> "Memories lie."
"But reflections? Reflections steal."
— The Archivist
---
Kai woke up gasping.
Not from a nightmare.
From the absence of one.
There was no dream. No Labyrinth.
Just… a blank room. Quiet. Still.
As if the world forgot to load.
He sat up on the cold floor, disoriented.
Lira was already awake, crouched in a corner, watching him. Tense. Palms glowing faint blue — her Dreambind Frayward was active. Defensive.
> "What… happened?" Kai asked.
She didn't answer.
She just tossed something toward him.
A mirror shard.
> "Look."
Kai caught it.
And froze.
Because the person looking back…
wasn't him.
---
His eyes were silver.
Hair longer, untamed.
And around his neck — a thin noose-shaped scar he'd never had before.
He dropped the shard, breathing fast.
> "This isn't me—"
Lira stepped forward.
> "Who are you?"
> "What?"
> "Tell me something only you would know," she demanded.
"From when we first met."
Kai frowned.
He searched his mind.
> "I saved you from the acid-laced fog maze. Level 12. You were unconscious. Your skill hadn't awakened yet. I—"
> "Wrong," Lira said.
Her voice shook.
> "I saved you. You were delirious. You called me Naera."
---
Silence.
Kai stared at her.
Something buzzed in his ears. Not sound — static.
Suddenly:
> [Dream Path Fragment Loaded: ██▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ]
His HUD glitched.
His system interface — once clean — was now riddled with unreadable strings:
> ░R̷e̸f̷r̷a̷c̶t̵i̸o̵n̸: Path Unknown
░Dreambind Mutation: Echo Inversion
░Stability: [ERROR]
---
> "Something's wrong," Kai muttered.
Lira stepped back.
Her voice was laced with panic.
> "Kai… the Archivist did something to you."
> "You're not fully you anymore."
> "You're a memory stitched from multiple timelines."
---
He tried to stand, but his legs buckled.
Because suddenly — like a rush of venom — three different versions of the same memory slammed into his mind:
1. A young Kai pulling Naera from the dream fire.
2. A young Kai leaving her behind.
3. A Kai who pushed her in.
All three memories… felt real.
All three ended the same way:
Naera staring back at him with betrayal in her eyes.
---
His heart raced.
He opened his status window:
> KAI: "The Sleepless"
Class: [Pathless / Corrupted Hybrid]
Dreambind: ???
Health: ████████
Soul Integrity: ▓▓▓░░░░░░░ 37%
Stability: ▓▓▓▓░░░░░░ 45%
Reflections: 3
[Warning: Parallel Self Fragments detected]
He fell to his knees.
He wasn't a person anymore.
He was a collage.
---
> "Where… are we?" he choked.
Lira looked around.
The room was featureless — black stone, no exits, no doors. The only thing present was the mirror shard she'd tossed, still lying between them, reflecting something different in each of their directions.
Then the walls began to hum.
A voice — calm, soothing, inhuman — echoed.
> "You've arrived at the Crosswake."
> "This is the Dreamborder between memory and being."
> "Welcome, Kai."
---
A figure stepped out of the wall.
Dressed in a coat of stitched timelines, The Archivist appeared.
Their face was masked — blank porcelain with a painted smile.
But their presence was unmistakable:
They didn't feel like a person.
They felt like a library.
> "You stole my mirror," Kai growled.
The Archivist tilted their head.
> "You gave it freely. Every time you lied to yourself."
---
Kai's hands trembled.
> "You're manipulating my memories."
The Archivist chuckled softly.
> "No.
I'm simply cataloguing which ones you choose to keep."
---
Lira stepped forward.
> "Give him back."
> "Give me my Kai."
The Archivist turned toward her.
> "Yours? No, no, child."
> "He belongs to the Labyrinth now."
And then they raised a hand.
A new reflection shimmered behind Kai — stepping out of the mirror.
Another Kai.
But this one had a burning crown, and a blade made of regrets.
---
> "Say hello to the Kai who never forgot."
> "Say hello… to yourself."
---
🔥 BATTLE SEQUENCE BEGINS: "Self vs Self"
Two Kais.
One fractured and unsure.
One whole, but twisted by the weight of memory.
Every strike between them was a clash of who he could've been.
Sword of Echo vs Blade of Guilt
Dash skill: Slipstream of Lost Time
Dreambind clash: Shatterpath vs Echo Inversion
---
The real Kai was losing.
The Reflected Kai fought without hesitation.
Without mercy.
Without fear.
Lira screamed.
But suddenly — Kai paused.
He remembered something.
A voice. A whisper. A truth deeper than the labyrinth.
> "If you're made of lies…
Then make your own truth."
---
Kai stabbed his own chest.
The mirrored version froze.
A ripple went through the room.
And the mirror behind him cracked.
> "I'm not you," Kai said.
> "I'm not any of you."
> "I'm the Kai who keeps walking."
> "Even if I don't know where I started."
---
[Dream Path Unlocked: "Echowanderer"]
> Skill Gained: Flickerstep — Move through discarded moments.
Mutation: Memorrhage — Convert false memories into damage bursts.
The Reflected Kai shattered into mirror dust.
The Archivist just watched.
> "Interesting," they murmured.
"You chose will over memory."
> "We'll see how long that lasts."
---
They vanished.
The room unsealed.
A door appeared. A real one.
Kai turned to Lira.
> "You still trust me?"
Lira stared at him for a long time.
> "I trust whatever's left of you."
---
They walked through the door together.
And outside…
The Waking Realm was no longer as they remembered.
Shards of the Labyrinth were appearing during the day.
Dream and reality were collapsing into each other.
And in the sky…
Naera watched.
Eyes glowing like twin suns.