Adrian's awakening wasn't gradual - it was violent rebirth. His retinas burned with afterimages of the collapsing oil rig as the mirror infirmary's sterilization protocols seared his skin. The seven reflective walls weren't simply glass - they pulsed like living membranes, their surfaces swirling with:
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Bloodshot capillary patterns forming the Control Group insignia
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Fingerprint distortions that matched Adrian's own, but aged differently
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Trapped shadows of the six other Adrians moving independently
A neural spike drove into his spine as the surgical drone's monotone voice announced:
"Memory quarantine breach detected. Initiating Doppelg?nger Purge Protocol."
The VIII brand on his chest burned white-hot, resolving into new text:
MIRROR FRAGMENTS REMAINING: 7/7
PRIMARY DIRECTIVE: TERMINATE ALL DEVIATIONS
2. The First Hunt - Reflection 4's Mechanical Truth
Reflection 4 emerged not through the mirror - but from Adrian's own mechanical eye implant (which he didn't remember receiving). Its cybernetic arms unfolded with horrifying intimacy:
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The right arm's hydraulics contained liquified memory of Facility Alpha's massacre
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The left arm's plasma coil throbbed with Kaelis' last scream before disintegration
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Its voice modulator spat static in the Overseer's exact cadence:
"You keep asking 'why me?' The answer's simple - you're the only one who volunteered."
Their battle shattered three mirror walls, revealing each broken fragment showed:
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Identical scenes from Adrian's childhood bedroom
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At slightly different angles
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All missing the seventh mirror's reflection
When Adrian finally jammed the rusted key into Reflection 4's core, the dying doppelg?nger whispered its revelation:
"The mechanical arms aren't replacements... they're restraints. We built them to keep what's inside from getting out."
3. The Drowning Reflection - Secrets in the Black Fluid
Reflection 5's arrival came not through sight - but sound. First as dripping liquid, then as the exact cadence of Adrian's mother singing "Hush little Omega" - the lullaby she'd sung the night before the seven-sided mirror incident.
The mirror surface dissolved into the same primordial black fluid from the wellhead, with Reflection 5 emerging as:
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A skeletal version of Adrian, organs visible through translucent skin
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Every bone etched with coordinates to Control Group facilities
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Its eye sockets filled with the Demon King's child-form tears
Their confrontation occurred in a memory-space - the flooded basement of Adrian's childhood home where:
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The water level rose with each exchanged memory
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Reflection 5's attacks weren't physical, but forced memory recalls:
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The truth about "Uncle Vaulk" (first Control Group overseer)
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The seven-sided mirror's origin (a Demon Lord's fossilized eye)
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Why Null screamed "Don't look at the eighth reflection!" before vanishing
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4. The Missing Reflection - A Hole in Reality
After dispatching Reflection 5, Adrian discovered the terrifying truth about Reflection 6:
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It wasn't hiding - it couldn't be perceived
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The mirror appeared empty, yet:
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Fogged the glass from invisible breath
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Left child-sized handprints in the black fluid residue
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Made the other reflections visibly terrified
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The brand's counter suddenly dropped from 3/7 to 2/7 without explanation.
5. Null's Final Warning
The black tear in Adrian's brand finally erupted, forming Null's fully realized apparition. His revelation changed everything:
"They didn't put the Demon King inside me. I became it by looking at what was already there. The seven mirrors don't keep it out - they keep you from seeing what you really are."
As the infirmary fully transformed into their childhood bedroom, the original seven-sided mirror materialized - with seven cracked panes and an eighth pane made of living flesh.