Chapter Text
The mirror arrived without a sender.
No seal.
No letter.
No explanation.
Just a massive object wrapped in dark cloth and dragged into the Nightmare Orioles’ headquarters by three exhausted recruits complaining the entire way.
“Captain, who even sends a mirror this huge?” Illuga barely glanced up from the reports piled across his desk. The thing stood taller than two men, its frame forged from black metal veined with silver cracks that resembled frozen lightning.
Strange symbols crawled along the edges like living scars. Even beneath the cloth, it radiated something unpleasant — cold, ancient, wrong. One recruit nervously peeled the covering away. A mirror. But not an ordinary one. Its surface shimmered faintly blue despite reflecting the room perfectly. Tiny particles of light drifted beneath the glass as though an ocean slept inside it.
Along the frame, etched in an unfamiliar script, were the words: "When mirrored souls align as one, the past is lost, the present undone.”
Silence filled the room.
One of the younger Lightkeepers immediately backed away. “…Yeah no. That thing is cursed.”
Another muttered, “Maybe don’t touch it, Captain.”
Illuga stared at it for another second before sighing. “Probably some collector’s garbage, Please move it somewhere so someone doesnt trip.” He returned to his paperwork. “Move it to storage.”
“Yes, Captain.” Except nobody moved it. The recruits forgot after being called for patrol rotations, someone else assumed it had already been handled, and by the time the headquarters quieted for the night, the mirror still stood exactly where it had been left — alone near the eastern hall. Illuga finally noticed. The halls were silent now. Most of the Lightkeepers were asleep while the night patrols guarded the outskirts of Nod-Krai.
Only dim lanterns lit the corridors. Illuga stopped mid-step, papers in hand about wild hunt sightings. “…They forgot.” Annoyance flickered across his tired sleep deprived face, though he himself wont admit that he is tired and sleep deprived.
He walked toward the mirror papers in hand, muttering under his breath about late papera and Wild hunt running more rampant overtime, grabbing the side of the frame to drag the absurd thing inside himself. Cold air hit his face, sent of the sea, and above the clouds parted. Moonlight flooded through the high windows.
The instant the silver light touched the mirror— The inscriptions ignited. Blue-gold light exploded across the frame. Illuga froze. The surface of the mirror rippled like disturbed water.
Meanwhile: Timeline Five hundred years in the past of Nod Krai.
Another headquarters.
Another night.
Another captain.
A young Lightkeeper named Illhan Lycon stood before the exact same mirror, having discovered it only moments earlier beneath the ruins of an abandoned Kuvaki shrine. He looked almost identical to Illuga.
Same eyes.
Same face.
But colder.
Sharper.
And Hair slicked back.
His uniform was black and white layered with deep crimson accents glowing like dying embers beneath the fabric. A massive scythe-gun- spear thing rested against his shoulder, its blade reflecting the moonlight like blood-stained silver. An a Pyro vision hanging on his waist.
Unlike Illuga, who looked irritated— and very confused at the mirror Illhan looked ready to execute whoever made the artifact.
“What idiot leaves cursed objects lying around…” Illhan muttered. As soon as both touched it under the full moons light Then the mirror activated. With sufficient kuvaki on each side, the insciptiona glowed slowly with blue and red kuvaki.
Both of thier thought at the same time is "oh shit" Both men looked up at the exact same moment. And saw each other.
Silence.
Two captains.
Two identical faces.
Two entirely different yet similar souls.
Illuga blinked first.
Illhan narrowed his eyes immediately like he was already considering murder. Soon The mirrors flared brighter and Golden-blue light erupted from the glass, swallowing both rooms whole. The air screamed, the floor cracked beneath the pressure.
And then— POOF, SHATTER. Clink clink clink.. the mirror actually Broke…oh boy.. then Everything went dark.
HOURS LATER: Morning 7:30 am at Piramida The Nightmares Orioles patrol returned first. The doors burst open as exhausted Lightkeepers stumbled inside laughing about something that happened during patrol— Until one froze.
“…Captain?” Their squad leader was lying unconscious on the floor beside the mirror. Several rushed forward immediately.
“Captain!”
“Get a medic!”
“Was he attacked?!” Nobody noticed the problem at first. Not immediately. Because technically… That was “their” captain.
Same face.
Same hair.
Same eyes.
But when "Illuga" slowly opened his eyes— The entire room went silent. His expression was terrifying. Cold. Sharp. And worse of all Unfamiliaritu Like a wolf waking up surrounded by prey.
“…Why,” “Illuga” said slowly, voice dangerously calm, “are you all screaming?” The Lightkeepers collectively paused. Something felt wrong. Very wrong. Utterly Wrong…
One recruit nervously laughed. “Haha… Captain,... Illuga...you feeling okay?”
“Illuga” stared at him, well Long enough for the poor recruit to start sweating the says. “…You sound weak,”
“…What?”
“Is everyone in this pathetic, i dont remember training you lot to be so weak and soft...ughhh...anyway...did you finish your reports?”
Complete silence.
Another Lightkeeper whispered to another: “…Why is Captain scarier today?”
"Illuga" slowly sat up and dusted himself, glaring at the reports scattered nearby like they personally offended him. Never minding the shattered mirror glass next to him and the mirror in front of him.
“Illuga” picked up the paperwork and says “…What is this.” “Uh… paperwork?” His face immediately darkened. “…Disgusting.”
One recruit blinked. “…Captain, you literally finished those this Yesterday.” Illhan looked genuinely horrified.
“I did WHAT?” “Illuga” looked so disgusted, every light keeper present thought while thing collectively.
(What the f#uck is going on? And why is "Illuga" look strange and very SCARY, and well why are his clothes different? I mean it looked cool? But respectfully WTF!?)
The recruit immediately regretted having a voice. Meanwhile, outside the eastern hall, word spread at a speed that could only be described as panic disguised as rumor. And in less than ten minutes, the Nightmare Orioles headquarters was no longer organized.
The recruit immediately regretted having a voice. Meanwhile, outside the eastern hall, word spread at a speed that could only be described as panic disguised as rumor. And in less than ten minutes, the Nightmare Orioles headquarters was no longer organized.
It was alive with confusion. “…That’s Captain Illuga,” one said.
“…That is NOT Captain Illuga,” another immediately countered. “But he looks like him.”
“He looks like him if he lost his personality in a gambling debt.”
Inside the hall, the “Illuga” stood up perfectly still, reading a report upside down with zero hesitation like it offended him personally.
A third Lightkeeper whispered: “…Why is he standing like he owns the building?”
“He does own the building.”
“No, I mean like he’s judging the concept of ownership.” The group stepped forward cautiously.
“Captain?” one tried. The man’s eyes snapped toward them instantly.
Every recruit instinctively straightened. “…Report,” he said.
One recruit nearly fainted on the spot. “That’s not how he says that,” someone whispered urgently. Another group arrived—then another—then another.
Within Seconds, the eastern hall was filled with Lightkeepers forming a loose, increasingly anxious semicircle around the mirror and their captain. By the time the count reached what felt like hundreds of personnel gathering and peeking in from corridors, staircases, and balconies— The situation had escalated from “concern” to “institutional panic.”
In the dining area
“Why is his aura different?”
“He feels heavier.”
“No, he feels like if you make eye contact you lose your job.”
“He used to pat recruits on the shoulder.”
“He looks like he would break your shoulder to test if it’s functional.”
“I miss when he said ‘good work’ instead of just staring at us like paperwork errors.”
In the center of it all, the “Illuga” slowly looked around at the growing crowd.
“…Why are there so many of you,” “Illuga” said flatly. The room went silent again. A recruit bravely stepped forward.
“Captain… are you okay?” The man stared at him for a long moment.
Then said: “…Define ‘okay.’”
Immediate chaos.
“That’s not a normal answer!”
“He never asks that!”
“WHY IS HE SPEAKING LIKE A FINAL BOSS?”
Someone else pointed shakily toward the mirror. Finally someone smart! “It must be that thing!” All eyes turned. The mirror stood silently. Glass shattered Unmoving. Watching nothing. Reflecting everything in cracks
The “Illuga” followed their gaze. “…That object is hazardous,” he said calmly.
“It should be destroyed.” “Illuga” added “also clean the glass beneath it.”
A recruit nearly cried. “That’s the first thing he’s said that feels normal.”
Another immediately responded: “That’s WORSE, why is THAT the normal part?!”
It has been only a weeks since "Illuga" is acting strange By now, roughly the entire Nightmare Orioles base had gathered. Hundreds of Lightkeepers crowded every visible angle of the hall, whispering, arguing, and catastrophizing at increasing volume.
Some notes from the crowd:
“Captain Illuga used to smile at cats, I think”
“This one looks like he would arrest a shadow for loitering”
“Why is he checking our posture like he’s auditing us”
“Is this what discipline feels like or am I dying”
“Illuga” finally exhaled slowly. “…You are all inefficiently loud.”
Instant silence.
Not because they wanted to.
Because something in his tone made silence feel safer than breathing.
One recruit whispered: “…We should call someone.”
Another whispered back: “Who do we call when the captain is the problem? FLINS? MAYBE NIKITA? HE CAN FIX HIS SON!”
From the far side of the hall, someone else muttered: “…I miss when he was nice.”
And in the middle of it all, the mirror flickered faintly again—just once—like something on the other side had shifted its weight. "Illuga" rolled his eyes as he cleaned up thier spear-scythe-gun thing weapon.
May Columbina Help them…LoL