The breach split the sky in two.
One half roared with wind and sunlight—real, raw, storm-kissed. The other shimmered in eerie stillness, reflecting a twisted version of the world where flame glowed cold and thunder was silent.
Seris stood on the cliff's edge, the Diadem of Storm resting at her feet. Her hands sparked with restrained fire, and her eyes locked onto her mirror double.
The Mirror Queen tilted her head with something between amusement and disdain. "You truly think you're stronger without me?" Her voice was honey-laced venom, echoing faintly behind the veil. "I am you, Seris. The part you bury. The flame you're too afraid to let burn."
"You're not me," Seris said, stepping forward. "You're what I'd become if I chose power without purpose. Flame without heart."
The Queen's silver eyes narrowed. "I am what you'll need to become to win this war."
"Then I'd rather lose."
The breach pulsed. A scream of wind howled down the cliffside as the first of the mirror warriors stepped through—half-solid, half-reflection, their armor catching light that didn't exist in this world.
Kaelen and Arin moved without hesitation.
"Ward the breach!" Kaelen shouted, blade already glowing with runes of storm. "Don't let them fully manifest!"
The skyguard leapt into action. Arin conjured a wall of cyclone, her glaive spinning as it caught the first wave of mirrored soldiers mid-step. The wind tore through illusions—but the real ones remained, swinging swords of coldlight and flameglass.
Kaelen struck down two with precision, lightning arcing from his palm into their chests.
"Seris!" he shouted. "The crown! It's resonating with the breach!"
Seris knelt beside the Diadem, her hands trembling as she touched it again. The storm-song within it rose like a cry—no longer warning, but pleading.
> Seal it… or become it.
The Mirror Queen was stepping forward now, her body phasing fully into the real world. With every step, cracks spidered along the ground, glass spreading through soil and stone like rot.
"I was born from your choices, Seris," she said softly. "You can fight me, but in the end, all paths lead to fire."
Seris gritted her teeth. Her voice trembled, but not from fear.
"I won't burn the world to save it."
She placed the Diadem upon her brow.
A shockwave tore outward.
Wind twisted into fire. Flame shimmered into lightning. The breach screamed as the storm-crown's power rippled through the sky like a living thing.
Seris rose slowly, eyes glowing gold and white—her voice deeper, older, as she spoke.
"I am Seris of Solvyris. Flameborn of the Ember Throne. Stormtouched of the Skyward Line. And you," she pointed to the Mirror Queen, "are nothing but a shadow on a wall."
The Queen hissed and lunged.
Their magic met mid-air.
Flame and fireglass collided with storm and soulflame. The sky erupted in colorless flame, and every gust of wind bore whispers of ancient power.
Kaelen moved toward Seris—but the wind threw him back.
"This is her battle," Arin shouted, eyes wide. "She's merging the echoes of both crowns—if we interfere, we could undo her."
The Queen struck with mirrored blades conjured from memories. Images of Seris's darkest moments—her mother's disappointment, her father's death, her own hands covered in blood—twisted into weapons meant to shatter resolve.
But Seris stood her ground.
And then, in one final surge, she embraced the storm.
> Not to destroy. But to unmake the lie.
Her fire surged—not wild, but willed. It danced through her veins like song, laced with thunder, streaked with light. And as she lifted both hands and poured that power into the breach, the mirror-sky screamed.
Cracks raced across the rift.
The Queen's form shimmered. Wavered.
"You can't exist without me," she whispered.
"I don't need to destroy you," Seris whispered back. "Only to choose not to become you."
And with one final cry, Seris cast the Diadem into the breach—fusing crown and rift and shadow into one spiraling torrent of stormfire.
It exploded.
The mountain shook. The mirror-army cracked into dust. And the breach—
—sealed.
Silence followed. Thick. Holy.
Then, slowly, Seris collapsed.
Kaelen caught her before she fell fully.
She looked up at him through eyes still glowing faintly with firelight. "Did we win?"
He smiled.
"You chose," he said. "That was always the victory."