SHINJI

Shinji tore through the night on the empty street, his clothes flapping furiously against the rushing wind. Not a single soul was in sight; en endless parade of buildings, signages and stagnant vehicles scattered before and behind him. An absolute nightmare, only that this was real.

This was the Mirror World.

Everything in it was in reversed order. The wordings. His clothes. The time on his watch. He wondered if his hair and eyeballs and mouth looked different. There were mirrors to his left and right, but he couldn't stop. He was running for his life. Running from a Kamen Rider.

Shinji turned and saw that he wasn't being followed. He slowed down to a more manageable pace, his breaths caught in his throat in between gulps of air. His lungs stung with pain and he knew he had to pull to a stop or he might pass out from exhaustion. Still, he was afraid that doing so would bring about certain death.

He pushed forward till his legs gave up on him. He stumbled and collapsed to the ground, his sides screaming to burst apart. That was it. If anyone were to impale him with a long-ass lance, now's the time.

His body trembled in fear as Shinji wrapped his mind on the impossibility of what occurred just minutes ago. A man (it has got to be a man!) clad in dark blue and grey armor had appeared out of completely nowhere and pulled him into the mirror. Like literally the freaking mirror. Splotches of memories on his "different life" came swirling in his mind; somehow, as crazy as everything was, deep within he understood the gist of it.

But how? That "life" never happened; the Riders and the Mirror World didn't exist. His life was supposed to be normal. And there he was, crouching in fear and confusion.

'Give up already? Tsk, you're no fun!' a voice barked mockingly.

Shinji looked up and saw the Rider standing just a few metres ahead of him, his blood-red lance resting by his side. He finally got a good look at his pursuer – the helmet reminded him of a menacing scorpion, its glowing purple visor gazed with poison. Sharp, curved spikes protruded from the side of the Rider's limbs that he was sure weren't just for decorative purposes. A medieval-looking shield with razor-sharp edges was equipped to his left hand, firm and sturdy.

The Rider leaned forward, as if sizing up his prey. 'Hello? Anyone there?'

Shinji rose to his feet, still shaking. 'Who are you? What do you want from me?' He immediately regretted asking such stupid, obvious questions. It made him sounded like a loser more than ever.

The Rider clucked, as if disappointed. 'What do you think I look like? A Kamen Rider of course! Tiberius is the name, if you insist.'

Run! The word screamed in Shinji's head, but his legs refused to budge. Despite the Rider's kind of knock-back attitude, he reeked of intense killing aura. Pressing on a conversation was possibly the best way to stay alive.

'But that's impossible. The Mirror World was closed. How did you came to be?'

Tiberius cocked his head to the side and laughed. 'What the heck are you talking about? We ARE in the Mirror World. Granted, we're the only guests here tonight but closed? Nahhh.'

Shinji's head throbbed. He wanted to pour out a thousand questions at the same time but couldn't decide which one to ask first. The "reality" he saw; the battles, the cruel fate of the people in it, his own death. Were those happening all over again? A sudden, piercing pain shot through his body and interrupted his thoughts. He clutched his sides and staggered, his eyes grew wide with horror as he saw his very own hands slowly crumbling away into tiny particles, like he was somehow dissolving. He screamed, not even bothered to be embarrassed, and flicked his wrists frantically. The motion seemed to speed up the process and he stopped, terror engulfed him entirely.

'Woi, hurry up and transform already. Do you want to die?' Tiberius called out.

Shinji could barely hear him over his own screams, but the Rider's words came clicking in like a lever in place. It was murky, but he remembered Yui had said something about humans being unable to survive in the Mirror World without transforming. Her voice rang in his ears and it felt as though she had only spoken them just moments ago.

Most ridiculous part of all? Amidst the excruciating pain, he felt her presence. As though she was really there. Looking at him. Urging him to reach into his pocket and grab hold of the one thing that could save his life. He knew what he had to do, and he did it. It wasn't just memories guiding him; it felt a lot more like instincts, like how a bird could naturally fly. He scouted his surroundings, searching for any reflective surface. He saw a red car parked at the sidewalk; its windshield gleamed under the night-light.

Every step he took seemed to bring him closer to death. The world spun to a hazy blur, in no time he could no longer see which direction was he heading. His vision grew darker, black spots spreading across his eyes. He wasn't even sure if he was moving, or if most of his body had already crumbled into a pile of ash, ready to be blown away. A sense of hopelessness drowned him and he knew he would not make it to the car in time.

Shinji closed his eyes shut, knew that it matters not anymore. He could not see, might as well been blind. If this was the death of him, at least it was swift. At least…

Shinji!

His eyes flew wide open. His vision was pitch black by then, but he knew for sure he heard Yui calling out his name. Her voice was like a flowing essence of energy, rejuvenating his strength. He felt an inexplicable surge of adrenaline, coupled with a powerful will to live. To survive.

Don't give up! You can do it, Shinji!

There it was again. Yui's words came in clear and sharp, unlike those in his vague, broken memories. She sounded whole, and he wondered if she was actually standing in front of him, encouraging him. If that's the case, it did be humiliating for her to see him surrendering his life away so easily.

He concentrated on feeling his limbs, on regaining balance. He continued moving forward in blindness, using every ounce of strength to force his muscles into cooperation. He groaned as he lifted his right arm, his hand gripping the Advent Deck tightly as if holding on to dear life (which he kinda was).

Shinji, I'm sorry.

Yui's voice was distant this time around, almost as if she was fading away. He wasn't sure if the Belt had attached itself to his waist. He didn't know if he was even facing the right direction. Regardless, he inhaled deeply and shouted at the top of his lungs.

'HENSHIN!'

The word escaped his mouth with an odd sense of familiarity, like he had said it a thousand times before. He slid the Advent Deck into the Belt (thank god it was there!) and he could instantly felt the pain leaving his body. His eyesight slowly returned and the first thing he noticed was that his body had stopped disintegrating. He was whole once more, but in place of his clothes were black skintight latex underneath silver and grey armor pieces. He looked at his reflection on the windscreen: instead of his horrified face staring back it was that of a silver metal helmet with glowing red eyes.

He was, once again, a Kamen Rider.

Tiberius' next wave of mockeries snapped him out of stupor. 'Hah! A Blank, just like I thought. Not much honour in wiping the floor with a Blank, but best to dig out the roots before it grows eh?'

'Huh? What Blank?'

Tiberius ignored his question and continued. 'That's the power of my Chryxallis; the ability to sniff out Advent Deck owners. Occasionally I got lucky and met shags like you who haven't made a Contract yet.' He marched forward, his lance pointed directly at Shinji. 'Try to at least make it interesting for me, eh?'

Shinji's heart thumped rapidly. He did not comprehend a single thing Tiberius had said, other than the fact that he was clearly making fun of him. He was a Rider once more, but he did not know how to fight. He searched his body and found no weapon in sight. In his hazy memories he remembered his suit colour to be different too. It was red and he had a kick-ass dragon, which, was nowhere to be seen. How was he supposed to fight someone with that menacing-looking lance?

'Come on. Go ahead. Draw your weapon. I'm sure you have one.'

He searched his mind for glimpses of battles he saw – experienced, whatever (gosh it's confusing!) – and tried to remember how to fight. Instead, what he recalled was his reluctance to enter battle against another Rider. The very thought of having to kill each other just so that he could survive made him nauseous.

'Tsk. Hurry up will ya?'

Shinji cursed under his breath. Why? Why did this have to happen? He wanted to yell at someone, to unleash all the confusion and rage cooked up within him.

'CHARGE VENT!'

He looked up just in time to see a single blur of motion before the butt end of Tiberius' lance smacked the side of his helmet. He fell, stars floating in his eyes. The impact made his head spun, and as he struggled to get back up the same butt end landed on his back, immediately forcing him back on the ground. He looked up, expecting to see Tiberius looming over him, but saw no one. He let out a loud groan, and after several wobbly attempts he managed to stand on his feet once more.

Tiberius was literally circling him in impossible speed – his sonic movement left a trail of blurred shadows behind him. What was the term again – light speed? That was how fast Tiberius moved, making it impossible to pinpoint his location. Before he could utter a single word, the lance hit him again; this time he felt the force of the sharp end across his metal breastplate, sending him flying backward towards the ground. Shinji never stood a chance – Tiberius attacked him relentlessy with that blinding speed, strong enough to send him crashing but not enough to critically wound him. The armor provided protection but the pain still felt intense and raw. He wondered how much could he take before collapsing for good.

Finally, Tiberius pulled to a stop several metres away. 'What's wrong, Blankie? I went easy on ya so don't you dare go dying on me just yet!'

That was easy? What kind of crack was he on?! Shinji wanted to scream but no sound came out. At that moment anger began to overwhelm him aside from pain. He wanted to punch this guy in the face so badly, not because of what he just did to him but also for all the weird things that have happened to him over the last couple of days. He knew it wasn't the Rider's fault but somehow he felt like holding someone accountable. Well, someone had to be right? If the Mirror World was reopened, then someone obviously was behind it. Question was, who?

His mind rolled to the thought on Kanzaki Shiro, the original Creator of the Advent Decks and the Rider System. Could it be him? Did he reopened the Mirror World and commenced the Rider War once more? To fulfill some other selfish desires of his? If he had the power to close it, surely he could open it again. But why? Why waited so long to do it?

A thousand other questions swarmed his mind, but he tried his best to push them back. He had to concentrate on staying alive first. Maybe he could use that anger…

'You're boring me, Blankie. Time to die.'

Tiberius' proclamation sent a wave of panic through Shinji. Somehow, instinctively, his hand moved to the rectangle metallic plate rested on his left arm and before he even realised what he was doing, he pulled out a single Advent Card from his Deck Holder. His next few movements felt autonomous, like a switch within him had kicked in and controlled his every movement without his brain computing it. He inserted the single card into the metallic plate and barely heard the voice announcement.

'SWORD VENT!'

The very thought of getting killed scared him but at the same time provided the adrenaline to fend for himself. He let out an animalistic roar – something he himself had never heard of – and charged at Tiberius. As he ran, a long silver sword magically appeared on his right hand. Gripping it tightly like it was his lifeline, he picked up the pace and closed in on his opponent.

To his surprise and horror, Tiberius simply grabbed hold of his sword and yanked it away from him, leaving him stunned. The Rider then kicked him square in the stomach and a new torrent of pain went up his nerves; as he staggered backwards he saw Tiberius laughing maniacally and finally snapped his sword in half.

'Play time's over. Don't bother giving me your last words. I don't wanna hear it.' Tiberius threw away the broken pieces of Shinji's sword and pulled out a card from his Deck Holder. 'Consider yourself lucky I'm using this to finish you off.' It wasn't until this moment that Shinji realised Tiberius had a similar looking metal plate on his left arm, though his was blue in colour and had the face of a robotic scorpion. Upon inserting the card, the device called out 'BURST VENT!'

'It's one of my favourites.. Enjoy.'

He couldn't see the face hidden behind the mask but Shinji imagined a huge smirk of triumph on the man's face as he prepared to finish off the Blankie. He saw the tip of the lance cackled with energy and in a matter of seconds, the entire weapon was glowing a sickly red. He thought it would explode as it continued to glow brighter. Tiberius arched his shoulder and spread out his legs, preparing his stance. Shinji didn't want to think what would happen once the fully charged tip found its mark.

A flash of white light blinded his vision temporarily and he had to look away, his eyes stung with pain. He heard the sound of an explosion and immediately thought perhaps the lance did go off on Tiberius. Hoping against hope, he squinted, trying to get a view as to what could have occurred. As the light died off, smoke and dusts obstructed his vision, and as he tried to see past the thick fog of grey he heard footsteps directly behind him.

He turned only to find himself face to face with another Rider.