?” She glared at him, his constant smug smile enraging her.

  Joy carelessly tossed the arrow into the creek. “People die all the time. This is the existence we are born into. You may think I’m cruel, but just now, as we speak, hundreds of people back on Earth
have died. From war, famine, disease, and natural disasters just to name a few. Why aren’t you grieving for them too?”

  She had no rebuttal.

  “You’re sad for them because you can see them. They’re right in front of your eyes, so they exist, they matter. And the others don’t. They don’t exist. Not really.” He gestured to the bodies. “You should just forget about them, Sharon. Pretend they don’t exist, like with the countless others. You’ll be much happier if you do.”

  She rose to her feet, clenching her fists and tightening her throat. “How could you be so cold?”

  “Simple, I don’t care about things I can’t change.” He turned from her and headed down the stream, skipping on top of the stones to avoid getting his feet wet. “The dead are still dead no matter how many tears you shed—so goes the rhyme. I’m mean, come on Sharon, do you plan on grieving for every single dead person on this and every other planet? Will that make you a good person? Maybe, but it certainly won’t make you a happy one.”

  “No… I guess not…” She reluctantly trailed after him, having trouble keeping her balance as she tried to mirror his steps on the stones.

  “I’ll let you in on a little secret, Sharon. Happiness is knowing when to forget. Just forget them. Your parents, your school, society and their silly rules.” He glanced her way. “We choose our own unhappiness whether we admit that or not. I just choose to forget the bad. That’s all. Why do you think I’m always smiling?”

  ***

  A pig’s squeal shrilled out from the shadows. The large spotted pig-run ripped through a wooden table, sending it crashing down with a slash of his sharp tusks. Plates and cups shattered and blanketed the floor with jagged pieces. He plowed his ax through all the furniture, hacking them to small chunks, and smashed anything he could find. Once satisfied all available hiding places were explored, he left the mud brick house and joined the other pig-runs.

  After the party of raiding pig-runs finished their relentless search of the village just outside the Sacred Forest they rushed over to Khaba. They lined up in a row and knelt before their king.