Prompt 31 - Ghost

31 - GHOST

Toe to the glowing line of the circle's edge, as he'd learned he ought to do if he wanted to go unnoticed, Breccan stared out at what lay beyond the glass, frowning.  At first, he had amused himself with this newfound place, slipping in and out of reflections near and far, from people he knew to those he'd never met before, in countries he'd visited many a time to places scattered about a world he knew nothing about.  It had been somewhat of a learning experience, a little experiment of sorts, and it was also damned funny to see the frightened or disbelieving looks of those who might spot him.  Now, though, was not a time for games - he had more important things to attend to.

This realm between realms had already revealed most of its secrets to him.  Finding specific places, people, was as simple as thinking, and even a vague idea could often generate a result; he liked that.  He hardly even had to move, had only to want something, and the infinite hallway would bend to his will, bringing before him anything from gleaming mirrors to glimmering sheets of water that defied gravity, and all of them would show him just what he'd asked for.  Anything that was reflective worked, it seemed, even if it bent the mind with a sheer size that was packed down, bent, and twisted to fit conveniently into the hall.

There was only one problem.  Not counting the enormous structure in his lab that had gained him access to this strange place, Breccan hadn't as of yet been able to discern any way to pass through the barriers.  Certainly, he didn't so much as dare to think of what might happen if he attempted to smash his way through something.  If anything, it would only ruin the likelihood of getting through to the other side.

He didn't care about the mirrors and such that led to places he knew of, anyway.  No, instead, Breccan stood at the opposite side of the hall, looking out at a new world.

An untainted world.

It was a magical place - both in its purity and its very nature, the latter of which he'd been surprised to learn.  To wield such power...  He had to find a way into this place, that much he knew.  But...how?

That simple question brought him hours - days - of frustration.  Returning to his lab, returning home, puzzling over the middle realm and the world that lay opposite his own, quite literally across a simple - if not supernatural - hallway...and yet he couldn't go beyond the glass.  He would return each day, feeling compelled by the promise of something new and unknown, and hoping that today, something would happen.

He thought to give up.  He wouldn't, of course, but he thought that perhaps it might have been better in the end if he did.  It would be a healthier choice, at the very least, but Breccan had never been one for making such choices.  And now, after three weeks of musing and puzzling and wanting to just know, a simple half-formed idea wrought from vague amusement might have given him the answer he needed.

The frown never left his face, though, tinged with distaste, and still he stared past the glass, staying just far enough away so as to not be seen.  It had only been a whim, really, deciding to see if he could find people he knew in a world he didn't.  He hadn't expected anything to come out of it, but, lo and behold, a passing thought of a girlfriend or a coworker brought forth people who were - and yet utterly weren't - familiar to him.  They looked different, sometimes completely, yet still, somehow...

...they were identical.

And so, on that same whim...Breccan had searched for himself.

~*-*~

"Oi.  Hey, Cale.  Do you know why it's considered bad luck to break a mirror?"

"Uh...no, sir, I...can't say that I do."

"...Hmm."

"...Would you care to enlighten me as to why?"

"Ah...yeah.  Well, they - the Romans, that is - believed that mirrors...on the other side...contained a part of your soul..."

~*-*~

Walk inside, close door, glance at reflection - mirror seems brimming with latent aether again, how odd - go about one's business, step up to the sink, glance at reflection again - notice it's gone, replaced with someone else - grab soap, wash hands...

Wait.

A horrified shout escaped Ben and he reeled backwards, soap tumbling from his hand to the floor, with his honey eyes wide in shocked disbelief as he stared up at the stranger in the mirror.  A stranger who seemed very strangely familiar.  Too familiar.  If it hadn't been for how different he looked, Ben might have sworn he was...something.  Something he had an odd feeling that there wasn't really a word for.

"Uh...h-hello?" he tried tentatively, pressing his back against the cool wall of the bathroom opposite the mirror, as though he expected the man would leap out of the glass to get at him.  A moment passed, and nothing happened aside from the stranger squinting at him in uncertainty, as though he hadn't heard, so, fingers tightly wringing the hem of his shirt, Ben continued nervously, "Um, hi?  W-why are you in my mirror?"  A flash of a ludicrous idea - mirror transport gone wrong - brought him to add on, voice trembling with a hint of concern, "Are you t...trapped?"

The stranger only continued to squint at him, annoyance creeping into his expression to replace the slight bemusement, before he mouthed something in reply.  Given the circumstances, it was a rather odd thing for him to do...at least, until Ben realized that he hadn't been mouthing anything at all.  He'd been saying something - they simply couldn't hear each other.  That was probably the point he'd been trying to make, Ben figured, before he motioned for the man to stay where he was.  "Wait here," he added unnecessarily, considering that he wouldn't be heard, before he rushed from the room, leaving the door ajar and wishing he could have stayed within sight of the mirror as he hurried down the hall, into his room to rifle for quill and parchment.

He returned to find the man still standing there on the other side, arms crossed and a flicker of exasperation in his eyes - unnaturally red eyes, kind of unnerving, Ben noted - though the exasperation quickly faded when his gaze landed on the paper.  Then, with a slight upward quirk of the mouth, the stranger was nodding his approval.  Go ahead, it seemed to say, and so Ben wasted no time scribbling the words he'd spoken before.

Are you trapped?

The red eyes narrowed, and the man appeared oddly vexed for a moment - Ben realized just as the look faded that he'd only been processing the question - before he simply shrugged, raising a hand to make a 'so-so' gesture.  It was a confusing answer, to be certain.  He was sort of trapped?  What, was he trying to make light of the situation?

Letting out a helpless sound, Ben scratched at the back of his head, mussing already messy rust-colored hair, before leaning over the parchment again, scrawling away.  It was a much better question, certainly a more important one, and he noted that it might have been prudent to ask it first.

Do you need help getting out?

Almost immediately, the stranger's expression lit up, an eager grin spreading on his face as he nodded.  Smiling in kind, though sheepishly, as he now knew that he definitely should have asked that first, Ben took to looking over the mirror, mumbling under his breath to bring to life minor probing spells, aimed at seeing just what he could accomplish.  There was always a measure of aether to be had in mirrors, usually a minor amount, but enough to make them a prime choice for communication and transportation.

Of course, in mirror transportation, a lot of power was required, and, most importantly, one had to know where he needed to go...

Glancing up at the stranger, concern clear on his features, Ben took up the quill again.

Do you know where you are?

For a moment, the man considered the question, looking back over his shoulder at something, and he seemed about to nod his affirmation before thinking better of it.  The shake of the head that followed made the situation that much more difficult, and the redhead sighed, fingers fidgeting with the quill for a moment before he jotted down another sentence.

I'm not sure if I'm skilled enough for this, but I'll do what I can.

The words were met with a hint of annoyance, but it was overshadowed by disappointment; apparently Ben had unintentionally brought the man to think his abilities sub-par.  Feeling annoyed at the reaction himself, he frowned and scribbled a few choice words on the parchment, which he thrust up close to the mirror with something almost like a glare.  He might have thought his own reaction odd, as he was typically more reserved around those he didn't know, but with this person, with that nagging sense of familiarity hanging around him...it seemed right, acceptable, as though his judgment would be no different from Ben's own.

Mirror transport isn't easy, you know.  Not knowing where you are just makes it even harder.

A shrug was the only reply, but a tinge of hope had crept into the man's expression, mixing with curiosity as Ben discarded the parchment and set to work.  Even the weak detection spells he'd enacted were enough to tell him that, as he'd thought earlier, there was a good deal of aether built up in the mirror; the presence of the stranger was a likely explanation for that.  It would be of great assistance, most definitely, but the main issue now rested in finding out just where the other person even was.  It wasn't like he could be nowhere.

...Could he?

Taking a shaky breath, Ben outstretched his hands, a soft glow emanating from them as he roved them just over the surface of the mirror, trying to get a feel for the energy brimming within, and hopefully discern where it was coming from.

Nowhere.

But...somewhere?

Frustrated, the redhead dropped his hands, resting an elbow on the counter and chin in palm as he puzzled over the not-answer he'd come to.  Then, he raised his free hand to tap gingerly at the glass.  Instantly, an unearthly chime rang forth, seeming to pulse as it flooded the room, pounding at his ears and making it difficult to draw breath.  Without even thinking, Ben cried out in pain and clapped his hands over his ears, eyes squeezing shut as the ghastly noise roiled around him.  It wasn't until the dreadful chime had faded away to nothing that he dared to risk so much as moving a muscle, let alone opening his eyes.  On the other side of the mirror, the stranger was wincing in pain, rubbing at his own ears, and when he'd mostly recovered, he shot a harsh glare and what was most likely an insult at the younger man.

"Sorry," Ben mumbled uselessly, face flushing, and he raised his hands up to the glass once more, this time with a mimicry of the latent aether coating them; a minor trick to appease whatever magic had brought forth the awful sound.  The other man jammed his fingers in his ears at the action, scowling something fierce, but when no second chime came, he cautiously brought his hands down, inching forward as though in the hopes of getting a better idea of what the redhead was doing.  Looking wouldn't do him any good, Ben knew and expected him to know; if he didn't know that, such a basic concept in the ways of magic, then how in the stars had he even ended up where he had?

Palms pressed flush to the mirror, energy pulsed through its surface as Ben struggled to piece the mystery of the man's presence together.  He could almost feel where the aether was rooted, but at the same time, it was so terribly distant - nowhere, but somewhere, ever eluding him.  He wondered if perhaps, instead of trying to grasp something that kept flitting just out of his reach, he could use the energy already available to open a sort of channel...

Could he even do that, without any destination in mind?

If only Shale were here...she would know what to do.  But...she'd done her best to teach him what she knew of such things, hadn't she?  Emboldened, Ben latched on to that thought - Shale taught me this - and gave the mirror's energy a strong mental tug, only to find that it was stubbornly refusing to do exactly what he wanted.  Maddeningly enough, he felt that he could move and shape it in almost any way he wanted, save for towards the one purpose he truly needed it for.

It would not allow him to open a passageway to nothing.

It was only then that he noticed what the stranger was doing, eyes narrowed calculatingly and one hand almost touching the glass...  "No! Don't-!" Ben started to cry out, just as the man's palm grazed over the spot where his own was pressed.  Electricity suddenly seemed to shoot through him, and if sparks hadn't flown, he could only think that they should have.  The sheer force threw him back, stumbling, and he hit the wall gasping for air, eyes wide with fright.  He stared up at the mirror, trembling from head to foot, and could see that the other man looked startled, but otherwise unshaken.  His hand was still pressed up against the opposite side of the glass.

What had happened?  The aether hadn't actually repelled either of them...

Something...else...had...

Ben steadied himself, edging forward cautiously.  Something that didn't really have a word...  One hand lifted, hesitated, came to rest carefully on the reflective surface, right over the other's...  The electricity came again, racing through him, and this time he forced himself not to move.  As he braced himself, magic flaring around his palm and into the glass and even - as the scrutinizing gaze leveled at their hands suggested - directly to the stranger in the nowhere that was somewhere, Ben came to an abrupt realization.

Ah...so that was what it was...

Power.

He had no idea why it was happening - why is this person so familiar? - or any notion of how it was possible - how did he come to this mirror? - but he knew without a doubt that in an instant, with that not-quite-contact, he felt suddenly and indescribably whole.

There was nothing he couldn't do.

The glass lit up, began to shimmer as a channel inched into place, situating itself...

...And then a knock came at the bathroom door.  "Hey, Ben?  Are you in there?" his sister's voice piped up, sounding annoyed.

Gasping, Ben yanked his hand from the glass, whirling around and diving for the door, shoving himself up against it in case it was about to be opened.  "Uh, y-yes!  Yes, I am!  H-hold on, Etoile, I'll, um...I'll be out in a second!"  He could hear her giving an exasperated mutter, and, with a slight wince, he turned to direct an apologetic look at the stranger.

Only, suddenly...there was no stranger.

Stepping away from the door, Ben peered over the mirror, looking for any telltale sign of the man, only to find...nothing.  He was gone, vanished without a trace, and all that was left in the reflection was everything that should have already been there.  The redhead stared for a long while at his own image, disbelieving, then slowly backed away, insides feeling cold and heavy as his throat locked up.  Had he...

...Had he imagined the whole thing?

~*-*~

From behind the glowing line, out of sight, Breccan watched in cold detachment as the boy withdrew, edging out of the room with his shoulders hunched and body trembling.  Then, when he was gone, his eyes lowered to study the palm of his hand, through which, not minutes earlier, a power of a sort he'd never felt before had pulsed...

...and he had held it when the other had let go.  

He glanced back up at the mirror briefly, then down once more to his hand.  So...that was magic, was it?  "...Interesting," he decided.

~*-*~

"So, you know...when you break a mirror...you're destroying your own soul..."