16Disclaimer: What the hell do you think? It's on , idiot!
AN: Comic based.
AN2: Before someone tells me that I should be focusing on my studies, this was written BEFORE I started studying and has been sitting in my to do box for some time.
Will looked at her friends as they prepared to enter Shell Cave.
"Right" she began. "Thanks to Candracar's information, we know that Nerissa been working on a way to get the heart in this cave, but unfortunately they are unable to see what she's doing, thanks to her magical interference. So we'll need to go in and find out." she gave Cornelia and Irma a hard stare. "We go in and we get out as soon as possible, we're not seeking a fight here, just a reconnaissance mission, ok?"
The others gave her their affirmatives and calling forth the Heart of Candracar, she transformed them into their guardian forms. Although Will had no intention of getting into a fight, she preferred to avoid getting caught unprepared. The five of them had been on edge, ever since they'd rescued Caleb from Nerissa's clutches. Now they were preparing to take the offensive once more and it felt good.
Turning them invisible, Will lead them into Shell Cave. Nerissa watched them enter using her scrying bowl and smiled. Her trap was working according to plan.
Susan Vandom was sitting at her desk at Simultech, when she felt a sudden sense of foreboding about Will hit her. Pulling out her mobile, she was about to start dialling Will's phone when she paused for a moment. Will was with her friends and was a sensible girl. If she was in trouble, her friends would make sure she was ok.
Thomas Lair felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise as his sixth sense kicked in, as it always did when danger threatened. Glancing around, he didn't see anything that seemed dangerous, when a sudden impulse hit him.
"Irma?" he asked under his breath
Peter was playing basketball with his friends when he felt an illogical sense of fear for his sister. Momentarily shaken, he shook his head to clear it.
Elyon felt a sudden wave of nausea overcome her. After she finished vomiting spectacularly, she pulled herself up. A sense of fear for Cornelia's safety hit her.
Yan Lin felt a shiver go down her spine and with a gasp she realised what it meant.
"Oracle!" she cried out, "The Guardians are in grave danger!"
"Why does this guardian stuff always happen in places like this" Irma asked plaintively.
"Probably like to be predictable." Cornelia replied. "Either that or fate doesn't like us."
"Probably just you Corny." Irma replied with a smile. Cornelia's reply was cut off by Will.
"Not now guys. This is meant to be a STEALTHY recon job."
"Sorry." They both whispered.
Turning a corner at the end of the cave, Will let out a gasp of surprise. Standing there was a huge mirror. Its frame was covered in runic symbols and in each corner was a fierce gargoyle.
"THIS is what Nerissa's been building?" Irma practically screeched. "She wants to admire herself in privacy or something?"
"I'm not so sure it is." Taranee pointed out as she started to examine the mirror's frame.
"I agree." Will added. "She's gone to a lot of trouble for this. Why?"
"Let's see. Nerissa blocks out the Oracles ability to see what she's doing in this cave. So the Oracle sends us in to find out what she's up to." Taranee said as she started ticking the reasons off with her fingers. Will let out a gasp.
"But Nerissa is likely to figure that out!" Will began, her eyes widened. "It's a trap! Everyone out!"
But as Will yelled out those words, the runic symbols around the mirror began to glow. Before they could do anything, the cave was flooded with a bright blue light and then, nothing.
Hay Lin groaned as she sat up. She opened her eyes to see an open pasture around her and her grandmother strolling towards her, a grim look on her face.
"Hello Granddaughter." Yan Lin began. "I fear we have underestimated Nerissa once more."
"Grandma, what happened!? Are the others ok? The last thing I remember is Will ordering us out of the cave." Hay Lin replied anxiously, a sense of fear rising in her chest.
"Granddaughter, we don't have much time. Nerissa has uncovered the Dark Mirror, something my generation of guardians fought as well." Yan Lin said in an uncharacteristically sharp voice. Holding up her hand to forestall Hay Lin's question, she continued. "The Dark Mirror imprisons those who look into it and creates a perfect copy of the person in question, right down to their powers and their memories. The main difference between these duplicates and the real thing is that these duplicates are evil."
Yan Lin waved her hand and a screen appeared on the ground. In it, Hay Lin could see what appeared to be her and her four friends.
"Behold your dark mirror duplicates." Yan Lin said calmly. Hay Lin stared as the duplicates struggled to get the hang of walking, standing up and then falling down again, trying to get their powers to work properly (Hay Lin winced as she watched her dark mirror duplicate kicked up a sandstorm around herself.)
Yan Lin turned to face her granddaughter. "Granddaughter" she began "you are the only guardian still free. To free your friends, you must defeat their copies. You're also the only person who can save their loved ones." Hay Lin gulped.
"How do I get to stop all five of them at once?" Hay Lin asked nervously. "There's no way I can get to all of them in time."
"This, granddaughter, is where I teach you the art of creating doppelgangers. Astral drops that can use magic. For each doppelganger you make though, will reduce the amount of magic you have individually as your magic spreads out over more and more people. You will have to outsmart the dark mirror duplicates." Yan Lin replied calmly, but Yan felt her heart fall to her feet. This would have been a difficult task even for the keeper of the heart. For an ordinary guardian, it seemed almost impossible. Then she saw her granddaughter's eyes gleam and Yan Lin knew that there was no way her granddaughter would stay out of the fight anyway. With a heavy heart she began to explain how to create doppelgangers.
Hay Lin let out a slight groan as she opened her eyes. Looking around her, she saw she was still in Shell Cave, right in front of the mirror. But while she was still there, her friends definitely were not.
Looking into the mirror, Hay Lin saw Will, Irma, Taranee and Cornelia inside the mirror. They weren't struggling. In fact they were sleeping in glass coffins that looked a lot like Snow White's coffin.
"I'll be back for you." She whispered against the mirror, before turning around. Concentrating hard, she started to summon forth her doppelgangers.
