1 The Reflection of the Start
Moonlight streamed in through the red windows of an old room. Shards of broken mirrors laid scattered across the floor, each fragment marked by fresh blood.
At the heart of it all stood a young man, his image fractured and distorted across the numerous reflectors. Slowly, he turned, his blue eyes focusing on the last intact mirror with a hardened expression.
His hand bled, tiny mirror shards lodged into his flesh. Each passing second made his skin crawl in nervousness, fear.
Outside the room, his family was going through the same, he knew. He knew he should be with them, offering words of comfort, but he couldn't bring himself to do something so meaningless.
With the impending loss of a loved one hanging over them like a dark cloud, what good could words do?
It felt like putting a band-aid on a gaping wound. No, that was making it sound unnecessarily nice.
What was he supposed to say? What was he supposed to do? A cold gloom started to devour his senses. His legs wobbled.
The crimson moonlight made his usually calm, gentle, and almost feminine face look like a malevolent ghost, ready to kill even the most innocent of infants to achieve the goals buried deep in his heart. Honestly, he felt ready to do exactly that.
His elder sister, the figure he so admired, the simple lady who had always worked hard, who always called out evil like some cheap hero… That simple woman he expected to stand by his side till death did part was now in a situation of deadly crisis.
Half an hour ago, she fell into an Abyss—a place where Specters roamed in wait, where Ghosts feasted on the living.
Perhaps, even at this very moment, she was locked in a fierce battle for survival or hiding herself in some ditch inside the Abyss as it ate away at her, perhaps she was nursing her wounds. Or... She might have already...
The thought made his heart lurch.
Gritting his teeth, he walked towards the final mirror that reflected his appearance. This was his final hope to save her. It was all over if his plea failed. If his anger wasn't noticed.
He would lose Evelyn, he would…
The cold truth made his gaze tremble.
Before he died and transmigrated into this world eighteen years ago, he was different. He was not just a nobody living as a countryside noble. He was not from this world at all. He was from Earth.
He didn't have loved ones at that point, nor did he feel so attached to people, but now, it was different. He had people he loved more than life itself.
But unlike those days, he didn't have that special power; looking into the mirror only confirmed that.
On Earth, he could see many different worlds every time he looked into mirrors. He saw each world from the viewpoint of the most influential person of the era, that world's Protagonist. In that state, he was akin to a mighty god, an omniscient reader, a spectator. He used to feel all-powerful till the deadly disease called cancer killed him.
Only to open his eyes in one of the most frequent worlds he used to see—Aetherian Expanse. But now he was no 'god' looking at the 'Protagonist' from a high pedestal.
This world's Protagonist was so far, so much stronger than himself. He was already a strong Esper, already a 5th Ranker out of the 6 Esper Tiers with his overpowered Devouring Ability at that.
If he came to help now, all troubles would vanish, and Evelyn would survive, Soha thought pitifully, only to bite his teeth a second later.
"I just need to have a little, a half—no, a quarter of that guy's strength to save her!"
He knew, just like himself, Evelyn was just a meaningless character.
She had an Esper Ability unlike himself, but that didn't make her any more safe from the maws of ghosts. No one would come to help them other than themselves.
His only hope was the mirror.
Standing merely hand length from his reflection, his glare turned even more loathful of himself.
Weak, useless, meaningless.
And when it came to it… he couldn't do anything to protect those precious to him.
He, Soha Ravenhart, was akin to an extra in a story—unworthy of anything.
He was merely a spectator to the greatness of man, destined to stay behind in obscurity till death brought an end to his meaningless self. He felt cold. Lonely.
Take away his family, and he was left with nothing!
He felt like that little boy once more, traumatized by the sights in the mirror. Yet now, the mirror was his final strand of hope in life.
Reaching before it, he touched its surface. It was freezing cold.
Maybe the Mirror was his Esper Ability. Maybe by getting it, he could run to his sister's rescue. Save the day.
"Please… Show me the way. I am desperate. Do I have to cry? Kneel? Beg? Just say!"
His hands pressed against the glass, and his bleeding palm felt searing pain, but he couldn't care less. Evelyn—His Elder Sister Eve—might be in even more pain.
Then, He felt it.
His heart skipped a beat.
His hand sank into the mirror.
