Takeshi woke up to the sharp sound of his alarm ringing in his ears. His breath was shallow, and his chest ached. The pain from the Eclipse still lingered, a dull throb in the back of his mind, like it was still there... waiting.
He was back. In his bedroom.
The sunlight filtered through the curtains, and his room looked as ordinary as it ever did. The only problem? His body felt anything but normal.
His heart raced, not from a nightmare, but from something deeper. Something that gnawed at his soul. His Drift was growing more unstable with every moment he spent in Nehvarra.
Takeshi sat up, his hand instinctively reaching to his chest. No mark. No symbol. No outward sign that anything was different.
But the power was different. It wasn't just a power anymore. It was a part of him. A hungry part.
A knock at his door.
He jerked his hand away, heart pounding.
"Come in," he said, though his voice didn't sound like his own.
Riku stepped inside, grinning that usual carefree grin of his. But today, there was something off about his expression. He seemed a little too… interested.
"Yo, Takeshi," Riku said, walking over to his desk. "You seem off today. You okay?"
Takeshi forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Riku raised an eyebrow. "Sure, sure. You're just looking like you've seen a ghost or something."
Takeshi didn't reply. He couldn't explain the feeling in his chest, or the echoing voices that haunted his mind. Or the way the world around him felt off—like it was slowly slipping into the background.
"Hey," Riku continued, looking around the room. "Did you know the new transfer student's been asking about you?"
Takeshi blinked. "Transfer student?"
Riku nodded, still eyeing him suspiciously. "Yeah. Asami Kuroda, right? You guys talk or something? She's been asking about you since last week."
Takeshi stiffened. "Asami?"
"Yeah," Riku continued, "I've been seeing her around. Quiet type, but I swear she knows something. Been asking all the right questions about you."
Before Takeshi could answer, the bell rang, signaling the start of another school day. His stomach churned, and for a brief moment, he thought he might actually get sick.
Nehvarra.
He was already there before he even realized it. The darkness swallowed him up the second he closed his eyes.
The dreamworld was different today. It wasn't the same endless desert or shattered ruins. Instead, he stood in a city.
Tall buildings rose into the sky, made of stone and glowing metal. Spires twisted upwards like dark fingers. Streets lined with vendors selling strange, glowing fruits. The air was thick with a strange kind of magic.
Takeshi frowned, his heart racing. There was something... familiar about this place. A sense of déjà vu. He didn't know it, but it knew him.
A shadow crossed his path.
Lyra appeared, leaning against one of the spires, arms crossed.
"Welcome to the City of Mirrors," she said, her voice cold, almost detached. "This is where the truly powerful come to test themselves."
Takeshi narrowed his eyes. "Test themselves? For what?"
"Everything here is a reflection," she answered, glancing at him with a look of warning. "Every street. Every building. Every person. Nothing is as it seems."
She started to walk away, then stopped.
"Nothing in Nehvarra is real, Takeshi. But that doesn't mean it's fake. It's both. And the longer you stay, the harder it is to separate the two."
A voice echoed through the air, sharp and metallic.
"You're here to find out who you really are."
Takeshi turned toward the sound, feeling the pull of it. But before he could move, something cold and sharp pierced his chest.
He gasped, looking down to see a shard of glass sticking out of him. The pain was instant, but the worst part was the reflection that bloomed across the shard.
His face. But... it wasn't his face. His eyes were cold, and there was something twisted about the expression on his face.
The glass broke.
And Takeshi fell.
He gasped, his breath shallow and erratic, his hand clutching his chest. He was no longer in the City of Mirrors. He was back in the classroom.
The reflection was still there. Still staring at him.
It was like the dream had followed him, lingering in the edges of his vision. His heart pounded. He glanced around, but no one seemed to notice.
"Not real." He muttered to himself.
But the reflection didn't disappear. It only stared back, grinning, like it was waiting for him to understand.
After school, Takeshi found himself wandering the empty halls, his thoughts a whirlwind. He barely noticed when Asami appeared in front of him, her expression unreadable.
"Something on your mind, Takeshi?" she asked, her voice soft, like she was talking to someone who couldn't hear her.
Takeshi stopped, heart racing. There was a weight to her words—something more than casual.
"You've been quiet lately. Something bothering you?"
He stared at her. She was looking at him like she could see right through him. Like she knew something.
He opened his mouth to respond, but then—his vision blurred. The hallway around him shifted. The reflection was back.
A face—his own—staring at him from the lockers.
He snapped his eyes shut, trying to shake it off.
When he opened them again, Asami was still standing there, watching him.
End of Chapter 7.