Our Mirrored World

Chapter Nine - Worry

Jane Dorris Taylor was looking at her phone intently after her daughter ended their call. Even though her daughter reassured her many times not to worry about her well-being, she couldn’t erase that on her mind after she heard what happened to Zarina.

Ever since they gave birth to her, they got worried because she sees things that are unusual, especially back in her childhood.

Zarina isn’t the type to play with other kids aside from reading fantasy books and locking herself up in their room. They couldn’t understand why she doesn’t like to interact with other people aside from her parents.

She used to laugh alone inside of her crib like someone was making her laugh when she was a baby. 

When she started walking and talking, she seemed to be talking to someone that they couldn’t see as Zarina kept saying that it was her friend in the other world.

There was a time that she couldn’t forget what happened since her daughter took action and got hurt.

FLASHBACK//

“Mom, there’s a goblin there that wants to get your coin,” Zarina, in her ten-year-old form, informed her mother coldly while pointing at their bedroom.

“Goblin? There’s no goblin here sweetheart,” Jane was preoccupied with preparing their lunch, but Zarina kept on tugging at the hem of her dress, so she wondered for a moment before looking at her.

“Sweetheart, we already talked about this right? There are no such creatures in this world, they’re just fiction,” She explained while patting her daughter’s head, but Zarina stubbornly shook her head.

“But mom, there is, please come with me,” Zarina insisted while pulling her mother into the bedroom. 

She thought her daughter was reading too many fiction books and maybe, she should start buying her some educational books. 

Plus, she also can't deny that her daughter occasionally sees things that are unknown in this world.

She wanted to do everything she could so that Zarina would stop seeing what she was seeing that they couldn’t. But what can they do?

“Are you sure you’re not mistaken, sweetheart? There are no goblins in this world, I’m sure you know that right?” Jane softly informed her daughter, she also doesn’t want to ruin her childhood spirit.

Zarina stubbornly shook her head, “No mom, I saw him, he even introduced himself to me, a tooth-fairy even came to greet me once when I hid my tooth underneath my pillows,” Zarina pouted at her mom, so she just sighed before coming with her completely.

She opened their bedroom door and noticed no one over there, “See? I told you, there’s no one here sweetheart--”

Jane gasped after seeing her daughter run and jump on their bed like she was strangling someone, “I got him, mom! He stole your coin!” 

“Ack! Let go of me! Don’t steal from mom or I'll hit you with my hammer!” Zarina almost cried, but there were no emotions plastered on her face.

Jane’s eyes widened, she couldn’t understand what was going on but Zarina stopped squirming on their bed and stood up.

She casually went towards her mom and smoothed her clothes before offering her hands that contained a coin.

“S-Sweetheart! You have a scratch on your cheeks and a bruise on your arms!” Jane exclaimed, horror containing her eyes while gazing at her daughter’s body. She pulled her daughter into the kitchen to tend to it, but Zarina shook her head.

“I’m fine mom, he got away after I retrieved your coin, he wouldn’t dare to come here again or else I’ll use my small hammer on him,” Zarina claimed before casually walking towards their living room.

Her husband was nowhere since he’s currently at work trying to give them both a better life since their daughter is now studying and almost near the high school level.

“Next time mom, let’s hide your wallet somewhere the sunlight wouldn’t make it shiny, they’re easily attracted to those things that are shining,” Zarina coldly stated before she collapsed on the sofa to read her fiction books, leaving Jane dumbfounded in the kitchen.

END OF FLASHBACK//

Fortunately, her daughter seemed to forget everything about it since she started focusing on her studies and excelling at what she could attain after she reached age twelve. She grew up and isn’t fond of those things anymore.

They were highly against her moving away because of her childhood, but Zarina proved to them that she’s capable enough to be just by herself from the city.

Jane bitterly smiled because they also can’t just stop their daughter from chasing her dreams and what she wanted to do now that she’s an adult and an independent woman.

She immediately hid her phone after she heard their main gates opening and closing. She knew her husband finally came back after he checked if the trains were working.

Aside from her, her husband is much worse when it comes to worrying about their daughter’s safety.

Barnus Dy Taylor immediately entered their humble house before gazing at his slightly anxious wife, “The trains still aren't working, I'm starting to get worried about our daughter, Jane,”

He informed in his low, stern voice, so his wife immediately just nodded at him, “She called me, Barnus,” Jane informed, so she started narrating to his husband about what happened about their daughter.

Barnus frustratedly scratched the back of his head, “I-Is she alright? Will you call her again? I can’t sleep at night when I don't hear her voice,” He firmly stated, making Jane shake her head.

She smirked before pointing at her phone, “I recorded our call! We could listen to her voice whenever we wanted to!” Jane beamed, so Barnus’s spirits were immediately lifted.

“Great! We should burn it on the disk and put it in our collection,” Barnus suggested, so they hugged each other before cheering.

Barnus and Jane had a large collection of photographs of their daughter; every new year, they photographed her and the changes she made to become the person she is now.

She’s like their sunshine every morning and their moon whenever it’s nightfall, they just love Zarina so much and couldn’t understand why their daughter doesn’t have any friends that visit her.

This was also the reason why Zarina left them in the province, they’re so attached to their daughter that they both have a daughter complex that irritates her completely.

After they listened to the call, Barnus paced back and forth making his wife dizzy while she’s watching him intently. She knew that there’s something on her husband’s mind even though she tried to cheer him up a while ago.

“There’s still no electricity in the city right?” Banus inquired anxiously, so Jane just nodded at her husband, who sighed in disbelief.

“This happened before I met you, I have this feeling that another opening has opened,” He claimed, so she shook her head.

“You know that won’t happen again, they already sealed it 21 years ago, we saw it with our own eyes Barnus,” Jane firmly stated while biting her lower lip.

She doesn’t want to think about it, but their daughter didn’t mention anything strange aside from the strange outage.

“What if someone saw the opening and did something about it? The System of the Universe would appear again if it’s related to that,” Barnus clenched his fists, so Jane softly shook her head before pacing towards to hug her husband.

“And what if they appear again? You didn’t do anything this time, so it’s alright, there’s nothing for us to be worried about,” Jane comforted her husband, so Barnus simply hugged his wife back.

“Let’s just hope that our daughter wouldn't be involved in such a matter,” Barnus whispered while gazing at their cream-colored windows.

***

“Luther! Where the hell am I?” Zarina panicked while gazing around her surroundings, she had no idea where she was after Luther chanted something in her apartment and everything turned into a blinding light.

She just opened her eyes a while ago and was reminded of the horror that she was being chased by some venomous snake.

Luckily, the snake was nowhere around her so it put her at ease, she quietly observed her surroundings and noticed that the place looked rather familiar.

It was an enormous forest, with several big trees towering over her, shielding her from the sunlight with their leaves and branches. A lot of unfamiliar forest flowers were to be seen and all of them were blossoming beautifully.

She placed her hand on her head, it was tingling in pain as she bit her lower lip. Zarina couldn’t understand why whenever she thinks deeply about certain places, her headaches. This happened after she turned eighteen, she thought it was just migraines since it happens occasionally.

Zarina still couldn’t understand why this place looked somewhat familiar, but all she wanted was to get out of there as soon as she could before some forest beasts found her, “Luther! I’ll kill you if you don’t take me back to my apartment!” She furiously yelled.

“Zarina? Are you there?” Zarina flinched after hearing a voice inside of her mind, she almost wanted to panic but she knew that voice.

“L-Luther? Is that you?” She replied, she was astounded that her reply was immediately channeled through her mind.

“Thank the wizards, where are you? I used a telepathic spell so that I could talk to you,” Luther casually informed, making Zarina shake her head.

How can he be so calm when she’s here somewhere that she doesn't know?! Zarina exclaimed in her mind.

“What the hell did you do this time? Where am I?!” Zarina couldn’t contain her anger, she’s just so furious that she didn’t realize she’s shouting at the forest.

“Explain to me the surroundings,” Luther demanded, so Zarina clenched her fists before rolling her eyes.

“Use your magic for you to tell where I am! You can even use telepathy for damn's sake!” Zarina furiously complained, so Luther just sighed.

He understands why she's behaving this way. Her apartment was transformed into a forest, a venomous snake almost injured her, and she is currently in a place probably unknown to her.

“My magic has limitations, human being, so be a dear and tell me where you are,” Luther pouted, “And you should tone down your voice, who knows what beast might hear you there? I still have to figure out where you are,”

Zarina stopped overreacting after hearing that warning from Luther, she knew she needed to follow that.

“I-I’m in a forest and I have no idea where this is,” Zarina nervously stated as she decided to sit near the trunk of the tree and hugged her knees closer to her. She doesn't want to put herself in danger anymore.

Luther wondered for a moment, she shouldn’t be included when he said reversed because those spells that he used are only for mythical things and beings like him, so why was Zarina included in it? He just shrugged at his thoughts.

“Alright, let me just do something and you’ll be back here in your apartment in no time,” Luther informed, so Zarina bit her lip while gazing around her surroundings.

She almost gasped after hearing small chuckles around her location, “L-Luther, I can hear someone laughing,” Zarina informed, but Luther didn’t answer him as he was preparing himself to take Zarina back.

“Luther? Are you still there?” Zarina felt like her heart was racing as she kept on gazing around her when she saw glittering dust falling above her head.

Zarina was out of words after witnessing a mythical being fly just to level her eyes; it was a golden fairy with sparkling wings, its dress looks like it was made from the flowers around the forest that Zarina’s in.

“A human?!” The fairy almost panicked after she saw her, but stopped for a moment as she gazed at Zarina’s eyes that were widened, “O-Oh, you’re not?”

Before Zarina could overreact at what she just said, she was instantly back in her apartment and now looking at the glowing mirror where she could see the sole reason why she was there in the first place.

“It’s good to see you back Zarina!” Luther beamed happily before un casting his levitation spell, he was exhausted since he used a massive amount of magic, he needed to eat and rest.

“Luther, I saw a fairy and she spoke to me,” 

That was the only thing that she could say since she’s still too shocked that she saw it, she saw a freaking fairy!

“Huh? Are you sure about that? You must be seeing things, how can a human like you see a fairy?”

To be continued…