one made of reflection grants no crown.
Only judgment.
Vaelryn fell.
Not through space. Not through time.
But inward.
The mirror swallowed her whole, and she landed hard—on herself.
The chamber around her was identical to the Library of the End, but inverted. Bones floated. Light bled upward. Everything shimmered as if submerged.
She stood.
In front of her was Vaelryn—but not as she was.
As she could have been.
Golden robes. Crimson eyes without pain. Crown untouched by betrayal.
Power surging like calm oceans.
She smiled.
"So, this is what I would've been," Vaelryn whispered.
The other her spoke:
"No. This is what you tried not to become."
**_The Trial of the Flameborn_**
Kael's voice echoed from beyond the mirror, distant.
"Sera! Can you hear me?!"
But in this realm, his voice was fading, consumed by echoes of possibility.
The alternate Vaelryn stepped forward.
"I ruled without falling. Loved without being betrayed.
Burned only those who deserved it.
I am your clean slate. Your unbroken truth."
"And you're a lie," Vaelryn snapped.
The figure tilted her head.
"If I'm a lie, why does part of you still wish you were me?"
Vaelryn hesitated.
Then:
"Because I'm tired. Tired of bleeding for every truth I uncover."
Her counterpart nodded.
"Then let me take the burden.
Give me the flame. You'll rest.
You'll forget everything… and live in peace."
"No war?"
"No war."
"No thrones?"
"No thrones. Just quiet."
**_The Mirror's Temptation_**
Suddenly, the chamber shifted. Vaelryn was home—her real home. Her village before it burned. Her mother alive. Her sister laughing.
Kael walked up behind her, smiling.
They danced under unbroken stars.
"You can have this," the false Vaelryn whispered.
"It's yours. Just hand me the First Flame."
She looked down.
The mark of Vael-Sireborn glowed on her palm.
"Just let it go."
Vaelryn trembled.
Tears formed.
She reached out.
But then—
"Pain remembers what peace forgets."
The voice wasn't hers.
It was Vael's.
**_The Rejection_**
Vaelryn pulled back.
"No."
The vision shattered.
The fake her screamed—not in pain, but in rage.
"You ungrateful shadow! I offered you peace!"
"I don't want peace. I want truth.
Even if it breaks me."
The false Vaelryn attacked.
Her hands became blades of golden flame.
Vaelryn ignited her own.
The air screamed as the two selves collided.
Fire clashed with fire.
Memory clashed with regret.
Every blow ripped another truth free:
Her failure to save her brother.
Her secret hatred of Kael's pity.
Her belief that she is the villain in her own prophecy.
Still—she fought.
**_The Breaking_**
The false Vaelryn screamed.
Her fire turned black.
"You can't destroy me. I'm the version the gods would've worshipped."
"Exactly."
Vaelryn leapt.
With both hands, she drove the First Flame into her own chest—right through the mirror's heart.
The world shattered.
**_Return to Reality_**
Vaelryn awoke gasping.
She stood once more before the mirror, but it was broken now.
The glass burned with silver light.
Kael rushed forward.
"What happened?!"
"I met who I could've been."
"And?"
"I killed her."
Behind her, the mirror exploded into flame and ash. From the smoke, a symbol hovered:
A crown split in two, with fire bleeding between the halves.
Then, a voice whispered:
"The throne is claimed."
Vaelryn turned. The bones around them shifted.
A stairway of bone and blood extended upward.
"The Fifth Throne," Kael said.
"Not yet," Vaelryn whispered.
"First, we find the one who forged the mirrors.
The god who made self-doubt a weapon."
**_Elsewhere..._**
High above, in a tower made of mirrors and eyes, a figure smiled.
She wore a veil of smoke.
Her fingers were made of obsidian.
"So the girl passed the Mirror Without Mercy.
How disappointing.
I was hoping she'd surrender."
She touched the glass.
A thousand Vaelryns screamed within it.
"No matter. Her mind is cracked. The deeper she goes, the more she'll become like me."
"And when she does… I'll wear her face instead."
TO BE CONTINUED...
🔥 Chapter 10 Hook — "The Mirror Without Mercy"
An unchosen path.
A war within the self.
A throne made from the ashes of identity.
🪞 What damage did the mirror really leave?
🔥 Who is the god of mirrors… and how many faces do they wear?
🩸 Is Vaelryn still fully herself… or is the crack already spreading?
📖 Next: Chapter 11 — "The God of a Thousand Faces"