He could feel his strength fading, even though a moment ago he was full of excitement, heart pounding, limbs tingling. Reaching for the crystal they’d been searching for, for over a month.

He should have known better, such things were never left unguarded, but the joy of discovery, and to be free of the cavern, had blinded him.

That and the light of the crystal, so alluring and beautiful to behold, had dimmed his sight.

Even now, death surely approaching, the glow of it in his unresponsive hand, was the only thing he could focus on.

He knew what came next.

‘I can make it all better.’ Boomed a voice in his mind. 

‘Raise you up, bestow you all that you desire.’

Visions came, him a beacon of light, a figure saving his people from the tyrant that had claimed their land. A new kingdom born, with him in the lead, his people prosperous and safe from the wickedness of the realm.

‘All yours, for a price.’

He smiled at the light in his hand. ‘I’ve heard it before, whispering stone, what you are, what you do. Reflect the soul, a mirror to see the real person within.’

The stone went quiet.

‘I’ve seen me.’ He confessed. ‘There is no savior in there, only desires and sins.’

Dimly he heard the boom of lightning, a flash, even in his fading sight, he noticed a hue of white blue.

‘But brother, he has an angel in him, is the one aligned with that promised vision.’

The crystal shook with anger.

‘You may change your voice, me.’ He said to the reflection, the monster that wanted out. ‘But you will never trick me, I felt the rush, that ecstasy of freedom in reach.

‘I am great, I could overthrow the tyrant, we could rule, LIE, why do you get in the way of this?’

‘You know the story of the madman? The one who made an elixir from crystals and brought forth something best left inside.’

‘I’m better. I would not have failed.’

‘I’m not a good man, maybe not even fair, but there’s enough of me… that doesn’t want to be you.’

‘LET ME OUT.’ The reflection raged, as a hand rested on his shoulder.

“Brother?” The voice faint. “Brother?” It came again, a hand moved his head, removed his eye sight from the crystal, it caused the voice in his mind to recede.

He smiled, finding the strength to speak. “It whispers.”

They locked eyes, an unspoken question. “Take it,” he forced out, a new joy blooming in his chest. “And release your angel.”