Welcome to the Mirrorverse

Hidden within the tall pines of northern England, Hydanshire lay shrouded in endless twilight, a neglected village veiled in mystery. Its dark charm holds many secrets, but none more puzzling than those within a local establishment called "Essential Relics.” A shop of musty treasures, a haven for the macabre, and a place where the past hung like cobwebs in an antediluvian castle. The sign above the shop’s entrance, weathered by time and half-swallowed by ivy, spoke of spectral beings and soft whispers inside.

As dusk settled upon the village, gas lamps flickered in the half-light casting shadows onto the ancient cobblestones. Early evening breezes wafting down from the Scottish Highlands, carrying a moist earthy scent, engulf the old settlement.

A young woman, Miranda Bruce, captivated by Essential Relics' mystique, felt drawn to the entrance. She stood before the squat two-story brick building, its walls covered in yellow-green moss. The structure had a recessed door, black as coal, with a handle smack in the middle. Miranda slowly walked to the portal and, using both hands to turn the knob, pushed the heavy door, its hinges squealing.

The air inside Essential Relics was thick with the scent of old wood and the taste of forgotten lives. Dust motes twirl in random shafts of light, quivering gray forms, like ghosts, hiding in the corners.

Jesper, the shopkeeper, a character straight from the pages of Oliver Twist has hair that flows like strands of moonlight onto his shoulders, and huge crystal blue eyes reflecting an unknown depth of age. When Miranda crosses the threshold, Jesper levels a steady gaze while his knobby hands caress the antique figurines on his desk. After he touches an item, it seems to pulse with life, begging to be rediscovered.

An aisle, adorned with mirrors, catches her eye. Miranda stares, drawn by the play of lights on the glass.

Jesper notices Miranda gazing down the line of mirrors. Like strange portals into the unknown, each mirror, and there are more than a dozen, seems to harbor a unique tale of days gone by.

He clears his throat. “Young lady, these mirrors reflect more than the present, you know.”

She cocks her head and raises an eyebrow.

“Oh yes-yes,” he goes on. “Their glassy surfaces might be tarnished or cracked, but each reveals a world just beyond reach.”

“Is that so,” she says.

“Yes-yes, it is so. And only the brave venture down that corridor, and only when pushed by curiosity.”

“Hummm,” Miranda says. “May I walk down the aisle?”

“Oh, yes-yes, pleeease do,” says Jesper in his wheezy whisper. He then sits in a creaky chair at the head of the aisle.

Down in the darkness, each mirror is lit by a small white bulb mounted below the frame. The mirrors are sufficiently illuminated for viewing, but the bulbs cast an eerie light that hints at mysteries within.

One mirror in particular caught Miranda’s eye. It was the only mirror with no reflection because a wooden veneer covered the glass. And carved on the veneer was a riddle that poses a query.

What am I that reflects what you conceal? Yet I am not what I reveal. Answer this, unlock my game, discover where doppelgängers reign.

As Miranda traced the words with a fingertip, she contemplated the riddle. After a long moment, she turns to Jesper. “This one has a riddle.”

He chuckled. “Indeed it does. You must solve it before the mirror opens.”

She takes a breath and silently mimes the riddle.

Again, Jesper clears his throat. “Be aware, very aware, the mirror is a double deal.”

Confused, Miranda shakes her head, but whispers her two-word answer: "Hidden secrets."

With that, Jesper shot up from his chair and groaned; the wooden veil had yielded to Miranda’s touch, revealing a glass that sparkled with its own light. The reflective surface draws her close, and she peers into the transparent portal. A portal gilded with her own face.

As she stood before the mirror, her reflection shimmering and flushed. It is as if her physical visage itself becomes a mirror. A mirror facing a mirror. The effect produces an infinite number of her reflections pirouetting deep into a glass chasm. The vision reveals a myriad of doppelgängers dancing in the glass.

With trembling hands, Miranda reached out, drawn by the allure of the unknown. Suddenly she stops and draws back her hands. Afraid of what might happen, she looks toward Jesper. He winks and smiles. Reassured, she lets her fingertips brush against the surface of the mirror. Instantly she felt a surge of energy shoot up her spine and out the top of her head. With that, she is pulled into a parallel realm, familiar but strangely different. She is behind the glass.

With each step, she encounters new reflections of herself. Some show paths she had yet to tread, whispering of exciting new futures. Others reveal the scars of past traumas, urging her to confront painful experiences that linger in her heart.

Within this chaotic world, Miranda finds a strange solace in the act of exploring her own soul. With each revelation, she feels a greater understanding, as if she were peeling back the layers of her former self to expose hidden truths that lay at her core.

Suddenly, she comes face-to-face with a reflection of her exact form, life-size, and only inches from her body. Miranda is startled and a bit terrified. She turns abruptly to see if she can get out of the mirror, but there is no out, just more of whatever is inside the mirror.

"This is no game," she mumbles. The doppelgänger smiles, and Miranda barks, “Who are you?”

"Hello Miranda, I’m Jaz, one of your many reflections,” she says. “I’m a body double embodying one facet of your being. I’m here to welcome you to the Mirrorverse."

“You know my name,” Miranda says, a hint of annoyance still in her tone.

Jaz belly-laughs and dances around Miranda. “It will be fun, don’t worry. I’m one of your doppelgängers. I can reveal your secrets.”

“What do you mean, ‘reveal my secrets?’”

Jaz ignores the question. “Think of me as your significant other,” she chuckles.

“I don’t have a significant other.”

“This side of the mirror you do…many.”

“What secrets do you reveal?”

“Secrets that tell you who you really are.”

“But I know who I am.”

“Yes, of course you do. Maybe I should say, ‘secrets about the different the you’s living inside of you,’” she taps Miranda’s arm. “Your internal twins.”

Miranda, let out a breath, “Doppelgängers are look-alikes, not biologically related. I don’t think they live inside me or anyone.”

“In your physical world, that makes sense. Here, in the Mirrorverse, doubles are you, exactly you…but live a different life.” Jaz giggles, “Kind of a riddle inside a riddle, huh?”

“You say we’re in the Mirrorverse. What’s that?”

“Oh, the Mirrorverse. That’s the whole riddle in a nutshell. Miranda, you aren’t in Kansas anymore,” Jaz belly laughed again, slapping her knee.

Miranda, getting confused and not appreciating the laughter says harshly, “What’s so funny? Am I stuck inside this mirror?”

Jaz only smiles.

Miranda stomps her foot. “Take me back to Hydanshire?”

Jaz nods, “In due time, you’ll return.”

“I think I’ll return now, please,” Miranda says gently, hoping Jaz will snap her fingers and end this dream if it is a dream.

“Not now.” Jaz takes Miranda’s hand and spins her around. “It’s time to explore the Mirrorverse.”

Jaz tugs Miranda’s arm and pulls her down the aisle. Standing on the cobblestones, they encounter a woman playing the flute. It is Miranda’s musical double. The now whimsically charming Jaz begins to sway with the music, extending her arms, fairy-like, she twirls to the melody.

Miranda, feeling a strange attraction to Jaz says, “That could be me. I always wanted to play the flute.”

Jaz shakes her head. “Miranda, that is you. I mean, really girl, don’t you get it?"

Miranda nodded, her eyes revealing a new sense of awareness.

Jaz clasps her hands and gets really serious. "Miranda, I'm a part of you. I dance freely to the beat of happiness. In your world, they might call it being gay, but here, I'm just Jaz—your reflection that celebrates the beauty of love without boundaries."

Miranda, touched by Jaz's honesty, smiles for the first time since her mystical tour began. She started to internalize the meaning of the different reflections she saw in the Mirrorverse. "So, Jaz, the doppelgängers are reflecting my inner self?"

"That’s exactly what I’ve been saying,” she pauses. “And…I’m one of those reflections. Every reflection is a unique expression of who you are. It's not about hiding or even revealing; it's about embracing and celebrating the authentic parts of you."

As they continued the journey, Miranda saw more reflections of herself—as a farmer, a schoolteacher, a midwife like her mother, a chef like her father. After a while, she begins to struggle with the idea that the Mirrorverse reveals too many identities. "It just doesn’t make sense,” she says to Jaz. “How can so many people be living inside me. Didn’t God make me as one person with one identity?"

Jaz grasps Miranda’s shoulders and taps the top of her head with her knuckles.

“Ouch,” Miranda says. That knock causes a moment of spiritual clarity. In that instant, she understands that neither the mirror nor the Mirrorverse is the key to her self-acceptance. They simply illuminated the darkness that had masked her true essence. A mask that covered her life like the wings of a dead crow.

Miranda closes her eyes. She feels hot, much hotter than normal. “Are my cheeks red?” she asks Jaz.

Jaz studies her face so hard that Miranda pulls away. Momentarily shocked after seeing her exact replica…down to the tiniest wrinkles at the corner of her eyes...she begins to sweat.

“Yes, your cheeks are quite red,” Jaz says. “I’m standing a foot away and I feel your heat.”

“I’m tired, can I go home now?”

At that moment, a different kind of doppelgänger appeared out of the shadows. She is clearly Miranda’s look-alike, but with a menacing face, and tough eyes. As if she was born and bred in the violent streets of London.

This menacing doppelgänger steps forward, her presence casting a chill over Miranda and Jaz. Her eyes gleam with fierce intensity, and her hissy voice sends shivers down their spines. "You think you've seen all there is to see in the Mirrorverse?" she mocks, her words cut through the air like sharp blades. "You've barely scratched the surface of what lies within you."

"What do you want?" Miranda says, her hands and voice trembling.

The doppelgänger smirks; her lips curl into a malicious grin. "I want what every doppelgänger wants," she replied. "To exist beyond the confines of this Mirrorverse, to walk freely in your world."

Jaz jumps in front of Miranda. "You can't take over her life," she screams. "You belong in this world, not Miranda’s."

The threatening twin's grin widens, revealing teeth that glint in the light. "Oh, but I do," she hisses. "And I will. You see, ladies, every doppelganger has desires. Mine is to take over Miranda’s physical life."

Miranda's mind races as her body temperature rises; she can’t let this thing take her. Then, as if triggered by some higher power, she draws in a massive breath of air and lets forth a petrifying human scream, shocking Jaz and those around her. Suddenly, hundreds of doppelgängers appear around Miranda. In a single voice, they all shout one word – “BURN!”

The evil one had fallen to the ground, her hair on fire. A brilliant green flame moves down her neck and arms to her fingertips, which burst into white-hot flares like sparklers. Her body begins to swell and loses its form. In a blink, it vanishes.

With that, Jaz took Miranda’s hand, and they went into Essential Relics and up to the mirror.

“You don’t need an evil twin like that. She is no loss to you.”

The doppelgänger lets go of Miranda as she steps through the mirror. Jaz cannot penetrate the glass. She waves and smiles, but Miranda sees her no more.

The archaic mustiness of Essential Relics is the first to assault Miranda’s nostrils as she stands before the mirror. She then notices an unusual heaviness in her body and squeezes her forearms and feels around her hips to see if she put on weight. Hummm, ‘bout the same as before. Maybe the Mirrorverse has less gravity.

Miranda looks into the mirror, examining her reflection. Looks normal to me, she thinks.

She rubbed her eyes when, suddenly, the veneer, which was lying on the table below the mirror, vibrated. The old piece of wood created a rattling noise as if drawing attention to itself. Miranda picked it up and held it to the mirror. Instantly, almost magnetically, it reattached to the surface of the glass. Startled, Miranda stepped away.

She didn’t see that Jesper had come up beside her. He took her by the elbow.

Miranda was surprised and turned toward him. “You scared me.”

“You’re the second,” Jesper says, his watery eyes glistening.

“The second what?”

“The second to enter the Mirrorverse…and return.”

Miranda’s jaw dropped. Her neck and hands got hot and red. “Oh my God,” she says. “You know about the Mirrorverse and the doppelgängers?”

“Of course,” he nodded. “I’ve visited many times. How do you think I’ve lived so long?”

Stunned, Miranda’s face went slack with astonishment. “Oh!”

“Yes-yes. I started building Essential Relics three centuries ago.”

Miranda's mind whirled with the revelation. She stood stiff-legged in shock, as Jesper's words sank in. Three centuries? The weight of history pressed down on her, mingling with the shock of her recent encounters with both the good and bad doppelgängers.

As she absorbs the enormity of Jesper's revelation, a sense of purpose stirs within her. She realizes that her journey into the Mirrorverse wasn't just about confronting her doppelgänger or seeking self-understanding—it was about unlocking a legacy, about discovering her place in a hidden world that spans the centuries.

With newfound determination, Miranda looked at Jesper. "So, what now?" she asks, her voice steady despite the turmoil within.

Jesper's eyes twinkle with ancient wisdom. "Now," he says, "you embrace your role as guardian of the Mirrorverse. You wield a power few can comprehend, and with it comes great responsibility."

Miranda trembled, the weight of this newfound purpose settling upon her shoulders like a mantle.

Jesper clears his throat. "Miranda," this was the first time he used her name. "Be aware, very aware of your evil twin. She escaped the Mirrorverse once before. Count your lucky stars I was able to force her back."

Miranda gazes into the mirror once more, but this time with a sense of wonder and more than a little fright. She knows her journey is far from over—that it is only just beginning.

She steps away from the mirror.

“Am I ready for this challenge,” she asked, doubt in her voice.

But Jesper was gone.

And written on the mirror were these words: