Our Mirrored World

Chapter Four - Dream

“Oi! Are you still there? It’s been many hours since you last spoke to me!” 

Zarina grunted after she heard that strange voice booming around her apartment. She reached for her alarm clock to stop it from making some noises but stopped when she realized it wasn’t the one who was making that noise.

She clearly remembered buying an alarm clock that doesn’t talk, so what the heck is that about? Zarina thought.

She stood up before wiping her slightly swollen eyes because she couldn’t sleep that well last night because she was overthinking about the stuff that just happened.

Zarina gazed at her room and chuckled, “I had a weird nightmare,” she mumbled before remembering the moment she saw that blinding light that caused a strange outage into their city.

She met someone in her mirror and it was claiming that he was a wizard, he is probably since he can float and summon some fire magic with his bare hands.

“I must be proofreading too many fantasy stories already that’s making me see things unusual from this world,” she added before she decided to leave her bed and stretched some of her sore joints.

After she got out, she was astounded seeing her apartment was ruined because of the sunlight that entered the cracked and broken windows.

Her eyes widened before she ran to her bathroom to check if what she saw last night was real or not.

“Oh great! The human has finally graced me with her presence! How long do you people sleep? Are you trying to hibernate?” Luther asked, he’s now in another formal outfit that’s black and white combined.

“You slept for like, 12 hours! Is that even normal there? Hey! I’m talking to you!” he continued complaining while Zarina was still gathering her thoughts.

Zarina's eyes widened again as she tried to rub her eyes to check if what she’s seeing was real, “Y-You’re real, it wasn’t a nightmare,” she gasped before stepping away from her bathroom.

“Of course it wasn’t a nightmare, do I look like something that isn’t real? You offend me, human being!” Luther complained before gazing at what Zarina was wearing right now.

“Well, I could forgive you, you’re not wearing anything underneath that shirt, right? Would you show me what’s inside?” Luther playfully smirked as he clapped his hands, so Zarina hugged herself and glared at him.

She wasn't wearing any bras since her mother had told her not to wear them at night to avoid getting breast cancer. And because it's still early in the morning, her n*****s are most likely protruding to their full extent.

“You pervert! I swear to God! I’ll kill you when I have a chance!” Zarina furiously glared at him as she decided to cover her mirror with some cloth.

“Oi! Don’t cover me with that thing! Oi! Come back here!” 

Zarina left her bathroom with her eyebrows furrowed. She didn't want her day to be completely ruined just because of that pervert wizard.

It was quiet for a while as she decided to make herself some breakfast, just like she expected, some of the things here especially related to electricity didn't work.

After preparing her strawberry jam bread and her orange juice, her phone rang that captured her attention.

She stood up at her chair to grab her phone that was placed on the kitchen island, “Mom, good morning, are you alright?” Zarina greeted politely after she read the caller’s ID on the other line.

[Are you alright, sweetheart? We heard the news about what happened to your city right now,] Jane sounded worried on the other line, so Zarina just sighed.

She knew this would happen since her parents live in the provincial part of this city, it probably isn’t affected since it’s a little bit far from Lander.

“I’m fine, I’m not hurt or anything there’s just no electricity here, I have to go out later to charge my phone and power banks,” Zarina informed before gazing at her broken windows, her mom would probably worry if she told her about what happened to her apartment.

And she most definitely would freak out if she told her mom that she could talk to someone inside of her mirror.

Zarina doesn't want to worry her that much, her mother tends to worry so much ever since she was a child.

[Oh thank goodness, we’re planning to go there because of what happened,] her mother informed, so her eyes widened.

“Y-You can’t!” She exclaimed that surprised her mother on the other line, “I-I mean you can’t because things here are still a little bit complicated,” she reasoned out.

[Is that so sweetheart? We just like to bring you some goods if you had a hard time going out there,] her mother suggested.

Zarina exhaled a lungful of air before smiling, “You don’t have to, I chose an apartment that’s near a convenient store remember?” She reminded her mom, who immediately gasped on the other line.

[You’re right, you were clever that you chose that part in that city,] her mom complimented, so she just sighed in relief.

“Of course mom, now I’ll go first since I have to do some work even if I’m at home,” Zarina scratched the back of her head, this means she has to take a bath and see that pervert being again.

[I thought your work is suspended?] Her mom wondered, so she just sniggered as he remembered her boss that doesn’t even check the news.

“Our boss lives in another world, he probably didn’t even hear of television or news, I’ll go now mom, take care,” Zarina ended the call after her mom bid her goodbye.

She decided to eat her breakfast and clean her dining room before she planned on taking a bath.

Zarina thought she wasn't supposed to be doing this, but she can’t believe she’s tiptoeing inside of her own house.

“Oi? You’re walking there aren’t you? Are you going to take a bath?” she almost flinched after she heard Luther’s voice.

She cursed underneath her breath before casually entering her bathroom to take a bath, “Shut up, I need to take a bath and do my work,”

“Huh? What work? I didn’t know humans do that, I read here that they’re very lazy creatures,” Luther claimed while Zarina was placing her towel on the holder while gazing at the mirror that was covered.

“Where did you get that book? It seems irrelevant,” Zarina shook her head before she switched her showers to open.

“Oh my mentor, he’s interested in humans before and did research about them,” Luther replied casually as Zarina decided to shampoo her hair.

“So what is your work?” he added, so Zarina just sighed. People immediately stay away from her if she ignores them, but that case seems to be not working for this wizard guy.

“I work as a proofreader manager of different novels, most especially fantasy-related books,” she answered before deciding to soap her body.

“What does a proofreader do? I apologize human, it’s the first time that I ever heard that word,” Luther admitted, so Zarina just sighed.

“Proofreaders are in charge of finding and correcting mistakes in written documents, it's our job to review written material for misspellings and errors before publication and proofreaders check typeset proof against reviewed copies one last time before printing after typesetters have corrected it,” she informed before soaping her face.

“Eh? No wonder why you turned like that,” Luther laughed velvety, so Zarina furrowed her eyebrows. 

“Turned out like what?” she grunted while letting the water coming from the shower drip throughout her naked body.

“You know, like that? Cold, boring, typical human adults that only drink coffee to give light to their dark world while waiting for their so-called ‘salary’ what’s that? Is that money?” Luther casually stated, so Zarina flinched before clenching her fists.

She wanted to deny that statement, but she hates to lie about sorts of things that are facts, especially, it’s what she does ever since she started working.

It was her whole adult life and for her, everything was normal since she has an ongoing cycle that she doesn’t want to break.

“Also it was said here that your money disappears after you get it, are you sure humans don’t have magic in their world?” Luther asked innocently, making Zarina grit her teeth.

“Did you freaking read that from that book again?” Zarina complained before squeezing her hair to take out the excess water for easy drying.

“Yeah, it’s the truth, isn’t it? You’re not denying it,” He laughed inside of that mirror, so Zarina just grunted before wiping her face with her clean towel.

“Would you just please be quiet? I can’t concentrate when someone’s bothering me when I work,” She grumbled before walking out of her bathroom.

“But you just finished taking a bath, so you’re not working yet, human,” the wizard claimed, so Zarina rolled her eyes before drying off herself before slipping into comfortable clothes.

She went to her room to grab her laptop, it didn’t take her a while to open it, and decided to work in her dining room. 

Zarina just had to relay the activities she needed to do with the people under her. It isn’t much since their CEO just wanted them to inform their writers about Zarina’s suggestion. He took her advice and took precautions on announcing it to their writers.

“Oi? Are you still working?” Zarina hears that annoying voice again while she’s gazing at her laptop screen, she’s waiting for her people to respond to her.

“Oi! Human! Are you still working? Would you remove this freaking cloth? I’ll just bug you if you didn’t remove it,” Luther threatened, so Zarina glared at her bathroom.

She’s easily irritated when someone bothers her at work, it’s an attitude she’s trying to work at since she’s been hearing rumors about her being an ‘ice queen’.

Not that she cares, but she wanted to let people know that she could be nice sometimes too, “Human, human, human, human, human, human, human,” Luther created a piece of off-tune music while he’s continuously mentioning the word ‘human’.

Zarina slammed her fists on her dining table, she had enough with his constant bugging. She stomped her feet and paced towards her bathroom to remove the cloth.

“Don’t you have any friends? Why can’t you stop bothering me?” She furiously gazed at Luther, who immediately smiled after seeing her presence.

“Oh would you look at that, the human has finally graced me with her presence again, and for your information, I have friends, they’re something you couldn’t count,” Luther gloated, and Zarina didn’t care about what he just said.

“Then go find them, so you could at least have someone else to bother,” Zarina hissed and was about to leave when Luther called her again.

“I can’t let my friends come here! They’ll find out about you or this crack! We still haven’t solved this case, do you have the so-called electricity there?” Luther curiously asked, so Zarina sighed while shaking her head.

“No, there’s no electricity yet, but it’s morning here so we have light,” Zarina informed before gazing at the wizard who’s busy reading some book.

“Hm, then when will you call some help to fix your broken windows?” Luther curiously asked so she glared at him.

She almost forgot about that because she started thinking about work, she has to call for glazier until it’s not dark yet.

“Why is that your business?” She coldly said, prompting Luther to raise his hands before chuckling. He considered this woman to be too frigid and feisty for him to handle.

“Woah chill out! That’s the reason why you don’t have any other friends!” Luther claimed, so Zarina flinched before gazing at him.

“How did you know?” Zarina looked surprised so Luther stopped for a moment before gazing at her intently.

He wanted to laugh because he didn’t intend to mention those words.

“I was just claiming it, hah! You don’t have any friends!” he laughed out loud when he noticed Zarina looked bothered by it.

He stopped when he noticed her hugging herself like she remembered something from her past that she didn’t like to remember.

“You can laugh all you want, just don’t bother me at work,” Zarina coldly stated before she left Luther who looked stunned by what he saw.

Even if she didn’t say anything, her emerald eyes were enough to tell him that she was hurt by the thought of her having no friends.

Why would a beautiful woman like her don’t have any friends? Is it the way she looks? Come to think of it, Luther also thought she looked different from the rest of the human race he saw in the book that he reads.

She looks...different from them.

“Oi human, come here, I want to show you something before you work,” 

To be continued…