Part V – Reflections in the Silence
Night fell over the Forest of Illusions, bringing with it an uncanny stillness. The village seemed suspended in time, bathed in a silvery glow that filtered through the dancing leaves. Everything—from the houses to the lanterns—appeared faded, as if painted onto a veil of mist.
Yuri awoke in the middle of the night. She didn't know why, but sleep had abandoned her as lightly as the illusions shifted around her. She wrapped herself in the light cloak left at arm's reach and stepped outside quietly.
She walked along moonlit paths, observing the curved-roof houses, the lanterns hovering just above the ground, and the white foxes darting among the trees, vanishing each time she tried to focus on them. Everything seemed alive, yet unreal.
She reached a pond. The water was still—a perfect mirror. She leaned over and saw her reflection. For a moment, the eyes staring back weren't hers… but those of the version of herself dressed in black. Yuri recoiled instinctively, her heart quickening.
"You can't stop thinking about it, can you?"
Lucen's voice reached her from behind. He stood a little ways off, leaning against a tree, his gaze fixed on the water.
Yuri turned slowly. "You… can't sleep either?"
Lucen shook his head. "In a place where nothing is as it seems, it's hard to even trust dreams."
He stepped closer, stopping at a respectful distance. "You faced the illusion without running. Not many would."
"I couldn't avoid it." Yuri lowered her gaze. "Ayame wanted me to see it. Maybe I wanted to see it too."
Lucen watched her closely. "And what did you really see?"
Yuri didn't answer right away. Then, in a soft voice: "A part of me that's afraid of becoming someone else. But that part exists… and I don't want to ignore it."
A brief silence.
Lucen looked away. "A different answer than mine…" he thought.
Behind a curtain of branches, Ayame watched them. She sat high on a branch, knees pulled up, chin resting on them. Her smile was enigmatic, but her eyes betrayed genuine interest. "Curious, those two… and still so blind."
Meanwhile, Kayla was staring at her own reflection in a pool of water inside her room. A voice, as light as wind, whispered behind her.
"Be careful, Kayla. You're getting attached."
Kayla didn't turn around. "Stop playing."
Ayame appeared behind her, reflected in the water, not in the room itself. "I'm not playing. I observe. And I enjoy it."
"If you hurt her…" Kayla began, her voice tense.
"…you'll kill me, I know," Ayame interrupted with a soft laugh. "But it's not pain I seek. It's truth."
"What truth?"
Ayame tilted her head in the reflection. "The one that hides in the heart of those who don't yet know they're lying to themselves."
Kayla clenched her fists. But the mirror had already gone still.
Outside, Yuri and Lucen remained silent a little longer, until a breeze carried the distant sound of a flute. A summons. A warning. Or perhaps just another illusion.
Yuri was the last to speak.
"I think that here… no one is really who they seem to be."
Lucen nodded. "Not even us."
The moon's reflection shimmered on the water. And, for a moment, there was no reflection at all.