"In the darkest reflections, your true self waits to be seen — if you dare to look."
Entry One
The chamber's cold was different from the maze. It wasn't just cold — it was a hollow, biting chill that seemed to seep into my bones, wrapping me in silence so thick I could almost hear my own heartbeat pounding in my ears. The air was still, as if time itself had stopped here.
They told me Trial Two wasn't about physical survival. It was about choice. About confronting parts of yourself you might want to hide forever. But how do you choose when you don't even know what's inside you?
I glanced around at the others, who stood like statues in the shadows of the chamber. Their eyes were sharp, cold, watching me like I was an unwelcome ghost. I felt small, like I didn't belong — like I was a puzzle piece forced into the wrong box.
The voice came again, cutting through the silence like a blade:
"E-Class Elara Vayne. Prepare for Trial Two."
My throat tightened. I swallowed hard, trying to steady my breath. There was no going back now.
Entry Two
The heavy stone door groaned open, revealing a room that stretched wider than I'd imagined, walls lined with mirrors taller than a grown man. But these mirrors weren't ordinary — they shimmered faintly, almost alive, reflecting not the world around me but the shadows inside me.
As I stepped forward, the air thickened, heavy with whispered voices that slithered through the space like smoke. I couldn't make out the words, but their presence was unmistakable — secrets whispered just beneath the surface of my mind.
Then, through the glass, I saw her. Or was it a shadow shaped like a girl? Her eyes glowed softly — the same strange, warm light I'd felt flicker beneath my skin back in the maze.
She didn't move her lips, yet I heard her voice inside my head — soft, certain, like a forgotten memory.
"You're not like them. You're not just an E-Class."
I wanted to turn away, but my feet felt rooted, like the mirrors had pulled me in. The words echoed in my mind, stirring something uncomfortable, something I wasn't ready to understand.
Entry Three
Without warning, the mirrors shattered — glass exploding into a thousand shimmering shards that fell like frozen stars. The sound was deafening, but it wasn't just the noise that startled me.
The shards twisted and reformed into dark, shifting shapes — figures with empty eyes and clawed hands that reached for me in silence.
My heart raced, adrenaline surging as I dodged their grasp, stumbling through the cold chamber. Panic clawed at my chest, but I fought to stay upright.
One of the shadowy figures caught my sleeve. Its grip was ice-cold, biting through the fabric as if it wanted to reach my skin. A voice hissed in my ear, barely more than a breath:
"The power you hide will either save you or destroy you."
Then, just as suddenly, the figure vanished, leaving me alone with my racing heart and trembling hands.
Entry Four
I stumbled out of the chamber, breath ragged, hands shaking as I tried to steady the strange warmth pulsing beneath my skin. It was different now — deeper, more urgent.
And then — a whisper. A single word that slipped into my thoughts like a ghost:
Kael.
I didn't know who he was. I didn't know if he was friend or foe, memory or premonition. But his name stirred something inside me — a shadow on the edge of my mind I couldn't ignore.
The trial wasn't just testing my strength or endurance. It was probing deeper, prying open parts of me I wasn't ready to face.
And I was afraid.
But I couldn't turn back.