Nicolas was staring at the mirror.
He blinked.
The dusty clock tower is gone. It looked as if it had just been built yesterday.
Instead—
Warm sunlight bruished against his face.
He moved his hand forward at the height of his eyes to see.
He heard birds chirping. Children's laughter. The sound of church bells. The chatter of people.
Nicolas thought.
What the...? I remember I saw Arcadia in the mirror a moment ago in the clock tower. So, where I am now?
Sierra slowly turns around.
She couldn't speak anything. She was trying to understand what just happened.
Then, she said quietly.
"Nicolas..."
He replied.
"What?"
She pointed below the tower and said.
"See"
It was not the town they were trying to escape anymore.
It was so colourful from above, as if a festival were taking place.
Nicolas said.
"Let's go down first and see."
Even the stairs that had broken beneath Sierra were now perfectly intact.
They reached the ground level.
Nicolas stared at the road beneath his feet. Yesterday it had been cracked and swallowed by weeds. Now every stone lay perfectly in place, as if centuries had never passed.
The colourful flowers were beneath every window. The row of white stone houses along the street, their walls were untouched by cracks or decay.
Wooden stalls lined both sides of the road. Merchants were happy as they were arranging the baskets of fruit, bread, and handmade goods.
Neighbors were greeting one another with warm smiles, stopping to exchange a few cheerful words before continuing on their way. A group of children was playing in the street. They were laughing as one boy tried to catch the others, their laughter echoing between the houses.
Nicolas said with a sparkle in his eyes.
"Isn't it too beautiful?"
"Yeah"
Then. A voice echoes.
A clear bell rang from the church tower, its sound drifting across the town. Merchants continued calling to customers while children laughed and ran through the streets.
Nicolas said.
"Let's roam around the city."
They roamed around the town.
They saw a baker giving a loaf of bread to a child.
The child asks.
"How much money, uncle?"
The Baker replies while patting his head.
"Grow big first, Then pay me when you earn."
An old woman was struggling to carry the vegetables.
Two kids rush over.
"Give us the bags grandma. We will carry it for you."
"Thank you for helping."
They simply help.
The birds were chirping. Some people were singing altogether at a restaurant.
Nicolas said.
"Why is this town looking so perfect? As if all the perfection around the world came here." Nicolas said. "I guess we are dead and this is heaven"
"Don't talk nonsense."
When they were chatting a strange thing occurred.
"I am not talking—"
A carriage passed through the Nicolas.
"Nicolas!!"
"Yeah..."
The carriage couldn't touch him. It simply passed through him.
Nicolas said with confusion in his face."How can that happen?"
"Oh my gosh! I thought the carriage—"
"No... I am fine." He continues "Also did you notice another thing. That no one paid attention to us till now."
"I guess this is just a image created by mirror."
"Yeah." Nicolas continues "But I wouldn't feel bad even if I stay here like this forever."
They went to the church. It was full of candles and prayers. The cross was not inverted anymore. Strange things were not written there.
"Sierra, I can't understand why someone cursed a place like this."
She replied.
"There are people who like to destroy Good things and spread evil."
Nicolas didn't say anything.
They roam the town more. Then they reaches the entrance.
There, children were playing with a ball.
The ball goes through the main gate.
"Martha. Get the ball back!"
Suddenly birds' voices that were throughout the town felt silent. The wind was stopped. The horses started to behave abnormally. As if something bad is going to happen.
She ran towards the gate and fell flat on the ground.
"Sierra, the girl fell."
"The girl isn't the only that fell. See."
Sierra points back the girl. The people who were there all fell on the ground.
Nicolas noticed the people were falling on the ground one by one the crowd was suddenly fall flat on the ground.
The bright sun was gone. The weather became dark as night. Winds started to move again.
Tap... Tap... Tap...
But there was a man with black clothes.
For a brief moment, the feeling seemed strangely familiar.
He was walking in the middle of the fallen crowd. His walk was slow. Body was calm as if nothing is wrong with this situation.
A horn blared in the town for alerting everyone.
The people came outside from their houses and started running away from the town.
All were shouting.
"Run. Run. The calamity came."
"Run"
A Mother to her son.
"Son— run fast as possible. If I stay behind don't stop."
The son replied with his teary eyes.
"Momm. Noooo!!!"
The Nicolas asks Sierra.
"What is happening here?"
Sierra says with a breathless look.
"I don't know what is going on here. But it is not good."
They couldn't do anything. They were mere viewers that were just seeing what the mirror wants to see them.
The man turned right.
"Where is this man going?"
Nicolas and Sierra followed the man.
He was going towards the church.
The town suddenly went silent.
Only the footsteps of the man who was walking towards the church was echoing.
No uproar of the crowd. No hustle or bustle of the birds.
The crowd that fallen on the market was not there anymore. There was no one in the town to see.
He reached the church. And stopped at the gate of the church.
The gate was shut down. He touched the gate and it turns into ashes.
He started moving inward.
A voice came.
"He's here."
Suddenly Church priests started chanting with a cross in their hands. There were some people taking people were also taking shelter.
They were behind the priests.
"Exorcizo te, omnis immundus spiritus, in nomine Dei Patris omnipotentis, et in nomine Iesu Christi Filii eius(I exorcise you, every unclean spirit, in the name of God the Father Almighty, and in the name of Jesus Christ His Son,)"
Candle flames began to die out.
The voices of priests grew louder as every sentence they chanted.
The divine light coming from the Cross grew brighter and brighter.
The people began to hope they might survive.
"Domini et Iudicis nostri, et in virtute Spiritus Sancti, ut deascedas ab hoc(our Lord and Judge, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, that you depart from this temple of God, which is consecrated to the Most High.)"
All lights went out, A priest who was in the middle of chanting noticed.
"templo Dei, quod est consecratum Altissimo."
Only his voice is echoed in the church. All stopped chanting.
He turned back
Aaahhhhhhhh
he screams.
All the priest who were chanting with him and all the people who took refuge in the church were lying there... lifeless. Their corpses were decomposed.
The Priest's feet wouldn't move. He was so terrified of the situation.
Priest said while crying.
"Please don't kill—"
He noticed falling. It was his head that fell on the ground.
Nicolas and sierra were so shocked by this situation.
The man moved towards the Cross room.
A white light came in front of Nicolas and sierra eyes.
They found themselves in the old, dusty clock tower again.
It was evening.
Nicolas said with confusion in his face.
"What just happened? It was so peaceful just a few moments ago. And something like that happened out of the blue."
Then he noticed.
The mirror that had been shining amid the dust was now broken, its frame had become rusty.
"Sierra— This mirror broke down."
Sierra replied.
"Yeah, I noticed. Let's talk while moving towards the house. We can get there prior to night if we move fast."
"Okk."
They started moving.
They get down from the the bell tower.
And started moving towards the house.***