27 Sera and Aurice

Aurice wakes up in the dark room again, her head in so much pain. Last night she went out to seek answers, but all she got were more questions. "GAAAAH!", she shouted in exasperation. She doesn't like this feeling, she doesn't want to feel helpless and incapable. There was only one place where she could find explanation to what has been happening to her.

She summoned the healing sphere once again, and as it did its task of healing, Aurice stared at the vanity mirror. "I know you're in there."

She felt stupid talking to a reflection when suddenly her image shifted. It was only for a short duration, but she knew she was on to something.

With the healing finished, Aurice stepped on to the middle of the room and spoke the words that would take her refuge – the Sanctuary of the Sage.

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Sera woke up in the middle of the night, expecting to feel excruciating pain. Instead of bright lights and injection stings, she felt only relief. It was even relaxing actually. She started to wonder if this was another trick, a part of the whole experiment. She still couldn't believe it, however, she quickly stood and went up to the vanity mirror to check. She never had imagined she looked this good. Instead of a bloodied face and beaten up, wounded body, all she saw was a well-groomed and healthy young lady.

'Ohhh', she sighed softly and smiled as she reached up to her face, feeling the smooth skin. Locks of hair covered her right eye and she moved her hand to brush them away. Suddenly, she froze and her mouth dropped wide open. She realized that the image in the mirror was not reflecting what she was doing. Its hands remained at the sides of her body and the locks of hair were still covering its eyes. It was looking at her, smiling at her.

Sera was very frightened at the moment and was about to run away, when the image spoke, "I knew you were in there somewhere. I need your help. "

Sera didn't know what to say. "Am I still dreaming? This can't be real. These things only happen in dreams, right? Yeah. I think it's a dream." Sera tried to keep herself calm.

"What? What are you—Agh! Hey, look at me. This is real, all right. This is very real." the image snapped, clearly annoyed. "But I'm as confused as you are, so here I am, trying to find the answers.", it gave out a short sigh and introduced itself, "Hi, I'm Aurice."

Sera still couldn't believe what was happening and she just stared at the reflection.

"Hello, person." Aurice said slowly, as if trying to talk to a child, and trying her best to be patient. "My name is Aurice. What's yours?"

"S-Sera.", the girl on the other side of the mirror stammered, the words barely coming out of her mouth.

"Okay. Sera.", Aurice smiled. "I know you're confused, and as I said, I am too. But I saw what they were doing to you- to us. I've seen what will happen to us if this doesn't stop. We need a way out of here. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Sera responded with a slight nod.

"Good.", Aurice continues. "Now, I want you to tell me everything you know that might help us find a way out. Do you understand?"

By now, Sera had calmed a little bit. She had no idea why she was still talking to her reflection. Paranoia slowly creeped into her mind.

'What if this was another trick by the Stedores to get something out of her?'

After going through all the horrible experiences, Sera was having difficulty trusting other people. Even those who she thought as her family put her in so much pain. First it was the people in the orphanage, and now the Stedores. She wanted to think that these people are doing it for a purpose, but why did she have to suffer. She tried to keep faith in them but she's getting tired.

She didn't realize Aurice was still talking. "...Sera.Hey, are you still with me?"

"Oh, oh. Yes.", Sera answered blankly.

"Oh-kay.", Aurice eyed Sera suspiciously. "Let's get to it then. Time to teach you how to use magic."

"Use magic. Oka—wait. What?", Sera burst out.

"You really haven't been listening, were you?" Aurice shook her head and breathed in deeply as she tried to relax herself. "Sera, I understand you have a lot on your mind. But please, we need to focus if we don't want to end up like the the bodies I saw, hanging from a ceiling. All right?"

Instead of agreeing, Sera reeled back in terror instead. "What are you talking about? What bodies?" Her eyes were wide open and she was trembling like a leaf.

Aurice, noticing that she made the situation worse, tried her best to console Sera. "It doesn't matter. Look at me Sera. I don't have time to explain; teaching you this spell is the priority as of the moment. Please, Sera. You have to trust me."

Sera closed her eyes, and after a minute of awkward silence, she opened them and said, "I will agree to your plan, miss Aurice. But you have to promise me that no one will get hurt."

Now, its Aurice's turn to stare back at Sera. 'Wow. This girl has gone through a lot of suffering and the first thing she thinks is the welfare of other people.', she thought to herself. Nevertheless, this is a problem she'll have to deal with later. Right now, teaching Sera the spell is of utmost importance in order to ensure their survival. She looked at Sera and tried to put on her best smile.

"Of course, Sera. I promise."