Chapter Two
Amberly spent the day mentally preparing herself for her mission, traveling to a new world always engulfed her with multiple emotions that she didn't know what to do with. Excitement, what might she discover in this world? Will it include robotic people all copied from the mind of Ambrose based on his encounter with each of them? Or will this new civilization actually be intelligent with free will and minds of their own? Worry, what if she confronts dangers along her journey? What if she fails her mission? What if she gets stuck there forever? Confidence, with her high level of training and experience in this field, she knew that she had what it took to complete this mission flawlessly. Just imagining what Wizard City could gain from this knowledge gave her drive and faith in her ability to succeed.
Setting her backpack atop her bed, she began packing only the essentials. Spare clothes, plenty of gold for food and living expenses, her spell book and of course her wand. She glanced around her room realizing that she would not be returning for a very long time, it made her wonder how long she would be gone. She had already made arrangements for animal care so that her pet nor her mount would go hungry while she was away. She took in a deep breath, taking a peek at the clock that ready 6pm. It's time.
She teleported herself back to The Commons and made her way towards the Headmaster's office, stepping inside, she was able to spot him instantly. He was fumbling around in the corner, muttering to himself as he always did. When hearing the door shut, he turned with eagerness.
"Amberly! You've returned! I take it you've completed your packing then?" Ambrose stated as he stepped closer to her, holding a bundle of papers in his hands.
Amberly smiled silently and gave him a gentle nod.
"Good, good. Now, before we send you on your way, there are a few things that we must go over." He guided her into the other room where the map of The Spiral circled the space around them. The glistening jewels which mapped out the stars twinkled beautifully as globes hovered above their heads, each one showing a different world. On the back wall was something new, something Ambrose had recently added but Amberly had never seen before. It was like a chalkboard that used the stars to display the writing. There were separate categories, on one side was 'What We Know', while the other was 'What We Don't Know.'
"Now, while you were away, I did more experimenting on the mirror, trying to figure out a bit more about it before I sent you in there blindly." Ambrose began. "I managed to manipulate the image we had originally seen which allowed me to explore more of the land."
"What did you see?" Amberly asked when Ambrose had paused for too long of a moment.
He sighed then turned to his diagram on the wall. "The construction of the city is indeed symmetrical to our own but there are no monsters. On any streets. In fact, there seems to never have been any at all." He paused, tracing the words with his staff as he read. "Every street is the same but it seems that the only people who inhabit them are Wizards of the same school of magic."
"So you mean only the Fire Wizards go to FireCat Alley and only Storm Wizards go to Tritan Avenue?" Amberly asked.
"Precisely! They all seem to be divided for some reason, no Wizard of one school of magic interacts with those in a different school," Ambrose confirmed. He looked back to his board. "And finally, Bartleby."
"What about him?"
"He is not there, none of the school trees are there. I couldn't find any trace of them or any teachers for that matter." Ambrose's saddened face was intensified as he thought about the distress that this mirrored world could be in. "The Ravenwood School of Magical Arts does not exist. There may not be magic there at all!"
Amberly was dumbfounded by all this information, she wondered how these people could be living comfortably at all. Wizards who don't have magic, it was too sad to even imagine. She had no words to voice; her mind was a sinking ship. She kept her mouth shut, looking into the eyes of her Headmaster, knowing that he had more to say.
"What I need you to do is figure out what has caused the Wizards to be divided, what happened to Ravenwood and to the magic, and if these people have minds of their own. Can they be saved, are they prisoners or merely just copies. I suggest that you visit all the streets to help you uncover this information. I'm giving you seven days to do this."
Amberly nodded firmly. "I understand, you can count on me."
Ambrose smiled. "I know I can." He then turned and made his way to the door that led to his office. "Now, if you would kindly follow me."
Amberly did as he asked, following in his footsteps as they entered his office. She stood in front of his desk and waited for him to retrieve the mirror but when he turned around, the mirror was not what he was holding. In his hand was a small object in the shape of a rectangle, a large clear screen on the front off it and black glass surrounding the perimeter. Amberly chuckled. "Is that what I think it is?"
"I believe it is called a telephone," Ambrose said with uncertainty. "I may have stolen it from the nonmagical world where we had found you all those years ago."
The iPhone was handed to Amberly and when she turned it on, she noticed that it was not as she remembered. It had been modified…by magic. There were no apps that would be on a normal phone, only one. The image was that of a magical wand, the kinds she usually saw the novice Conjurer's using. When she clicked on it, the screen changed to the camera view where it showed an image of herself, she then heard a ring. Glancing back up at Ambrose, she saw him reach into his pocked and pull out a second iPhone. He accepted the call, once he did, they were each able to see each other on their screens.
"This is how we will communicate," Ambrose said as he hung up the line. "Call me at the end of each day to report your findings."
Amberly nodded as she placed her phone into her backpack then swung it over her right shoulder.
"Are you ready?" Ambrose asked, making sure she didn't have second thoughts on taking this extremely new and possibly dangerous plunge into the unknown.
"I'm ready," Amberly answered firmly.
"Alright then," Ambrose added, turning to his desk to retrieve the Mirror of the Mind. He held it up in front of her then tapped the bottom of his staff to the floor. He took a few steps back but the mirror remained where he had last held it, hovering in front of the Savior. He began muttering under his breath but his words could not be clearly heard, he then tapped his staff to the ground two more times.
The mirror shined a bright light from the glass that overtook the entire room. Amberly gripped the strap of her backpack with both hands and sealed her eyes from the brightness, holding her breath and praying that she'd be okay. Once the light diminished, she was gone.
Amberly opened her eyes to see that she was standing in The Commons, it was exactly the same which made her wonder if she was even in the Mirror World. What confirmed that she was, was the fact that everyone walking around seemed very emotionless and almost robotic. This was her biggest fear, were any of them real people?
They all wore solid colors, the ones that matched which school of magic they belonged to. There were no exotic colors of any kind, no whites, no pinks, not even orange was expressed on the clothing of these Wizards. It was almost like they were all in uniforms but there was no school. Amberly tried to get their attention but no one stopped to even acknowledge her, they all passed her by as if she wasn't even there. Glancing down, she noticed that she was wearing her favorite armored outfit from when she defeated Malistaire's evil ghost. She sighed, feeling foolish now that she saw how much she stuck out like a sore thumb. She knew her first order of business was to get a set of clothes that would help her blend in, she wanted everyone to think that she was just like them.
She made her way to the Shopping District which also looked exactly like the one in her world did, it was even just as crowded. The Wizards were traveling in groups; of course, only staying within their school of magic making everyone look as if they were color coordinating. Watching them all gave Amberly hope, they were communicating, gossiping, almost laughing with each other! This was the breakthrough that she had been hoping for.
As she continued down the street, she noticed that most of them just ignored her but there were a few here and there that stared as if she was an alien. In a way, she was. At least to them. She walked into the clothing shop that was ten times the size of the one back home with several columns of clothing around her, it was like she was in a mall. She sighed, she wasn't the best shopper and hoped she didn't take too long to pick something out. She decided to grab a handful of options to try on and go from there, she barely even glimpsed at what most of them looked like but didn't want to waste the entire day looking for one outfit.
Her arms were full with clothing that almost towered over her and blocked her vision, she shifted her grip so she wouldn't drop anything and then turned to look for the dressing rooms. By spinning too quickly she clumsily bumped into someone which caused her to drop everything she was holding onto the ground.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you. Please forgive," Amberly said quickly, worried that she'd upset the girl who stood before her with a tense look on her face. She had bright red hair and a solid green outfit on that perfectly shaped her body.
"What are you doing?" She had asked, staring at the mountain of clothes at her feet.
"Um, get-getting a new wardrobe." Amberly stuttered through her words, trying to keep herself calm as she spoke to this intimidating girl in front of her. She then realized that she may have to explain why she's wearing all of this armor in a city with no monsters. "I'm new here and didn't actually bring a casual set of clothes to wear when I'm not in battle."
The girl looked at her as if she were crazy, as if the idea of being in battle was absurd and when Amberly bent down to clean up her mess, she became annoyed. "Stop. Come with me."
Amberly didn't say a word as the girl took her by the wrist and pulled her to the other side of the store. She skimmed through the racks in silence then picked out a single outfit and threw it at her thoughtlessly. Amberly held it up and observed the design, it was very girly, maybe even sexy, she wasn't sure if she'd be comfortable wearing something like this.
"Put it on." The girl commanded stiffly, as if she were her mother.
Amberly was almost too afraid to decline her request so she did as she was told and went into the dressing room to try on the outfit chosen for her. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't too small on her, it actually fit her perfectly. The top was form fitted and probably a bit too low in the chest area which she did not prefer, the skirt was lose and flowy and ended just above her knees, even the boots fit her like a glove. She was blown away by how much she enjoyed the outfit. Stepping out to show the red-haired girl, she was almost embarrassed by the look she was given.
"Perfect," she said with a smile.
"Are you sure it's not too revealing?" Amberly asked shyly.
The girl chuckled. "That's the point. With a body like yours, you need to show it off; otherwise, why bother? Let's go buy it."
Amberly was stunned by her comment, the way she seemed so utterly unbothered by what people thought of her, how she can be so careless yet so eager to help her with finding the perfect outfit. She has a personality, she has emotions but it was different in a way and Amberly couldn't seem to figure out how.
"Yo! Are you braindead!? Get over here!"
Amberly snapped out of her thoughts and hurried to catch up to the red-haired girl who had been waiting for her at the cashier's desk. She quickly paid for her outfit and walked out with her beside her yet not speaking a word, she wondered if she would walk away, no longer wishing to keep conversating with her now that her dilemma had been resolved.
"So you said you're new, huh?" She asked once they exited the shop. "Where are you traveling from?"
Amberly froze, she didn't know if she could trust this girl or if she would fully understand her situation. Blurting out right away that she comes from a world that is an exact copy of this one would confuse her and probably worry her, saying that this world only exists inside of a mirror would ruin her chances of having this girl as her ally. She needed to choose her words carefully. "You've probably never heard of it, it's a very distant land much different than this one."
The girl nodded as she thought. "So why come here?"
"What do you mean?"
"This place isn't all that special, can't see why anyone would want to live here all places."
"If you don't like it, why not leave?" Amberly asked.
"Leave?" The girl seemed very confused by the word, like the concept of leaving this place was unfathomable. She stood there for a minute, lost in her thoughts. When she looked back up at her, her confused expression vanished. "I'm Robyn."
Amberly grinned ever so slightly as she shook the hand that was held out to her and introduced herself to the red-haired girl. "I'm Amberly."
