Chapter Six: The Glass of Memory
The night felt heavier than usual, and the city was shrouded in a thick fog that concealed every feature.
Noor sat on her bed, staring at the small mirror on the table.
Her reflection seemed calm, ordinary this time… yet her heart told her that other eyes were watching her from behind the glass.
Niyar's words still echoed in her mind:
"There is someone living inside you, Noor… and the mirror has only shown half the truth."
The clock was nearing midnight when she decided to go.
She put on her coat and took the old key from the drawer.
Each step toward the abandoned room felt like descending into the depths of her dark mind.
The hallway was cold; the air was so still that every breath sounded strange in the emptiness.
She reached the door.
The faded wood, the dust, the lingering scent of the past.
She inserted the key slowly… the sound of the iron in the lock seemed to scream, as if the door itself did not want to be opened.
When the door swung open, she saw him.
Niyar.
Standing in front of the large mirror, his back to her, wearing the same black coat, hands behind his back.
His calm voice filled the room before she could speak:
– "I knew you would come."
She entered without replying, her eyes moving between the shadows and the mirror.
– "You told me to see you tonight… I want to know the truth, all of it."
He slowly turned, his ash-gray eyes deep, as if carrying centuries of secrets.
– "Do you remember this room?"
– "No."
– "Yes, you do… you were here a long time ago, before the doors were closed, before the mirror was forgotten."
Her gaze froze on him.
– "What do you mean? I was a child when we moved into this apartment; this room was always locked."
– "Because someone wanted to hide it from you, Noor."
He approached the mirror and wiped the dust off its glass with his hand.
Her reflection appeared together with his, yet it was not natural.
Niyar's face in the reflection did not look like it did in reality.
It was older, darker, and behind them in the glass stood a little girl in the corner, wearing a white dress, her long brown hair covering her face.
Noor gasped and stepped back:
– "Who is that?!"
– "You."
– "That's impossible!"
– "She is the part that was trapped in the glass since that day… when you saw what should not have been seen."
The air in the room changed, growing heavier, and the mirror began to glow with a faint light like gray flames.
A soft sound emerged from it, fragmented whispers:
"Let her… let her come out…"
Noor covered her ears, but the voices did not stop.
Niyar stepped closer, his voice low but strong:
– "It's not your reflection, Noor, but your remnant. The other half of you that was left here since childhood when the soul was imprisoned inside the glass."
Tears began to flow unconsciously:
– "I don't understand… what happened to me?!"
– "Remember that night. The night of the fire."
Her breath froze.
The word fire ignited something deep inside her.
Scattered memories started to flood her mind—screams, flames, a large mirror falling, a small hand reaching out to save someone… then silence.
She clutched her head in pain as the memories hit her like waves.
– "You were here, and the mirror witnessed everything. No one died that night, Noor… the soul was transferred inside. And now you are trying to reclaim it."
She looked up at him, tears glistening under the dim candlelight.
– "And who are you?"
Niyar smiled faintly, that smile she never quite understood.
– "I am the guardian between worlds. I was here when the glass first shattered… my duty is to balance those who remain outside and those who are trapped inside."
At that moment, the glass began to tremble, and the voice of the other half came from the depths:
"I won't go back… I am the real one now!"
The mirror exploded in a gray flash, and the room became a whirlwind of sounds, images, and screams.
Noor fell to the ground, and Niyar reached out to protect her.
But what she saw in that moment was not his face—but only his reflection, smiling at her from the other side of the glass.
And while everything spun around her, she heard his final voice, coming from afar, from inside the glass itself:
"Choose, Noor… you or her."
Then silence fell.