# **35. "The Crystal Chamber in Waverley Manor" – The Story of the Mirror That Reflects More Than Reality**

In Surrey County, on the outskirts of the Surrey Hills, stands an old manor — **Waverley Manor**.

For over three hundred years it has been abandoned, visible only as ruins on maps and through the traces left by locals from nearby villages.

But inside, in the cellars, lies the **Crystal Chamber** — a room whose presence has been recorded in the village legends, though very few have ever seen it.

Legend says that **the mirror in the Crystal Chamber reflects not only a person’s appearance but their time, memories, and future decisions**.

And those who stare too long disappear from reality as if drawn into the reflection.

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## **I — Arrival of the Antiquarian**

In 1915, **Edmund Hawthorne**, a young researcher of antiquities and the occult, came to Waverley Manor.

He had heard tales of the Chamber from his grandfather, who had once served as a librarian in the estate.

Edmund was a skeptic; he believed in science and documents, not superstition.

When he entered the manor, he was greeted only by silence and the smell of dust.

Every step seemed to deepen the darkness.

The ruins were filled with fragments of furniture, paintings, and old books that still smelled faintly of candle wax.

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## **II — The First Discovery**

After several days, Edmund discovered a hidden passage to the cellar.

The door was concealed behind a broken bookshelf.

Beyond it was a staircase descending into the depths, which the villagers had long feared.

At the bottom, he found a door decorated with crystals.

Although the room had been locked for centuries, the door seemed… untouched.

As Edmund leaned closer, he felt a cold draft — not natural — as if the room were breathing.

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## **III — The Crystal Chamber**

Upon entering, Edmund’s eyes immediately fell on **the mirrors** — five large panels positioned opposite one another.

They reflected everything in the room, yet something more — **images of the past, echoes of people long gone, and fragments of the future Edmund could not know**.

When he looked into the nearest mirror, he saw himself — older, with gray hair, standing at… his own grave.

His heart froze.

Then the panel moved independently.

It did not merely reflect reality — **it reacted to thoughts and desires**.

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## **IV — Warnings from the Spirits**

Edmund studied the mirrors for several days.

He quickly noticed that the longer one stared, **the figures in the reflections begin to move on their own**, and one loses track of time.

One night, he saw something alarming: in one mirror appeared his own figure, but in a different pose than he was currently standing.

The figure extended a hand from the mirror and whispered words he could not hear with his ears, but felt in his mind:

**"Do not stare too long. You will not return."**

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## **V — The First Ensnaring**

Edmund did not heed the warning.

That very evening, looking into the mirror, he saw another self — not in the present, but in the future.

The future Edmund had a terrified expression, and tears filled his eyes.

When Edmund tried to look away, his body suddenly became heavy, as if the panel itself was pulling him.

Slowly, it drew him into a world that was not reality, but a reflection — a place where time, memory, and possibility were entangled.

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## **VI — The Struggle to Return**

Edmund managed to pull his hand away and break free from the panel, but his heart raced uncontrollably.

He realized the mirrors were attempting to consume him completely.

Every glance at the Crystal Chamber **takes part of the soul, leaving only a shell of a human being**.

He began to record everything in a journal, describing the images in the mirror:

* past lives of people he had never met

* future tragedies of Surrey villagers

* his own mistakes yet to come

He understood that the Chamber **stores time that should never be seen by the living**.

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## **VII — The Final Night**

On the last night, Edmund decided to escape.

When he entered the Chamber again, the mirrors were like shadows.

The figures inside were sharper and reaching out toward him.

He heard a whisper:

**"Stay. You can be one of us. You can be eternal."**

Edmund ran, leaving the journal and notes behind.

When he exited the cellar, the Crystal Chamber’s door slammed shut on its own, and the lock made a sound as if it were breathing.

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## **VIII — After Edmund**

He never returned to his research.

The journal was discovered many years later in the Oxford library.

On the last page, written in trembling handwriting, were the words:

> “The mirror does not reflect life. It devours it.

> Do not stare too long.

> Do not let time see you.”

Waverley Manor still stands abandoned to this day.

And the residents of Surrey warn: **do not enter the cellars. Do not look into the Crystal Chamber. Do not let the mirror see you.**

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