I saw him within it. He was twisted and terrifying, snarling at me with shrieking eyes and dying skin. His markings bleed, his messy golden hair missing in large chunks. It looked as though he had been scalped. My chest had constricted in fear, and every inhale brought with it nausea.
We stood below the mirror and looked into a dark, shifting nothingness. I wondered what gnarled powers held the thing; it felt as though the eyes of Fen'Harel were upon me. I reached for Tamlen's arm, and found it cold, even with his flushed skin and heaving chest. The spiders had been no challenge, but the animated corpses had almost overpowered us.
"We should leave," I whispered, and attempted to tug him down a few steps. He resisted me, jerking his arm from my clutch.
"Aren't you curious?" he enthused, looking back to me. For a moment, I thought I saw the tendrils of the mirror dance in his eyes. I let him ascend the stairs, watched as he reached for the glass. I saw it move beneath his fingers, and when I tried to hurriedly force him back. There was a monstrous shove against my body, a screaming light, and I was sent crashing into the wall.
I dreamt of terrible things. For the majority of my slumber, I felt as though I were falling but would never reach the ground. Eyes were around me, bloody and full of hatred. I struggled against them, but could not end the nightmare.
I awoke in my camp, more dead than alive. I remembered strange flashes of clarity, seeing a shemlen's face, awaking one night in a blind panic and screaming out for Tamlen. The rest was full of eyes and darkness.
My Keeper wanted me to lead a party to search for our missing friend. I was disoriented, and I still cannot recall a single conversation from that day. I led Merrill to the cave entrance, but before we entered, I stopped and vomited in the brush. What came out of me was black and twisted in the sunlight. It was my stomach was tearing itself apart, trying to expel the sickness that I was hosting. Merrill insisted we return, but I would not leave without Tamlen.
We searched all levels of the ruin, and found nothing. When we reached the mirror once again, I was feverish, dry heaving into the rubble. I was still walking, but everything shifted under my feet. I was frigid in the sunlight and burning in the shade.
We staggered into the furthest room, where Duncan introduced himself. He argued that the mirror needed to be destroyed, and as Merrill was first attempting to resist, I saw his shadow in the reflection. Tamlen was nowhere, and yet I am certain I saw him within the Eluvian. He was hung from a tree, twisting in the unnaturally stiff way long dead corpses do. I panicked, and Duncan shattered the glass, no longer arguing.
Duncan offered to carry me back to the camp, but I denied him. I may be dying, but I will not risk others' lives. I could feel the skeletal hand around my heart, whispering for me to slip away. I fought, and stumbled into the camp once again. My people were upon me immediately, removing my armor to allow my lungs room to fill. I was carried into the healer's tent, where I fell once again into the Dread Wolf's jaws.
I was carried, in my dreams, to a field. The sun was dim and far away, a pathetic golden orb in the sky. Tall grasses swayed under my touch as I walked, unashamed of my nakedness. There was nothing past the fields, not mountains or rivers. I was lost.
Until a wolf came upon me. He was monstrous, standing as tall as I was and blindingly silver. His eyes shown with lies. He bid me to follow, and I did not. I may be dead, I thought, but I know the Dread Wolf when I see it.
"Would you be so willing to mistrust if I lead you to your lover?" he spoke, and I looked him over. His voice was calm, soft, and I found my feet following his steps. We crested a hill and the fiend began to run. I followed, gliding through the grasses with ease, but watching his frame grow smaller and smaller. I screamed when he finally disappeared from sight. I shrieked that he promised to lead me to Tamlen.
I remembered why you are never to trust the Great Wolf as the ground shriveled beneath my feet. I was left, cold and alone, once again.