The figure with glowing coal eyes stepped halfway out of the shattered mirror—
And then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, it vanished, melting into the black fire like smoke swallowed by wind.
Elira gasped.
She blinked.
The room around her wavered, walls bending like glass under pressure. Her knees buckled, and the world spiraled.
"W-what… is happening…"
Then—
Darkness.
Stillness.
Silence.
And when she opened her eyes again…
She was no longer in her room.
She stood in a grand hallway, lined with violet silk drapes and golden candlelight. The air smelled like crushed roses and something faintly magical. The floor shimmered like polished obsidian, and outside the tall windows stretched a sky of violet twilight, endless and dreamlike.
"Where… am I now?"
"Elira," came a smooth, familiar voice — though she didn't know why it was familiar.
She turned.
And there he was.
A man.
Tall. Gracefully built. Midnight hair falling slightly into his piercing blue eyes. He wore silver robes embroidered with stars and ancient symbols, and the air around him shimmered with an aura she couldn't explain.
Her heart jumped.
Not in fear.
But something else.
"You look just as I remember you," he said softly, stepping closer.
Elira took a step back. "Do I… know you?"
He smiled — and gods, it was beautiful. Disarming.
"Not yet. But you did… once. In another life. In another dream."
Her mind told her to run, to scream, to question — but her body was melting under his gaze. He extended a hand.
"Come. Walk with me."
Against all logic, her hand found his.
They walked through grand halls of glass gardens and marble moons, through a ballroom suspended in clouds. She didn't know how long they wandered.
It felt eternal.
And then, under the glow of a thousand floating lanterns, he turned to her.
"You've always belonged with me, Elira. This is where your heart remembers."
"I don't—" she whispered.
But his hand cupped her cheek, and his lips brushed against hers. Soft. Electric. Her breath caught.
Then another kiss.
Deeper.
Lingering.
Her arms looped around his neck as he pulled her flush against him. The world around them spun away, replaced by warmth and breath and touch. She didn't understand it. Couldn't escape it. Couldn't want to.
She was his, in this moment.
And he…
"Mine," he whispered into her ear, voice velvet and dark, "as you've always been."
The words echoed strangely.
And something deep within her stirred — a warning she almost couldn't hear.
But she was sinking.
Sinking too deep.