Invoking The Darker Side (Patreon)

Big thanks go out to patron Luke K. DeAn for this delightful idea!

Despite happily describing himself as a digital content creator (albeit as his third job title, after champion bodybuilder and personal trainer respectively), Ryan Terry had never been one to really keep up with the popular social media trends. As such it had been his wife who had alerted him to a challenge that had been going viral on TikTok, where people were chanting some Latin phrase in front of a mirror that could supposedly “invite their darker side in”. The videos would then cut to the individual performing a series of actions or movements. Sometimes those behaviours would be strange or bewildering, but the majority just seemed to use it as an opportunity to flex their muscles and pull faces at the camera. That was something Ryan definitely knew he was capable of doing, and given that Halloween was right around the corner, he figured that there was no harm in raising his online profile a little bit by participating in the trend…

With his wife behind the camera, Ryan stepped in front of the mirror and read aloud the supposedly cursed incantation that he’d written down. As he finished reading through it for the third time though, a shiver ran down the bodybuilder’s spine and a nervous chuckle burst forth from his lips. When his wife questioned what had caused such a response, Ryan shrugged his broad shoulders. “Must have been a sudden breeze,” he rationalised, focusing back on his muscular reflection. It certainly didn’t look like he’d awoken anything evil…

After recording a few more clips that featured him ripping off his shirt (he was using a cheap tee that he had no qualms about destroying rather than any of the garments from his many sponsors), bouncing his pecs, flexing his abs, shadow-boxing towards the mirror and acting like he was possessed with rage, Ryan was content that he’d have enough footage to work with. Collecting his phone back from his wife, he quickly sent off the various video files to the editor who was responsible for putting together all the content for his YouTube channel. Ryan had no doubt that the editor would do a great job of compiling the clips into an atmospheric montage, probably using some filters and spliced-in images to really up the spookiness of the video. That was all stuff that was far beyond Ryan’s ability so he had been more than happy to hire somebody who could manage it all for him, and he worked for a pretty decent wage too - not that the Terrys were hurting for money, of course. Ryan’s career as a fitness model and professional bodybuilder plus his countless sponsorships had afforded the young parents quite the luxurious life.

The brief recording session was cast out of Ryan’s mind mere moments after sending the footage along and he’d spent the rest of his day enjoying his wife’s company as they looked after their infant son. After the sun finally disappeared below the horizon, Ryan made his way into the home gym to complete his traditional evening workout, and then returned to the master bedroom so he could clean up his sweaty body in the en-suite bathroom. While he showered, his wife put their son to sleep and then waited for him in their king-sized bed. Stepping out of the en-suite with his naked muscular body on show, Ryan made a few flirty remarks towards his wife as he climbed under the covers to join her. They made out for a short while but neither of them made much motion to carry things on further - for his part, Ryan was still a little tired and sore from his workouts that day - and eventually they settled down with their heads on their pillows and turned off the lamp light to plunge the bedroom into darkness.

Ryan wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep when he was snapped out of his dreams by a sudden noise, but the moon was high in the sky and the air was incredibly still. For a few moments he waited and listened, but it seemed that there was nothing more to be heard. Something must have fallen off the wall, he rationalised, thinking about the calendar in their kitchen that refused to stay put. As he settled back down under the duvet and prepared to try and get back to sleep though, he heard the noise again and was startled by how human it sounded - was that somebody clearing their throat? - and how close it was. Bizarrely, the noise seemed to have come from their en-suite bathroom!

Swinging his powerful legs out from under the covers, Ryan slowly rose so as to not wake the sleeping woman next to him. There was every chance he was imagining things and he knew his wife wouldn’t appreciate being unnecessarily jolted awake in the middle of the night, so he would check things out for himself first. It didn’t even matter that he was naked, if anything, his huge muscles and thick cock would intimidate any potential intruder snooping around their home! Even before switching the lights to the en-suite on though, Ryan could tell there was nobody waiting in the darkness there. The spacious bathroom was completely empty aside from him and his reflection… his reflection, which had broken away from Ryan’s own actions and was somehow grinning at him.

“What the fuck?” the bodybuilder muttered, wiping at his tired eyes and stepping closer to the mirror and his rogue reflection. As he did so though, his reflection outstretched its hands and, much to Ryan’s surprise, they extended from the mirror to grab him by either side of his head! Ryan barely had enough time to gasp in surprise before he was pulled forward like he weighed nothing more than a feather. Rather than having a hard impact with the mirror though, he found himself falling through the reflective surface and being overwhelmed by a sudden coldness that spread across every part of his large body.

For a few moments Ryan was certain that his stomach was about to empty itself, but mercifully it calmed itself before he was reunited with his meals from the previous day. That sensation had been distracting enough that Ryan had failed to notice what his hands were doing up until the point that they pinched his nipples - and he realised he had no control over anything his body was doing anymore! He continued to tease at the sensitive nipples for a few more seconds as a smirk settled onto his face, although behind that smirk Ryan was truthfully terrified. He was still in his en-suite bathroom and in front of the mirror, although all of the colours looked a little more muted than they should have been and his reflection was no longer rebelling against Ryan’s actions - no, it now seemed to be controlling them!

“Have you worked it out yet?” his reflection asked, moving his left hand down from his nipple to begin stroking his cock which was already at half-mast. The real Ryan was forced to copy the action and, to his abject horror, was unable to verbally respond. He desperately wanted to scream and rage - and most importantly tell his wife what had happened - but no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn’t break away from his servitude to the man he saw in the mirror.

After running his tongue along the hard muscle of his bulging bicep, his replacement continued: “You did this, Ryan. You invited me in, and I’ve gotta thank you for that!” Immediately the events of earlier in the day came back to the forefront of his mind; he hadn’t thought there was any way that a measly TikTok trend could have any truth in it but this… well, this definitely suggested otherwise. He’d definitely let something in, but whether it was his ‘darker self’ or something even worse was still a mystery. “I spent so long in the passenger seat but now? Now I’m driving and trust me, I’m not slowing down for anything or anyone.” The replacement Ryan laughed, although there was something hollow and menacing about it compared to Ryan’s usual warm chuckle. “What is it people say? You’ve only got one life, right? Well, it’s time for me to live it!”

Then, as if things couldn’t get any worse, the evil imitation turned away from the mirror and moved back into the bedroom. Much to Ryan’s surprise, he hadn’t followed suit and instead remained trapped within the en-suite mirror, although without his doppelganger in front of him, he was free to move as he wished. It was like he was trapped behind a window, looking in at his own home. The other had even left the door to the bedroom ajar, giving Ryan a perfect view of where his replacement was climbing onto the bed and pulling down the sheets to kiss at his wife’s neck and cup her breasts with his hands.

“Get away from her!” Ryan screamed, relieved to finally have a voice back, although there was no indication that the sound could be heard on the other side of the mirror. He slammed his fists against the glass but to no avail and was forced to watch as his wife stirred and chuckled at her supposed husband’s middle of the night arousal. “Babe, that’s not me. It’s not me!” Once again his pleas went unheard and he was forced to watch as his wife accepted his replacement’s kiss and wrapped her slender arms around the impostor.

The absolute torture of watching another man (even if it was technically himself) make love to his wife lasted for almost an hour, although the term ‘making love’ could only be loosely applied to their behaviour in the bedroom. Ryan’s replacement was rougher than he had ever dared to be with his wife and much to his horror, she actually seemed to enjoy the new dominating streak he was showing off. He had forced her lips against his muscles and even into his pits and she hadn’t complained once, doing precisely as she was instructed and moaning in delight whenever her ‘husband’ returned the favour by putting his lips on her and especially when he had lowered himself between her legs and eaten her out. Ryan’s evil counterpart had left his wife as a quivering mess and completely spent by the time he was done with her, and the real Ryan had been unable to do anything but watch - and shamefully jerk off to the equally arousing and horrifying display.

Once everybody involved had reached the point of climax multiple times over, the impostor Ryan and his wife settled back down under the covers and drifted off into sleep. Despite his body’s sleeping state, the real Ryan remained wide awake in his new prison and did everything he could possibly do to try and break through the invisible wall that now divided him from reality. He was desperate to fix the situation before it got any worse but how? He could only hope that somebody - his wife, his editor, his friends - would notice that ‘Ryan’ wasn’t acting like himself and make the connection to the TikTok he’d recorded. From there they would have to work out how to get the real Ryan back. Perhaps his replacement needed to be tricked into reading the incantation again? It was a long shot and Ryan knew it, but what other choice did he have? It was becoming increasingly clear that his attempts to force his way back onto the right side of the mirror were completely futile, but he couldn’t give up hope that he would be saved from his terrible fate…

Six long and soul-crushing hours passed before Ryan saw his body stirring in the bedroom and sure enough the first thing he did was return to the en-suite. As soon as his replacement entered the room Ryan was once again forced to mimic the other’s actions and dialogue and his attempts to rebel achieved nothing. “How are you holding up in there, Me?” the impostor asked, his face contorting into a smug grin. “I bet you enjoyed the show last night, huh? I know I did!”

You fucking asshole, I’ll get you for this… Ryan wasn’t sure if his replacement could hear his raging thoughts, but the other chuckled again with that same twisted inflection that he’d had the night before.

“Now, as great a fuck as that bitch in there was, I don’t see why I should have to limit myself. I’m too fuckin’ hot to be tied down, don’t you agree?” No, I don’t! What are you suggesting? “Besides, who the fuck has time to play the role of a perfect father? Not me, that’s for sure! No, I think I’ll invite over one of your female clients and fuck here right there in the bed just to break your wife’s poor heart. She’ll take the kid and leave me to have my fun and trust me, I’m planning to have fun!”

As he spoke, the dark-intended impostor had begun to stroke his cock once again and Ryan was forced to duplicate the action, bringing himself to full hardness in almost record time. Sensations of pleasure rushed through his muscular body, mixing with the bubbling rage and ever-growing horror that lingered in his mind. “I’m thinking I’ll take advantage of all those thirsty homos leaving comments on our Instagram and start up an OnlyFans. Yeah, that’ll bring in a shit ton of money! Don’t worry, man, we’re still not queer, but I’ll let a guy suck on my toes or try and take my cock if its gonna get me even richer! That’s just smart business, you know? I’m doing us a favour!”

By this point the real Ryan’s desperation had finally hit its highest point and he surprised himself by finally being able to force out a rage-induced cry of protest: “You can’t do this to me! I’ll kill you!”

His outburst clearly surprised his evil replacement but after a few seconds the impostor settled back into that smug smirk that Ryan was forced to mirror. “And how are you going to do that when you don’t even exist?” the other challenged, picking up a full bottle of shampoo from the counter and stepping back. Ryan barely had time to acknowledge what was about to happen as his replacement pulled back his arm and then released the bottle at full force in the direction of the mirror!

No, do-- Ryan’s final cry was cut off as the reflective surface shattered into a thousand pieces and dropped down onto the countertop. The real Ryan Terry was gone forever and nobody would ever know, although people would certainly wonder what had caused his turn to the dark side and whether that innocent TikTok trend had anything to do with it...