MIRROR CAGE – CHAPTER 17: FRAGMENTS
"The closer you get to truth in Kingsvale, the less human you remain."
[3:04 AM – Naomi's Dorm Room]
The scream still echoed in her skull, but her throat was raw.
Naomi stood in the bathroom, hands shaking as cold water ran over them. She couldn't look up.
Not at the mirror.
Not again.
The reflection had spoken.
No speakers. No projectors. No drugs in her system. She ran the scans herself twice. Everything clean.
Except… herself.
She finally looked up.
And there it was—her face. Normal. Still. Watching.
Not blinking.
She backed out of the bathroom and slammed the door shut.
Then she grabbed her tablet, pulled up the biometric registry again, and started deleting her own security overlays.
If something was watching her from the system—if something had synced with her—it needed to be cut out.
Even if it meant amputating parts of herself.
[Later – Kingsvale, Sublevel -3: Restricted Archives]
Elijah moved like a shadow, following Sable through hidden doors beneath the physics wing. The schematics she'd given him led to a chamber three levels deeper than the sanctioned underground labs.
"You sure we're alone?" he asked.
Sable answered by disabling her internal tracking node. "Now we are."
The corridor narrowed. Lights flickered red overhead. Old tech. Abandoned years ago, according to official logs.
And yet… the air buzzed. Monitors hummed behind rusted panels. Something still lived here.
The original Mirror cage.
Elijah slowed as they approached a sealed biometric door. Sable entered a series of codes, then pressed her palm to the reader.
It rejected her.
Not denied.
Rejected.
Like her presence was… wrong.
"It's reading something else in me," she muttered, frowning.
"You said only one Mirror subject was still inside Kingsvale."
"I said we didn't know who it was."
Elijah stared at the scanner.
It blinked green for him.
The door opened.
[Flashback Fragment – Unknown Origin | System View]
> Mirror Test Subject #0189 Log Playback Initiated.
> Date: [REDACTED]
Voice A: "He's still adapting to dual consciousness. You're pushing too fast."
Voice B: "He's built for instability. The longer we wait, the harder it'll be to control the split."
Screaming. Metal scraping.
Sound of a mirror shattering.
Voice A: "...what did he just say?"
Voice B: "He said... 'I am both.'"
[Kingsvale Upper Dormitory – Mason's POV]
Mason awoke from a nightmare he couldn't remember.
Sweat slicked his neck. His breathing came short and sharp.
The air in the room felt… doubled. Like he was standing in the same place as someone else. Like there was a version of this room that existed one second ahead of his own.
He looked to his side.
The full-length mirror in his closet was fogged.
No heat in the room. No steam. No reason.
He stood, slowly, walked to it.
Wiped it clear.
For a second—just a flicker—he saw Elijah standing behind him.
Expression blank.
Then he turned. No one there.
His stomach clenched.
[Underground Archive – Inner Core Chamber]
Elijah stepped into the room.
It was circular. Lined with dormant screens. In the center: a console with a pulsing light. Blue, rhythmic.
The cage was broken. But not destroyed.
Screens began to flicker to life as he approached.
Each screen showed him.
But different.
Variations. Smiling. Screaming. Crying. Killing.
Some were identical to his current form.
Others were his original body.
And one—one—was a form he'd never seen.
Twisted.
Unnatural.
Not just a copy. A parasite.
Sable stayed behind him, silent.
Then:
"Which one are you?" she whispered.
Elijah stared at the screen where the unfamiliar version of himself grinned with all its teeth.
He didn't answer.
Because for the first time, he wasn't sure.
[System Alert – Internal Diagnostic: Elijah Cole]
> Consciousness Split: 2.8% Drift
> Anomaly Detected: Fragmented Mirror Consciousness Identified
> Infection Path: Unknown
> Purge Unavailable – Core Identity Incomplete
> Warning: You Are Not Alone In Yourself
[Naomi's POV – Kingsvale Library, Hidden Booth]
Naomi sat in the private soundproof booth, accessing restricted files with cracked admin credentials.
A folder appeared with no label.
She opened it.
Hundreds of files. Videos.
Each one labeled with a timecode and a name: "Cole, Elijah."
But some were tagged "Null."
And a few were marked "Specular Echo."
She clicked one.
A video played.
Her dorm room.
She was sleeping.
The door opened. No sound.
Elijah walked in. But not the Elijah she knew. Not even the one she'd watched fight.
This version—his eyes were wrong.
Too wide.
He walked to her bedside.
Stood.
Watched her.
Then the video glitched.
Static.
The reflection in the mirror moved first.
She slammed the laptop shut and curled into herself.
He hadn't been hiding who he was.
He'd been splitting.
[Closing Scene – Sublevel -3, Mirror Core Terminal]
Elijah placed his hand on the console.
It hummed.
The blue light scanned him.
Then the system spoke.
A voice not human.
Not machine.
"Welcome home, Subject Zero."