Song of the Mirror Maker, Chapter Four
Rose hadn’t realized she’d fallen asleep until the sound of hushed voices awoke her. She’d followed Theta’s instructions after escaping her certain execution, and had been awaiting his signal to emerge from the hidden passageway for hours now.
As the voices grew louder, Rose shifted carefully from her position on the floor and leaned one ear against the wall. She recognized the sound of Admar's voice, but not the other man who he was speaking to.
“We can talk in here,” The Inquisitor was saying. “Theta is still unconscious downstairs.”
“I can’t believe they haven’t found the girl yet,” the unknown man remarked. “And that the Overlord is going to pull through,” he added begrudgingly.
Rose’s heart soared at the news, but she could almost hear Admar frowning by the tone of his voice.
“A pity on both counts, Hjinn,” he replied. “I thought she was going to save me the trouble of killing him later. Both he and Zeta are merely pawns to be disposed of once my ultimate goal is fulfilled, after all.”
“And you brought me here to tell me what that is, so why don’t you start explaining?” the man called Hjinn prompted.
“Well, as I have intimated, I’ve been working with Lord Zeta for the last few years, trying to devise a way for him to take over both kingdoms. At least, that’s what I’ve led him to believe. My true purpose has been to access the Otherland’s archival library and discover long forgotten lore...knowledge older than magic.”
Hjinn cleared his throat and sat down heavily in a chair that dragged along the wooden floor. “And what did you learn?” he asked curiously.
“Well, as you know, the Mirrorverse is occupied by two realms, Theta’s kingdom on one side, and Lord Zeta’s’s on the other, a perfect but opposite reflection of the former. What is not commonly known, however, is that this separation of the realms has not always been. Long ago, there was only one, wholly unified kingdom ruled by Saman, the greatest sorcerer who ever lived. It was said that he sang the Gleissen into being, and forged a magic mirror that turned him into a god.”
“I remember,” Hjinn said in a distant tone. “The Song of the Mirror Maker… But those are fables and nursery tales!” he objected. “My mother used to tell me those stories when I was a child.”
Admar sat down at the table and leaned back in his chair, causing it to creak beneath him.
“I used to believe so too,” he replied, “but those stories are real. I found documents divided between the realms that prove it. And so I set out to find Saman’s mirror. It was written that he who held the mirror could unite the realms once more, and hold ultimate dominion over the universe. That’s exactly what I plan to do.”
“Have you gone mad?” Hjinn snorted in disbelief. “A magic mirror? Joining the realms of the Mirrorverse? All this plotting has clouded your mind, Admar!”
“Don’t be so sure,” the Inquisitor stated. “It was I who pulled the Queen’s duplicate from the other dimension.”
“What?” Hjinn responded. “If that’s so, how did you do it?”
Admar laughed silkily. “Well, I finally succeeded in locating a sliver of Saman's mirror. After months of trial and I error, I was able to use it for the first time just recently. The instructive texts I’ve collected are so ancient and illegible at points that I wasn’t sure if I was doing it correctly. But as I tried to follow them I found my voice opening up and calling across the void of time and space. As I spoke, I heard my voice changing into that of the Overlord’s, as the sliver was bequeathed to his kin, the Lords of the Northern realm. It was unnerving to say the least. I wasn't sure if anything had happened at all, not until the duplicate Rose turned up. Then I knew it must have been Saman’s mirror. How else could she have come here?”
“I don’t believe you,” Hjinn said flatly.
Admar sighed heavily as he stood from the table and rustled in the folds of his robe. “Perhaps you will believe me when I show you this,” he said.
Rose lifted her fingers to the obstructing wall, frustrated that she couldn’t see what the men were looking at.
“But…” Hjinn’s voice uttered in dismay. “It cannot be! That’s the Overlord’s!”
“It is!” Admar returned. “Passed down over generations, yet he doesn’t have a clue. I’ve replaced his with a false copy to keep him unaware. But look closer, my old friend!”
“Your fingertips are turning black,” the servant remarked. “Does the mirror do you harm?”
Rose could hear Admar’s sharp intake of breath before covering his anger adeptly. “Never mind that! Look into the reflection,” he instructed, “and behold all that is to come.”
Neither man spoke for a moment, and Rose bit her lip tightly as she struggled to control her breathing.
“I see it all now,” Hjinn’s voice came again. “I vow my allegiance to you, Inquisitor. May your victory be swift.”
Admar laughed giddily as he clapped his friend’s shoulder. “Oh, it will be my faithful servant. Swift and terrible.”
Rose shivered in the concealed passageway as she heard the men retreating from the room. She had to tell Theta! But then again, she didn’t even know if she could trust Theta. What was she going to do?
--
Not long after the conspirators had left, Rose heard other voices coming into the room.
“Careful there, my Lord,” an older woman’s voice said soothingly. “We’re almost there.”
“Thank you Mrs. Atta,” Theta’s voice said quietly over the sound of rustling bedclothes.
Rose pursed her lips and leaned heavily against the wall.
"Let me know if you need anything else,” Mrs. Atta said gently.
“Thank you again,” Theta said as the woman shut the heavy door behind her.
Theta wasted no time after she had gone, and opened the secret passageway to let Rose inside.
“Are you alright?” he asked her, his voice filled with concern.
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that question?” Rose asked hollowly. She stared at his pale face and he grimaced.
“It’s nothing,” he said gruffly as he started clumsily toward the bed.
Rose couldn’t stand to watch him struggle on his own, and situated herself under his arm to help him bear his weight.
“You don’t have to…” he began roughly, but quieted when he saw the guilty look in her eyes.
She held him tightly to her side as he eased down onto the mattress, watching him with concern as he adjusted to the pain.
“I’m…sorry for what I did to you. It wasn’t on purpose,” Rose said sincerely as she settled on the end of the bed. “But what I saw…”
Theta shook his head. “What you saw was real. I did terrible things when…when my Rose died. I became fire and death, spreading it like a plague to everything I could touch. I deserve to die for what I did. I nearly committed genocide.”
Rose stared at his eyes, black and flickering with sorrow, and was struck by his resemblance once more to her own Doctor, torn by his actions of the Time War. Except this Doctor hadn’t acted out of necessity. The Overlord had reacted out of rage and insanity as far as Rose could tell.
“Why did you do it?” Rose asked. “How could you do it? All those innocent people.”
Theta licked his lips and closed his eyes before covering them with one backward hand. “Not so innocent,” he said uneasily. “Many of them were possessed by the Never-weres, the so-called army of creatures that fought for the Could’ve Been King.”
“Wait, slow down,” Rose interrupted. “Who’s the Could’ve Been King?”
Theta rubbed the back of his hand over his face and let it fall wearily behind his head. “The great usurper,” he told her. “It was said that he tried to take the crown of Saman, the mythical sorcerer of the Mirrorverse.”
“The one who sang the Gleissen into being,” Rose said, echoing what she had overheard earlier.
“That’s part of the legend,” the Overlord agreed, wondering how she had come by that information. “The other part is that the usurper failed in his task. Saman threw his enemy into the deepest oubliette of the Mirrorverse, to languish for a thousand years. But there were other things down there…things that twisted in the darkness. He lost his mind in those fathomless depths, and whatever traces of his humanity were left. It is said he traded his soul for the power to communicate with the dead. That's why he wears the mask."
"What mask?" Rose interrupted.
"A mask of pure silver," Theta answered, "intricately carved. No one has ever seen behind it. Perhaps no one ever should. The Could’ve Been King supposedly mastered the Never-weres during his time in the oubliette, a dark race of creatures that defy explanation. They are said to hunt from the realm of unbeing. They only come into existence when they’ve found their prey. They cannot be seen or fought by modern weapons until they’ve taken a host body. The last thing victims feel is a cold touch to their lips. That’s how the Never-weres trade places, a kiss sending the victim back in their place to the shadow realm, while the unholy creature comes into being, possessing the empty body to its own hellish ends. Those are some of the creatures you saw us destroy.”
Rose’s mouth had gone so dry that she could barely swallow. “But I saw you slaughtering innocent people,” she argued.
Theta bit his lip and shook his head. “The Never-weres look like regular people- the very people they possess. The only way to tell the difference is to look them in the eyes.”
Theta struggled to sit up and stifled a gasp of pain. He then made a “v” with his fingers and traced a line in the air from his eyes to Rose’s. “You have to look for a blackening of the sclera,” he explained. “That’s the white part around the iris. The eye color remains the same, but the pupil turns milky white. It’s difficult to tell from far away, but believe me, when you get close enough to tell, there’s no second guessing.”
“So the people that were getting killed were actually Never-weres?” Rose asked tentatively.
“Well, either them or rebels warriors fighting on part of the Could’ve Been King. Even though his insanity is legendary, people still follow him into battle, hoping for the rewards he promises. His command of the unholy armies is incentive enough for some to pledge their eternal allegiance to him,” the Overlord said bitterly.
“But it wasn’t just the fact that you were at war,” Rose said with difficulty. “I’m not so naïve to think that death isn’t a necessary part of battle. What bothers me after hearing your explanation is…how much you seemed to relish it. I saw your face. And I saw pleasure.”
Theta looked away and wouldn’t speak for a long time. When he finally returned his gaze to hers, Rose saw a broken man.
“What they did to her…” he choked out in brief monosyllables.
He closed his eyes as hot tears flooded his cheeks and ran off the end of his chin.
“They took away my only light in this universe, the only thing worth saving. Without her, I could see only death. …So I became death.”
Rose felt goosebumps rise up on her skin and rubbed over her arms vigorously to curb the chill he sent through her body.
“I went on a rampage to sate the bloodlust,” he continued, “but it was never enough. I saw the black forces on every horizon, as if the Could’ve Been King was only growing stronger each time I defeated him in battle.”
“How did it end?” Rose whispered. “You’re no longer at war.”
Theta nodded numbly and sighed. He started to talk as if he was very far away, reliving memories from long ago.
“On the bleakest winter morning I’ve ever known, I saw the Could’ve Been King for the first time across the battlefield. Our armies were locked in combat, ripping each other apart like wild dogs while the snow covered the fallen bodies like a blanket. My eyes met his, the coldest, bleakest eyes I have every known, and in that moment I knew that one of us would have to die, or else this hell would never end. I threw my helmet on the ground, signaling my intentions, but he just stared at me for the longest time, until I wondered if he even saw me at all. And then he turned away. Just like that, he snapped his fingers and his forces drew back. I haven’t seen them since.”
Rose stared with wide eyes as she listened to the tale. “Why would he do that?” she asked incredulously.
“At first I thought he was a coward,” Theta divulged, “but that didn’t make any sense. He had legions of warriors behind him, both barbaric and supernatural. It was as if he accepted we were at an impasse. He looked into my eyes and found himself evenly matched. I think he turned away to wait for another day, one that he would plan for very carefully. I dread that day, Rose. It is coming.”
Rose swallowed with difficultly and tucked her legs up underneath her, as if she were afraid something might grab her from under the bed.
“I’m…I’m sorry I judged you so quickly,” Rose forced out in a rough whisper. “It wasn’t right. I don’t know all the aspects of your past that made you act the way you did, and I don't know what horrors you have faced. It's not that I’m condoning what you did, but it’s not my place to condemn you. What you've seen...terrible things…tragic things...I’m so sorry you had to experience it all.”
Theta stared at her in utter confusion before his expression turned to bereavement.
“You’re so like her,” he mourned. “I never thought it possible to find her like again. Yet here you are. Rose Tyler. What an angel you are.”
His eyes bored into her, threatening to set her very soul on fire.
Rose blushed and let out a humble breath of embarrassment. “I’m not…I…”
"Yes you are," he breathed. "In the darkness there is one light, always shining..."
Rose locked eyes with him, feeling her heart pulse uncontrollably.
“I should rest,” Theta said suddenly as he tried to change the subject, keeping the rush of strange feelings at bay. “There’s a small chamber off the west wing,” he pointed out. “You should get some sleep too if you can. I have a feeling you’re going to need it.”
Rose nodded and clamored from his bed, only just realizing that it was HIS bed. And that he was topless, lying down in HIS bed. His eyes had darted to the exposed flesh of her stomach, where she’d torn her shirt to form a makeshift bandage earlier.
“Yeah,” she squeaked as he licked his lower lip. “Night!”
She practically ran from the room, feeling a mix of such complicated emotions she wasn’t even going to try and puzzle out in one evening.
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