The stone didn't reflect light. It reflected the past.
In a quiet corner of the Carving Garden, a new stone appeared. Not brought by a Satria. Not carved by human hands. It simply emerged one silent morning, its surface gleaming like a mirror. Children found it first. But when they touched it, they didn't see their faces. They saw versions of themselves they had never known.
Yohwa approached. He touched the stone. And he saw himself—not as the Satria of Light, but as a child once afraid of the dark. He saw a Yohwa who never chose the path of resonance. A Yohwa who remained silent. A Yohwa who never became a guardian.
Rava touched the stone. She saw herself as a woman who never left the valley. A life of peace, but without echo. Numa saw himself as a writer who never believed in resonance. These versions weren't wrong. But they weren't who they had become.
"This isn't an ordinary stone," Lonto said. "It's a stone that remembers possibility."
The stone didn't speak. But everyone who touched it saw alternate versions of themselves—versions that never happened, yet still lived within their soul.
Yohwa stood silent. "Are we all the choices we never made?"
Rava replied, "Or maybe we're the echoes of every version we've ever denied."
In the village, children began drawing themselves in different forms. Some drew themselves as dancers, not warriors. Some as stones, not humans. They weren't afraid. They were curious.
Numa began documenting the resonance patterns from the mirror stone. "It doesn't emit frequency," he said. "It reflects inner resonance. It doesn't give voice. It returns the voice we've hidden."
That night, Yohwa dreamed. He stood in a room full of mirrors. Each mirror showed a different version of himself. But in the center, there was one mirror left blank. He approached. And when he looked inside, he didn't see a face. He saw resonance.
He woke with heavy breath. The next morning, he stood before the mirror stone. He didn't touch it. He simply said, "I accept all versions of myself. But I choose the one that can listen."
The stone trembled gently. It didn't glow. But its surface changed. No longer a mirror. But like calm water.
The Soul Eclipse approached. It paused above the stone. And for the first time, it reflected light. But not light from the sky. Light from within the soul.