The flame from Seluriel's fragment still pulsed faintly in my palm.
It did not flicker like normal fire. It pulsed with rhythm—slow and solemn, like a heartbeat struggling to remember it once belonged to someone divine.
The door at the end of the chamber creaked open without our touch.
Beyond it, a narrow stone bridge extended into an abyss of nothingness. No bottom. No stars. Just spirals.
Endless spirals carved into the stone beneath our feet, rotating slowly—imperceptibly—like the world was breathing.
[System Notice: You are entering a Bound Reality – Domain of the Spiral Memory]
"Bound Reality?" Lira whispered. Her hand hovered near her staff. "Is it safe?"
"No," I said. "But it's the only path forward."
We crossed.
Every step echoed with a hollow thrum.
Halfway across, the air grew colder.
A platform waited at the bridge's end, surrounded by mirrored monoliths—six of them—each showing a different version of me.
One wore gold armor soaked in blood.
Another sat upon a bone throne, his eyes like twin furnaces.
One wept alone in a barren wasteland.
None of them looked… happy.
Then the final mirror rippled and shifted—and she stepped through.
She wore a priestess's robe, like the echo before, but whole and unburnt. Her hair flowed like moonlight, and her eyes… held time itself.
"Welcome, soulkindled," she spoke gently. "This is not a trial of battle."
[System Notice: Spiral Warden Encounter – Binding Echo II (Seluriel Fragment)]Type: Reflection TrialDanger: Variable – Based on Host's Mental Stability
She gestured to the mirrors.
"You must choose which path to bind. You cannot defeat what you refuse to accept."
I stared at the reflections.
"Are these… futures?"
"No," she said softly. "These are truths. Possibilities seeded in your flame. Choose one. Enter. Confront what awaits you."
My fingers curled. "And if I refuse?"
She only smiled. "Then the spiral will choose for you."
I stepped toward the mirror where I sat on a throne of bones.
'No gods. No masters. Just the world beneath my feet.'
The moment I touched it, the world twisted.
I stood alone in a vast battlefield of ash and silence.
Corpses surrounded me.
Some were monsters. Others… human.
A voice echoed behind me—my voice. A version of myself, older, harder.
"Was it worth it?" he asked.
I turned.
He wore my face—but cold. Emotionless. Regal. Behind him, towers of flame crowned a ruined skyline.
"You wanted power," he said. "And you got it. But in the end, you stood alone."
"I didn't choose this," I growled.
"Didn't you?" He raised a hand. "Devourer's Core. Architect's Insight. You wanted to grow faster. Stronger. Smarter. And you did. But everything has a cost."
I looked down.
The flames parted—and I saw Lira's broken body.
"No…"
"This is one of many ends," he whispered. "But it's the one that waits if you forsake connection for control."
I stepped back.
"Then I won't be you."
And I raised my hand—not to fight, but to release.
"I won't deny that you're part of me. But you're not all I'll ever be."
The mirror-self stared at me. Then—nodded.
And shattered into silver flame.
I returned to the monolith chamber.
The priestess fragment smiled. "You have passed the second spiral. Your chain is not yet broken."
[Trial Complete – Spiral Sigil II Acquired][INT +2, WIL +2 (Spiral Reflection Resonance)][Memory Fragment Gained – Flamebound Testament II][Seluriel's Truth: 2 of 3 Sigils Recovered]
"You carry the fire well," she said. "But be warned, Isaac…"
She stepped forward.
"The third spiral is not a trial of mind. It is a judgment."
And then—she vanished.
The chamber's far wall peeled open like burned paper, revealing a narrow passage steeped in shadow.
"Judgment," I murmured.
Lira said nothing. Her silence told me she had seen glimpses too. Different ones.
But she followed anyway.
Into whatever waited.