The Mirrorverse
Chapter 25

Syrhahn

“Am I dead?” asked Syrhahn, looking from the woman who had saved him from the cell, to Estrali Slavestri, the old man he had begged assistance from before; wondering at how he’d got the absence of the after-life so wrong.

“No, you are not dead, you just travelled for the first time,” the old man addressed him in a matter of fact tone. Syrhahn realised there were no armed guards in the room, and a quick glance established that it was only himself, the woman and the old man in the room.

“Let me introduce myself,” the old man said, arising awkwardly from his position leaning on the deck, and held out his hand out to Syrhahn. “I am Estrali Slavesti, head of the Slavesti household.”

Syrhahn shook his hand while he continued.

“This is Xhisara Blasitor, the biological mother of Angelli Slavesti. This was unknown to Angelli, or her adoptive parents.”

Eyes wide, Syrhahn stared at his son’s grandmother, struggling to piece it together.

“Travelled?” he stuttered, grasping on to the bit that didn’t make the least sense.

“Travelling through portals into either the same or different universes,” Xhisara explained. “Few of us are gifted, and I am one. The man that took Viskra is another. We do not believe he knew that Viskra is his grandson.”

Syrhahn’s head span. The man that can walk through walls is Angel’s father? He thought incredulously.

“I have known Xhisara since I was a boy, she is to be trusted implicitly. She is a lot older than she looks,” Estrali qualified, as Syrhahn wondered how a woman the same age as his wife would have been could be her mother.

“Why did you let me go saying you can’t help me. Why?” demanded Syrhahn, staring into the old man’s bright grey eyes.

“No-one knows of my contact with Xhisara. The guards know nothing of this. You have entered a locked room, and will leave a locked room undetected,” he was propped against the desk again, his spirit younger than his ageing body.

“Tell me, how did you do what you did?” he asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

“Do what?” Syrhahn was genuinely confused.

“In the bar. You killed trained bodyguards faster than the best of my men could do.”

“It was a long time ago,” he sighed, knowing where this was going. “I was changed. Angel changed me. But then how much can anyone change?”

“I did some research. There was an assassin aboard the Achernar. An exceptionally talented assassin, who disappeared twenty four years ago, never to be seen again. Until now.”

“What can I say, I met an angel,” Syrhahn half shrugged, his voice loaded with irony.

Syrhahn’s blue eyes met the old man’s grey with an understanding of what love can do to a man. After a long silence, the old man continued,

“You are willing to give your life for my great nephew, I can see that. And your life you may well give. You have no idea what you are up against. But Xhisara is as hell-bent as you to get back what that man took. So I bid you both good luck, and hope that you get the boy back.”

And with that, Xhisara took Syrhahn’s hand, and led him through a shining portal to the next stage of his journey.