It had been two days since the last time Noel appeared in the mirror.
Ethan tried not to panic. He told himself Noel would come back. Maybe he was resting. Maybe the mirror world worked differently, with time folding in strange ways. But none of that quieted the ache in his chest.
He found himself talking to the mirror anyway. Whispering. Checking every few minutes. Sleeping on the floor beside it, hoping he'd wake up to that soft glow, those familiar silver-blue eyes staring back.
But the mirror stayed dark.
Until the third night.
Just past midnight, Ethan stirred from a half-sleep. A soft hum echoed in the room — faint and crystalline, like wind chimes caught in moonlight. The mirror flickered, and then, slowly, it lit up.
Noel was back.
But he looked... different.
His hair was longer, falling over one eye like silk. His robe shimmered with threads of silver. And his eyes — always glowing — looked dimmer somehow. Like stars trapped behind storm clouds.
"Noel!" Ethan scrambled upright, nearly tripping over the blanket tangled around his legs. "Where have you been?"
Noel didn't answer immediately. He lifted a hand, pressed it gently to the inside of the mirror, and exhaled. "I had to return to the Silver Garden. It's where the mirror draws its power."
Ethan mirrored the gesture, their palms separated by nothing but a thin plane of glass. "Are you okay? You look... tired."
Noel offered a small smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "The garden takes more than it gives."
Ethan wanted to ask more — what the Silver Garden was, why Noel had to go there, what it meant that the mirror 'drew power' — but Noel's voice dropped to a whisper.
"Ethan, there's something I need to show you."
And then, the mirror rippled.
Like water.
Like a portal.
Ethan stumbled back as light poured out from the glass, casting his room in silver-blue waves. His heart pounded.
"Wait — am I dreaming?"
Noel looked sad. "No. But it won't stay open for long. I... I can bring you in. Just for a moment. If you trust me."
Ethan didn't even think. He reached forward, fingertips brushing the mirror's surface.
And the world flipped.
---
The air was colder on the other side. Soft and laced with scent — a mix of metal and moonlight, sharp and sweet. Ethan gasped as he looked around.
They stood in a vast open space under a silver sky. No sun. No stars. Just light, and wind, and thousands of glowing trees — white bark, shimmering leaves that whispered even when there was no breeze.
The Silver Garden.
It wasn't a garden in the traditional sense. No flowers. No paths. Just endless silver — trees, vines, grass, even the mist that curled around his ankles like lazy spirits.
Noel stepped beside him, quieter now.
"This is the heart of the mirror realm. It was once a place of life. Of royalty."
Ethan stared, trying to understand.
Noel turned to him. "I was born here. My family ruled this world... before it shattered."
"Shattered?"
"By betrayal."
The word hung in the air like frost.
Noel walked forward, and Ethan followed. Their feet made no sound on the glowing ground. As they moved deeper into the silver woods, Ethan noticed statues — people frozen in crystal, trapped mid-motion. Expressions of fear, grief, anger.
He stopped. "Are these... real?"
Noel nodded slowly. "Victims of the Fracture. When the curse began. The day I was sealed away."
Ethan's throat tightened. "Why are you showing me this?"
"Because you're the first person to ever speak to me again. The mirror chose you for a reason."
Ethan looked up. "And what reason is that?"
Noel turned. His eyes met Ethan's. "Because... you might be the one who can break it."
---
They walked to the edge of a frozen lake. It shimmered like liquid glass, completely still. Noel crouched down beside it.
"This was once a mirror pool," he said softly. "A place of reflection and healing. Now, it only shows what we've lost."
Ethan glanced into the water.
He saw Noel as a child — laughing, running through the silver trees, crowned in white roses.
Then he saw another boy. Older. Angry. Familiar.
"Wait..." Ethan leaned closer. "Who is that?"
Noel hesitated. "My brother."
A chill ran through Ethan.
Noel didn't elaborate. He stood, brushing off his robes. "We don't have long. The mirror can't hold you forever."
Ethan frowned. "So what happens now?"
Noel turned to him, expression unreadable.
"Now... we begin."
The garden shimmered. The trees began to fade. The air tightened.
Ethan felt himself being pulled back — light curling around his wrists like silk chains. Noel stepped back into the mist.
"Wait—!"
Noel raised a hand. "We'll see each other again. Soon. But Ethan... don't trust the reflections. They lie."
With a final pulse of silver, Ethan fell backward.
Back into his world.
And the mirror was dark.
Again.
But this time, Ethan wasn't afraid. He knew Noel was real.
And the truth? The garden, the curse, the betrayal — it was all just beginning.