The first time Elara saw the mirror, she thought it was a mistake. It stood alone in the corner of her grandmother’s attic, dust-covered and forgotten, its silver frame tarnished with age. She had been searching for old photo albums when she stumbled upon it, hidden behind a stack of moth-eaten quilts. The glass was clouded, as if it had not seen the light of day in decades, but something about it called to her. She wiped the surface with her sleeve, revealing a reflection that wasn’t quite right. Her own face stared back, but there was an odd flicker in her eyes, like static on a television screen. She blinked, and the reflection blinked back. A chill ran down her spine, but she leaned closer, fascinated. When she moved her hand, the reflection moved—but not exactly in sync. It lagged by a fraction of a second, as if it were watching her instead of mirroring her. That night, she dreamed of a place she didn’t recognize. A city of black stone and endless fog, where buildings twisted impossibly into the sky. The air smelled of rain and rust, and the people moved like shadows, their faces blurred. In the center of the city stood a mirror identical to the one in the attic. But when she looked into it, she saw herself—only younger, with a different expression, as if she had once lived in this world. The next morning, Elara found the mirror gone. Not moved, not taken, just… absent. She searched the attic, the house, even the neighbors’ yards, but it was nowhere to be found. That same evening, she returned to the attic and discovered the mirror reappeared, now clean and gleaming, as if it had never been dusty at all. She touched the frame, and a strange warmth spread through her fingertips. Over the following weeks, the mirror became a fixture in her life. Each time she looked into it, the reflection changed slightly. Sometimes it showed her in different clothes, other times in places she had never visited. Once, she saw a version of herself holding a book with no title. Another time, she saw a man standing beside her, his face obscured but his presence undeniable. One night, she decided to step through. It wasn’t a conscious choice, more like a pull she couldn’t resist. She reached out, her fingers brushing the cool surface, and then—nothing. The world around her shifted, and she found herself standing in the same attic, but everything was different. The furniture was older, the walls thinner, and the air carried the scent of pine and burning wood. A faint whisper echoed from the floorboards, as if the house itself was speaking. She wandered through the house, finding rooms that shouldn’t exist. A library filled with books written in a language she almost understood. A garden that stretched beyond the horizon, where trees grew in spirals. And in the middle of it all, a second mirror, identical to the one she had left behind. This one was open, waiting. She stepped through again, and this time, she landed in the black-stone city from her dream. The people still moved like shadows, but now they turned to look at her. One of them approached, a woman with eyes like polished obsidian. “You’ve come back,” the woman said, though her lips didn’t move. “We have been waiting.” Elara tried to speak, but no sound came out. The woman smiled, and in that moment, Elara realized something terrifying: the woman looked exactly like her. But not the version she knew. This one was older, wiser, and filled with a quiet sorrow. “Every world has its version of you,” the woman said. “But only some choose to see.” Elara woke up in her own bed, the attic mirror gone once more. She sat up, heart pounding, unsure if it had all been a dream. But the smell of pine and burning wood lingered in the air, and in her pocket, she found a small key she didn’t remember picking up. She never saw the mirror again, but sometimes, when the wind blew just right, she could hear a whisper from another world. A voice calling her name, not in this one, but in another. And she wondered—if she had chosen to stay, would she have ever come back? Or had she already made her choice long ago?