At the end of the great mirror incident—the war of reflections—world powers buried what they couldn't explain. Sealed vaults, erased archives, forgotten names.
But one shard was never accounted for, it occurred before the mirror incident, long ago...
Recovered in secret during the Cold War, it was quietly shipped across the Atlantic in 1961 under the guise of Soviet tech. A broken piece, barely humming with residual energy, dismissed as inert. It was sent to a warehouse in a quiet, rural town in the United States.
Grayeridge, Nebraska.
Population: 612.
They stored the shard in the sub-basement of a local church that was later abandoned after a fire in '82. Forgotten. Left alone.
Until it woke up again.
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Ten years after the events of Room 313, the world above had moved on. Elena had vanished. The facility was closed.
But in Grayeridge, something stirred.
A family—last name Mason—moved into town. Quiet folks. From Detroit. Looking for peace.
Their daughter, Cassidy Mason, was seventeen. Curious. Lonely.
One afternoon, while exploring the basement of the old burned church with her camera and sketchpad, she found a cracked mirror.
And a journal.
Leather-bound. Worn with time. Inscribed inside: E.V.
She read.
She learned about the Forgotten Room. About Elena. About the war behind the glass.
And soon, Cassidy started noticing her reflection didn't match her expression. It blinked too slowly. Or too quickly. Or smiled when she didn't.
She tried to tell her parents.
They didn't believe her.
Until her mother walked into the bathroom one morning and never came out. And something that looked like her kept making breakfast, humming a tune she'd never known.
Cassidy ran. Back to the church. To the mirror.
The journal had new pages now. And her name was written on it.
"You are the watcher now."
Outside, the town's lights flickered. Everyone's reflections stood still, waiting.
Watching.
This is the beginning.