《Eldritch Guidance: Vanity》 Chapter 1 - The Angry Beauty Within the metropolis of the old city of Graheel sat a big pristine mansion. It was a very old, but expensive looking home. Inside the building, screaming could be heard along with the sound of things being broken. Outside the room where the commotion was going on, there were maids and the staff waiting nervously. They looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Their attention then turned towards a middle aged man in a suit and tie standing directly in front of the door. The man''s gray hair and clothing, which otherwise would have been neat and clean, was messy and unkempt. He had deep dark bags under his eyes and looked extremely stressed and tired. This man is Patrik Hik. He¡¯s Aria Litz manager and is currently standing in front of the door to the room where his client currently resides. Aria was the one that was screaming in the room and Patrik was debating if he should vacate the premises. He really didn¡¯t want to deal with Aria when she was like this. but he knew if he didn¡¯t then she would take her anger out on the other staff here. It was already hard enough for him to find people that would work for her, he couldn''t afford to lose anymore staff. So with a deep breath, he turned the door knob and entered the room. The room was a mess. There were broken pieces of glass and pottery scattered around the ground. Paintings and some mirrors were ripped off the wall and on the ground with some of them that looked like they were thrown across the room. In the center of the room, holding a piece of paper in hand with messy hair and ruffled clothing was Aria. She had blonde hair and blue eyes and was wearing an asymmetrical dress with a red rose pattern to the fabric. Her hair and clothing looked like a mess. Her appearance was clearly ruined in her anger, but despite that, she still looked quite pretty. She had a natural beauty to her that came through despite her current presentation. At Aria feet was a cowering young woman in a maid uniform. She had her face down to the ground and hands covering her head to protect it. Across her arms and hand, bruises could be seen. A sign of Aria physically abusing the poor girl in her rage. Patrik could only look at the scene in disgust. To see someone abused like this was something that upset him, but the person in particular being beaten made it beyond cruel to Patrik. The woman at Aria feet wasn''t a maid, it was her niece Lenah. Aria forced the poor girl to wear a maid uniform while she was on the estate. It was to make it easier for Aria to deny any familial relationship with Lenah. She could just say that Lenah was part of the staff if someone asked about their relationship. Aria hated her deceased sister and by proxy her niece. Lenah had been tortured by her aunt ever since she came to live here after her parents died. ¡°The poor girl. I need to do something.¡± He thought as his heart cried out for Lenah. Patrik quickly moved towards Aria as she was raising her hand to strike Lenah again. Before she could hit her, Patrik managed to grab Aria by the wrist and stopped her. Patrik: ¡°Aria! Calm Down! What¡¯s wrong?¡± Aria: ¡°This fucking bitch thinks she can say whatever she wants to me!¡± she said, as she pulled her hand out of Patrik''s grasp. Lenah: ¡°I-i j-just asked why you were s-so mad,¡± she said half crying. Aria: ¡°You fucking bitch! Who said you could talk!¡± she yelled out, as she was preparing to strike Lenah again. Patrik: ¡°No! No, no, no. We¡¯re not doing that. Look at me. Tell me what''s wrong, and I''ll do everything I can to fix the problem,¡± he said as he put himself between Aria and Lenah. Aria: ¡°I need you to fucking kill the editor at the Golgatta Glamor Times!¡± The Golgatta time was the biggest magazine company in the Golgatta Peninsula. The Golgatta Glamor times was an issue from the magazine company that specifically caters to people interested in fashion and beauty. Patrik: ¡°What did they do?¡± Aria: ¡°They did this!¡± she said, as she shoved the paper in hand into Patriks face. Patrik took the paper and carefully looked at it. It was a copy of the Golgatta Glamor Times. The page that was opened had a picture of Aria posing seductively across two pages of the magazine. Patrik looked intensely at the picture, trying to find some sort of flaw in the picture that would have set Aria off, but he couldn''t. It looked really good to him and was definitely one of Aria''s better photo shoots. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Patrik: ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I am following?¡± Aria: ¡°Look at the bottom of the page you idiot. It¡¯s a ranking and they put me at second!¡± Sure enough, he looked at the bottom of the page and there was a short written blurb about Aria and a ranking. The magazine had released a listing of the top models in the peninsula, and Aria was put in second place. Patrik: ¡°You''re ranked second. That¡¯s great right?¡± Aria stared him down with dagger-like eyes. If Patrik was a turtle with a shell, he would have crawled back into his shell to hide from Aria at this moment. Aria: ¡°Are you fucking listening to yourself. I had my best photo shoot this year and they dare put me in second place. That fucking editor must have been bribed. There is no way they could rank someone above me.¡± Patrik wanted to say that maybe the person doing the ranking just found the other model slightly better looking. Afterall, Patrik knew that beauty was a perspective that can greatly differ from person to person, but he wasn''t going to say this to her. He didn¡¯t want to set her off any further. Patrik: ¡°I¡¯ll look into it for you.¡± Aria: ¡°You better,¡± she said in a threatening way. ¡°Someone run me a bath!¡± she yelled out. Countless footsteps could be heard from behind the door to this room. The house staff heard Aria scream and they scattered like cockroaches. Aria quickly stormed out of the room, leaving Patrik and Lenah alone together. Patrik just shook his head. He didn¡¯t know how he ended up here. Aria wasn''t like this with him when they first met, but over the years she started revealing more of her nature to him. It got really bad when she managed to get leverage over him. Patrik had done everything Aria asked of him, including some more illegal activities he wasn''t proud of. When he tried to leave, Aria promised to release information to the paparazzi of his illegal dealings she made him do, ruining his reputation and future job opportunities. Therefore, he was trapped. Forced to continue working as Aria¡¯s dog against his will. He let out another deep sigh before looking down at the cowering girl on the ground. His heart ached looking at her. Her face was still facing down at the ground and she was too scared to raise her head even though her aunt was gone. Patrik: ¡°Come on. It¡¯s OK, she¡¯s gone,¡± he said as he reached his arm underneath hers and helped Lenah up. Once Lenah was standing, Patrik could clearly see the damage done to her face. It was bruised and battered with a swollen eye. Lenah was an average looking girl compared to her aunt. She had brown hair and freckles on her face. With the exception of her face shape, it was hard to tell that they were related. Patrik: ¡°By the light, that looks bad. Are you OK?,¡± he said, while looking at her swollen eye. Lenah: ¡°I-i think so. I¡¯m sorry Mr Hik. I tried to calm her down, but I think I made it worse.¡± Patrik: ¡°I¡¯m sorry Lenah. I wish I could do more for you.¡± Lenah: ¡°That¡¯s ok. I know that you''re just as trapped as me.¡± He shook his head with a sad expression on his face. He couldn¡¯t believe that Lenah and Aria were related. Lenah was such a kind hearted girl. She continued to worry about other people despite her own well being. It was what made her step up and try to calm her aunt down. If Patrik was able, he would have taken Lenah away from her aunt years ago. Patrik let out a deep sigh. Patrik: ¡°Can you still walk, and it doesn''t hurt you to do so.¡± Lenah: ¡°No. She only striked my upper body.¡± Patrik: ¡°OK,¡± he said while swallowing his own saliva. ¡°I will stay here and try to calm your aunt down, while you go to this address on Eld street, " he said, as he gave Lenah a piece of paper with an address on it. ¡°There should be a doctor there. Tell him Patrik sent you. He¡¯ll patch you right up.¡± It was a doctor that Patrik would send the staff to when one of them became the target of Aria¡¯s rage. This doctor wouldn''t ask questions and would keep his mouth shut about what was going on with Aria and her staff. As he said this, the door to the room opened and a maid stepped inside and addressed Patrik. Maid: ¡°Um, Mr Hik. Lady Aria is demanding a mirror.¡± Patrik: ¡°What? What are you talking about?¡± Maid: ¡°Lady Aria wants a full body mirror to practice her poses for the next photoshoot.¡± Patrik: ¡°What¡¯s wrong with the mirror she has?¡± Maid: ¡°Um, she smashed it in her rage,¡± the maid said, while looking around the ruined room. Patrik: ¡°Light save me,¡± he said while rubbing his temples on his head. Lenah: ¡°Mr Hik, I can pick up a mirror while I''m out.¡± Patrik: ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that Lenah. Just go get see that doctor. And, take this,¡± he said as he handed Lenah some money. Lenah: ¡°What¡¯s this for?¡± Patrik: ¡°Go buy yourself something nice. Splurge on yourself a little while I handle Aria.¡± Lenah: ¡°Mr Hik i can¡¯t¡ª¡± she was immediately cut by Patrik. Patrik: ¡°Nope, nope, nope. You put yourself through enough trouble with your aunt to help out around here. Use this money for yourself. It¡¯s the least that you deserve. Anyways I''m going to look around to see what else I''ll need to replace.¡± Before Lenah could protest, she was ushered away by Patrik to the front of the mansion outside. With nothing else to do today, she did what she was told and headed to Eld street towards the doctor. Chapter 2 - The Merchant of Mirrors Lenah was slowly walking down Eld street in her maid uniform with a few bandages on her head. She had just finished talking to the doctor Patrik said to see. He gave her some medical salve to rub on her bruises and applied a few bandages and then sent her on her way. He didn¡¯t say much to her while he examined her. The process was much faster than she expected, and now the rest of the day was hers. Except, she didn¡¯t know what she wanted to do. Patrik gave her money to go have fun, but she didn¡¯t know what to spend the money on. Lenah''s idea of fun would have been to spend time with her friends, but she didn¡¯t have any since moving to Graheel. Any attempt where she tried to make some friends and her aunt would get in the way. It felt to Lenah like her aunt was purposely doing this to isolate her, and it was working. So, she didn¡¯t have any friends in Graheel. She also felt that the money Patrik gave was more so to keep her occupied and out of the estate, away from her aunt. Something she could agree to, but knew she couldn''t do in good conscience. Aria would be verbally abusive with Lenah, but very rarely would she be physically abusive with her. The exception being today. However, this was not a pattern that extended to the maids and workers of the mansion. Aira would hit them when she was upset. Lenha was willing to endure a verbal barrage at her, if it meant her aunt wouldn''t hurt the others living on the estate. Lenha also couldn''t leave her aunt. Aira has legal guardianship over Lenah since her parents died in a car crash. She wanted to leave her for the longest time, but knew that her aunt would hunt her down and drag her back to the mansion. She had the resources to do that, and Lenah saw her do something similar to one of her staff that left and tried to tell of his experience on the estate to the media. That whole experience with that butler that tried to get away was quite traumatic to her. She recalled the man being dragged back into the mansion with broken legs by two burly men. That was the last time she saw that man, and the look he gave her back then still haunts her. It was a look of helplessness and pleading. Just one more year and she would be an adult, free of this nightmare she had fallen into. Until then, she would endure and do what she could to protect the people around her. She decided to save the money Patrik gave her. It would be useful for when she was finally able to move out. Anything nice she got for herself now might get taken away by her aunt. Lenah decided to take the long way home. Not in a rush to return to her cruel aunt. As she was walking down eld street, she noticed a strange store called the ¡°Mystic Emporium¡±. From the thing in the display window in the front of the store, it seemed to be some sort of antique store. ¡°An antique store? Maybe I can find a mirror here to replace the one aunt Aria smashed.¡± Lenah thought to herself. The longer that Aria didn¡¯t get what she wanted, the more likely she was to have an outburst. So, Lenah decided to stop and pop in and look for a mirror. Lenah took a step inside and was met with the sight of cluttered shelves and tables full of all kinds of miscellaneous objects, both exotic and mundane. The store was much bigger on the inside than it looked from outside. There was a strange feeling in the space. Something about the store felt like she was stepping into another world. Sitting at the back of the store was a man with black hair and red eyes in a black dress suit. He looked like he was the owner of the store and had an air of mystery around him. The man was writing something in a book when he looked and smiled at Lenah before greeting her. Red-Eye Man: ¡°Welcome! What can i¡­ are you OK?¡± the man said concernedly. Despite seeing a doctor, Lenah still looked pretty beat up with a black eye. Anybody who saw her would wonder what had happened to her. Lenah: ¡°Um, I''m fine. I just tripped and fell down some stairs earlier. I¡¯m OK, so please don¡¯t worry about it,¡± she said, lying to the store owner. Red-Eye Man: ¡°If you say so¡­ Anyways, is there anything that I can help you with?¡± Lenah: ¡°Do you have a mirror?¡± Red-Eye Man: ¡°Like, a hand mirror?¡± Lenah: ¡°No, a body sized mirror, or something large enough that you can see your whole body with.¡± Red-Eye Man: ¡°I think I might have something, give me a few seconds while I look in the back.¡± The man said as he stood up and entered through a door at the back of the store. Lenah was left alone, so she decided to look around a little and see if there was anything else of interest. There were all kinds of strange and exotic items in the store. The books on the shelves had weird titles she had never heard of before. There was also a case with a pair of wooden sticks the size of a pencil with intricate carving on them. She wondered if those sticks were the eating utensils she heard about from the east. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. After a minute went by, the door at the back swung open with the red eyed man carrying what looked to be an absolutely massive mirror. It was much bigger than an average mirror. The mirror was about as tall as a person and had the width of three people to it. The fact that this store owner could carry it by himself was impressive. Lenah: ¡°Um sir, do you need a hand?¡± Red-Eye Man: ¡°That¡¯s alright. I got it.¡± He said as he shifted the mirror around to allow it to lean against the wall. Once the mirror was upright, Lenah could get a better look at it. Not only was it big, it looked old and extravagant. The polished surface looked untarnished without a single scratch. The frame looked of polished bronze with a detailed floral design to it. It definitely looked like something that you would find in an expensive home. It was perfect. She didn¡¯t know for sure if she would find a mirror nice enough for the mansion here, but she had. It was hopefully nice enough that her aunt Aria wouldn¡¯t be able to complain. Her aunt was so obsessed with presenting herself as someone of extreme wealth. She wouldn''t let anything into her mansion that wasn''t ostentatious in its presentation. Lenha was confident that the size of the mirror, let alone the actual quality, was enough to please her. Lenah: ¡°It¡¯s beautiful.¡± Red-Eye Man: ¡°Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.¡± the man said, chiming into Lenahs comment. Lenah: ¡°Huh?¡± Red-Eye Man: ¡°It¡¯s what¡¯s written on the mirror. Here look,¡± The man said as he pointed at the top of the mirror. In the bronze frame, there was a phrase carved into it that read: ¡°Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so reflect upon yourself to achieve true beauty.¡± Lenah: ¡°Oh, I see what you¡¯re talking about. Um, what exactly does that phrase mean?¡± She said while confused about the phrase. Red-Eye Man: ¡°Well, ¡®beauty is in the eye of the beholder¡¯ is just a simple saying to express that beauty is subjective.¡± Lenah: ¡°Oh, I know that. I was talking about the second half, ¡®reflect upon yourself to achieve true beauty¡¯.¡± Red-Eye Man: ¡°Well, it¡¯s kinda self explanatory. If you want to find something beautiful, you need to do a bit of self reflection.¡± Lenah: ¡°Oh, um OK. Um, I''m sorry. I¡¯m a bit of an idiot and still don¡¯t really get it.¡± She said still confused. Red-Eye Man: ¡°Don¡¯t put yourself down. Everyone comes to an understanding in different ways. Let me try and put it another way. See this,¡± he said as he picked up the pair of wooden sticks that Lenah was looking at previously. As he did this, Lenah nodded her head. Red-Eye Man: ¡°What do you see?¡± he said while gesturing at the sticks in his hand. Lenah: ¡°Um, a pair of wooden sticks?¡± Red-Eye Man: ¡°OK, and what do you think others see when they look at this?¡± Lenah: ¡°Um, they also see a pair of wooden sticks?¡± She said, unsure if that was what she was supposed to say. Red-Eye Man: ¡°Perhaps, but they might also see a tool, a historical artifact, a piece of craftsmanship, or something that is a beautiful piece of artwork.¡± Lenah: ¡°Ooh, so that¡¯s a piece of art.¡± Red-Eye Man: ¡°It¡¯s actually just a tool used for eating, but your point is still correct. Someone might still see this as art. So, ask yourself why someone can see a quality in something you can¡¯t, and in doing so you might begin to see the world through a different perspective. Remember, beauty is subjective and only you can find the beauty in something, and that can take a bit of introspection to do so.¡± Lenah: ¡°Ok. Um, I still don¡¯t get it,¡± she said, still confused. The red-eyed man let out a disappointed sigh. Red-Eye Man: ¡°I''m sorry, I''m not doing a good job explaining. Let me put it like this. Achieving beauty is more complicated than just appearances. That is kinda at the heart of what that phrase means.¡± Lenah: ¡°Ok, I think I get that.¡± she said, finally understanding the phrase. Red-Eye Man: ¡°So, is this mirror to your liking?¡± he said, trying to change the subject of conversation. Lenah: ¡°Yeah, it¡¯ll be perfect for my aunt.¡± Red-Eye Man: ¡°Oh, so this is a gift?¡± Lenah: ¡°Well kinda, but not really. Um, it''s to replace a mirror that was broken recently,¡± she said, trying to avoid giving details about what happened. Red-Eye Man: ¡°Sounds like you got some bad luck.¡± Lenah: ¡°Huh?¡± Red-Eye Man: ¡°The broken mirror. Breaking mirrors is said to give you seven years of bad luck.¡± Lenah: ¡°Then there must be centuries worth of bad luck in that mansion then,¡± she muttered under her breath. Lenah recalled the countless times her aunt had smashed many mirrors in her anger. Red-Eye Man: ¡°Excuse me?¡± Lenah: ¡°It''s nothing. Do you deliver?¡± she said, trying to quickly change the topic of discussion. Red-Eye Man: ¡°Um, yeah. I can get someone to deliver this to you.¡± They both continued to talk about the details of purchasing the mirror, until Lenah bought the mirror and gave the shop owner the address where to deliver it. Before Lenha left the store, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. The black eye and damage done to her face wasn''t as bad as she thought it was. She was always told she was pretty by her parents when they were alive. However, her confidence in her appearance had been undermined since she started living with her aunt years ago, but something about looking at her reflection restored a sliver of that confidence today. Her day started out terrible, but she somehow felt like everything was going to be ok. She then left and made her way back home to her aunt''s mansion to tell Patrick about the mirror she had just gotten. Chapter 3 - Placated Anger Aria was laying in a large tub full of scented water, stewing with anger like a teabag in hot water. She was still pissed at seeing her ranking in the Golgotha Glamor Times. This was the year she had her best photo shoot. She believed that no one could argue she looked good and it was some of her best work. In Aira''s mind, the only explanation for why she was ranked second was that someone was bribed. She believed that¡¯s what it was, because she had done so herself before. Aria had bribed certain publications to put her photos front and centered. She felt it was necessary. Believing that if she didn¡¯t pay off people, they would purposely hide her in their articles. She believed that the modeling world wasn''t ready for someone like her, that her rivals had to purposely resort to underhanded methods to get ahead of her. It was after all a cut throat industry. She slowly raised her hand, water gently dripping from it. She looked at her delicate slim fingers and her wonderfully done manicure. It was a hand that belonged to a perfect beauty like herself, she believed. Aria then reached off to the side, trying to grab a hand mirror to allow her to examine herself in greater detail, but she grasped at nothing. The mirror that would normally be there was smashed by her earlier. Aria had smashed all the mirrors in the mansion, so she didn¡¯t have any to use now. This did not help her mood. She needed to examine every little detail in her appearance, even if she thought there was none. Aria was already perfect in her mind, but she was willing to make minor adjustments in her appearance, to please the few fools who couldn''t see her true beauty. But, any adjustments she does make will not be to get into the Gologatta Glamor rankings. Oh no, she had very different plans for that magazine. The Gologatta Times had slighted her, and that could not go unpunished. When she demanded that Patrick kill the editor that did the rankings, she wasn''t joking. She really did want that person dead, and was willing to go through the steps to make it so. She knew that Patrick wouldn''t actually do it for her, he was too unwilling to get his hands dirty. It was why she had to constantly ¡°whip¡± Patrick like the dog she thought he was. However, Aria knew Patrick would still gather information about that editor for her. Once he did that, all she needed to do was pass that information on to the right people. Aria had connections to the criminal underworld. She knew the right people that would handle it for her. She just needed to give them a few coins and they made her problems go away. She had used their ¡°services¡± before when a disgruntled former butler started bad mouthing her. The audacity of someone spreading such unbecoming falsehood of her was inexcusable to Aria. She thought he should have been grateful that he could see Aria¡¯s beautiful vestige regularly. Afterwards, that butler was dealt with by her associates, who were even kind enough to even dispose of the body. ¡°Once that idiot gets me enough info on that editor, I''ll give my contact a call and see if they can take care of it for me. Maybe, they¡¯ll take out that skank they rank above me in the process too.¡± Aria thought to herself. Aria shifted her body in the tub and then stood up. She let the water drip down her immaculate body, before carefully stepping out of the bath. She grabbed a towel that was hanging nearby and began to gently dry herself, while examining her delicate skin in the process. ¡°Everything about my appearance needs to be perfect. No, It is already perfect. They¡¯ll all someday see that. Then I finally can get the respect that I deserve.¡± Aria thought to herself as she gently padded the towel against her body to help dry. Once she thought that her body was sufficiently dry, she put on an expensive red silk bathrobe and exited to the room next to where she was. Inside was a group of maids nervously waiting for Aria to exit the bathroom. The anxiety the staff had on display made Aria smirk. ¡°Of course they would be nervous with someone as gorgeous as me around.¡± Aria thought to herself, not realizing that the maids source of anxiety was her recent outburst and not her beauty. Aria: ¡°Well, get to it,¡± she said. The maids quickly went to work. They approached and surrounded Aria and went through the regular routine of preparing her for the day. One maid started combing her hair while another helped get her lingeries on, and the third was powdering her face. The maids had done this hundred times now and were efficient like a well oiled machine. As they went through the routine, one of the maids spoke up to ask Aria a question. Maid: ¡°Lady Aria, what would you like to wear today?¡± she said with a forced smile. Aria: ¡°Hmm, how about the one I was given recently.¡± Maid: ¡°Um, that¡¯s the black camisole dress from lord Garf, right?¡± Aria turned to the maid talking to her with an indignant look. Aria: ¡°Of course you fool! What else could I be talking about?¡± Maid: ¡°Eek, I-im sorry. I¡¯ll go get it right away,¡± she said as she ran off towards Aria¡¯s walk in closet. Aria just shook her head as the maid ran off. Aria: ¡°It¡¯s so hard to get good help nowadays. If only my beauty could draw competent people to me.¡± The two other maids kept nervously working away at preparing Aria. Eventually the maid that left came running back with a box. The maid carefully pulled out a black silk camisole dress with a high slit spaghetti strap with fabric that would reach just halfway down Aria¡¯s calf. The dress looked expensive and elegant. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. The maids quickly helped her get into the dress. Once Aria was dressed and makeup was applied, the maid backed away from her and bowed. Aria: ¡°Mirror,¡± scarlet demanded. The maids looked at one another nervous before one of them spoke up. Maid: ¡°I¡¯m sorry my lady. We haven''t had time to replace the mirrors quite yet¡±. Aria: ¡°You''re all useless,¡± she muttered. The maids looked at one another uncomfortably. While they weren''t feeling great about Aria¡¯s mood, they were glad she hadn¡¯t broken out into a rage like before. Aria stepped aways from the maids and approached the large window in the room. She pulled back the curtains of the widow and looked at her reflection in the glass. The reflection wasn''t very clear, but the details she could make out were immaculate in her mind. ¡°Even a blurry reflection of me can not obscure my beauty.¡° She thought to herself. While she was admiring herself, her attention momentarily shifted to the gate in front of the mansion. The gate was open and a couple of half human, half animal, mutants were carrying something large wrapped in cloth. A scowl was beginning to appear on Aria''s pretty face. Aria not only believed that she was the most gorgeous model in the world, she also thought that she was someone that belonged in the upper class of elite society. And, being part of such a class ment having certain standards. Having mutants on her estate, who were looked down upon in the circles she ran, might cause some damage to that reputation. People might mistake her for employing mutants, the scandal of such a thing would be troublesome to Aria. Aria: ¡°Why are there filthy mutants on my property,¡± she angrily muttered out. One of the maids approached from behind Aria and began nervously explaining the situation. Maids: ¡°I-i b-believe they''re just here to deliver something.¡± Aria: ¡°Well go tell them to drop it wherever and get the staff here to carry it in. I will not have those disgusting creatures here inside my estate.¡± The maid grimaced at Aria¡¯s harsh words about the mutants before bowing and running off to do exactly as she said. Aria continued to watch the scene of the two mutant men carefully carrying the object. One mutant was holding one end of the object while the other was holding the other, both slowly making their way to the front door of the house. Before they could reach the door, Aria watched as a group of maids and manservants came out and started talking to the mutant men. Aria carefully watched to see what the reaction of the mutants were. After the two men finished talking to the servants, they looked at each other and shrugged before gently sitting down the objects they carried. The two mutants calmly vacated the property while the servants that went outside picked up the cloth wrapped object and brought it inside. Aria continued to glare at the mutants from her window until they were gone. Before she could put any thought into the mutants that were on her property, she heard Patrik¡¯s voice calling out from being her. Patrik: ¡°Aria I have good news.¡± Aria: ¡°You got a new mirror, she said to cut off Patrick.¡± Patrik: Um, how¡¯d you know. Aria: ¡°I just watched a couple of filthy mutants try to bring it into my mansion.¡± Araia had already guessed that the object the mutants were carrying was the replacement for the mirrors she had smashed earlier. Patrik: ¡°Oh, um,¡± he hesitated unsure of what he needed to say. Patrik knew that Aria despised mutants. If he had known that mutants were the ones who were to deliver it, he would have given them instructions to drop it off at the front gate so that Aria wouldn¡¯t have seen them. But, it was Lenah that was the one that ordered and arranged to have the mirror delivered this way, so there was no way he could have known. Aria: ¡°It better be a damn good mirror.¡± Patrik: ¡°Yes, right. Um, would you like it brought to your room?¡± Aria: ¡°What do you think you fucking idiot!¡± Patrik: ¡°Right, ok. I¡¯ll have them bring it to your chambers immediately. He said as he ran off.¡± A few minutes went by until a group of manservants came into the room carrying the mirror wrapped in cloth. They gently set the mirror upright and leaned against a wall. Aria: ¡°Well don¡¯t just stand there. Remove the cloth already!¡± she yelled out to the servants. The servrate quickly and nervously did what they were told. They pulled off the cloth, revealing a giant mirror with a beautiful thick bronze frame with floral design. The reflective surface was polished to perfection and looked immaculate. The mirror was abnormally big, making it appear even more extravagant. The size and shape gave it a slight otherworldly appearance, like a magic mirror in an old fairy tale. It was perfect in Aria¡¯s mind, believing that she deserved such a grand mirror. Something that would properly capture her beauty in its entirety. Aria: ¡°My, my. Patrik really outdid himself this time, finding something that was finally worthy of my beauty.¡± Manservant: ¡°With all due respect my lady, I believe that it was actually Lenah that procured this accessory.¡± Aria: ¡°Of course she did,¡± she muttered angrily. ¡°Why else would those filthy mutants deliver such fine pieces of furniture? It¡¯s a good thing that they didn¡¯t get their filth on such a fabulous mirror. But, I suppose I''ll give credit where it¡¯s due. The mirror she got is actually up to my standards. I guess my niece is not completely useless.¡± she said begrudgingly. Aria approached the mirror and stared at her reflection. ¡°The reflection in the window was beautiful, but it¡¯s nothing compared to a proper mirror. Now I can truly appreciate my beauty. I knew i looked good, but now looking properly, i can tell i looked better than even i thought.¡± She thought to herself with a pleased smile. The servants present let out a sigh of relief. They felt the mirror they had brought in had managed to placate Aria''s anger, based on the reaction they were seeing from her. The servants would later thank Lenah for this. Aria gently reached out and gently caressed the reflective surface of the mirror. She couldn¡¯t explain it, but she felt her mood rapidly improving. Seeing her own beautiful face was giving her motivation and new ambitions. She would do another photo shoot and release new pictures of herself, and these photos would be so beautiful that no one would deny her the title of most beautiful. Aria then turned to one of the manservants still present and spoke. Aria: ¡°Go tell Patrik to arrange another photo shoot.¡± Manservant: ¡°At once my lady,¡± the servant said before he quickly left. Aria then turned back to the mirror and continued to admire herself. She would do this for another hour. If Aria had paid proper attention this day, instead of obsessing about her own appearance, she might have noticed something that was peculiar about this mirror. It was only her own reflection that was crystal clear in it. Everything else reflected in the mirror was ever so slightly blurred for some reason. Chapter 4 - What was Unseen -A week went by since Aria got her mirror.- In that time she had done another photoshoot and had been practicing her poses in the new mirror. She would spend for several hours everyday practicing her smile and poses. All the mirrors on the estate had finally been replaced since then, but it was the mirror that Lenah had gotten that Aria was mostly using now. She didn¡¯t bother using any of the other available. Aria hasn''t felt the need to practice posing for a long time. She already felt that she was perfect in this regard, so in her mind why would she practice. But, something was different now. There was now a desire for others to truly see her beauty, and she needed to ensure that her appearance was absolutely perfect to do that. So, she was now dedicating a large portion of her days staring at herself in the mirror. The new motivation she was now dedicating towards her modeling was unexpected for the staff, but it was appreciated. Aria was now too busy focusing on her modeling instead of yelling or berating the people working at the mansion. It gave the staff more moments of relief from their mistress. Aria was currently standing in front of the giant mirror with her niece Lenah off to the side. She was being extremely self absorbed and admiring her appearance. Aria: ¡°How gorgeous, she said to herself while striking a pose.¡± Lenha just stared at her aunt from the corner of the room dumbfounded. In the years she had lived with her aunt, she had never seen her this self absorbed. She knew how vain her aunt Aria was, but it somehow was more intense now than it was in the past. Aria would now spend hours every day admiring herself in the mirror, which was good for Lenah. It meant there was less opportunity for her to interact with her aunt while she was busy admiring herself, and Lenah liked that. Aria: ¡°Tell me, niece. Have you ever seen someone as beautiful as me?¡± Lenah: ¡°Um, no. You are definitely the most beautiful model around,¡± she said confusingly. Lenah was really weirded out by her Aunt''s behavior lately. Her aunt was now treating her with a degree of indifference, which sadly was considered an improvement in how Aria treated Lenah. Her aunt would never let Lenah casually speak to her, let alone ask for her opinion on anything. It wasn''t the most loving interaction between family members, but Lenah would take her aunts current behavior over the usual where she would get berated over everything. A few more minutes went by with Aria admiring herself in the mirror, before the door to the room swung open and Patrik entered. Patrik: ¡°Aria I have¡­what are you doing here Lenah?¡± he said, looking directly at Lenah with some concern. Aria: ¡°I ask her to be here,¡± she said, while continuing to admire her reflection. Patrik swallowed his saliva. He was quickly trying to concoct a plan to get Lenah away from here, worried that she had been brought here to be berated or beaten by Aria. Patrik: ¡°Why¡­¡°he said, suspicious of her intention. Aria: ¡°I needed someone to admire my beauty. And, the girl was doing nothing else useful.¡± Patrik: ¡°Um, ok? Why do you need someone to admire your beauty?¡± Aria: ¡°You''re such an idiot. Do I need to explain everything to you?¡± she said, turning to Patrik and showing signs of annoyance. Patrik: ¡°N-no. You''re right. Y-you deserve to be admired,¡± he nervously said. Sensing that his questioning was annoying her, he backed off. He quickly tried to change the tone of the conversation to avoid accidentally setting Aria off. Aria: ¡°You finally figured it out. About time,¡± she said smugly while calming herself down. Patrik was used to getting berated by Aria, but the way she is doing it now was strangely a little kinder. She didn¡¯t blow up at him and started throwing insults at him like she would usually do. The insults she would normally use on him were a lot more intense and hurtful than what she was saying now. Patrik: ¡°Um, ok. T-the pictures from the photoshoot from a few days ago just came in,¡± he said, starting to feel weirded out by Arias behavior just like Lenah. Aria: ¡°I see, then show me them.¡± Patrik took out an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Aria quickly, worried that she would berate him if he was too slow to produce the pictures. Aria delicately took the envelope with a smug expression on her face. She then pulled out the photos and started examining them one by one, as she did so, her face slowly turning from an arrogant smug to that of anger with a scowl. Aria: ¡°What the fuck is this?¡±she said, showing clear signs of annoyance towards Patrik. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Patrik: ¡°Um, is there something wrong?¡± Aria: ¡°What do you mean ¡®is there something wrong¡¯? Did you even look at these photos?¡± Patrik: ¡°I-i did. They looked good,¡± he nervously said. Aria: ¡°Now your fucking lying to me! How can you say these pictures look good,¡± she yelled out at Patrik. Patrik: ¡°I-i don¡¯t¡ª¡± he said, unable to finish what he was going to say. A loud clapping sound rang out in the room, followed by a foreboding silence. Aria had slapped Patrik in the face, hitting him so hard that it left a distinctive red mark in the shape of her hand on his cheek. Patrik stumbled back and let out a yelp of pain. Lenha quietly watched from the corner of the room with her hands covering her mouth to stifle her gasps. She was unsure if she should intervene or not, worried that she might make the situation worse for Patrik. Patrik managed to pick himself back up while holding his sore cheek. He looked back at Aria with fear in his eyes. Aria: ¡°Don¡¯t you ever lie to me again! Just look at this photo, the angle is all wrong and unflattering,¡± she said while pointing at one the pictures patrik gave her. She then shifted through the stack of photos and pulled out another picture. ¡°And look at this one. I have a single eyelash that¡¯s too long. You expect me to believe you didn¡¯t notice.¡± Patrik was so confused. He didn¡¯t lie, even though Aria accused him of doing so. He really did think the photos of her looked good, and didn¡¯t understand what she meant about the unflattering angle. There was also no way he could have noticed something like a single eyelash that was slightly too long. It was such a small detail that no one would probably notice or care. In the years Patrik had worked with Aria, he knew she could be erratic, but it was different now. She was being even more erratic and extreme. He understood the things that made her angry and how to diffuse her outburst, but the source of her outburst was something he never experienced before. She always thought that the pictures of her were beautiful and flawless, so he never expected the source of her anger to be this. Patrik: ¡°I-im sorry.¡± Aria: ¡°No you''re not. Get the fuck out of here Patrik.¡± She then turned towards Lenah. ¡°And you bitch, lying to me about my appearance when I had a long eyelash this whole time.¡± Lenah: ¡°Eeep!¡± Just like Patrik, it was such a small thing that Lenah didn¡¯t notice anything about Aria¡¯s eyelashes. So, she didn¡¯t say anything about it, but Aria took that as being lied too by her. Aria: ¡°You better get out of here as well, or I''m going to bury you with that whore of a sister of mine,¡± she said aggressively. Lenha, with a look of terror in her eye, quickly ran over to Patrik and both of them immediately left the room. With the loud sound of a door closing behind Lenah and Patrik, Aria was now alone. While still mad, she walked over to her makeup cabinet and pulled out a pair of eyelash clippers. She then walked back to the giant mirror and carefully and slowly cut her eyelashes so that they all were the same length. Once she was done, she put the clippers down on a nearby table and started admiring herself again. ¡°Such unloyal and ungrateful fools. They live thanks to my beauty, yet those two were clearly trying to sabotage me. Probably jealous of my beauty and don¡¯t want others to see it.¡± She angrily thought to herself. She continued to admire herself for another minute before stopping. Thoughts of a paranoid conspiracy were starting to fill her mind. ¡°Wait, they wouldn¡¯t be the only ones who didn¡¯t say anything. Why didn¡¯t the maids or manservants say anything? Unless, they are all conspiring against me. They are all trying to ruin me.¡± She thought irrationally while looking at the door to her room. Aria walked over to the door to her room and opened it. She looked up and down the hallway, making sure that there was no spying on her from outside her bedroom door. Once she saw that there was no one there, she closed the door and went back to looking at her reflection. Aria: ¡°Oh Aria, you really are the only one I can truly rely on,¡± she said, talking to her own reflection. ¡°If they are all going to be traitors, then I''ll have to remove everyone. I guess I really will bury that bitch with her whore mother. I''m sure my associates that removed the last bastard will make it happen for someone as beautiful as me.¡± She silently thought to herself. Aria¡¯s feelings of being slightly were intense and she was beginning to plan out a bloody massacre for her niece and entire staff. She knew it wouldn¡¯t be all done at once. She didn¡¯t want to attract that kind of attention to her. Aria only wanted people to praise her beauty, not gossip about people disappearing around her. She knew what she was going to do. She was going to make them disappear one by one, slowly and discreetly. Using her contact in the underworld, she will dispose of them all. Once they are all gone, she can replace them all with people that she thought would truly appreciate her beauty. ¡°I suppose I should send both Patrik and Lenah away, so they don¡¯t discover what I plan to do to them. I¡¯ll have to send all the other staff away eventually as well.¡± Sometimes when Aria was mad at one of her staff, she would send them away, anywhere that wasn''t near her and off her property. It was to everyone¡¯s benefit that she did this, as it kept her from flying into a rage if she saw the person she was mad at. However, she was going to use this method to slowly dispose of them all. She would send them away and have them quietly killed through her underworld contacts. It would look like they simply did not come back, preventing the gossip of her staff disappearing. Aria: ¡°That¡¯s what I''ll do. Just you wait sister. You¡¯ll see your daughter real soon,¡± she said to her reflection with a sinister grin. Aria reluctantly pulled herself from the mirror and headed to her office, leaving the room. She was Intending to call her associates that will do the bloody deed for her. Once Aria closed the door behind her, the giant mirror was left alone in her room. If someone was here, they would notice that something about that mirror added a weird unsettling feeling to the space. Like it was an unnatural thing that shouldn''t have been here, but it was. Aria had continued to not notice the peculiarities of the mirror Lenah bought. Last week everything it reflected, with the exception of Aria¡¯s reflection, was only slightly distorted and might have been easy to miss. Now everything reflected in the mirror was starting to look extremely warped, like something you would see in a funhouse mirror. Yet, her reflection remained crystal clear and unchanged in the mysterious mirror. Chapter 5 - What Is Now Seen Another week had gone by since Aria started to plan to kill her niece and staff. She had sent Lenha to live at Patriks place. She told them that she didn¡¯t want to see either of them, and they were to stay away from her until she called. The lack of both of their presence in the mansion worried the staff that was still working there. It was Lenha and Patrik that were the main people that calmed Aria down when she went into a rage, and now neither of them were there. Aria had contacted her underworld associates and discussed disposing of her niece and staff. They were at first confused as to why she wanted to do this, but any intention in talking her down from this course of action quickly evaporated, once money was brought into the discussion. These people that Aria knew were all too willing to do this for her if enough money was offered, and she was willing to dig into her pockets to give them a fortune to make it happen. It would take her a month to get her finance in order to pay for all these hits. So in the meantime, she slowly started to set things up for her plan. Aria was sending them all away one by one. She would find an excuse to fly into a rage and send one of the servants away. Though, it wasn''t completely an act from Aria. The staff on her estate were really starting to annoy her. It wasn''t just her perception of their betrayal that angered her, it was their attitude towards her. The staff would give her clear looks of fear every time they were in her presence. Their fear pleased Aria. It gave her a sense of control over them. She was used to it, but that fear was slowly changing. The looks of fear changed to that of pity. ¡°Why would they dare pity me? Do they know something I don''t? Someone as beautiful as me doesn''t need their pity.¡± She thought to herself at the time. Within a week, the staff began to dwindle. Some of the servants that were still working there could see the writing on the wall, and left of their own volition, thinking that Aria was intending on firing everyone. They didn¡¯t know they were the target of Arias'' scorn, and within a few more weeks she would pay to have them killed. It didn¡¯t matter if she sent them away or they left themselves, Aria still intended to have her associates remove them all the same. By now there was only a skeleton crew left working at Arias mansion, but after another week went by until she was the only one left in her mansion. Within two weeks she had sent everyone away. She was left alone to fend for herself. Forced to do some of the things that she once made the staff do. This only irritated her more, but she convinced herself to put up with it for another two weeks. Once next month rolls over, she would have her finances in order to allow her to pay for the hitmen and hire new staff. ¡°Just two more weeks. Then I can go back to fully admiring myself.¡± She would tell herself. The strange atmosphere that existed in Aria''s room, due to the presence of the mirror, started to spread to the whole of the mansion. Something about the strange feeling in the air was unwelcoming, an unspoken warning for people to stay away. The shadows felt ever so darker and sinister on the estate during this time. A normal person would have noticed that something was going on, but not Aria. She was too busy admiring herself to see the strange peculiarities that were going on around her. Aria was currently admiring herself in the giant bedroom mirror like she always did. It was later in the evening. Aria: ¡°Ahh, so beautiful,¡± she said to her reflection. Today Aria was wearing a beautiful pure white A-line dress. She felt that it matched beautifully with her blond hair and blue eyes. Now that her staff was gone, she was spending close to eight hours a day admiring herself. She would have continued to admire herself for several more hours, but her revelry was disturbed by the sound of someone knocking on her bedroom door and a familiar voice. Lenha: ¡°Aunt Aria, are you ok?¡± she called out from behind Aria bedroom door. The piercing voice of Aria¡¯s niece brought her to attention and greatly angered her. Aria didn¡¯t let Lenha call her ¡°aunt¡±, so the fact her niece did that was infuriating for her. And. Aria never called for her. Lenah wasn''t supposed to be here. Aria: ¡°You fucking bitch! Who said you could come here!¡± she screamed out. Aria quickly moved towards the door to her room and opened it, preparing to smack Lenah for daring to call her ¡°aunt¡±. But, once the door swung open, there was no one there. It left Aria confused for a few seconds, but then she heard movement down the dark hallway. ¡°That bitch dares run from me, after daring to call me ¡®aunt¡¯. Forget the hitmen, I''ll kill her myself!¡± She angrily thought to herself. Aria quickly grabbed some scissors with a sharp tip from her room and ran down the hallway towards where she thinks Lenah ran off to. It was late and the mansion was dimly lit. Aria was running through her mansion in the dark with a pair of scissors like madwomen. Aria: ¡°Lenah! Where the fuck are you!¡± She screamed out. Lenah didn¡¯t respond, and Aria couldn¡¯t hear her footsteps anymore. She rapidly looked around for her niece and even ran down to the main floor of her mansion searching for her, but no matter where Aira looked, she couldn''t find Lenah. While looking around, she noticed a light coming from one of the hallways. Aria had a twisted smile on her face, as she thought she had finally found her niece. She carefully approached the edge of the hallway, so as to not inform Lenah of Aria''s presence. She saw a small mirror on a nearby wall. Not wanting to stick her head around the corner, and risking alerting Lenah of her presence, she positioned herself in a way to use the mirror to look down the hallway. Looking into the mirror, she expected to see her niece, but that¡¯s not what she saw. Instead, there was a grotesque humanoid creature standing in the hallway. The details were hard to make out in the low light of the mansion. The shape of the creature still looked somewhat human, but it looks to have bulbous growths all over its body. Upon seeing that, Aria let out a silent gasp. ¡°W-what is that thing.¡± She thought to herself in silence, afraid that if she said anything that the creature would find her. The creature didn¡¯t move or make a sound. It just stood there, like it was waiting for Aria to run around the corner. Not wanting to confront the creature, she slowly backed away while being as quiet as possible. She didn¡¯t want to alert the creature that she had detected its presence. Aria continued to slowly back away from the hallway the creature was in, but she wasn''t watching carefully where she was going and bumped into a small table. It made a loud sound from its legs scraping the floor. A vase sitting on the table began to wobble from the sudden movement, and before Aria could catch it, it fell off the table. A loud sound of pot being smashed echoed in the empty mansion. Assuming that the sound alerted the monster to her, Aria ran. She ran up the stairs to the second floor of her mansion. Fear was palpable in her every movement and breath. She didn¡¯t know what that creature was or how it even got in here. It was a creature unlike anything she had ever seen. She wondered if it was one of those legendary ghouls she heard about Aria was too scared to look behind her as she ran, but there was another mirror at the end of the hallway she was running down, and she made the poor mistake of looking into it. She briefly saw the reflection of the creature running after her from behind. In a panic, she threw the scissor behind her without looking, unsure if it hit the monsters.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. She managed to make it to her room and locked the door. Aria then ran towards the wired phone on the desk in her room. With shaking hands, she dialed the number to contact the police. The dial tone rang out twice before she heard someone pick it up. Emergency Dispatcher: ¡°Hello, what is your emergency?¡± The voice said calmly. Aria: ¡°Help me! There¡¯s a monster in my home! I think it¡¯s a ghoul!¡± She shouted into the phone. Emergency Dispatcher: ¡°A ghoul?¡± the dispatcher said in confusion, before returning back to his calm monotone cadence. ¡°Please calm down ma¡¯am, where are you currently located? Aria: ¡°I''m on 13 Saint Street! Please send someone to save me!¡± She continued to yell. Emergency Dispatcher: ¡°There are people on the way right now, Ma¡¯am. If you can get to a safe location, or barkade yourself somewhere, please do so. Officers will arrive in ten to twenty minutes. Now, can you please tell me¡ª¡± the dispatcher was cut off by Arias screaming. Aria: ¡°That is not quick enough! I need help now, i¡¯m¡ª¡± She stopped mid speech, as she thought she heard something outside her bedroom door. Scared for her own safety, she put the phone down and did what the dispatcher suggested. She grabbed chairs and what furniture she could move, and put them in front of the door. All while she faintly heard the voice of the person on the phone call out to her. Emergency Dispatcher: ¡°Hello? Ma¡¯am are you still there?¡± He called out faintly from the phone on Arias desk. Aria ignored the voice on the phone, and continued to pile everything she could in front of the door. Making it near impossible to open the door from the outside, but the barricade she constructed wasn''t big enough in Aria¡¯s mind. ¡°It is not enough. Ghouls are supposed to be impossible strong. It will smash through this in no time.¡± She thought while panicking. Aria continued to move everything in front of the door from: her bed, dressers, desks, hangers, and sofas. But despite doing that, it didn¡¯t make her feel safe. For the first time since receiving that mirror, she finally felt the uneasiness in the air. It was potentially making her slightly more irrational and fearful than she would have been. Eventually everything that wasn''t mounted to the wall was now in front of her bedroom door. ¡°It¡¯s still not enough!¡± She screamed in her head. She looked around, but there was nothing she could grab to put in front of the door. There was the giant mirror and a few large cabinets, but they were all too heavy for her to move by herself. She then remembered the bathroom beside her room and ran into there, looking for anything else to put in front of her bedroom door. Once inside the bathroom, she looked around erratically before freezing in place. The monster she had been running from was in there. It was standing right in front of Aria a few feet away, just staring at her with its empty white eyes. She was frozen in fear and didn¡¯t move a muscle. Afraid that if she made the slightest movement, it would attack her. Now that she was so close to it, she could make out more details than the brief moments she saw the creature''s reflection. It stood like a human and was thin and lanky with bright pink skin. The arms of the creature were slightly longer than that of a human, with long spindling fingers that were slightly bulbous at the joints and ended with chipped nails. It was bald and hairless with the lips pulled back to reveal its gum. The shape of the creature''s body was uneven in places with disgusting looking growths spread randomly across its skin. It was a hideous and grotesque thing to her. A monster that was as ugly as Aria was beautiful. Except, she wasn''t so sure it was a monster as she examined the creature. She was starting to come to a slow realization that this might not be so much a monster, as much as a person. Possibly a mutant. Despite its ugly features, there wasn''t anything that was particularly inhuman about it. It was even wearing clothing. It was wearing a white A-line dress. It was almost comical that such an ugly thing was wearing such a nice dress. But, even if it was a mutated human, Aria was still fearful for her safety. So, with bated breath she slowly took a step backwards to see how this ¡°person¡± reacted. As she did, the ¡°person¡± in front of her also took a step backwards. Aria was confused, but continued to repeat what she did and slowly back away from the ¡°person¡±. Step by step, she backed away and the thing in front of her did the same. It then dawned on her that she was being copied. The thing in front of her was copying her movements perfectly. She then did a few exaggerated movements and waved at the thing in front of her, and it did the same. She started to re-examined what she was looking at, and then realized that it was the mirror mounted over the sink in the bathroom she was actually staring at. She was staring at a reflection, her reflection. ¡°What?¡± she thought to herself confusingly. She then looked down at her hands, and finally realized how deformed they had become. A horrifying realization washed over her very being. She ran over to the giant mirror in her room and gazed at her reflection. It was not the deformed creature she saw in her bathroom mirror. The reflection was her beautiful normal self in that flawless white A-line dress. Still confused, she ran back to the bathroom mirror and saw the grotesque person from before. She ran back and forth between the mirrors before taking a chair and throwing it at the bathroom mirror. Sharp shards of the mirror were flung everywhere. She bent down and picked up a large shard before running back to the large mirror. She then stood in front of the giant mirror holding a piece of a broken mirror up to her face. She would turn her head back and forth between the mirrors examining herself. The giant mirror reflected a beautiful blond hair woman, while the broken mirror piece reflected a deformed human. Aria was beginning to lose track of what was real. She didn¡¯t want what she was seeing in the broken mirror to be true, but when she looked down at her own body it resembled more of the grotesque humans than her beautiful self. Aria: ¡°No no no no. This can¡¯t be happening,¡± she said horrified. She continued to look between her reflections, until she noticed something off about her reflection in the giant mirror. It was not moving. Her reflection was frozen in place like a painting on a wall. Another thing that was odd, the reflection of the background was also wrong. It didn¡¯t look like Aria''s bedroom was reflected in the mirror. Instead, the background in the mirror looked like the inside of a giant creature''s month with hooked teeth pointing inward like a lamprey. Aria: ¡°W-what¡¯s happening?¡± There was no response to any of the queries. Her reflection moved independent of Aria, and started to reach towards her. In the blink of the eye, the glass of the mirror disappeared. It was replaced by a gaping hole with teeth and something that looked like Aria in it. The clone of Aria slowly stepped out of what was once a mirror, now turned to the inside of a creature''s mouth. Aria dropped the mirror in her hand and stumbled backwards in absolute terror. Aria: ¡°What are you!¡± she screamed out. Aria¡¯s Reflection?: ¡°So, beautiful.¡± It said with a soft voice while slowly approaching the real Aria. Aria: ¡°Get away from me,¡± she yelled. Aria backed herself into the corner of the room. She desperately looked for a way to get out of here, but she had barricaded the only way in or out of her room. She was trapped. Aria¡¯s Reflection?: ¡°Come¡­Come be beautiful with us.¡± Aria: ¡°No, please no!¡± She begged with tears rolling down her now ugly face. Aria¡¯s Reflection?: ¡°Isn''t this what you wanted?¡± Aria: ¡°Huh?¡± Aria¡¯s Reflection?: ¡°To fully be appreciated for your beauty. And, you are so beautiful to us. The rage, the cruelty, your vanity, it¡¯s all so beautiful to us. And, ever so delicious. Afterall, isn''t beauty and hunger both the same.¡± Aria: ¡°No¡­ ¡° she pleaded out, unsure of what her clone was saying. The reflection of Aria''s face warped and twisted, as if it was made of clay, into an impossible and disturbing smile. In one quick action, the reflection grabbed Aria by her arm and began to drag her towards the giant mirror, now turned mouth. Aria: ¡°Noooo! Please no!¡± She screamed. She struggled to free herself from the twisted reflection of herself. It held unnatural strength and she couldn¡¯t free herself from its grasp. Aria: ¡°Please Lenah, if you are there. Please, save me!¡± She yelled out to her niece, hoping that she was there and could help. She begged anybody to save her, but her pleading went unanswered. Once they were both in front of the giant mirror, with one quick motion, her reflection tossed the deformed Aria into the mirror. As she entered into the mirror, gravity shifted around her and she began to fall down. The last thing Aria saw was her twisted reflection smiling at her, before she fell into the endless maw of a beast. A beast that was as ravenous as Aria was once vain. ?????????????????? Beauty is an amorphous concept that changes with a person''s perspective. It is undefined and can be redefined, and even overlap with other concepts. As such, If someone saw this play out from start to finish they might think that the mirror warped her appearance and consumed her, but that was hardly the reality. The mirror only reveals what she wanted, and what she truly was. Her own ugly desires for beauty was what twisted her into a grotesque mockery of the concept. At least, from Aria''s perspective it was grotesque, but her vanity stopped her from seeing it that way until it was too late. It was her obsessive desire for beauty that became a monster and devoured her whole, only leaving memories and pictures of her behind. Afterall, mirrors don¡¯t eat people.