The Inner City did not warn them.
It simply opened.
Stone shifted without sound, salt vapor thinning as if guided aside by an unseen hand. The wall at the far end of the courtyard parted along a seam so old it had forgotten it was ever meant to be closed.
A tunnel revealed itself.
Not carved by Empire hands.
Not reinforced with mirror arrays or control sigils.
The stone was smooth, worn by time and passage rather than force. Lotus etchings lined the arch in faded relief… petals folded inward, not blooming, not reflecting.
Sol's breath caught.
"This isn't imperial," Ji Ming said quietly.
"No," Sol replied. "It's older."
Ya Zhen stepped closer, brushing her fingers along the wall. "Red Courier records mention something like this. A route dug before the Empire learned to see everything."
Sol nodded. "The original Lotus Mother believed some paths should never be visible."
The Mirrorborn stepped forward.
The tunnel responded.
Light dimmed. Pressure vanished. The resonance between Sol and Ji Ming settled into something almost silent… contained, protected.
Ji Ming looked at Sol sharply. "This tunnel is shielding you."
"Yes," Sol said. "But it won't hide us for long."
As if summoned by the words—
Bootsteps echoed behind them.
Measured. Multiple.
Ya Zhen snapped her fan open. "Inquisitors."
Ji Ming's blades slid free. "Then we move."
They ran.
The tunnel sloped downward, then sharply upward, spiraling through ancient stone. The air was dry, clean, free of salt and reflection. Their footsteps did not echo properly, swallowed by the architecture itself.
"This place was designed to refuse pursuit," Ya Zhen said between breaths.
"And yet they're still following," Ji Ming replied.
"Yes," she agreed grimly. "Because the Mirror Division doesn't need sight anymore."
Behind them, something shifted.
Not reflections.
Intent.
Sol felt it like pressure behind her eyes.
"They're tracking resonance," she said. "Not us."
The Mirrorborn's light dimmed, concentrating inward.
"Can you suppress it?" Sol asked softly, already knowing the answer.
The Mirrorborn shook its head.
Too close now.
They burst from the tunnel into open air.
The Imperial Capital rose before them.
White stone. Silver banners. Water channels glittering under the sun like veins of glass. Towers layered with mirrored surfaces designed to magnify authority and erase dissent.
The Empire had never looked more beautiful.
And never more monstrous.
Alarms rang instantly.
Imperial Guards surged forward, disciplined, armored.
Behind them came the Mirror Wardens.
Silver-plated armor. Faceless helms. Their movements were unnervingly synchronized, as if responding to a single thought.
Ji Ming stepped forward without hesitation.
"Stay behind me," he said.
Sol shook her head. "We don't survive this if we split."
Ya Zhen's smile was sharp. "Then let's ruin their symmetry."
The first clash was brutal.
Ji Ming cut through guards with controlled precision, twin blades singing. Ya Zhen's sigils fractured formations, disrupting mirrored movement. Sol moved between them, healing where she could, striking where she must.
The Mirrorborn walked with them.
Every step it took dulled reflections. Cracked mirrors shattered harmlessly. Water channels clouded, refusing to show faces.
The Empire screamed.
They fought their way through the outer gates.
Then the inner halls.
Blood slicked marble. Silver armor dulled. The resonance between Sol and Ji Ming burned hot, straining against exhaustion.
And still they moved forward.
Because the palace waited.
And so did the Emperor.
High above the capital, in the innermost palace where glass and water were shaped into instruments of rule, the Emperor stood before a vast mirrored lattice.
The lattice trembled.
Not from damage… but from interference.
"The tunnel," a voice murmured from behind him.
The Silver Lady stepped forward, silver-threaded robes whispering like drawn steel. Her eyes were fixed on the lattice, on the way its reflections refused to settle into stable forms.
"They are inside the city," she said. "The Inner Wards are no longer responding correctly."
The Emperor's expression did not change.
"So," he said calmly, "the Lotus Mother's bones still remember how to open."
The Silver Lady inclined her head. "The Mirrorborn walks with them."
At that, the Emperor finally turned.
Not in anger.
In interest.
"Good," he replied. "Let the world see what happens when a system refuses to be corrected."
He raised one hand.
The lattice responded instantly. Lines of light flared outward across the capital, racing through waterways, towers, and mirrored corridors like veins filling with blood.
"Seal the outer districts," he ordered.
"Release the Mirror Wardens."
"And summon the Inquisitors."
The Silver Lady hesitated only a breath.
"And the girl?" she asked.
The Emperor's gaze returned to the lattice, to the point where Sol's presence distorted every reflection around it.
"When the divine root presents itself," he said evenly, "cut it out of the world."
The command settled like a blade being set carefully on a table.
Far below, the capital gates thundered shut.
Silver helms turned in unison.
And somewhere beneath the city's white stone and glass, Sol felt the air shift… as if the world had just been given permission to break.