Meanwhile, a terrible event happened in another world: Kira lost her home. The beetle hideout was gone.

Residents noticed something was amiss when the beetle, who was always moving before, stopped in its tracks. All the systems that purified the air and gave people light and warmth failed one after the other.

He died most likely naturally since the beetle was mostly flesh and blood, not only mechanisms, and every living being dies sooner or later. While Kira was growing and maturing, this creature who gave her a toasty and nurturing home was gradually decaying. The ones who lived in it noticed how their house slowly rots, noticed the blood oozing through the walls and the ceiling from time to time. Chitin scales grew brittle as dry leaves. Every movement of the poor creature came with incredible strain and rattle of old gears. It probably decided to stay still for a while, to rest a bit, and then never found the strength to move forward.

People went outside and saw its head on the ground, almost detached from its body. It seems somebody or something tried to chew it off after the beetle has died. There were a lot of various creatures beyond the walls of their hideout, creatures who were always ready to feast on both the dead and the living, but how big and strong this one could be, the one who managed to bite the giant insect's head off? Its former residents started whispering that it could be the Beast who tried to eat the beetle. And everyone in this world was scared of the Beast.

Nobody knew how the Beast looked like. Sometimes in the night people saw its black figure towering over the world and long antlers covering half of the sky that looked like branches completely stripped of their leaves.

Kira climbed out of the dead body that was once her home and saw gravediggers who came for the soul of the half beetle half machine.

Do not confuse spirits and souls. Spirits are heartless, carefree spawns of chaos, unfamiliar with the concept of home and comfort, they build their nests everywhere and easily leave them behind, moving from place to place. While souls of previously sentient and living creatures need a calm and quiet environment which the Island of Souls provide. People from Kira's world knew close to nothing about the island, only that it was located somewhere beyond the ocean, at the end of the world. They were not too interested in learning about it though since it was obvious each and every one of them will go there someday.

Gravediggers were a pair. A fair-haired boy about Kira's age, in a dark long cloak made of feathers. His hair was covered with a kind of hat but actually a bird's head with a sinister dark beak, hanging over the boy's face. And a tall narrow-eyed youth with a beautiful face half-covered with what seemed to be a whitish mask lined with deep cracks. The eye on the beautiful part was real and adorned with long lashes, while the other one was not an eye but just an empty hole.

Kira was not scared by their appearance. Just like everyone in her world she knew that death takes your face. The boy in a feather cloak and the youth with a mask were obviously connected to the world of souls, but did not belong to it — they were gravediggers after all.

Kira noticed how the youth took out a big long knife and started carving the beetle's soul out. This soul looked exactly like the insect itself but was glowing, empty and transparent — as all souls not recently separated from their body. While he was cutting it off, the boy in a feather cloak was binding it with ropes. But Kira already saw how the living die, how their souls get transferred to an Island of Souls, and the ceremony itself was not what she found intriguing. She was fascinated by the weapon the youth was holding. A long shiny blade. It was not a knife, but a sword and Kira could not tell because she never saw one. Usually, the souls were separated by bronze sickles, just like the ones children were using for spirit-hunting, and their blades were all as bland and bleak as everything in this world.

Kira noticed how everything was reflected in this shiny blade, all the world, just like... like in a mirror. Well, if she knew what mirrors were, that is what she would say, but Kira could not make any reference since this was her first time seeing an object like that. She moved closer and saw a reflection of her own face. Kira squinted, trying to get a better look.

The reflection was looking at her. Straight in the eye.

And... it was not covered by a protective air-purifying mask! Kira touched her face and felt the thick leather. The mask was definitely on.

Her heart raced.

"Can I take a look at this thing you have?", she asked. Usually, Kira was more sharp-tongued and straightforward, but she tried being polite this time. "Please", she pleaded. "You can not imagine how important it is for me".

The youth with half a face turned to Kira and held out his long fancy knife. She took it excitedly and studied the glossy blade.

This other girl was a lot like her, but still, it was not Kira. The reflection had different clothes, hairstyle, gaze — like some stranger got into her eyes. Or was it truly a stranger?

Suddenly Kira realized: this was the very thing shadow-Alice was talking about, failing to explain — a mirror, a window to another world.

"It is you!", Kira cried, fascinated. She hurriedly took off the mask with her trembling fingers, at that moment not caring at all about infection and disease in the air. She got tongue-tied for a second and was only able to murmur: "Look, it is me... Do you recognize me?"

"I knew it was you even with that mask on", answered the girl from the other side of the mirror. "And you... do you?"

You probably have guessed already that Alice looked in a dusty mirror in the Library and Kira took a soul-carving sword at the same exact moment. Maybe you do remember how Alice was staring sadly at her reflection, thinking aloud, hoping she could never change so her father would love her... Tossing aside a part of yourself, everything you are not but could be, transforming possible into impossible — what a silly thought! Alice realized that herself when she saw her other half instead of the usual reflection, a half she was willing to get rid of so recklessly. It was an amazing feeling, it was like her whole life she was living in a tightly sealed house with boarded-up doors and thick walls and then suddenly found a window, wide open, and beyond that window — a whole new world.

Gentle reader, I can not find it in myself to describe this meeting both girls were yearning for, as reunions are too delicate. Let us just say that Kira was beyond happy and put her palm on the cold steel, overcome with emotion. Alice, being on the other side of that glossy window, reached out too, by her own accord, not mirroring Kira's actions at all, since she was entranced by this sudden wonder and also happy about seeing her Other Self, her one true friend, for the first time.

So it happened they simultaneously touched the smooth surface.

And at that moment another miracle happened — ripples appeared on the previously still surface and both girls were instantly sucked in. They changed places: Kira was transported to Amber City, and Alice appeared near the dead beetle and gravediggers who came for its soul.

Alice found herself in a strange world, unlike anything she was used to, without any familiar face.

Though, to be honest, the pair near the dead beetle did seem familiar. They reminded Alice of the two peculiar guests in the Wizard's Library, the ones who were sipping tea and playing an odd game somewhat similar to chess or checkers. The ones who were acting like they own the place, the ones who were speaking in riddles. The older gravedigger with half a face looked very much like that youth in a silk vest embroidered with flowers and dragons, but the boy in a dark long cloak of feathers seemed much younger than that snarky fair-haired man from the Library. Alice was not sure if she guessed right or wrong and it felt rude to ask.

Alice noticed the gravedigger's sword and figured it was the first mirror Kira ever saw. This world seemed so dark and gloomy, no wonder there were no enough mirrors to go around. Alice caught a glimpse of the Library and Kira's troubled expression. Suddenly a scary thought entered her mind. Soon the gravediggers will leave, taking the sword with them, and her only connection to Kira will be severed. They will never see each other again. Alice's heart thudded.

Alice knew from Kira's stories that this world is dangerous and decided to find a weapon as fast as she can. A protective suit would be nice too, but first things first — a weapon and a mirror. And the gravedigger's sword was a perfect combination. Alice asked the dark-haired youth where she could get one, but he explained there are no other swords like this in the whole world.

Even though Alice was naturally shy and timid, she had to gather all her courage and persistence to try and find a solution, since she saw no other ways out of this dire situation.

"Might it happen in the future that you will not need the sword anymore?" she asked politely, as usual. "Would you consider giving it to me then?"

The gravediggers exchanged looks.

"If the autumn came..." murmured the boy. "Then yes, we would be able to leave and give up the sword. But for now, we are trapped here just as you are. And you are not Lady Autumn, even though you look like her".

"If there was no need to carve out the souls of the dead, there would be no need for the sword", his partner explained.

"What do you mean by 'autumn'?" Alice asked.

Amber City lived in eternal summer — time has stopped there, and while in this world it was leaping chaotically, the seasons did not change.

"Autumn... It is the dusk of the year". Youth with half a face shook his head. He was struggling to explain this seemingly simple but nearly indescribable thing. "The wind of change. In autumn veils between the worlds become transparent, impossible turns into possible, and you can always make possible into a reality".

"And where can I find that Lady Autumn?"

"Nowhere", coldly snapped the boy in a long black cloak of feathers. "She who brings autumn is now dead".

Youth with half a face nodded sadly.

"But if you somehow manage to bring autumn to this world, I will find you and give you the sword. Promise".

Only then it occurred to Alice they could touch hands with Kira again and switch back, and the sooner they do it the better. She was so confused and bewildered by this sudden transportation to another world that she did not think of the most reasonable solution right away. And now it was too late. The youth turned to leave. The boy in feathers followed him, dragging along the bound soul of the beetle, giant but weightless as an air balloon.

Alice glanced at the blade and just got to see a tiny figure running away. It looked like something has scared her Other Self.

Alice and Kira lost their chance could not switch places again. They were lost in each other's worlds.