Leira stood at the center of the circle for a few minutes. It was as if she was waiting for whatever could come out of the mirror to attack her so she was on guard. Something just didn't feel right as her own reflection blinked back at her from each one. All twelve seemed to be her reflections and yet... not quite, something was off. There were subtle differences in their posture, their eyes. One seemed to look older, another had a scar, another looked incredibly young.
Almost instantly, the mirrors began to move... not all at once but one after the other, as if each one took a cue from the other.
The first mirror began to move, its surface danced like the surface of water when it's touched, and then Leira's reflection dissolved into a different scene; A palace balcony overlooking a vast, silver sea, the sky was lit with a golden sun, and then there she was, herself, dressed in a white and gold dress, wearing a crown that glinted subtly on her head. Cassian stood beside her, smiling very softly, his hands were wrapped around hers.
Leira's knees went weak but she managed to step forward, her eyes were wide with disbelief. "Is that... that's me," she whispered. "And... its him... its Cassian."
The reflection version of her turned to Cassian, the way she looked at him, the way she blushed while he stared into her eyes, the way she lost herself in his presence, these were unmistakable signs. She loved him.
The scene in the mirror slowly shifted into screams of people dying, steel clashing against one another, fire everywhere, and smoke filled the skies. Cassian reached out his hands to her again, he looked desperate, anxious. "You have to trust me," he said. "This is the only way."
As soon as she took his hand, a blade pierced through her chest, his blade.
Leira gasped. She stumbled backward, with her hand over her heart, and the mirror itself shifted into a blood red color.
Cassian's reflection fell to his needs, his face filled with horror and his hands covered in her blood. "N...no, no... I didn't mean to..." He screamed at the top of his lungs, the grief had consumed him completely. While his hands were shaking, he kissed her lifeless fingers, with tears rolling down his cheek. "Please forgive me... please..."
While consumed with grief, he picked up the blade that was now on the floor and turns it toward his stomach. As he lifted the blade, black smoke began pouring into the room, every light source was quenched. Cassian paused, his eyes widened as the Shadows began forming, began crawling on the walls, the ceiling, everywhere. They were whispering his name, and then they began pulling his body, they dragged him on the floor toward the door but before they got to the door, both him and the shadows disappeared into the darkness.
By the time the shadows stopped, Cassian was unconscious. A voice, deep, chilling, that sounded like it was coming from everywhere, spoke. "Wake up!"
Cassian shot up, alert and awake, as if the voice had shocked him back to life.
The voice spoke again. "We can give you what you desire... we can make sure she never leaves you again."
Cassian looked around, unsure of where the voice was coming from, trembling with fear and confusion, tears streaming down his face. "W...what are you? Where am I?"
"We are the dark Keepers," the voice hissed. "you are in our realm... and if you swear yourself to us , you will be bound to her forever, in every life she may live, and you will always be reunited."
A reflection of Leira's lifeless body was revealed behind him. He gasped, his heart was racing, his mind couldn't comprehend what he was seeing and what was happening. After a few seconds, he remembered what had happened to Leira, he stared at her reflection and his heart broke all over again. Tears gushed out of his eyes, he could barely catch his breath.
After a few moments, he calmed down, tears still streaming from his eyes and he realized he had not given the Dark Keepers a response. At first he just stared around, not knowing what direction to focus on, then he turned again to look at Leira, and then he said... "Yes."
Immediately his answer was uttered, his surroundings slowly began to crack, each shard holding off a gush of red light, unsteady and shaking, the light exploded, a scream of agony was let out and then... he was reborn.
When the glow of the light faded, Cassian was gone, what stood there was a shadow of himself; deep, hollow eyed, pale skinned, and darkness moved through his veins. The Dark Keepers had deceived him into signing his soul over to them, and now, he was now a pawn in their control.
Leira staggered backwards, tears had pooled in her eyes, but she hadn't let them fall yet. "What is this? What..."
Before she could finish her sentence, another mirror's surface began moving, slow and revealing.
This time, what she saw was a smaller village, a firelit festival, and there she was again, laughing, dancing barefoot under lanterns. Cassian watched her from the edge, he had a soft smile on his lips.
He walked toward her and offered her his hand, and she took it.
For a while, it was beautiful. The mirror showed her their happy moments; stolen kisses, laughter in the rain, promises made under the moonlight, and then... the same pattern, always the same. A betrayal, a death, and then Cassian's pain twisting him further into darkness.
The third mirror's surfaced danced, then the fourth, then fifth. Each one showed a different lifetime, a different versions of Leira, in a different setting, falling in love in over and over again, but it was always him.
Sometimes, he poisoned her, other times, he led her into an ambush but everytime, he whispered apologies to her that she never understood. After the first time she died, he was trained, brainwashed into going after her again and again.
In every life, she died by his hand, and in every death, he watched her fade into death, he would be consumed by guilt but the Keepers will summon him again, recondition him and send him on a new mission, in a new life.
Leira screamed and it broke the silence in the circle. "Let me out! I don't want to see anymore. Let me out!" But the mirrors didn't stop. The ninth mirror's surface moved and showed her kneeling down after trying to fight back but then Cassian overpowered her, strung her up and hung her. Resetting the curse.
And through all of this, one thing became painfully clear; she had never come this far before. In every life, she died before ever meeting Kael. Kael never got to her before Cassian did. And the cycle always restarted before she knew anything about being a Keeper of the Veil.
But not this time. This time, Kael found her first, and has protected her ever since, telling her the things she needed to know
The shadows in the mirror shifted, and the next image showed something new; a figure standing a small distance behind her and the darkness, the figure ran toward her, his eyes filled with desperation, but before he got close to her, she was killed.
The figure... was Kael.
And then finally, the twelfth mirror... it showed her on the bridge, that first night, when she saw the shadow in the fog.
Leira gasped. "The thing I saw on the bridge... it wasn't just any monster..." The mirror shifted and revealed Cassian's eyes beneath the darkness. Cassian had sent the strongest shadows under his command to go and find Leira, through them, he could see everything that they saw. But this time, before the shadows reached her, Kael found her, finally.
Leira's eyes widened, tears now freely falling.
"He sent his shadows to find you," whispered one of the reflections. "So he could do it again. Make you fall, love him, then die by his hands once more."
Leira's knees gave out. "He...he saved me."
The mirror stilled and then revealed Kael's reflection, reaching for her, his eyes full of determination.
"This time," her reflection said softly, "Kael found you first."
Kael, the guardian who failed to find her for years and years, who had been punished for centuries for standing by her side, he plotted, made plans and yet watched her die over and over again, never in time... until now.
Leira put her hand on her chest, sobbing. "He saved me... he saved me."
Her reflections started glowing, each one turning from showing all her deaths to showing great parts of her lives. Happy radiant moments she never remembered like her laughter, her courage, her kindness, all of these things survived every lifetime despite her not being able to recall.
You were never meant to die." one reflection said gently. "You were meant to remember."
The mirrors' surfaces began shinning and shimmering like diamonds, and then the mirrors began moving toward her slowly, not to trap her but to join her.
All the reflections now spoke in one unified voice. "He was never the test, Leira, forgiveness is."
Confusion written all over her face. "How can I start to forgive something like this?"
"Start with yourself."
A light shinned from the mirrors, and then they slowly began to crack, and the light behind the cracks got brighter. Small fragments of the mirrors began floating upward and then turning into gold dust.
Leira looked up into the sky, with tears pooling in her eyes, and her face damp with fallen tears. "I forgive you..." she whispered. This wasn't to Cassian, not even to Kael, but to every version of herself that had died without peace.
And then the last mirror shattered soundlessly. Everywhere fell quiet for a moment and when the glow faded away, the forest had returned, and the circle she was in was now gone.
Kael stood there, waiting, his eyes were wide and wet with relief.
Leira looked at him, shaking. "It was him," she said softly. "Cassian... every time, he killed me."
Kael's heart broke a little as he remembered, his voice was low and fragile. "I know."
Leira hadn't composed her thoughts yet.
"I saw it... I saw you die, over and over again, and I couldn't reach you." he said, his voice broke and his head fell forward as tears began pooling in his eyes.
Leira slowly stepped closer to him, her voice soft and quiet. "Until now," she let out a little smile, "You found me Kael, you saved me."
Kael took his head up to meet her gaze, his expression partly sad and partly relieved. "I found you. I will always find you."
They stared at each other, lost in their gazes, all the walls Leira had put up had completely fallen. She trusted Kael with her life. He loved her, and for the first time since she met him, her heart admitted... she loved him too.
She laid her head and his chest and he laid his head on her shoulder, holding each other like they never wanted to let go, like nothing else mattered but being wrapped in each other's arms in this very moment.
Behind them, deep in the dark woods, distant, a pair of golden eyes blinked open.
Cassian was watching.