Questions swirled in Ash’s mind.
Was this a do over? Why? How could it be when I’m in some fantasy land coma dream?
The uncanny reality was still staring back at him in the reflective mirror wall, his younger self.. Unburdened. Healthy. Ash touched his bare arm, rubbing the unblemished section of forearm that had, until yesterday, been scarred.
Ash had so many unanswered questions. Every answer, every step forward brought two more questions. This wasn’t his body, at least not his adult body. Why? Because he was chosen? He knew something was wrong when he woke up. The lack of pain, the missing scar. He chose to ignore the signs. How could he not? Once, Ash would have given anything to have his old body back. now it had happened, and it unsettled him.
This is pointless, Ash thought.
There was nothing he could do about it. Whether he was in his actual 25-year-old body, or his later teens, didn’t really matter. It didn’t change the situation. The only way forward was up, the only way out was to keep climbing. The only way to find out what the hell was going on was to finish this quest that was forced upon him. Maybe then he might find out where his friends were and what happened to them. Maybe they were in their teens as well, freaking out just as he was. It gave him a small sense of comfort that he may not be alone in that. He had to keep going, keep moving. There was a puzzle to this room, it wasn’t simply a design to screw with his head. This world has done that enough already.
—
Ash closed his eyes, taking a deep breath that filled his lungs. He felt the rise of his chest, holding it a moment before slowly releasing.
“I’m okay” Ash said softly.
“You sure?” Proxi asked gently.
He nodded a few times.
“I’m okay. Let’s just… let’s work out how to get out of this room?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
It was clear that Ash wanted to drop the subject. Proxi didn’t know how it would feel to wake up in a body that wasn’t their own. They didn’t really understand why it bothered Ash so much. Proxi was used to their form changing, it was normal to them. Still, they took the hint to drop it.
The mirrored wall was the obvious focus of the room. While the decorations were luxurious and eye-catching, without the mirror the room was a simple dining and lounge room with a fantasy twist. The mirror was the key. They hadn’t found a plaque with an inscribed riddle like other rooms. Ash felt the solution had to have something to do with the room's mirrored image. As much as it felt personal, Ash didn’t think it was designed to simply shock him.
“Proxi, what do you see in the reflection?” Ash asked
He was pacing back and forth in front of the long mirrored wall. He was studying the reflection of the room behind them; trying and failing to avoid his own reflection in the process.
“I can see myself! That’s a first. I didn’t realise I was so… intangible” Proxi replied, “I do like my colour though. It’s very dark and brooding.”
Ash snorted, Proxi’s naivety catching him off guard. Sure, he may feel weird and offput, but Proxi had a way of cutting through with their commentary.
“Do you think brooding matches you?” Ash teased.
“I can be brooding too you know” Proxi retorted.
Ash’s raised an eyebrow. What did they mean, too?
“Okay okay, but still. What else do you see? I’m pretty sure the mirror is our key out of here” He explained.
Proxi floated closer, bobbing up and down, left and right as they studied the room's reflection.
“I see the room. What else am I meant to see?”
Ash scratched his chin, there had to be something in the reflection. A point of difference. The reflection reminded him of children's books; specifically spot the difference picture books.
“I think that we need to play spot the difference” Ash said.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a game” Ash explained” Think of it as finding the differences between two pictures. What’s different between the room we’re standing in and the reflection in front of us. Make sense?”
“Oh, like the chandeliers?” Proxi queried.
“Yes, like the… Wait…what?” Ashs stammered.
His eyes snapped up to the chandelier's reflection. He whipped around, comparing the reflection with the chandeliers above. One of the real chandeliers was missing a candle! There it was. A difference!
—
Over the next half hour, Ash and Proxi continued their hunt for differences between reality and the mirror image. Ash had taken to marking each point on the mirror. The third discovery had prompted this need; a red candle towards the far corner of the room was purple in the reflection. This was a minute detail, a minute detail that wasn’t much too different to the second difference found; A reflected black candle on the long dining table that was white in the real room.
Not knowing how many potential differences there were, Ash had resolved that they needed to mark them before they forgot. Taking a candle double checked to not have any reflected differences, Ash began smearing red wax against the mirrored surface; marking points of difference.
Slowly but surely the duo were able to make out nine distinct differences between each scene. The chairs of the dining table were inlaid with a different coloured thread; gold replacing silver. The couch and lounging were flipped in the reflection while the animal skin rug they surrounded was of a different species entirely. The cutlery on the dining table was of a different design in the reflection, being a porcelain white compared to the expected silver. It was Proxi who had discovered that the books on the far-right bookshelf were turned the wrong way around in the reflection, the pages facing outwards rather than the spine. Ash had managed to point out that the two portraits that hung from the walls had swapped places in the reflection. The pair debated about whether that counted as one or two differences but settled on one. The ninth difference was a simple one, easily to overlook. The door behind them had disappeared but was still visible in the mirrored room.
“That’s nine then. If this room is anything like previous ones, we probably only need one more?” Ash mused. He stood in front of the mirror, folding his left arm in front of his body and bracing his right elbow on top; his right hand pinching his bottom lip.
“I don’t see anymore though” Proxi declared.
“Neither do I”
They kept searching, upturning books and checking beneath dining plates and open books. Ash had been hopeful, declaring the tenth difference aloud when he noticed that a closed book was open in the reflection. Proxi had dashed this quickly, remembering that the book had been open when they first entered the room.
“Come on, there has to be something in here still!” Ash grumbled, frustrated that after at least another 15 minutes of searching the pair had still not located another difference.
“Ash…” Proxi called from near the mirror, “Come here?”
Ash trudged over from the back of the room, his frustration painted in his body language.
“Please tell me you’ve got something?” He asked with a deflated tone.
“What do you see?” Proxi asked, her words mirroring his own earlier.
He frowned; he had already taken a good look at himself. He hadn’t liked what he had seen.
“We already did this” he said defiantly, “I know how I’m different but given this is what you’ve always seen. That’s not a difference here.”
Proxi chirped, “No Ash, look again. Please” Proxi beckoned him.
With a huff, Ash turned back to the mirror. The same youthful, unmarked face stared back. Though the shock had worn away Ash still felt strange, uncomfortable at the sight of himself. Proxi wanted him to see something though, and with a grimace he began to search. His outfit was well fitted as he thought, the black cloak hung draping from his shoulders elicited a slight smirk. I look ridiculous, Ash thought. The quality of his new clothing was as if he had strolled off the set of a high production fantasy film, but the mismatched boots and age worn materials conveyed a sense that Ash had probably just thrown together a LARPing costume. He couldn’t decide if the outfit was cool or not. As he swayed and turned in front of the mirror, Ash finally noticed what Proxi had.
“Oh…” Ash stammered.
“It was right in front of us” Proxi affirmed.
Ash walked closer to the mirror wall. He hadn’t noticed at all until Proxi had forced him to; too distracted by the uncanny valley that presented itself. His pauldron, the small, clasped armour that sat atop the right shoulder of his cloak was different. In the reflection it was golden, with a design that evoked a snarling dragon's head with red jewels for eyes. Ash reached up, tracing the simple filigree decoration of his cold silver shoulder pad. That’s quite different, he thought.
“Good eye Proxi” Ash complimented, “I uh… must have missed it earlier”.
“It’s okay. I saw it glimmering in the background and thought. WOW, that’s really fancy” Proxi replied enthusiastically, “…Not that your actual armour isn’t fancy.”
Ash laughed lightly, “That’s okay. It is pretty different, hey. Guess that means we find out if the theory is right?”
“Fingers crossed” Proxi offered cheekily.
Ash took a step closer to the mirror, raising the red candle in his hand and smudging it across the mirrored shoulder pad. As he lifted it away from the surface, the mirror began to ripple.
“I think it worked” Ash said as he stepped back.
The pair stood quietly, watching as the mirror faded away before their eyes like the clearing of morning mist. Colours that matched the walls of the rest of the room appeared, save a single door shaped space of mirror that remained in the very centre.
Typical, Ash thought as he walked over to the newly formed exit. He was done though, done with the revelation of this room. He had no greater desire than to get the hell out of there.
“Ready to go?” Ash asked, turning back to Proxi.
He had a determined, almost pleading look behind his eyes.
“Ready” Proxi answered.
Ash reached out, touching the door where a handle should be. He couldn’t avoid the sight of his younger self staring back this time. He tried to force a smile, a reassurance that there was a good reason for what was happening. The face of his younger self smiled back at him, unnerving him. Without warning, the mirrored door faded before his eyes and with it, the image of himself.
At least I don’t have to see that again for a while, Ash hoped.
The next set of stairs were different, not a puzzle like some had been but rather a different design entirely. The steps were a white marble, the walls cleaner and brighter. Proxi commented on how the rooms and décor were getting fancier and more intricate the higher they claimed. Ash mused that it meant they were nearing the top. As they climbed the well-lit stairwell, Ash thumbed through the makeshift pouch for some of the candies he had collected earlier. He was tired and weary, the mental shock from the last room had taken its toll.
“How much further do you think until we reach the top?” Proxi inquired, breaking the silence that had formed following the last room.
“Hopefully… not long. We’ve… cleared nine… of these rooms now” Ash answered through garbled words as he sucked on one of the hard candies, “Any…quest…updates?”
Proxi paused as they climbed the spiral staircase towards the next room.
“Nothing yet. Same Ascend the Tower quest”
Ash let out a huff of resignation.
“Hopefully… Ten…is” Ash said, swallowing mid-sentence, “the magic number”.
“Do you think the tenth will be harder than the last two?” Proxi asked.
“Let’s hope not” Ash responded.
He hoped the next room was on the easier side. The sugar had helped perk him up, but his body still felt tired; a fuzziness that wrapped itself around his mind and a stiffness in his joints were becoming more noticeable. He needed sleep or if not that, a health potion like earlier, theorising that it may stave off the exhaustion. The sun had risen, causing Ash to squint as they climbed. The open windows that lined the spiral stairwell beamed with light, the warm orange of daybreak having come and passed. Ash assumed, by the position of the sun, that it was nearing midday. There was a slump to his posture now. No rest and no sleep had begun to take its toll. Please be the last of these rooms, Ash thought wearily. As they rounded the final corner of the long marble flight of stairs, Ash could see a new door. It was large and imposing. A golden door adorned with a large shield and two swords piercing diagonally behind it.
This will be interesting, thought the weary outlander.
