The wind moved gently across the grassland, bending the green blades like waves upon a quiet sea. Above, the sky stretched endlessly, pale and calm.
Sterling lay on his back among the grass, his silver eyes half-open as he stared into the drifting clouds.
The day the mirror shattered… he thought.
I was once fragments of a single mirror.
My soul… my intent… pieces of one whole glass.
For a moment, the wind seemed to whisper with him.
And his mind drifted back.
"Sterling, come here."
The voice was warm.
A nine-year-old boy ran out of the house, bright eyes and an eager smile lighting his face.
"Yes, mom?"
His mother looked at him gently.
"Your dad will take you to a party today. Go with him, alright?"
Sterling's eyes sparkled.
A party!
His thoughts filled with sweet things.
Pastries… juice… maybe cake too!
He bounced happily in place.
Soon after, the sound of wheels creaking over dirt reached the house.
His father had arrived.
"Come on, Sterling. Let's go."
A wooden cart stood outside, pulled by a single horse. Sterling climbed up eagerly, sitting on his father's lap as the cart began to move.
The road stretched forward.
At first, everything felt normal.
The wind was cool. The trees swayed. The boy imagined tables filled with sweets waiting for him somewhere ahead.
But slowly…
The forest grew darker.
The path narrowed.
And the laughter Sterling expected to hear never came.
Instead, deep within the forest, something waited.
A figure stood between the trees.
Not human.
Not anything Sterling had ever seen.
The creature's form was tall and distorted, its presence heavy like a shadow that refused to move.
Sterling didn't understand.
He watched quietly as his father stepped down from the cart and walked toward the creature.
Their voices were low.
But the boy could still hear them.
"Here's the kid you asked for," his father said.
The creature's voice was deep and hollow.
"He hasn't awakened his Soul Creature, right?"
"Not a chance."
A small pouch was tossed forward.
Coins clinked together.
"Very well," the creature said. "Here's your one hundred thousand Lune."
Sterling blinked in confusion.
Why are they talking like that…?
His father turned and walked back toward him.
"Go to that person over there," he said harshly. "He'll take you to the party."
Sterling looked at the creature again.
Fear crawled into his chest.
"I'm scared," he whispered. "That person looks… different."
"Don't make this hard."
His father's voice snapped like a whip.
"B-but…"
The sound of shattering glass cut through the air.
His father had grabbed a small hand mirror resting near the cart and struck him with it.
The mirror exploded into fragments.
Tiny shards scattered across the ground.
One piece sliced into Sterling's hand.
A thin line of blood appeared.
Sterling fell back, tears filling his eyes.
But the pain in his hand…
Was nothing compared to the pain blooming inside his chest.
In that moment, the boy understood.
He wasn't going to a party.
His parents were getting rid of him.
His heart cracked.
His mind splintered.
Just like the mirror.
His father grabbed him by the neck and threw him forward.
The creature caught the small body easily.
Then its wings unfolded.
The forest disappeared beneath them as they flew into the dark sky.
Back at the house, the cart returned.
The pouch of money rested on the table.
Sterling's parents smiled as they counted the coins.
Far away, the creature arrived at a strange altar hidden deep within another forest.
Ancient markings glowed faintly across the stone.
The creature placed Sterling upon it.
Then darkness swallowed the boy's consciousness.
A beam of pale light descended from the altar, focusing entirely on his small body.
Inside his mind…
Sterling stood within an endless grassland.
The sky above was soft and bright.
A deer ran across the fields.
Its steps were quiet, graceful.
Sterling watched it silently.
The deer stopped.
It turned its head and looked directly at him.
Then it ran again.
Fear stirred in the boy's heart.
He ran after it.
Through the grass.
Through the wind.
Until finally the deer stopped once more.
Sterling caught up, breathing heavily.
When he looked into its eyes—
He saw a reflection.
But it wasn't himself.
It was a boy with silver eyes.
The deer slowly raised its head.
Its antlers grew outward like branches of an ancient tree.
From those branches hung mirrors.
Dozens of them.
Sterling walked closer.
He looked into one.
Then another.
But none of them reflected his image.
They showed nothing at all.
The boy felt tired.
Lost.
Confused.
So he laid down in the grass beside the deer.
The deer watched him quietly.
As if it understood something he didn't.
Then slowly…
It lay down beside him.
Outside the dream, the beam of energy flickered.
Then failed.
The creature checked Sterling's pulse.
Still alive.
But something had changed.
His eyes had turned silver.
Empty.
Cold.
"You have to be kidding me…" the creature muttered.
"This kid awakened Qi right here… but I don't feel any energy from him."
It scratched its head in irritation.
"Weird, the altar absorbs every unawakened person and converts it into pure energy."
Then it shrugged.
"I'll leave him here for now. I've got a village to slaughter anyway. I'll test him later."
Laughing, the creature spread its wings and disappeared into the sky.
Sterling woke slowly.
His eyes opened.
He looked around.
Stone and ancient symbols.
The strange altar beneath him.
"So… it was a dream?"
The moment the thought left his mind
His body changed.
Silver light erupted around him.
His form transformed rapidly.
Where the boy once stood now stood a deer.
Silver fur, large branching antlers, silver eyes.
Without hesitation, the deer ran into the forest.
When the creature returned later, it found the altar empty.
The boy was gone.
But the creature only shrugged.
After all, it had already slaughtered an entire village.
Its hunger was satisfied.
The child no longer mattered.
The wind passed softly across the grassland once more.
Sterling blinked, returning to the present.
He lay quietly in the grass.
"Does a shattered mirror ever reflect the same image?" he murmured.
For a moment, there was only silence.
Then a voice spoke within his mind.
"A mirror shatters when it is not handled with care."
Sterling exhaled slowly.
"I guess so…"
The wind whispered through the endless grass, carrying fragments of a past that could never be restored.
Some mirrors are not meant to be whole again.