Chapter 21
Sleep came rarely to Astern now.
After the encounter beneath the stars and the voice that echoed through his soul, rest had become a negotiation. His dreams were no longer his own—they were bridges. Messages. Warnings.
And sometimes… invitations.
He woke before dawn, drenched in cold sweat. The feather Nysera confiscated had since vanished, locked in one of the deep vaults below the archive. But its presence still clung to him, as though it had sunk into the walls of his spirit.
Today would be no ordinary lesson.
---
Down in the eastern sanctum of the academy, the mentors gathered students for a new directive: team simulations within the Mirror Crucible—a battlefield constructed from spiritual projections.
Elien's voice echoed across the amphitheater. "These simulations are not illusions. They respond to thought, spirit, and fear. The Crucible will draw on the weakest parts of you—and manifest them as enemies."
Murmurs spread across the students.
Kaela grinned. "So basically, nightmare fuel training."
Lunaria frowned. "More like psychological combat exposure."
Astern stood silently, adjusting the strap on his blade.
Nysera's voice cut through the haze. "This isn't for glory. The Crucible exists to expose your fault lines. So you may break here—before the real world forces it upon you."
Each team stepped into one of the obsidian gates that led to personalized training zones. Astern's team—himself, Kaela, Lunaria—were assigned Sector Six: Penumbral Descent.
---
Inside, the sky was purple and gray, like bruised stone. The battlefield was fragmented—suspended platforms over a pit that had no end.
The moment they stepped forward, a pulse trembled through the air.
Then… forms began to rise.
Each took the shape of someone from their past—
For Kaela, it was her brother—long dead, face twisted in disappointment.
For Lunaria, it was her mother—eyes cold, voice accusing.
And for Astern…
It was himself.
The other Astern stood calmly, hands behind his back. His eyes glowed faintly, not with warmth—but with emptiness.
"I am the you who gives in," it said. "The one who stops pretending."
Astern clenched his fist. "You're not me."
"Not yet," it whispered.
The battle began.
---
Kaela struck like fire unleashed, dodging spectral spears and breaking through her false brother's form with relentless drive. Lunaria used calculated frost constructs, freezing her mother's accusations mid-air and shattering them like brittle ice.
But Astern struggled.
Every strike he made, his double mirrored.
Every motion he tried to predict, the reflection had already executed.
They were perfect opposites—except the copy didn't hesitate.
Astern faltered.
You'll never be enough.
The words weren't spoken. They lived in the air.
But then—he stopped fighting.
He closed his eyes.
Felt the tether.
Felt Nysera's training, the pulse of spiritual calm beneath chaos.
He opened his aura—not in attack, but in surrender to truth.
And the reflection vanished.
---
The Crucible blinked out.
They stood in the real world again, each student gasping, bruised but alive.
Elien approached their group.
"Well done. Only a handful passed their descent trials today."
Astern nodded, but his mind was distant.
Not with the victory—but with the voice his reflection had spoken with.
It hadn't been his alone.
It had matched the one from the feather.
The Ghoul King wasn't just watching anymore.
He was inside the cracks.
---
That night, Lunaria sat beside him on the rooftop.
"He's calling you," she said.
Astern stared into the stars. "I know."
"Are you going to answer?"
He didn't speak.
Because deep down, a part of him already had.