...

For the past few days, Raven and I have been searching for some sort of exit out of this forest, to obtain the potion. Of course, we did rest, but it wasn't for a very long duration of time. Raven seemed very determined to help me, how sweet of him! The weather became colder as each winter day passed, I was worried about his health, since he kept refusing to take his coat, saying that he'd be fine, as long as I was warm. Eventually, we had reached a large, icy labyrinth; its temperature was freezing! It reminded me a lot of the Temple of Frozen Water back in Hamel's Capital. Many obstacles awaited for us, such as falling icicle cages from the sky, ice traps similar to quicksand in typical mazes, huge rolling balls of frozen water wanting to crush us two into billions of tiny pieces, strong monsters, and many more! If one were to name any kind of 'barrier' that'd prevent us from reaching the end, I would confidently bet that it existed in that particular labyrinth.

Luckily, we somehow managed to survive. It was indeed, a hard challenge, though. As long as Raven was fine, so was I. 

...

We arrived in front of another magical portal at the end of the maze, similar to the one that we entered through to get into the Forest of Magic. Beside the portal stood a sign that seemed to have been made of ice, just like everything else. 'THE MIRROR WORLD - ENTER HERE' it read.

I looked at Raven. "We barely survived this entanglement, but now there's a new challenge up ahead, huh?" I sighed.

"Yes. Well, we can't do anything about it. Let's hope that this one wasn't as difficult as the last one." he replied.

"Yeah. Let's go. It can't be that bad, right?" I smiled.

"Don't jinx it." he scolded.

"Ehehe, sorry, Raven!" I scratched the back of my head.

"What are you waiting for? Proceed on." he was still as cold as ever, but I somewhat... admired that about him.

"Okay, okay." I held onto his hand, then dragged him in the gateway with me.

...

I scanned my surroundings. Raven wasn't here with me, even though I was holding onto his hand! How was this possible? I tried to remain calm, but I couldn't help but to worry about him. I wanted to panic, but it would be best if I didn't. Calm thoughts, Rena, calm. 

Even though the sign before had said this was the so-called 'Mirror World', it seemed to be the exact same as the Forest of Magic. Well, it all made sense, since this must have been the 'mirror image' of the previous woodland.

I started to amble around, I had to be careful in case anything dangerous occurs. 

"Raven! Raven, where are you? Raven!" I shouted repeatedly, in hopes that he was nearby.

Why were we separated? There had got to be a reason, right?

A few minutes later, I was shocked to see.. Raven? It seemed like him, but it didn't at the same time. The figure had somewhat spiky black hairstyle, while a fraction of it on the right-side was dyed white; or so I thought it was, since it seemed odd if it was natural. His eyes were golden-orange, just like Raven, and he had his signature scar on his right cheek, too. He wore a black jacket with gray outlines, exposing his chest area, revealing several scars and a necklace with a silver cross. His pants matched his torso well, it was the same colour as his jacket, but had a metallic leg guard covering up his right limb, and four orange belts casually hanging on his left side. The man also had a Nasod arm, just like Raven, except his was more... mutated? It was jagged in some places, it had a colour palette consisting of dark orange and black, unlike Raven's completely gray/silver palette. Even his 'claws' were different in shape, shaded deep orange just like some of the other parts of his robotic arm. He ran up to me, waving with a smirk. The Raven I was familiar with wouldn't ever do that.

"Yo, Rena!" 

He knew my name? How?

...

---[CHAPTER 9 - THE MIRROR WORLD : END]---