Not What It Seems
Chapter 6

Several days passed, and Zeriah had not talked to me since our last conversation. She didn’t spend a lot of time in her study anymore. Some days she would come in, grab a few things, such as a book, or some herbs, or potions she brewed, but she never looked over at my mirror, or at me. I tried calling out to her a few times, tried to get her attention, but she would quickly leave the room and once again leave me alone.

Apparently, my words about non-demons really hurt her, and she didn’t want to continue our building relationship. I expected such a thing to happen eventually, just not this soon. Demons don’t often form relationships with non-demons. It’s like calling toy your best friend, it doesn’t work. In addition, demons don’t do well with compassion, and kindness. Anything that can lead to any form of love would destroy us in the end. So, we stuck to our own kind. And even then, we don’t hold a lot of feelings for our own kind.

Even my relationship with my demonic brother, was not the most pleasant. I could tell he never really liked me, and we would harass each other relentlessly. Demon life was meant to be a lonely one. And my own task of searching for a pure soul was one that would demand a lot of time with non-demons. He had the same task as me. And there were several others who would search as well. We had to look out for certain things that would distinguish the pure soul from all the rest, but it wasn’t down to a check list. Every pure soul was different from the other.

That’s why I wondered about Zeriah, but not completely certain. She’s the only human I’ve met that had eyes change color according to her emotions, and you don’t hear about a lot of mages that can only use Light Magic. I had to stay close to her a bit longer to see if I was correct. If I was, I needed to make sure to have her come with me back home. Xegon would be pleased if I brought him a pure soul.

Thinking about it brought the unpleasant, unfamiliar feeling in my chest. Why did I not like that thought? It was my job to replace pure souls and bring them to Xegon. But why did the thought of Zeriah being that pure soul make it so much more negative?

While lost in thought, I didn’t realize that Zeriah and her friend had walked into the room. Their voices caught my attention and I looked out the mirror to see what they were there for.

“You haven’t talked to him since I last came here?” Her friend questioned. “Why?”

She let out a small sigh. “He said something that I didn’t agree with our appreciate?”

“What’s that?”

Her eyes avoided the mirror. “He said that basically all non-demons are just their toys to play with. He doesn’t see us as living, thinking beings.”

“Well, what did you expect?” Her friend argued.

Her hand went to her head. “I know. It makes sense that demons think that way, but why it hurt more was because during the times I was talking to him, he didn’t treat me like a toy. He treated me with respect and would share things with me that I would expect him to share normally. He treated me like a person. For him to say that after being treated like that was a harsh blow.”

Her friend nodded. “I get it. Well, luckily you won’t have to deal with that much longer. Can you grab the mirror while I get things set up for the spell?”

Zeriah nodded and walked over to the wall where my mirror hung. She only glanced at me before she lifted me off and walked towards her friend. She didn’t say anything and didn’t look at me again. My words had really affected her, and that unpleasant feeling settled in my chest again.

“Zeriah,” I called to her. She didn’t look down at me, but I continued. “Once I am out, would you want to travel with me? I promise I’ll be on my best behavior.”

“No.”

Before I could say anything else, I watched as she placed the mirror on the ground. I could only see the ceiling and a small little bit of the walls. I kept watching and saw the room light up with magic. Loose papers began to fly around, and I could feel my prison shaking. The glass cracked, but the spell ended, and I was still trapped in the mirror.

“Blot.” Zeriah’s friend stated. “I was certain this was going to work. There must be more behind the spell keeping him there. Maybe there’s a stipulation we aren’t hitting.”

Zeriah let out a sigh and walked over to the mirror again. But once her hands touched the frame, a pulse of magic escaped from the mirror, and the spell activated again. Zeriah was trapped in the middle and her fingers had a death grip of the frame of my mirror. She let out a scream of agony and the glass continued to crack until it finally burst. A bright flash of light blinded me for a moment.

Once the light subsided, I slowly opened my eyes. My vision was a little blurry for a bit, but quickly cleared up. I was standing in the middle of the study, and now that I wasn’t impaired by the edges of my mirror, I saw that there was a magic circle on the ground. I was in the center, and I noticed several items around it. Zeriah was right in front of me, her hands grasping mine in a death grip, and her eyes squeezed shut.

I glanced over at her friend, and he had a startled expression. I didn’t know if he truly thought I was real, or if he was playing to Zeriah’s information of me being there. If anything, he didn’t expect me.

Zeriah’s grip on me eased up, and my eyes went back down to her. Her pained expression changed to one of peace. As I looked over her, I felt I was seeing her for the first time again. I had forgotten how vibrant the colors of the world were. The mirror had made things duller and muted. Freeing one of my hands, I reached up and touched her auburn hair, I could see the more distinct reds in the highlights now, and it was mesmerizing.

She suddenly swayed to the side. Acting without thought, I reached out and caught her in my arms before she could fall. The sudden weight caused me to stumble to my knees and hold her close to my chest. Something wasn’t right. What happened in that spell that caused her to pass out?

My eyes went to her friend. “I’ll take care of her. You go get a doctor.”

He nodded and left. His concern was more on Zeriah than on me.

My attention went back to the mage, and I carefully lifted her in my arms. Walking out of the study, I placed her on her bed. My eyes scanned over her. She had no superficial injuries, somehow the spell must have exhausted her. But why did it work with her when it didn’t work before. One good thing was that I was free. But something told me I had to stay close to her for a while.

Standing back up straight, a sudden wave of exhaustion washed over me, and I realized that Zeriah’s friend was right. Being in the mirror for so long had weakened me to an extent. I needed to rest. But I didn’t want to be seen when the doctor arrived. I was quite obviously a demon and didn’t have the strength to disguise myself yet. So, I decided to hide myself in Zeriah’s study and rest until it was safe to come out.

Once I closed the door, I leaned against a wall and sunk down to the floor. My eyes grew heavy and I slept for the first time in a long time. And for once, I felt safe in my surroundings.