NAAZ
“What the fuck?”
I tried blinking my eyes a few times, but all I could see was pitch black darkness around me. Carefully, I reached out both of my hands and waved them through the fog a few times, trying to grasp anything nearby.
How did I even end up here?I thought to myself. I couldn’t even remember what I had been doing last.
Suddenly, the crisp sound of a match echoed in thousands before a small flame appeared before me. It crept up a single line, then turned to the left, and then down again. Like a ripple of water, more strange rectangular fires began to form,until they lit the room enough for me to see four walls around me, all made of… mirrors. And they were all lined with fire.
“Hello? I called into the darkness, my reflections moving with me as I tried to push against the walls.
I may have had a love for mirrors—I mean, honestly, how could Inot? But I had no recollection of any room in my castle made of them.
Pressing myself against one of the mirrors, I tried searching for a handle to a hidden door, but couldn’t find one. A quick flash of darkness seemed to speed past the mirrors. Then, I heard the light shuffling of feet behind me. Unnerved, I twisted quickly, and my eyes went wide when I sawMorriganstanding in front of me.
“Morrigan…” I whispered.Why is she here? The last time I saw her was… well… I actually don’t remember.
I opened my mouth to speak to her, but before any words could come out, she turned on her heel and ran to the left. Instinctively, I shot forward to catch her, and was confused when I stepped through one of the mirrors. The wall was empty, and it led into a separate hall of mirrors. It wasn’t possible. I had felt every single wall; they had been solid before.
I don’t have time for this, I scolded myself.
Anxiously, I searched the mirrors for any sign of Morrigan and caught a glimpse of the very hem of her dress at the far end of the hall. I raced toward her, bumping into a mirror at the end and being forced to make a right. Each turn led into a new hallway, all filled with reflections of myself. I would only ever catch the very edge of Morrigan’s reflection before she would disappear again.
“Morrigan!” I yelled, losing my breath from my pursuit in this strange maze.
Finally, I got close enough. The halls shortened, and when I saw the back end of her dress, I reached out to grab it. But as she turned left, I missed my footing and stumbled to the ground.
“Gods dammit, Morrigan, stop—” My words froze in my throat when I looked up and saw the mirrors around me. They were… empty. I quickly stood, searching every side of me. Not even my own reflection remained. “What’s going on?”
“I wish I could tell you that you have a choice…”My own voice made me jump, playing in the air like a distant, eerie echo.
Then, movement caught my eye on my right, and I turned to seemewalking forward with Morrigan at my side. I stopped her, grabbing her hand, and she had papers clutched to her chest.
“You deserve more…”
Wait… I… I remember this.
“… know that you’re worth more than all of this…”
It was during the time that Morrigan had been living with Eris. Not long after that was when Guinevere…Morrigan….A pang of guilt and sadness shot across my chest, weighing down on my lungs, but I didn’t knowwhyI felt that way.
“Don’t you?”
I turned around to find my own reflection staring back at me. But it wasn’t…me.
“Who are you?” I asked, though I stared at the very image of myself.
“Little Naaz… the smartest boy of the bunch. What a prize he is…”
“Tell me where I am,” I demanded. “Tell me whatyouare.”
“I amyou,” he answered. Lifting his hand, he began to tap against the mirror, his nails chirping against the reflective glass. “I am the you that ‘you’ cannot see. The ‘you’ hidden under perfect porcelain masks.”
He lowered his hands and placed them both behind his back as he began to walk. He moved through the mirrors somehow, circling me in the boxed room, and I followed his path until he stopped on the opposite wall.
“Do you remember when we were a child, and we wouldn’t let the servants brush our hair because their fingernails were too dirty?” he asked. “Or the ones we had fired in our more… mature years because of the imperfections on their faces? What was it we used to say? Ah… Perfection is a privilege granted only to those who are willing to work for it. Should the servants have cut the moles off of their faces for us?”
“I was an asshole, yeah. I know that already.” I rolled my eyes, but kept my fists balled at my sides.I have to be dreaming. This is just a dream. I probably had too much wine last night.“What are you getting at?”
