# Man in the Mirror



## Ambush Beast (Oct 31, 2010)

Man in the Mirror. 


“What is it that you want to see?” the man asked. He was older than most in the bar, nearly seventy standard years if David Pascou would have wagered. His eyes were dark, almost black, but David figured it was just the shadows of the environment. The man’s hair was sandy brown with highlights of grey, long but not womanly long. The man had a face that was weathered with old scars that were small and not note worthy David thought. The man was strong and lean, most likely having spent most of his life in the Grind working to forge iron into weapons for the Emperium, maybe that’s where the scars came from, the molten droppings of the forge splashing upon his skin. David took all of this in in only a few seconds.

“What do you think I want to see?” David asked. David watched the man closely as the man considered his response. The man took a drink from his glass and sloshed the contents about in his mouth before swallowing. He made a bitter face while the drink went down and then smiled. His mouth smiled but his eyes did not, David thought. “I know this game that you seek to entangle me in boy and I do not think it wise to roll weighted dice with deceivers.” the man whispered. Somehow the man’s words were easily understood and heard through the pulsing beat of the music and the raucous laughter and conversations of the other patrons around the bar. 

“I am not playing any games with you.” David said putting on his most honest face. David was not a small man. Strong and heavy, he had fought in the unification wars nearly eleven years before. He had fought on the front lines for more than twenty eight days enduring all manner of abuse at the hands of the Great Enemy. He knew how to fight as well as anyone he supposed. His face was scarred but clean and his blond hair was cut short. He could see himself in the mirror behind the bar. He could also see most of every part of the bar from the angle he was sitting at. The other man was also looking into the mirror but it seemed that he was much farther back standing in the shadows. 

Strange, David thought. He turned his head away from the mirror slightly confused. The other man was still there looking at him. “I believe you are not the man you pretend to be. I think you are a liar. I asked you a simple question, ‘What is it that you want to see?’ but you evade and twist seeking to pull me into the trap of your devious world.” The man smiled as he spoke but his eyes had turned as black as a pit. David could feel pressure on his head like a vice squeezing shut on him. He glanced at the mirror and saw the man holding his head in both of his hands. When he looked back at the man he was just sitting there two seats away at the bar. 

David tried to move but found that he could not do so. Someone in the bar must see what was going on, but no one did. No one noticed the life and death struggle that David was involved in, no, the only thing they noticed were the two men having a friendly drink at the end of the bar. 

“David Pascou. You are wondering what is happening to you?” the man smiled once more but again his eyes did not. He was in total control of David and he knew it. “I will tell you what is happening to you. You are an Inquisitor seeking to draw me into your dark little world. The problem is that you do not really know what it is you are dealing with. I asked you a simple little question and all you had to do to pass the test is answer the question honestly and boldly. I would not have given myself up, but you would not be in this position ether.”

The other man reached out and took the hand of the Inquisitor as if to shake his hand, but what David saw in the mirror was a bestial taloned hand belonging to a winged daemon plunging into his chest. He saw his chest ripped in two and his lungs being pulled out. He saw his heart impaled upon the claw of the creature. He saw it beating the last drops of blood that it would ever pump. 

He tried to scream but his voice was caught in the mirror. He looked down at his chest with terror in his eyes but did not see any blood. His chest had not been torn in two, nor had his heart been pulled out. But he felt dizzy. He felt pain in his chest and numbness in his arms. His head began to drop and his eyes stared at the floor. No one paid attention to the two men at the end of the bar sharing old stories and laughing with wonton abandon. 

David screamed as he saw his body collapse onto the floor of the bar and as he felt the hands of the daemon thing ripping apart his soul. In the mirror the creature played with him and laughed as David’s screams echoed in the nether world. “Flesh from flesh and bone from flesh. Teeth from mouth and still you live.” the monster said in an alien tongue. “You will be fun to play with for the next few hours.” 

The hours passed by slowly for Inquisitor David Pascou. They felt like months on end and the torment was unbearable but no matter how much David wanted to die he could not. 

Looking up, David’s eyes met those of the creature of the shadows. The black pits were alive with endless star clusters and the souls of men. “Before I consume your soul David Pascou, tell me, what is it that you want to see?” 

David did not have to think about what he wanted to see. He had known from the start, but he had not understood his heart’s true desire. The daemon’s eyes rested and dug into David’s soul, hungry and drunk on the thought of consuming him. But he wanted to hear David’s last words. It was almost like he was having a moment of mercy for the human. What would he do if the young Inquisitor answered truthfully? 

“I want to see my family again and to hold them in my arms. I want to watch my children grow up and dance with my wife. I want them to be safe and never come to harm.” David wept at the thoughts of his family. He missed them so much and was willing to do anything to see them again. “I want them to be free.” he cried.

David opened his eyes. He did not expect to see anything like this. The bar was fully packed and the music was pounding. There was a drink in his hand and the other man was watching him intently. “Are you alright?” the other man asked. He had his hand on David’s shoulder and had a genuine look of worry on his face. 

David began to weep as he looked at the man’s eyes. They were brown. 

“Your eyes are brown?” David asked.

“Of course they are brown. What is it that you wanted to see?”


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

I like the ambiguity over whether events are real, imagined, or hallucinated.


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## Ambush Beast (Oct 31, 2010)

Mr. Hobbit, thanks for reading my stories, posting them in the compendium and taking the time to comment. I always am thankful for each criticism and encouragement.


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

Adrian said:


> Mr. Hobbit, thanks for reading my stories, posting them in the compendium and taking the time to comment. I always am thankful for each criticism and encouragement.


No bother.


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## VulkansNodosaurus (Dec 3, 2010)

Wonderful in the ambiguity, as well as the general tone and the circularity. The time frame is slightly confusing, though- it seems 40K, but then why the reference to the Unification Wars? Also, there seems to be an excess of long sentences without commas, which can sound somewhat awkward ("He looked down at his chest with terror in his eyes but did not see any blood") even if each individual one is grammatically correct.


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## gothik (May 29, 2010)

this reminded me of the Twilight Zone type tale and i loved it. I am a big fan of your writing style Adrian and perhapes when i return from my Hiatus we could get together and write something again. Well done my friend


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## Ambush Beast (Oct 31, 2010)

*Hi*



VulkansNodosaurus said:


> Wonderful in the ambiguity, as well as the general tone and the circularity. The time frame is slightly confusing, though- it seems 40K, but then why the reference to the Unification Wars? Also, there seems to be an excess of long sentences without commas, which can sound somewhat awkward ("He looked down at his chest with terror in his eyes but did not see any blood") even if each individual one is grammatically correct.


Hey, I am glad you liked the story. H.P. Lovecraft and many of the older writers used to create paragraphs out of a single sentence. Not saying I am like them, but as long as it is grammatically correct it should be cool. Each writer is different, that is what makes this site so cool to me.


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## Ambush Beast (Oct 31, 2010)

*Hi*



gothik said:


> this reminded me of the Twilight Zone type tale and i loved it. I am a big fan of your writing style Adrian and perhapes when i return from my Hiatus we could get together and write something again. Well done my friend


Thanks, sounds great.


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