66 Two Faces

Warning: This chapter can be a little disturbing. But it's crucial to portray Kai's psychology under these particular circumstances.

**********

A mirror replaced the notifications.

Kai looked at himself, his reflection staring back at him. The surface was so clean and smooth that it was hard to tell which was real and which was false. Kai, in a trance, lifted his hand and touched it.

Tip!

The fingers touched each other, or was it Kai's imagination? The only thing he could say for sure was that no mirror could be so true. It was not just his reflection Kai was looking at. It felt something beyond that.

[

You have opted to change your appearance, Kai Stormborn

Adjust your features as per your liking, but you must keep these points in mind…

1. You can't change your sex

2. You can't assume another Contestant's appearance

3. You can't cross the age limit for the mission (Current limit: 14-17 yrs old)

4. Your true appearance will still be visible to the in-world Characters

5. The price for the service will depend on your Mission Stats

]

The Notification might as well have not been there. Kai wasn't even looking at it.

He stared at his reflection, and slowly a memory crept up his eyes. Kai remembered her, every freckle on her face, the dark patches, and that smile. Nothing he had forgotten, and nothing he could have. His eyes darkened, but there was still a touch of hazel about them. A touch, purest and sweetest, though. His cloudy white hair flowed down, turning light gold. And at last, his face changed, but barely.

Kai started at the reflection again. It was just… It wasn't him anymore.

"Mother…" Kai's voice broke as he saw those eyes. He wanted her to laugh, but she was crying. "Mother… Why are you crying? Why, mother? Laugh… you must laugh… Haha!"

And she did. A sad laugh she laughed, along with her son, the tears streaming down her cheeks, melting into the whiteness under her feet.

Kai touched the mirror again. He felt it, the boundary which had seemed unreal to him. There it was, the surface of the mirror. That shook him, the reality of her being just an image breaking him from within.

'No!' Kai cried, but his mother was still smiling, trying to comfort him. 'Mother, I… I am sorry… It was me who killed you… It was me. It was me who brought him to you…'

The face behind the mirror looked at him dearly. One last misty look of longing, and then it blurred.

"NO!" an agonizing howl screeched out from Kai's throat. But she was gone. The person behind the mirror was Kai again, but the tears had become two silent trails of blood.

[Warning: You can't change your sex]

BOOM!

Kai punched the notification. His knuckles went through it, hitting the mirror beyond. The surface shook before turning into hundreds of ripples, as it was just water and nothing else.

Water or not, it was cruel. Kai's flesh burst apart, the white of his bones showing underneath. A single red beam of light appeared out of nowhere, landing where the blood was flowing out. It healed him. But it wasn't the wound that needed healing.

When Kai recovered, it felt like he had been through a bad dream. A nightmare which had no end, and one which almost felt too good to be true, but still genuine enough for him to be lost in it. 'I want to,' Kai told himself. 'I want to lose myself. Just… Just not yet.'

Kai looked into the mirror again. Still as clean as anything could get, a portal to another world.

His appearance changed again. But there was no love in Kai's eyes anymore, only hate. And, yes. A shocking amount of anticipation. Kai remembered this one too. Somehow, even better than his mother. He could forget himself, but Kai could never forget this face.

Never!

Kai's eyes turned dark black, like two wells with no end. His hair turned black too as if they were storm clouds, just short of bursting out, not with water, but thunder. Kai's face changed, gaining a calmness only the dead could have shown.

'Brock had always been the calmest if nothing else,' a sudden thought crossed Kai's mind as anger welled up in his chest. 'Are you in this world too, brother? Please be. I hope you are. I dearly hope, bastard!'

But seconds turned into minutes, and Kai's wait told another story. The notification did the rest, pouring oil into the fire.

[

Contestant Kai Stormborn, you can assume this appearance

Analyzing Mission Stats…

Analyzation Complete

Price: 120 Mission Credits

Do you accept the transfer?

]

Kai could have howled if his voice hadn't betrayed him. No words came out as he looked at the face in the mirror. Kai wanted it; he wanted Brock to be alive here with him. He had killed him, but he wanted to kill him again.

'I want to flay him alive!' Kai's teeth furiously chattered. 'I want to rip his flesh off! Bathe in his blood! Gnaw on his bones until the filth within them runs down my chin! I want to kill him! I want to kill him! Kill!'

'But he's already dead,' a voice told him. 'He is dead beyond doubt.' So, only a muffled grunt escaped.

"… Yes."

[

120 Mission Credits deducted

An amount of 100 Mission Credits is also deducted for the Miscellaneous Rent Box

Sending Contestant Kai Stormborn to the Random World

]

Kai's figure twisted and turned as a blue shimmer surrounded him. He lifted his head, looking at all the Notifications and the mirror beyond them. Even the volcanic anger on Kai's face had failed to annihilate Brock's calmness.

They looked at each other. Their eyes seemed to reach out one last time, clawing at each other's faces.

Swish!

The blues became bluer suddenly. The blinding flash took him away then, leaving behind the mirror; if it was a mirror. It stood tall within this room with white walls, its surface rippling now and then, and hundreds of faces tried to appear on the other side. But in the emptiness, it was impossible to tell the real from false.

Or was there ever such a difference?