The Dark Reflection Ritual

Ever accidently or purposefully broken a mirror? Have you ever felt as if someone was watching you from the other side of a mirror, or seen something ominous glaring back at you in the mirror? By this point, everyone is aware that smashing a mirror will bring bad luck for seven years. There have long been myths and legends involving mirrors. The idea that mirrors have a cleansing effect was once held by ancient civilizations is one such urban legend. They thought that by gazing into a mirror's reflection, one may channel their bad energy into the mirror's reflection. While they thought it had a purifying impact, there were also unrecognized risks.

This is why shattering a mirror results in bad luck. Think about it for a moment. If the legends are indeed true, then every time you looked into a mirror, you've been unknowingly transferring negative energy into it. One can only imagine how much negative energy that's been trapped into whatever mirror that's been stared into. And when someone breaks a mirror, all that negative energy will be released, causing bad luck to everyone around it.

Tis is what Sonic The Hedgehog is interested about, as his good luck hasn't been on the highest of highs for years at this point.

Sonic had already located an incredibly outdated mirror that he had little trouble smashing in order for this ritual to be effective. The concerned mirror was not a family relic, either. The manifesto claims that the older the mirror is, the greater the risk and, ultimately, the larger the reward provided to Sonic as a result of this ritual. When you consider how an older mirror receives more bad energy from being glanced into, it makes a ton of sense.

Sonic would wait until after sunset, at least six hours before sunrise, to carry out this ritual because that is the latest moment at which he can begin it. Sonic does forewarn himself that the ritual cannot be stopped once it is started, therefore he must prepare to complete it, which he does so. Sonic would start the process by gazing intently into the mirror for one final time, sending more bad energy into it. Sonic only needed to look in the mirror for a short while, but he continued to stare at it for ten seconds, as if to be sure the ritual would be effective.

Sonic would inhale into the mirror as he leaned forward, obscuring it. This is referred to as breathing on the mirror in some sources. Although Sonic has heard that the word breath previously had a meaning akin to spirit, he must admit that he finds this uncommon for someone like him. Sonic is figuratively connecting himself to the mirror and the imprisoned negative energy by exhaling into the mirror. The effectiveness of the ritual depends on this connection. Sonic would then take a medium-sized candle from his drawer, ignite it with a match, and use it to burn the mirror. Sonic has heard that doing so stirs up the bad energy. Sonic continued doing this until the mirror had a black mark on it, still willing to make sure the ritual does indeed work. Though, the longer Sonic would do this, the more agitated the negative energy becomes.

1:00 AM

After everything was finished, Sonic would smash the mirror with a punch using his enhanced strength before bursting out of his house. It's a frequent misconception that shattering a mirror portends ill luck, however this is untrue. When a mirror is cracked, the bad energy congregates there until it dissipates from the area. The bad energy is now pursuing Sonic throughout the night since he has accomplished all the aforementioned steps and tied himself to it through the means of his breath. This is the main justification for doing the ritual in a group. Sonic is by himself in this ceremony, though. Because of this, all the negative energy will pursue only him. If he had a group, then the negative energy would spread more thinly, increasing the odds of survival.

While being pursued by bad luck, Sonic is unable to use his signature enhanced speed. Sonic was unable to use superspeed because of the ritual. Even for someone like Sonic the Hedgehog, whose endurance and stamina aren't even slightly or negatively impacted, a situation like this doesn't really matter. Furthermore, Sonic has some experience sprinting at speeds greater than that of a world-class sprinter, such as 40 MPH. Sonic would take advantage of the fact that the ritual has no effect on his enhanced stamina and endurance, in contrast to how it would on his speed, and sprint aimlessly while the bad luck pursued him throughout the night.

The first two hours of the ritual would be filled with insignificant mishaps, such as Sonic nearly tripping over some tree roots or experiencing other strange slips, getting his gloves torn apart by unknown forces, and nearly colliding with the stony walls of a forest Sonic goes through. After Sonic completes the first two hours of the ritual, these instances will only worsen into horrifying occurrences, according to the ritual. By the end of the first two hours, Sonic will be in a rural area where he can view animals and sparsely populated people. No matter the location, Sonic never takes the chance of stopping.

3:00 AM

Sonic keeps running while taking a good look at the humans feeding the cows, roosters, horses, and other barn animals that they come into contact with. Sonic would pause to take a brief glance at the farmers and animals before turning to face the bright lights in front of him, making him short in horror and forcing him into dodging them. Sonic would eventually clear his vision and realize that the vehicle that had almost run him over without warning was a truck. Sonic normally wouldn't be too happy of people leaving their lights off at night, but he'd chalked it up to the ritual itself almost seriously injuring him.

Sonic would run into a variety of animals midway through the ritual that would try to find him for various reasons. Even placid creatures like deer and wolves have changed their behavior, and Sonic is unsure whether this is due to the ritual itself or meme the animals' instincts. Whatever the cause, Sonic would easily outrun any of the smaller creatures, such as deer or elk, while barely escaping from bears and wolves. Sonic would have to use the surroundings to his advantage, such as easily climbing trees, blocking their view with dense plants, or scouting out the most secret hiding spots—either underground or through tunnels.

And it's only a matter time before he gets into an urban area.

5:00 AM

Sonic has been in the ritual for four hours and is currently in a city. He is currently in Station Square, a place Sonic remembers clearly and with affection. Sonic could see very few people as he proceeded to dash into the city, indicating that although Station Square is still largely packed at night, this particular night isn't quite as exciting. While there, he scans the area for any potential threats that might help his bad luck catch up with him. One potential risk Sonic would consider is unintentionally falling into the city's water supply. From how advanced they would be at Station Square, electrical outlets short-circuiting remains a potential risk.

Sonic was forced to jump 50 feet horizontally off the road and onto a sidewalk after hearing a semi-truck coming toward him above the speed limit. Sonic had no more time to think about the other potentially fatal incidents that were now taking place during the ritual. Sonic recalls being able to hold his breath from the negative energy that continues to pursue him because his breath is connected to the bad energy itself as he now realizes how serious the incidents are becoming. Sonic doesn't like things to be simple, thus he chooses not to try to hold his breath because he enjoys a challenge and is a thrill seeker.

6:00 AM

He has one hour left. The ceremony will be finished in one final hour. Sonic observed a short circuit in an electrical socket, but he didn't slow down or get out of breath. Sonic leapt over it without being able to use his superspeed and continued to run until he became aware of a nearby tower. Sonic decides to climb the building, but given his diminished superhuman speed, it would take him some time to reach the top. As he arrived at the building, Sonic would gather the bravery to begin climbing, hoping that the ceremony wouldn't include any aircraft.

Sonic struggles to climb the skyscraper since he keeps slipping and running the risk of tumbling off every time he grabs a ledge to cling on. Additionally, Sonic would nearly be struck by several birds flying by him, whether on purpose or not, as his luck is at an all-time low right now. Not because he is terrified of heights, but rather because he wouldn't know if he was even close to the top of the building, Sonic wouldn't bother to look down to see how high up he is. Sonic would keep at this laborious work until a cloud rushed into him and through him. Sonic reached the top of the building after another five minutes of ascent.

Sonic would pause for a bit to admire the scene of the mass of clouds and the starless night sky in front of him, with the tiniest glimmers of sunlight illuminating the sky with each passing minute. Sonic would have always acknowledged to himself how breathtaking the scene of the soon-rising sun, with the night sky brightening and the ritual nearing its finish, is, even if he had never expressed it to anybody else before. When Sonic heard a little plane flying behind him, he would start to become aware of his surroundings. Sonic instinctively leaped over the roof of the skyscraper's tip as he shouted in despair. Sonic sees himself ready to jump into the city's water supply as he is falling back into Station Square, which causes him to gasp in horror.

Sonic crashed into the water, but he was able to catch his breath and hunt individually for the water supply's safest path. Sonic paddled his legs until he reached a sag that would allow him to rise to the surface. Sonic would use all of his leg power to jump 20 feet using the buoyancy of the water after determining that the surface was too high for him. After being launched out of the water supply, Sonic would grab a pole and do an air trick before landing on one of the sidewalks in Station Square. He would see the night sky start to ignite while gasping loudly from the adrenaline rush he was experiencing.

This made him realize to check the time on one of the electronic clocks Station Square has.

7:10 AM

A new run of good luck is now beginning, as the light of morning purifies any and all negative energy that pursued Sonic all night. Sonic would exhale with the ultimate satisfaction after the ceremony was finally done, reminding him that because sunrise has returned, his streak of bad luck has finally ended. Sonic's body reabsorbed the entire pure energy, filling him completely. After that, everything seems to go Sonic's way: he spends more time with Tails and Knuckles, isn't constantly being chased by Amy, and perhaps Dr. Eggman doesn't cause as much havoc to him or the Earth.

People will be generally nice to Sonic, and both male and female sex would be attracted to him, even if that's not really his thing. He would succeed at anything he does, whether it'd be a job interview, important exam, or even a business venture. Sonic would even suggest to himself to buy a lottery ticket at one point to put himself on easy street for the rest of his days.

Sonic remembers that the amount and duration of his positive energy would equate to the negative he once had. That would've meant that if Sonic just bought himself a new mirror, his good luck would've last for only a few days. But since Sonic found an older mirror, that meant his lucky streak is far more powerful, and would last months or even years, if not decades or even his whole lifetime given how old the mirror was prior to shattering it. If Sonic had used a more of a more personal connection, like one in his bathroom or one that his mother bought him in his childhood, then the good fortune he's experiencing would be more suited to his tastes and desires.

But, Sonic is reminded by these advantages of what may have happened if he had begun the process differently. Regarding the ritual that people attempted to perform, there are cheats. The negative energy wouldn't have enough time to emerge and would disappear if Sonic tried to execute the ceremony during the day, precisely a few minutes before dawn, thus no changes would occur and everyone would leave thinking the ritual was a massive hoax. Sonic's chances of surviving would be considerably reduced if he attempted to carry out the ritual to destroy the evil energy during the day, say at 11:00 AM, as the purifying power of the dawn, not the light of day, wouldn't be used.

Sonic felt chills run up his spine by merely thinking of such possibilities and events.

A lot of Sonic's Friends would call him stupid or crazy for performing such a ritual to have his good luck come back to him. Would you blame him for that, though? Can you understand the willingness to control your very luck, good and bad, rather than accept the seemingly random twists and turns Life itself throws at us all?