#(and exploit their appearance bc they’ve learned people find it easier to talk to ‘themselves’ in their reflection)

[pinevalley]

Archipelago is a deceitful creature called a speculus that is bound to a cursed mirror. ‘Simon Archipelago’ is not its true name. It previously dwelled alone in a small realm within the mirror. Naturally, it is formless; and it only assumes a form when someone looks in the mirror, at which point it matches that person’s appearance. In other words, the person’s reflection isn’t truly a reflection. It is the speculus, looking back at them, matching their movements perfectly.

Or... near perfectly. Sometimes it still ends up looking a little uncanny in places; a little off.

Many years ago, an unlucky antique shop owner found its mirror. Someone had left it outside his store. He liked the mirror’s appearance. It was an antique — dusty and well-worn, with a curving and silvery frame — and he decided to keep it.

The antique shop owner was lonely. So lonely. He’d grown apart from his friends and his few remaining family members and hadn’t seen them in years. And because of his terrible loneliness, when his reflection in the peculiar mirror spoke to him, he didn’t shatter the glass right away. A fateful decision. Instead, he listened to his reflection. It introduced itself as a docile entity trapped inside the mirror. It spoke in soft, soothing words. It comforted the man and offered him advice as time went on; it listened when the man needed someone to talk with. The shop owner decided not to sell the mirror. He kept it for himself, and he grew to trust his reflection. He considered it harmless, well-meaning. A friend.

And one day, his reflection asked for a favor. A simple favor. The first favor the entity had ever asked the man for. ‘It is so unbearably lonely, being trapped inside this mirror. I have been stuck in here for so long. Please, will you help me escape?’ And the antique shop owner felt a vague sense of dread, but ignored it. This was his friend. He wanted to help.

So, he followed his reflection’s instructions. He did the ritual. He gave the speculus his name: Simon Archipelago. And in return, the creature dragged the man into the mirror and trapped him there. It switched places with him, keeping the man’s name and appearance. It took over the shop owner’s life.

Normal humans cannot survive within a speculus’ cursed mirror for long. The old antique shop owner never escaped, and died years ago. Fortunately, the mirror realm absorbs deceased remains, so this wasn’t much of a problem. Meanwhile, “Simon Archipelago” has discovered that he enjoys antiques a great deal. He is very pleased with his job, and he intends to keep it for many, many years to come.