Episode-4

Chapter Four: The Mirror Remembers Everything

The house had quieted again, but the silence was heavy—like something had shifted after Aayna read Krish’s journal. She couldn’t look at the mirror the same way anymore. Not after knowing it had stolen him. Not after knowing… it had waited for her.

Krish hadn’t spoken much since that confession. He just sat near the fireplace in Room 9, staring into the embers like they held answers he hadn’t yet found.

But Aayna needed answers.

That night, after everyone in the house was asleep, she returned to her own room. The mirror stood there, as it always did, innocent and unmoving. But now, she knew better.

She approached slowly, heart thudding.

Her fingers hovered over the surface before she dared whisper, “What are you?”

For a long moment, nothing happened.

Then, a faint shimmer rippled across the glass.

And it changed.

The mirror no longer showed her reflection. Instead, it showed a hallway she didn’t recognize. Old, cold stone walls lined with oil paintings. Footsteps echoed. Someone was walking down it… someone with long dark hair and a trembling hand holding a candle.

It was her.

Aayna gasped.

The girl in the mirror turned to look back—and she wasn’t alone. Behind her walked a woman dressed in black, her face pale, eyes hollow. Her mouth moved, but no sound came.

The candle flickered out.

Darkness swallowed them both.

Aayna staggered back, the mirror returning to normal like nothing had happened.

She turned to find Krish standing in the doorway, face tense. “You touched it again?”

“It showed me something,” she said, voice shaking. “A place. A woman. Me.”

Krish closed the door behind him. “It’s beginning,” he muttered. “The mirror is waking up.”

“Waking up?” she repeated. “What do you mean?”

He sat on the edge of the bed, running a hand through his dark hair. “The mirror isn’t just a curse. It’s a… keeper. It remembers everything that’s ever happened in this house. Every lie. Every betrayal. Every death.”

Aayna’s throat tightened. “Whose death?”

Krish’s jaw clenched.

“I wasn’t the first it trapped. And I won’t be the last.”

He stood, walking toward the mirror. “A hundred years ago, the woman who lived here—Lady Elira—was a scholar of forbidden knowledge. She created this mirror using ancient glass said to hold memories. She believed she could use it to see into people’s truths. Their past. Their regrets. Their sins.”

Aayna stared at the glass, her chest rising and falling.

“She tested it first on her servant. The mirror showed the girl a future she could not escape… and she ended her life within days.”

“What happened to Elira?” Aayna asked.

Krish’s expression turned grim. “She became the first soul to be taken by the mirror itself. And ever since then, it’s been hungry.”

He looked at her, eyes dark with something deeper than fear. “You saw the woman in black, didn’t you?”

Aayna nodded.

“She’s Elira. The mirror’s original keeper. She appears when it’s ready to claim another soul.”

Aayna swallowed hard. “Why me?”

“I don’t know,” Krish whispered. “But I do know this—it always chooses someone who has something to lose. Something worth breaking.”

Her fingers curled into fists. “And you? Did it break you?”

There was a long silence.

Then, softly, “I think I broke myself… the moment I looked into it and saw you.”

Aayna’s breath caught.

“I saw you years ago,” he continued. “I didn’t know your name. I didn’t know when you’d come. But I saw you crying in this room, holding my journal. I think that moment was the last piece of me that remained human.”

The air around them grew colder.

From the mirror came a new sound.

A whisper.

This time, clearer.

“The choice is near. The truth is here.”

Krish moved toward Aayna. “It’s not just about survival anymore. We have to break the mirror’s power.”

“But how?”

“We have to go inside.”

Her eyes widened. “Inside the mirror?”

Krish nodded slowly. “Only the one it chose can cross over. Only you.”

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