The ride back to the cell was shorter or maybe it just felt that way because Kye's mind wouldn't stop spinning. The Tribunal had left a mark—not on his skin, but on his thoughts. They hadn't called him guilty or innocent. No sentencing. No verdict.
Just…
> **"Interesting."**
He wasn't sure whether that was a death sentence or a second chance.
The guards returned him to the cell in silence. No mocking remarks. No beatings. Just the cold clang of chains and the heavy thud of the iron door slamming shut.
Kye sat alone in the dark, letting the silence stretch.
And then—
A *click*.
Not the cell door.
The wall.
**The illusion wall.**
He turned just in time to see it shimmer faintly, and from the shadows stepped **Talia**.
No guard. No torch. No sound.
She moved like a ghost, eyes sharp, robes dark, expression unreadable.
"You're awake," she said.
Kye raised an eyebrow. "I've been awake. Mentally and physically."
Talia said nothing. She stepped closer, glancing once at the hidden alcove behind him where the candlestick had been.
"You found it," she said. Not a question.
"Found it, unlocked it, absorbed it. Now I glow red when I get angry."
She stared.
Kye sighed. "Okay, not *glow*, exactly. But it feels like something's… burning under the surface."
"That's what it is," she said. "Fire in the veins. The first of Kael's fragments. There are more."
"How many?"
She shook her head. "That depends. On how much of him you're willing to remember."
That made Kye pause.
"What does that mean?"
Talia hesitated for the first time. Then, quietly: "You think this body is all you inherited. But Kael didn't die quietly. He buried himself in the body. In the blood. The more you unlock, the more of him… wakes up."
Kye's throat went dry. "Are you saying I'll become him?"
"No," she said. "But if you're not careful—you might stop being *you*."
A long silence stretched between them.
Talia looked away first.
"Your Tribunal results were… unexpected."
Kye shrugged. "I aim to confuse."
"The Empress wants to see you."
That pulled him up short.
"Wait. Now?"
"In one hour."
Kye's brain kicked into high gear.
The Empress. The one Kael once served—and possibly betrayed. The one whose voice echoed in Kael's memories. The one who, according to Talia, **allowed** this resurrection ritual in the first place.
"But I haven't done anything yet," he said. "I don't even know who I am in this world."
Talia gave him a rare flicker of a smile.
"That's exactly why she wants to see you."
---
**An hour later**, Kye stood in front of the doors to the **Inner Flame Hall**.
They loomed three stories high, carved from blackstone and covered in gold-etched runes shaped like tongues of fire. At their center was the sigil of the Empire—**the Phoenix Crown**, its wings curled protectively around a burning sword.
The guards flanking the doors stepped aside in eerie silence.
The doors opened inward.
And Kye stepped into **the heart of the Empire**.
---
The hall was silent.
Vast, warm, and filled with candles. Hundreds. Thousands. Arranged in spirals, clusters, and floating trays that hovered mid-air. The scent of burnt wax, ash, and something sweet—**jasmine**—filled his lungs.
At the far end of the hall, seated on a dais of stone and flame, was a woman.
She didn't wear armor or a crown. Her gown was simple, flowing crimson stitched with fire-thread. Her posture was regal. Composed. But her presence?
**Crushing.**
She didn't have to speak. She *was* the Empire.
Her eyes found him instantly—**violet**, intense, intelligent.
"You may speak," she said.
Kye swallowed. "Your Majesty."
"You are not Kael."
"No."
"And yet, you wear his face."
"Not by choice."
Her gaze narrowed slightly.
"That's what all men say when given power they didn't earn."
Kye stayed quiet.
"You passed the Tribunal," she said. "Barely."
"Was that a test?"
"Everything in this palace is a test."
He hated how true that sounded.
The Empress stood and descended the stairs slowly, her footsteps soundless across the warm marble.
"You are not a prince," she said. "Not yet. You are not a soldier. Not a noble. Not even a man of this world."
Kye tensed. She *knew*.
She stopped just in front of him. He felt her power—dense and invisible, pressing against his skin like heat in summer.
"But you may yet be useful."
Kye blinked. "Useful how?"
She turned away, walking toward a small altar near the side of the hall. Upon it rested a **mirror**.
Not just any mirror.
It shimmered with the same **liquid-like surface** as the Tribunal's scrying device. But this one was dark—*twisted*. Like a shadow of the world instead of its reflection.
"This belonged to Kael," she said.
Kye approached slowly.
Inside the mirror, he saw his own face—but not *his* face.
Kael's face. Cold. Bleeding. Eyes filled with hate.
The mirror flickered.
Then—
> **\[Memory Fragment Detected: Sealed Blood Relic – "Witchfire Accord"]**
> **\[Paradox System Lock: Requires Soul Resonance – 60%]**
Kye staggered back.
The Empress watched him carefully.
"You are a paradox," she said. "Not Kael. Not foreigner. You may burn… or you may *reshape*."
She turned, voice low.
"If you survive long enough."
---
Kye returned to his cell in silence.
The image of Kael's face in that mirror haunted him.
That mirror wasn't just a relic.
It was a **door**. One that would eventually open.
And when it did…
He wasn't sure who would come out on the other side.