Dreamspace – The Mirror Hall
Kaelen opened his eyes and stood at the edge of a long corridor made of obsidian mirrors.
The floor was seamless, black, and cold. The walls shimmered with silvered glass, each one holding not his current self—but fragments of who he could've been. Some wore armor. Some bled. One was chained.
But all of them looked wrong.
"This is the Trial of Reflection," the voice echoed. "You may not leave until you recognize yourself."
Kaelen took a step forward.
The corridor lengthened. The mirrors changed.
One showed him back in Windgrave, kneeling by his father's burnt cloak, untouched by flame. Another showed him standing atop the Capitol's spires, wreathed in glyphlight, eyes glowing like stars.
Each self stared back.
Each one seemed to ask: Which lie have you chosen to live?
Kaelen grit his teeth. "None of them are me."
The corridor darkened.
Then one mirror glowed—and he saw her.
Not Seraphine. Not Selene.
His mother.
She stood in a doorway, fire crackling behind her, and whispered:
"You promised me you'd never run."
Observatory Tower – Reality
Selene knelt beside Kaelen's unconscious body.
His breath was shallow. Too fast.
The glyph beneath his shirt flickered like a pulse.
"You idiot," she muttered, brushing hair from his forehead. "You should have told me you were going in again…"
Behind her, a hidden glyph shimmered into view—Seraphine's ward, fading slowly.
Selene's jaw tightened.
He hadn't even asked her to watch over him.
Dreamspace – Trial Mirror
Kaelen shook as the vision of his mother reached toward him through the glass.
"I didn't run," he whispered. "I was dragged away."
The mirror cracked.
"No," said the voice again. "You ran from the guilt. You buried it beneath fire and fear."
Another crack. Then another.
He fell to his knees as the corridor trembled.
From all sides, the alternate selves stepped out of their mirrors. Weapons drawn. Faces cold.
"You cannot become what you do not face."
Kaelen stood.
The glyph burned across his chest—not in agony this time, but clarity.
He didn't draw a weapon.
He lowered his guard.
"I'm not perfect," he said. "I lied to survive. I blamed others because I was scared. But none of that changes who I want to be now."
The world stilled.
The reflections froze—then shattered into falling glass.
And the corridor faded into starlight.
Observatory Tower – Reality
Kaelen gasped awake.
Selene pulled back quickly, but her expression cracked for just a moment—relief flooding her features before she masked it again.
"You're awake," she said flatly. "Took you long enough."
"I—how long was I out?"
"Four hours."
"…You waited the whole time?"
Selene looked away. "Don't flatter yourself."
He sat up, the glyph warm but calm now, humming beneath the skin.
"You weren't the one who set the ward," he murmured.
"No," Selene said, her voice edged.
Kaelen didn't miss the flicker in her tone.
"Seraphine did," he added.
Selene didn't respond. But her fingers clenched slightly at her side.
The silence between them said more than words.
Elsewhere – Secret Tower Annex
Seraphine flipped through the last page of a forbidden journal.
What she found was worse than she feared.
A name.
One she hadn't expected.
Kaelen Vale – Subject 9.Glyph Compatibility: Veritas (Unstable)*Guardian Classification: *"Fail-Safe."
She froze.
He wasn't just chosen by the glyph.
He'd been part of it from the beginning.
As Kaelen stepped into the morning light the next day, he found both girls waiting near the gate.
Selene, arms crossed. Seraphine, eyes shadowed.
"Training today?" he offered awkwardly.
Neither smiled.
Something had changed.
And the Tower's shadow stretched a little longer behind them.