Featured Fiction - April

Dark Reflection

--- Angela Zhang

“How? How did this happen?” 

Scin stared at his bleak surroundings: a tiny windowless prison cell with mirrored walls to prevent his escape. 

“Was it the research? It was only supposed to shine some light onto the nature of my veil, but all the tests were getting us nowhere.”

The white haired teen snorted at the irony.“Shine light. Hnf.” 

He experimentally flexed his hand, willing light to gather in his palm, but it quickly dispersed. Those  must be pretty powerful blacklights, he mused quietly while studying the ceiling, it is a maximum security illume prison after all. Suddenly, the gravity of the situation that he was in hit him, and he sank to his knees in despair.

“Oh Illia, what did I do that landed me here?”

“Well, it's not really a question of what you did, it's a question of what I did,” an unfamiliar voice whispered into his ear.

Startled, Scin whipped his head around to stare at his veil reflected in the mirrored wall next to him. The 

veil shot him a feral grin and waved.

“You... You're not supposed to be able to do that!” Scin muttered disbelievingly, gaping at his shadow form, “You're just supposed to be my reflection!”

“You're just supposed to be my reflection!” The veil mocked him viciously, “This is why I hate you  arrogant illumes! Always oppressing us veils...”

“What? Oppressing? From what we know, veils are just illume's shadow forms! The only times veils appear are when we've blacked out from overusing our powers! But I... I was different.” Scin remembered the first time he saw his veil reflected in the mirror. He had freaked out and called his parents to ask them what was happening. They too were baffled, and Scin ended up going to the research institute to try and get some answers.

“Ha! You?! It was me! I'm the one that's different, you fool!” the shadow growled, its eyes flaring red. It paused and stood up, pacing a bit to regain its composure before continuing. “Unlike my brothers, I actually have abilities much like you illumes, but oh so much better. I'm the only one of my kind: a sentient veil that can do as it wills with the host body when it blacks out.”

It smirked.

Comprehension slowly dawned on Scin. “You. What did you do?” 

The veil's smirk just got wider.

Scin stood up and smashed his fist into the reinforced mirror next to his veil's face, “WHAT DID YOU DO?!”  

He scowled at the gleeful shadow, eyes glowing white-hot in anger. 

“Oh, nothing much.” It sighed theatrically then shrugged, “I just killed a hundred people while you were blacked out.” 

The words did not register immediately in Scin's mind. It took him a few shocked seconds to fully understand what his shadow had just said. One hundred? It was mystifying; he could barely manage a coherent thought.

“...What?”

“You heard me. I took over your body while you were out and went on a killing spree. I made sure to make use of my shadow shifting in order to look like you instead.” It picked at its nails absentmindedly, as if it were no big deal. “Those weakling illumes didn't stand a chance! They begged for their lives when they saw me murder their colleagues. It was hilarious! The delicious expressions of fear and confusion on their faces when their son told them he had just slaughtered some people for fun...”

Scin froze. It couldn't have. No. He refused to believe it. “...Their son?”

“Oh, didn't I say? After I absorbed the life force of 100 scientists, I went to your house and told your parents. 100 lives as a present from you to them, Scin dearest.” The psychotic smile had worked its way back onto the shadow's face.

“YOU FUCKER!” Scin roared as he repeatedly punched the mirror violently where his shadow's face was, his eyes fully burning white and sparking with his intense rage. “How dare you! HOW DARE YOU!!”

“That's right, get angry! It's not like you can hurt me, fool! You'll only hurt yourself, and that would be good for me! Once you begin to fade into death, I can easily take over your body for eternity.” The shadow goaded him, that infuriating smirk playing on its lips. 

Scin halted his next punch and slowly brought his fist down to his side. He fought back his fury, although his chest was still heaving, his whole body was shaking in anger, and his eyes were still burning bright.  When his rage was at a somewhat controllable level, he managed to bite out a retort, “I will crush you. I will push you so far down in my mind even you'll forget you even existed. So far that you won't even be able to come out in the mirror again. I will never, ever, ever let you out again.” 

The veil cackled, “You wish, filthy little illume. You'll never be rid of me! Wherever there is light, there must be shadow! I will always be a part of you. That you cannot change.”

“I will burn you out.” Scin threw a final punch at the mirror, managing to leave the tiniest of cracks on the flawless surface.

“Just watch me.”

Tbc.

Check the Artist's Forum for a picture of Scin!

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