part 2: the looking-glass

Weeks later, the collector still couldn't shake the feeling. Inkmatas was a living ghost now, and that was nice, but he still couldn't shake the guilty feeling. He could have killed that thing. He could have ran straight up to it and dashed it to peices. But he didn't. Something prevented him. A simple feeling, that something was deeply, deeply wrong. The sighting in the mirror. The feeling of being watched. The energy signatures. The fact that astra didn't see that THING on the camera drone.

The collector stopped. He took a deep breath, and relaxed. He had faced far worse things than this. Tyrants threatening to destroy the multiverse. Vast armies. Time-ending weapons. Why was he scared by a little ticking?

The collector sighed. He had made up his mind. He would go back to that house, explore further, kill whatever was making the ticking, and leave.

"Astra? We're going. Back to that house."

Astra: "why?"

Collector: "to finish the job."

The collector and astra went straight there, barged inside, and saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Astra: "see? I told you there was nothing there."

Collector: "trust me, we'll find something soon."

The pair cautiously advanced, the collector keeping his sword at the ready, and astra raising her blade. At one point the collector glanced back at a mirror.

Nothing was there.

Collector: "do you hear anything?"

Astra: "no."

Collector: "no ticking?"

Astra: "nothing sensed in the entire building."

Collector: "we're nearing the spot the drone found the ticking last time. Nothing so far."

Eventually, collector and astra found the room. Nothing was there. No ticking, no eyes, no sinister shapes in mirrors. Nothing. Just an eerie, persistent, silence.

Collector: "there. Its gone. The whole thing was an illusion, or some malfunctions in the drone, or-"

Suddenly, a tiny glint of light flashed from one corner of the room. Astra noticed, and found what caused it.

Astra: "hey look, a mirror! Didn't you mention that?"

Collector: "pass it here."

The collector lifted up the mirror. It was a dainty little thing, with ornate metal frills and loops around the outside. Possibly an earth or related species artifact from the year 20,456,038, or 1700-1800s. He glanced at the lens, wary of something. All that stared back at him was his own reflection, and something else, just in his peripheral vision. A little silhouette, and a pair of white, burning eyes...

And then it was gone. Only there for a second or so.

And suddenly the most chilling children's laughter echoed through the building, shattering the silence like a mallet through glass.

The collector froze for a second. He very slowly turned back, and saw nothing.

Nothing except the massive words newly scratched into the floor with a red substance, simply reading:

IM ALWAYS WATCHING

IM ALWAYS LISTENING

KEEP AWAY FROM THE TICKING

IM OUT THERE

NOW EVERYONE CAN ENJOY THE FUN

The room went deathly silent. Two minutes passed before astra mumbled something.

Astra: "we should leave."

Collector: "collect some of that red stuff. I'll contact most multiversal empires. Something is going to happen very soon, and it won't be good."

Astra: "are you crazy? You're contacting every major civilisation because of some words in the ground?"

Collector: "look at this."

The collector pointed to a dial on a energy measurement device.

Collector: "you know how it said this place had enough energy to destroy half the multiverse? That energy's gone. And is going to be distributed very, very soon."

Astra: "how can you tell how close it is?"

Collector: "look at the oscilloscope."

Astra: "what about it? It seems normal to me."

Collector: "watch what happens when I point it at the mirror."

Before her eyes, astra saw the wave patterns change instantly. A single line turned into perfect cursive. Perfect cursive that read:

THREE WEEKS

GOOD LUCK

Collector: "take the red sample. I'll take the mirror. We need to get this stuff back to a lab instantly. The multiverse is in danger, and we might have just triggered it."

Holy shit

Thanks

The story is Phenomenal

Thanks

Np!

Spooky spooky spoooookkkkyyyyyy

Very good

Thx