Elora's POV
It looked hungry and I was fresh out of "don't-eat-me" coupons.
Kael raised his sword higher, angling himself protectively in front of me. "Stay behind me."
"Sure, because that worked so well last time."
The creature moved in sharp, glitchy jerks, like reality couldn't quite agree on what it should be. Its limbs flickered between human and inhuman. One moment it was tall and skeletal, the next it had my face twisted into something cruel and hollow.
"Elora of Grimeva," it hissed again. "Deny me… and die."
I peeked over Kael's shoulder. "So, is there a 'negotiate with the cursed mirror monster' option? Or is this strictly a fight-to-the-death kind of vibe?"
No answer. Not from the creature. Not from Kael.
Figures.
The Vault always knew how to shut a girl up.
The Reflection lunged. Kael blocked with his blade, but the impact sent him flying into the nearest pillar. I ran toward him, but the creature was already between us, moving with the precision of a nightmare and the speed of a terrible decision.
It lunged again,at me.
I ducked, rolled, came up behind it, and swung the first thing I could grab: a broken piece of mirror.
Which, apparently, worked.
The shard slashed across its shoulder, and it screamed like a thousand of me were all howling at once. The sound rattled the floor.
"Nice!" Kael coughed, stumbling back to his feet. "Now aim for something that looks vital!"
"Does 'existential crisis' count?!"
The creature turned on me again. This time, it didn't attack.
It spoke.
"You can't kill me," it said, voice overlapping with my own. "I am you. I'm every mistake you've made. Every choice you wish you hadn't. Every fear you never admit out loud."
I hesitated.
And then it struck.
A tendril of shadow lashed out and slammed me against a mirror. My head rang. My vision swam.
And suddenly, I was back.
Not in the Vault.
But in my house.
The flames.
The screaming.
The smoke clawing its way into my lungs.
I heard my mother cry my name.
I heard my father scream.
And then I heard—
Kael.
"Elora! It's lying to you!"
I blinked.
The fire faded.
I was back in the hall. Back with Kael. Back with the thing that wanted to consume me whole.
I pushed myself up, eyes burning but this time, not from smoke.
"I'm not afraid of you," I whispered.
The Reflection tilted its head. "You should be."
And then It charged.
Kael hurled his sword not at the creature, but at me.
Instinct took over. I caught it, spun, and drove it through the Reflection's chest just as it reached me.
There was a burst of light.
Then silence.
The creature staggered back, a star-shaped wound glowing in its chest. It looked at me not in rage. Not in hate.
But in… sorrow.
"I just wanted to be seen," it whispered.
Then it shattered into light.
And was gone.
I fell to my knees.
Kael was beside me a heartbeat later. "Are you hurt?"
"Only everywhere."
He chuckled softly. "You did good."
"I stabbed myself," I muttered. "Sort of."
"You stabbed your fears. That's better."
I looked at the mirror shard still in my hand. The edge gleamed but my reflection didn't show fear anymore.
It showed me.
Bruised. Tired.
But whole.
"Well," I said, trying to stand, "I vote we never talk about this again."
"Agreed."
We turned toward the only exit an arched door pulsing faintly with blue light.
"Ready for the next round?" Kael asked.
"Define 'ready,'" I muttered.
We walked through the door and everything changed.
The stone hallway warped, bending inward like a throat. The walls dripped with vines that pulsed like veins. It wasn't just a passage.
It was alive.
The air grew thick. Electric.
And at the far end… stood a woman.
She was cloaked in black and silver, her hair long and white like frost. Her eyes burned with violet fire.
"Elora," she said, her voice echoing in my bones.
Kael stepped forward. "Who are you?"
The woman smiled. "I am the Warden of the Vault."
"And what do you want?" I asked, heart pounding.
She didn't answer.
Instead, she raised her hand—
And Kael collapsed.
"KAEL!"
I dropped to my knees beside him, but he was unconscious ,breathing, but barely.
The Warden's voice rang out:
"You passed the Trial of Reflection. But now comes the Trial of Separation."
"Try anything, and I'll—"
"You will do nothing," she said calmly. "Because if you follow him now… you'll never leave."
A door opened behind her.
And another behind me.
Two paths.
Two futures.
One choice.
I looked down at Kael.
Then at the doors.
Then—
Darkness.
Total.
Because the floor opened again.
And this time, I was the one falling.