Story and characters written and created by JustSomeNumbers

  In the now darkened twilight of the harkening night, the temperature slowly rose from a warm embrace to a chill the surface of Karla’s flesh began to feel. After having made a life changing discovery- He was now reckoning with the prospects of what not only this implied, but what this meant for his own livelihood. Looking up at the now star light wonder-scape, shimmering jewels of various colors looked upon a cold and curious Karla.

  “This strange…Aspect. I don’t remember having anything like this. Did this body have this? Is the occult…r-relevant?”

  Getting up and gathering the slime’s corpse (as best he could), he lugged the gelatinous substance to the river-side he had started this strange life on. Slowly gathering a flame, Karla created a fire-pit which contained various small and large rocks to form a ring both to protect the small flame from any wind but to additionally contain it when it eventually burns as bright as starlight. The radiating flame from the camp-fire created pulsing waves of warmth that would recuse the cold shivering feeling on his outer body. The warmth and fire-light flickered and danced in the darkness of the near midnight. Karla began to reflect on some of the moments he thought he had forgotten.

  These memories faded in and quickly left, shifting through the strangeness of the situation he was in. Memories of his comrades- both cherished and despised- came flooding to him. As he skewered the slime's corpse and held it above the fire in an attempt to cook it, he had to constantly rotate the spear in order to keep the slime from falling off the large skewer.

  “...what a strange concept.”

  The notion that of all his comrades, the innocent and just, and the aspects that made them much more human than Karla ever could consider himself, ended their existence before him. The fact remained that Karla of all people, as opposed to the green horn cadets and fresh enlisted men who had that inner idealist, was the one who survived the hellscapes they all witnessed. Karla struggled to understand what this strange feeling was. It wasn’t pity nor was it a sense of guilt. Karla survived because he was simply better informed and prepared- what he was feeling was strange because it was like an anxious ball was created in his gut and wouldn’t budge. Like a meeting with higher officers- he felt….disconnected. Distant. The correct description eluded Karla, but he understood the desire which was born from it. What he craved since finding out this new world had been severed from the ties of his past mistakes. And to appease this deep desire, he began to talk to himself.

  Karla pretended he was still with his comrades, making social advances in their respective careers- what normal individuals called “talking”. He remembered the difference in their faces- the before that is. Before they came back from their first fire-fight. It was filled with something Karla found so intriguing yet incomprehensible. The liveliness of their faces, the soft tones of their voice- the intricacies of their unique perspectives and the goals they said they wanted after they retire. Karla knew listening wouldn’t matter as the statistical probability dictated they would die after their fourth or fifth engagement. But it gave him something to occupy his mind.

  …

  “I wonder where you’d all be… If It were as peaceful as tonight? If you were given a couple more years could you have changed the same way I was? Could you be broken in a way that wrenched the very soul from your body?”

  The slime started to cougulate and became almost rough in appearance. While it was still translucent, it was no longer sopping or as liquid as it once was and had the appearance of some strange jerky. Karla moved to take a bite, but was interrupted by the sudden change in his surroundings.

  He was back in the strange room he was in before he went to the open field. Looking around nothing had changed since last he was there. Angered by the fact he couldn’t taste the fruits of his labor he moved to the mirror to blow off some steam and continue his conversation from before- at the very least he could berate that aloof idiot for missing the entire point of getting a map. Albeit however he did present him with the pieces of critical information he needed to get a very rough understanding of what was happening. Walking close to the mirror he saw the ghostly form surrounding his body, like before. He pressed further to move past that reflection and back to the strange view to the “other side”.

  Karla expected to see the strangely aloof fellow smiling like the brainless pacifist he suspected he was, but was stopped immediately by a confusing contradiction. Some other individual was on the other side. Karla clicked his tongue and clenched his fists just hard enough to relieve the annoyance he felt- but not enough to be noticed by this stranger.

  “HEY. You.”

  The figure on the other side was in the middle of what looked to be notation of some kind, but was clearly not expecting Karla to be there. It was if the strange man was too stunned to continue functioning.

  …

  It reminded Karla of the shellshock in the green horns. Letting out a sigh and taking a closer inspection, Karla snapped his fingers in front of the strangers view a couple of times and slowly motioned to his eyes as clearly as he could. For whatever reason Karla observed that if a person was given a clear goal fast enough and with enough finesse Karla could re-direct the “shock” to a specific task and “snap them out” of whatever stupor they were in. Typically this would mean Karla slapping them hard enough to get their attention and then follow with verbal instructions- but he couldn’t do that here. The mirror strangely acted as some sort of barrier or something.

  This seemed to work as the stranger's eyes met with Karla’s. Karla saw something all too similar to the “after” of his comrades. Deep muddied red pupils which seem to have lost their shine- similar to Karla- looked almost desperately back into his gaze. Karla saw their facial expression was nervous and in response attempted to mimic this.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  It would be easier for them to lower their guard if they could connect with myself. I’ll try to act a bit more anxious to connect with them, we’ll see how that works out.

  “Can you understand me? The last person here didn’t and…”

  Thinking to himself, Karla quickly re-adjusted his tone of voice and came up with a series of words that best fit what he thought would put this person most at ease.

  “The last person here didn’t really understand what I was saying and I could really use some help from someone like you!”

  …

  The person seemed to calm a bit, but spoke in yet another unfamiliar language. Annoyed- but curious Karla remembered what came as a breakthrough in the previous encounter and started to leave to go grab his map and notation tools- but was interrupted by what looked to be a desperate appearing attempt to hold Karla’s attention.

  The strange man spoke and turned his strange note-pad around- he could make out that it was clearly written language of some sort, but didn’t comprehend any of it. What the person did next was what was most intriguing to Karla.

  Quickly, the stranger flipped the page and began drawing crude images. He first sectioned off three pieces of the paper into equal parts with lines. Arrows pointed in a way such that it communicated to Karla that it was in some sort of sequential order, the first “box” pointed to the second “box”, which finally pointed to the third “box”. Atop each of these boxes was a circle with a line pointing in weirdly distinct directions- Karla looked at his pocket watch and recognized that those were probably meant to denote the time. Turning the note-pad back to himself the stranger doodled for what seemed to be a lot longer than Karla thought.

  In the middle of this, the sensation of some disgusting sludge entering his mouth almost triggered his gag reflex and took a moment to recover from. Curiously, the stranger also seemed to be going through the same sensation at the same time as him. Noting this Karla stood patiently tapping his foot while waiting for him to finish whatever he was doing. This was of course the most progress in communicating with another since being moved to this weird place, so it didn’t matter to him how long it took. It was still annoyingly long to him though.

  Finally, after waiting for what Karla would approximate as fourteen to fifteen minutes- (not that Karla was keeping track…or anything-) The stranger flipped the page to reveal an intricate “comic” of some sort within the three boxes. The first box was a crudely drawn fielded area- with an unfamiliar brown blob with the time reading somewhere around 8:30. The second box had the picture of the strange body they were seemingly both inhabiting separately, but with notably blue eyes, a smiling face and was surrounded by what looked to be flowers?

  …interesting.

  The second box was at around 11:15. The third and final box however was the same body drawn but with purple eyes, and an eerie smile. Looking at the time Karla noticed it was exactly the same as his pocket-watch was tracking.

  “About 3:10….”

  The person who was staring desperately at Karla, like an injured bird needing comforting words of assurance, just gave him the breakthrough in communication he needed to form a rational working theory.

  “THATS IT!!”

  If this body isn’t *just* mine, that would mean the wispy figures in the mirror- who also have some sort of connection with my new body- could also take control of it!

  This was it! This explanation would cover all of the observations and strange happenings Karla was experiencing. Karla could see the thin thread of logic wrap around each piece of information to form a coherent solution. If the two people he met in the mirror had the same body each time, but with different “wisps” controlling it- that would reasonably lead to Karla understanding why he was put in this strange situation. He was also a “wisp” controlling the same body as the other two. This also meant his observation of experiencing those strange sensations in coherence with the person in the mirror was most likely a derivative aspect of sharing the same body. This also created a credible explanation as to why Karla kept finding himself at strange new locations and additionally why he couldn’t understand the strange nonsense being spoken to him through the mirror.

  “Perhaps it was a matter of where as opposed to when…”

  Biting his index finger in concentration, Karla rang through the possibilities that could corroborate his theory. Neither of the two “mirror people” were able to understand what he assumed was common symbology, and he couldn’t understand either of these strangers' linguistics either. Assuming the common denominator is how each person's perspective was brought into being- this means Karla and the other two “mirror people” had to come from separate worlds or realities. The great war alone kept focus from peripheral aspects, things like medical advancement were only done in response to the developing arms race and there was essentially no effort in art or civil engineering. So the explanation for the seemingly advanced rooms in both mirror realms would match this theory- and the inability to communicate would act as a byproduct of this… originating from separate realities.

  Wait… This means my new body- …

  …

  VERDAMMT.

  The revelation that his body was either in “co-control” or whatever nonsense meant- was now something extremely important for Karla. He had to protect his new body from the ineptitude of the other two mirror people. Since they shared the same body- the mistakes of one would affect all three. This means that if that stupid pacifist got dominated- he would also be dominated. Inexplicably linked physically- this would mean Karla had to find out how to protect his new body at any cost.

  The aspect that angered Karla the most was knowing about the politics that were bound to ensue following this discovery. He knew from his personal experience that attempting an objective (I.e, preserving this body's sovereignty) without proper communication and planning almost always meant catastrophic failure. However, to communicate with these people was no easy task. He needed to find a way to break this communications barrier that didn’t involve time wasting inaccurate doodles. He also didn’t want to compromise with these filthy pacifists, any compromise on his body’s security left vulnerability for exploitation. But how would he be able to leverage any sway if they all had control of his new body at some point? Karla would need to delve into this topic in length soon. But for now he needed to focus on getting this body prepped for his own machinations. What Karla needed most was to build this body’s strength, endurance and resilience. If he could manipulate the other two “wisps” to focus on survival or improving this body’s quality of life- he could focus on protecting it while eliminating any threats.

  Karla felt a sudden swelling of that strange feeling from before- the large knot of blackness- loosen a bit before stabilizing again. Was this what those diplomats tried to achieve before the great war? Did they also try to formulate a plan to control someone without having the direct power to enforce it? Did Karla himself have to take up the role of a Rostovian soldier again?

  …

  He didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit. Being forced to act into this planning and operational phase again- by some fluke of a situation that bound his efficiency to the whims of a suspected pacifist and depressed absentminded fool. But he had no other choice.

  He had to press on. For his own ideals as much as the other two, whether he liked it or not.