Lord of the Mysteries: I'm Not Evil God

Chapter 4: Reflections Don't Lie, But They Don't Tell the Truth Either

District 9 was a place people forgot to mention.

Maps didn't mark it.

Guides skipped over it.

Even cab drivers gave a blank look at the name—as if they'd never heard it, or had long since decided not to remember.

Eiren walked.

Every step toward it was like pushing through a memory that didn't want to be recovered.

He knew he had entered when the gaslights stopped flickering.

They just… hovered. Still. Unblinking.

Like they were watching.

The streets were wrong here.

Too many corners. Too many doors that didn't lead anywhere.

He passed a bakery with no entrance, a library with no books, a church with no god.

And mirrors.

Every window reflected a version of him that wasn't quite right.

Some smiled when he didn't.

Some looked older.

One was staring directly at him even after he turned away.

A child stood at the end of the alley.

Not moving.

Wearing a porcelain mask with a crooked crack over the mouth.

The child pointed.

A shop.

No signboard. Just a door painted black, with a small cracked mirror nailed above it.

As Eiren stepped forward, the mirror shimmered.

"Name?" it asked in a voice that sounded like his own but half-forgotten.

He hesitated.

Then answered:

"Eiren."

The door unlocked.

Inside, it was darker than it should be.

Candles lined the shelves.

Mirrors of all shapes, sizes, and styles leaned against the walls: some gilded in silver, others plain glass, one made entirely of polished obsidian.

And in the middle of the room sat a man with no reflection.

He wore an old coat and a monocle with cracked glass. His skin looked like parchment soaked in ink.

"You don't belong here," the Mirror-Seller said without looking up.

"I never did," Eiren replied.

That made the man chuckle.

"You're the one she warned me about," he said, lifting his gaze. "The boy with a god at his heels."

Eiren tensed.

"You remember her? Lyra?"

The Mirror-Seller blinked.

And the candles all dimmed.

"I remember what she made me forget," he said quietly.

"I owe her a debt for that."

He stood, slow and deliberate, and picked up a shard of broken mirror from the shelf.

"This will show you what was taken," he said. "But it comes at a cost."

Eiren swallowed.

"What kind?"

The Mirror-Seller smiled thinly.

"You'll lose something in return. A truth. A memory. A piece of yourself."

"Choose carefully. What are you willing to forget… to remember her?"

Eiren stared at the shard.

His own face stared back. But not the one he wore today.

This face was younger.

Innocent. Before the coin. Before the dreams.

Before the price.

"I'll do it," he whispered.

The moment his fingers touched the glass, he felt it.

A snap.

Like a thread cut loose from the fabric of his soul.

And then—

She was there.

Lyra. Laughing. Teasing. Arguing with him over the last bread roll. Singing off-key in the rain. Holding his hand when their mother passed.

And the day she disappeared.

The day he forgot.

Eiren dropped to his knees.

Tears burned his eyes—not from grief, but from recognition.

She had been real.

She had always been real.

And something had taken her away.

The Mirror-Seller lit a final candle, placing it beside him.

"She bought you time," he said.

"But the god is watching now. You've opened a door it meant to keep closed."

"What do I do?"

The man handed him a small silver vial.

"Drink this when the reflection moves on its own. It's not a cure, only a delay."

Eiren nodded.

As he turned to leave, the man spoke once more:

"Velkaris doesn't erase people for fun, boy. He erases those who can hurt him."

Outside, the fog was thicker.

But Eiren could finally see the path forward.

He wasn't running anymore.

He was chasing something.

[Quest Updated: The Forgotten Sister]

Objective Complete: Recover Memory of Lyra

New Quest: Discover Why Velkaris Erased Her

Reward: +1 Anchor of Self, +10% Resistance to Falsehood

Warning: You are now visible to His Ever-Shifting Eminence

Far above, in a dimension between truths,

Velkaris tilted his mask.

And laughed.

End of Chapter 4