Chapter 3 – Reflections

  Level – Mirrors

  I opened the door and found myself in an infinite white void. No walls, no floor—just an endless expanse of pure whiteness, as if I were trapped inside an unfinished dream.

  And then, I saw them.

  Mirrors.

  Millions of them, lined up in endless rows, each reflecting a different version of me. But they weren’t just mere reflections.

  I approached cautiously, my heart pounding as if some terrible secret awaited me. In the first mirror, I saw myself as a successful man, dressed in an elegant suit, surrounded by the lights of fame and fortune. In the mirror beside it, I was broken, sitting alone in a dark room, my face etched with unbearable disappointment. In another, I was a criminal, my hands stained with blood, my eyes filled with both fury and regret.

  One mirror after another, I saw countless versions of myself—presidents, beggars, scientists, victims, killers, artists—even my own dead body.

  I staggered back, my breath unsteady. There was no difference between me and them. There was no "true me." I was just one version out of millions, each living the life dictated by fate. But if that was true… then where was the real Christopher?

  My mind spiraled. I fell to my knees, pressing my hands to my face, struggling to grasp the horrifying realization. If I was no different from them… was I just another possibility? Just another variation of an endless Christopher?

  Madness threatened to consume me. But then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed someone standing far away, amidst the endless mirrors.

  I stood up slowly and walked toward him. The path stretched endlessly, defying logic—each step bringing me closer yet somehow making him seem even further. But at last, I reached him.

  He was an old man, his long white beard flowing over a robe as white as the void itself. But he was no ordinary man.

  He was me. An older version of me.

  He stood there, gazing at me with calm eyes, holding an answer I couldn't yet understand. As I stepped closer, he spoke in a deep voice, his words cryptic.

  ? "If you seek the truth, don’t expect to find it in the glass."

  I struggled to comprehend his meaning, but he continued:

  ? "Each of them is you, yet you have never been any of them."

  A shiver ran through my spine. My thoughts tangled, trying to piece together what he was saying. I asked, "Why am I here? What is all of this?"

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he turned and began walking through the mirrors. I hesitated, then followed. There was no clear path, but I walked—past endless rows of mirrors—until I reached another door.

  I paused for a moment, glancing at him as he gestured toward the door. Then, I pushed it open and stepped inside.

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  Level – 99

  I found myself in my bedroom.

  The same bed, the same windows, everything just as I had left it. A wave of relief washed over me. I was home.

  Everything seemed normal. I looked outside, and the people were back. They were no longer missing like before. Everything had returned to normal.

  But when I walked downstairs to the living room, I was met with pure horror.

  I was already there. Sitting in front of the television. The only sound in the room was the eerie static hum.

  He was watching a blank screen, and on it, a single phrase appeared:

  "Search to find who you are."

  I clenched my fists. I hadn’t returned to the real world after all.

  "Why am I still here? Why won’t this nightmare end?!"

  I turned to face him, anger boiling inside me. "What the hell is happening?!"

  He slowly looked at me, his expression blank—like I was a complete stranger. Then, he spoke in a calm, detached voice:

  ? "Oh, I didn’t see you there. Who are you?"

  I froze. How does he not recognize me? He is me.

  I turned toward the mirror, checking if I had changed. No. I looked exactly the same. I spun back toward him and said:

  "I’m… I’m Christopher. I’m you."

  He studied me with cold eyes before replying:

  ? "I do not look outward, but inward. And within, we are as different as the sky and the earth."

  His words struck like a whip against my mind. I tried to understand what he meant, but before I could respond, he suddenly burst into laughter.

  It wasn’t normal laughter—it was sharp, unnatural, like the sound of something breaking inside me. A deep shudder ran through my body.

  I looked around as the world began to collapse. In the chaos, a door in the far corner of the room creaked open.

  Without hesitation, I sprinted toward it and stepped through.

  ---

  Level – Nothingness

  I emerged into a world of endless white—a maze of pristine walls stretching infinitely in all directions.

  The ground was flawless, the walls seamless. But the sky… was a motionless blue. The clouds were frozen, as if time had ceased to exist. No wind. No sound. No birds.

  I was in a maze.

  I walked, turning through corridor after corridor, only to find myself back at the beginning. There was no logic here. Nothing was constant.

  Frustration boiled inside me. This wasn’t fun anymore. If this was a dream, why did it feel too real? I needed to get out.

  As I wandered, I started noticing writings on the walls. They weren’t fully legible, but they seemed to be telling me something:

  "Are you looking for an answer?"

  "Every question is a path, and every path leads to a door."

  "You didn’t choose to come here, but you chose to stay."

  The words were bizarre, yet somehow familiar—echoing what I had heard before.

  I kept walking, encountering random objects scattered throughout: a lone chair in the middle of a hallway, a window leading to nowhere, a clock with no hands, a tiny door that opened to nothingness. This place was chaos.

  After what felt like days of wandering, I finally found something different—a glowing white wall. There was no door, but somehow, I knew I had to go through it.

  I hesitated. Was this a trap? What if I was supposed to find a door instead?

  I looked around. Nothing but randomness. No other way forward.

  I had no choice.

  I reached out and touched the light. A wave of indescribable peace washed over me, like I was feeling true comfort for the first time in my life.

  ---

  Level – Home

  I blinked, snapping out of the sensation.

  I was inside a house. Not mine. But it felt strangely familiar.

  I opened a door and found a scene from my childhood—a moment I had forgotten. In another room, I saw a memory of my first day at work, but I wasn’t even sure if it had actually happened or if it was just an illusion.

  Then, I entered a room full of photographs.

  Pictures of memories I had never lived.

  Strange faces, unfamiliar places. Yet, they weren’t completely foreign. They felt like memories that should belong to me—but didn’t.

  In one of the rooms, I found a mirror. But instead of reflecting my image… it showed a moment from my past, as if it were a window into another time.

  I stood there, watching, reliving the moment as if it were happening for the first time.

  Then, I found a different door.

  A message was carved into the wall beside it:

  ? "Stay in the memories forever, or move forward into the unknown."

  I wanted to stay… here, I was surrounded by everything I had lost. But I wasn’t living. I was merely watching.

  I took a deep breath.

  I didn’t know what lay beyond this door… but I turned the handle and stepped through.

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  (End of Chapter.)