A/N: Please take a moment to have a look at these:
lunissa. deviantart. com/ gallery/ #/ d4lrkb7 and www. youtube. com/ watch?v=M2EvHTA4n-Y
Thank you.
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Chapter Nine
Sanity
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An electric shock shot through Caphriel, and he sprang from the bed. Turning in every direction, frantically scanning the walls and ceiling, he cried out, "Zirah! Zirah, answer me, please! I know you're there, I can hear you! Where are you, Zirah? Tell me where I can find you! I'll do anything, anything! Just come back to me, Zirah! Please, Zirah, say something again! Zirah!"
He stopped, closed his mouth, clenched his teeth hard enough to crack them, and felt his knees give out under him, as the realisation of what had just happened sank in fully, like spikes of ice-cold metal.
He'd gone mad.
It had finally happened. He'd gone mad.
He'd heard Zirah's voice, that beloved, golden voice, after one thousand years, as clearly as though he'd been in the same room with him. And Zirah had called his name, had said he loved him, and was coming back. He'd sounded so lost, so desperate. And all that was impossible, because Zirah was gone. He no longer existed, not a trace of him, not here, not anywhere, because for beings like him and Caphriel, there was no afterlife. Besides, Zirah had never loved him.
Insanity was the only possible explanation, and Caphriel was glad of it. It meant that the long wait was over now, and Caphriel could at last cut his own string. But there was one more thing that needed to be done first.
"I love you too, Zirah," Caphriel said quietly, while tears went dripping down his face like rain. There, the truth had been spoken for the last time, no matter that it had been in answer to a hallucinated lie. Caphriel would not die untrue.
Blinded by his tears, Caphriel groped his way from the room, and stumbled down the narrow staircase, keeping a firm grasp on the railing. Death by broken neck was not how he'd planned it, after all. It wouldn't be permanent enough. He had to do this right.
He reached the bottom of the stairs, and moved down the corridor, heading for the kitchen, running his fingers along the wall to find his way. Then his hand struck something, something unfamiliar, and the sudden white-hot pain brought him to a temporary standstill. He fell against the opposite wall, feeling sick, and took several deep breaths.
When the worst nausea had passed, he made to move on. It didn't matter to him what he'd hit. Only one thing was important, he thought, as he threw whatever it was an indifferent glance...
...and stopped short again, slowly turned towards the thing. What he saw left him stunned enough to make him momentarily forget about what he'd been doing. What in the world was that alien thing, and how had it come here? Most importantly, why did the mere sight of it make Caphriel's heart beat so fast, as though it was about to burst?
Caphriel took a step closer and stood directly in front of it, tilted his head. It looked like a... like a...
...black mirror?