The Mirrored World

by Miguel Ángel López Muñoz

Part 1 appears
in this issue.

conclusion

“One moment,” said the little old man, moving into the back room.

As Crobber knew very well, the legend recounting that Nocturns (called Vampires in those days) were extremely susceptible to sunlight was an exaggeration. Susceptible, yes, but far less than people thought. Sunlight did weaken them a little, rather like the way humans feel weak after not sleeping for twenty-four hours ... but it had no serious effect on them. Only in very specific ranges of the infrared, precisely administered, was it lethal for them. And that was the purpose of the photonizer, the official weapon of the Nocturn Hunters and hard to acquire outside those official circles.

After a while the little old man returned with a photonizer and passed it to Crobber, who weighed it in his hands for a moment or two, then put it down on the counter.

“This is no good to me. It’s an old model.”

“It’s the only one we’ve been able to get hold of recently. The people in your department don’t exactly make them easy to obtain.”

Crobber frowned and resigned himself to the situation. He guessed it was unavoidable that he’d be recognised for the failed Hunter he was, if he went to the right places. He picked the weapon up again.

“I want a discount,” he said firmly, placing another wad of notes on the table.

“It’s a deal,” said the old man, his eyes sparkling as he contemplated the cash.

Crobber picked up the stake, pushed the photonizer into his belt and left the shop. Whether he was in the Mirrored World or not, he thought, it would all be finished very soon.

* * *

Over the decades, Crobber had amassed a lot of information about Phellax’ contacts in the shady society of the Nocturns (specifically with the Eradicum or Exiles faction, of which she was a member) and thanks to this he knew of a few of her hiding places around the Desert of Rham. Hoping to use the element of surprise by arriving unexpected, a card which he had never before played because he knew you could only play it once, Crobber headed to the south of the city as fast as he could. The sun was in the east, he was thinking, so he still had plenty of time before nightfall to attack with the advantage. Sunlight was the ally of the Nocturn Hunters, and Jeff Crobber did not consider himself an exception to that rule.

At last he reached the place, an abandoned 22nd century building, its interior dark and in ruins. Perfect for a Nocturn, he thought. He switched on the photonizer and entered the jaws. He knew he was exposed, and that Phellax might even have called for help, but he thought it unlikely. She was as uncomfortable among Vampires as he was in the company of Humans.

After passing through many rooms, stake and photonizer at the ready, he decided she was not there. He sat down in one of the fourth floor chambers, which was empty except for several mirrors at the far end, and paused to consider his next move. But he soon stood up again. That sensation was still with him ... the feeling that he was being ...

Suddenly he thought he saw something down at the end, close to the mirrors. But he was too late to react — a huge blow sent him headfirst to the floor. He instinctively discharged the photonizer and heard a cry of agony from an invisible throat. He had scored a hit, and on a Nocturn, he assumed ... but he was in no position to establish any more details. As far as he knew, Nocturns could not make themselves invisible. But rather than hang around thinking about it any further, he threw himself into action and ran into the adjoining room, where he imagined someone who’d been injured might go to hide and lie in wait for him. But as soon as he got there he took another overwhelming blow, which flung him through the wall and back to where he’d come from.

Spitting out gravel, Crobber sat up. It was still daylight. Nocturns simply could not be that strong, even when hidden in dark places. He looked out of a window and saw the last rays of sunlight, and soon realised the Mirrored World was playing mean tricks on him. He had seen the sun in the east and believed it was early morning, and this, added to his ignorance of how long he had been unconscious in the underground of Etapolis IV, had completed his confusion and prevented him from deducing that in the Mirrored World the earth would turn in the opposite direction, and so dawn and dusk would work the other way round.

He tried to grab the photonizer, but it suddenly moved out of reach as if caught by a gust of wind. He thought wryly that he really should take better care of his photonizers, or he’d lose a fortune on them — if he ever got out of this alive.

“What does it feel like?” said a voice that Crobber had no problem recognising.

“Where are you?” he asked uselessly, and nobody appeared.

“Look behind you,” was Phellax’ only reply.

Crobber did not understand what she meant, since the voice was coming from in front of him, but he decided it couldn’t be a trap. You don’t set traps for animals that are already cornered. So he turned around and saw Phellax close by. Through the mirrors.

“So at last you understand, right? I thought you’d have worked it out before, but I see you too ignored the legend of the Mirrored World. Everything here really does work in the opposite way, but there’s more. In your world, we don’t see our own reflection in the mirror. Here, on the other hand, we can only see ourselves reflected in mirrors. You must have heard about the Nocturns who managed to slip away from any number of Hunters, who attacked their victims in full daylight without meeting any resistance. Now you know how we felt; what my people have suffered all these centuries.”

“You’re wounded,” was all Crobber could say. For a moment he sounded concerned for her. “The photonizer’s hit you in the shoulder.”

“If it had been more modern it would probably have killed me.”

Silence. The combatants studied each other, although Crobber did not actually have her image in front of him. If someone else had been watching, the mirrors at the rear would have helped to interpret such moments.

“You can still change, Phellax.”

“I tried. It was impossible.”

“Something of what you were still remains.”

“I can never be like that. That destiny has been denied me. I’m not wholly Nocturn, in the same way that you can no longer consider yourself Human. Come with me. Be like me. You still haven’t tried it, and there is a hidden part of you that wants to do it.”

For a moment, a long moment, Jeff Crobber doubted. He doubted what he should do, what he should decide. Whether to stay by her side, even though she was now more like a monster or a man, or to prolong this torment to its final, logical consequences. At last he made his decision. And he knew it was the only one he could make.

“No, I don’t belong in that world.”

“In that case,” she declared gravely, “you will stay here, in the Mirrored World, forever. You could have been much more, you could have moved at will between both worlds, but you have chosen to remain a prisoner of one of them, just as you were until now a prisoner of the other.”

“You know there’s no alternative,” said Crobber, lunging towards the photonizer. He grabbed it in time and fired it, but Phellax was no longer there. She had escaped.

“If it is not to be me today, it will be someone else, somewhere else,” said Phellax, already far away, her voice echoing round the building.

Crobber ran over to the mirrors and smashed one with his fist. He grabbed the biggest shard in fury, and with blood oozing from his hand he went in pursuit of Phellax. He knew her well enough to guess where she had gone. He dashed out into the street like a soul possessed by the devil, looking constantly into the mirror glass until he saw her reflection as she entered a nearby office block. As he rushed inside, a security guard moved to stop him. Crobber knocked him out with one clean blow, and just kept going.

After a while, he spotted a thin trail of blood. He followed it along corridors and up floors until he reached an inner conference room. Photonizer at the ready, he barged through the door and found himself standing before a huge and empty oval table. He looked in his mirror and saw twelve men in business suits sitting and staring at him.

“First one to move ends up with fried eyelashes!” he said, advancing along a side wall towards a door at the far end.

The minute he was out of the room the alarms sounded. He pressed on down the corridors and up the levels until he reached the roof. The wind there froze him to the bones and made the light from his photonizer emit a slow shriek. He bolted the door he had come through and scanned all around. The roof was transparent, and empty but for the access hut and an opening for the piping. He went towards the opening. Too small for anyone to hide in, he thought.

He began to slowly turn around, mirror still in hand, pointing the photonizer in every direction and watching his back. Then he stopped and looked behind him. Nothing. He lowered the weapon. And suddenly, there was that sensation again. He looked in the mirror and there she was. She threw herself at him, committed to the bite. He moved aside, but not enough to avoid her. She lunged again, knocked the photonizer away, and prepared to attack with her canines. Crobber knew it was a last-ditch effort. But she had not noticed he was carrying another weapon.

Crobber drove the stake into Phellax’ heart, and she flew backwards and fell, badly wounded. He focused the mirror on her and saw her spitting out blood.

“I only wanted ... I wanted you to be with me ...” she coughed.

“The hunt is over. It should have ended long ago.”

“I tried ... to be ... like you ...”

“I know, my love.”

Crobber turned away and promised himself he would not watch. He really did think the hunt should have finished long before, and now he could sense the end, he was incapable of doing that. He regretted many of the things he’d done over those hundred years, but not those he’d done most recently.

He did finally turn round and look. Nothing. He focused the mirror on the spot where Phellax had been lying. Nothing. Then he raised his hand to his chest, and laughed a weak and bitter laugh as he realised what had happened.

In the Mirrored World, the heart was on the right side of the body.

* * *

Jeff Crobber did not try to follow Phellax. And after a while, he was satisfied that she was not trying to follow him. Freed from the pursuit, from the constant struggle, he now found himself in a world where Nocturns were more powerful, where he would have to sharpen all his wits just to survive.

Not long afterwards, he built himself a sophisticated system of mirrors which allowed him to see all around with many eyes, and to stay alert at every moment.

Then he picked up his few possessions, and resolved to dispense street justice amongst the Nocturns in the western zone of the Desert of Rham. He didn’t think Phellax would have decided to go there.

(For Sara)