SFX: FWOOSH... BWOOOOOM...
A pulse of crimson light explodes through the upper floors of the Glass Tower.
Shattered panels hang suspended in midair for a moment — frozen — before clattering to the ground.
SFX: TINK… TINK… TINK…
Narrator:
When the reflection broke… something else awoke.
Scene 1 — Awakening
SFX: Drip... drip...
Rain starts falling through a cracked section of the roof.
Dante wipes his brow, staring at the glowing fragment he recovered. The light dances in his palm like a living flame.
Dante (low): "It's still beating… even after the thing's gone."
Raen (arms crossed): "And you're still holding it? What if it decides to eat your soul next?"
SFX: Crackle! — The shard hums louder, reacting to her voice.
Dante (grimacing): "Yeah… definitely not normal."
He slips it into a small containment case clipped to his belt.
Raen: "So what now, genius? We're trapped in a half-dead tower, the elevator's fried, and—"
SFX: CLANG! — A metallic echo interrupts her mid-sentence.
They both freeze.
Scene 2 — The Voice Above
SFX: CLANG... CLANG... CLANG...
Something metallic scrapes along the ventilation shaft.
Raen instinctively reaches for her daggers, while Dante steadies his weapon.
Raen (whispering): "Tell me that's not what I think it is…"
Dante (calmly): "Depends. You thinking of a vulture… or something worse?"
SFX: THUMP! — The vent above bursts open.
A figure drops down, landing silently on its feet.
The stranger's wearing a cracked exosuit, its neon lights flickering faintly. Their visor glows faint blue.
Raen (tense): "Identify yourself."
Stranger (hoarse, distorted): "You're… not guild."
Dante: "Neither are you, by the looks of it."
The stranger pauses, scanning them both. The HUD on their visor flickers —
Subject: Dante – Match Confirmed
Subject: Raen – Clearance: Restricted
SFX: BZZT! — The screen flashes red.
Stranger (urgently): "You have the shard. Give it to me. Before it completes the link."
Raen (sarcastic): "Oh sure, totally trust the creepy guy falling from a vent. Why not?"
Dante (serious): "What link?"
Before the stranger can answer—
SFX: KRRRSHHHHH!!! — The walls split open as black tendrils burst through the floor, wrapping around broken tiles.
Narrator:
The Glass Tower was never just a building…
It was a vessel.
Stranger (shouting): "It's waking up again—MOVE!"
SFX: BOOOOOOM!!! — The floor collapses beneath them.
Scene 3 — Descent
They plummet into darkness — glass shards spinning in slow motion.
SFX: WHHHHHHOOOOOSH!
Dante grabs Raen mid-fall, twisting to shield her from the debris.
Raen (through gritted teeth): "If we die, I'm haunting you, dorkface!"
Dante (smirking): "Wouldn't be the first time someone's obsessed with me."
Raen: "Asshole!"
SFX: CRASH!!! — They land hard on the floor below, rubble scattering.
They both groan — bruised, but alive.
The stranger lands beside them, armor sparking.
The room around them is unlike the lobby —
a subterranean chamber, walls lined with cables and strange markings glowing faint red.
At the center: a massive crystal heart suspended in fluid, pulsating slowly.
SFX: THUMP... THUMP... THUMP...
Dante (breathless): "This... this is the Tower's heart."
Stranger: "Not just the tower. It's the nexus —
the root of all mirror cores in the city."
Raen narrows her eyes.
Raen: "And what exactly does that mean for us?"
Stranger (grimly): "It means if that shard completes its link... Dante stops being human."
SFX: TUMP... TUMP... TUMP... — The shard in Dante's belt glows in response, syncing to the massive crystal above.
Dante's pupils shrink. His breath hitches.
He can feel it — the heartbeat inside him matching the pulse of the tower.
Narrator (low tone):
When man touches blade...
Fear learns his name.
SFX: THUMP… THUMP… THUMP…
The synchronized rhythm between Dante's heartbeat and the crystal core echoes through the underground chamber.
A faint light bleeds from his belt — the shard's glow pulsing faster.
Raen (panicked): "Dante—! It's reacting again!"
Stranger: "He's linking. If you don't sever it—"
SFX: BZZZZZT! — Static ripples across the chamber.
Dante clutches his head, dropping to one knee.
Dante (gritting teeth): "Nngh—It's… whispering again."
Raen: "Whispering?"
SFX: shhhhhh… — The faint hiss of voices fills his ears.
Scene 1 — Inside the Link
Visual: The screen fades white, then distorts. Dante's standing in a mirrored void — reflections of himself staring back.
Their eyes glow faint red, their mouths moving before he speaks.
Reflection-1 (mocking): "You keep pretending you're in control…"
Reflection-2: "…but every fear you've fought, every lie you've told—"
Reflection-3 (smiling): "—it all leads back here."
SFX: CRACK! — The mirrors fracture, black liquid seeping through the cracks.
Dante (furious): "You're not me."
Reflection-1 (whisper): "Then what are you becoming?"
SFX: BOOOOM! — The floor splits open beneath him.
He falls — tumbling through darkness — until he lands before a massive glass figure of himself, chained and pulsing faintly.
Each pulse matches the rhythm of the shard.
Dante (low): "…You're the shard."
Shard Entity (voice echoing):
"Not a shard. The mirror's heart. You reached inside what you feared most… and now it reaches back."
The entity steps forward, the chains clattering.
Its features flicker — half Dante, half shadow.
SFX: SHHHHHHHK! — A black tendril lashes out, grabbing his arm.
Shard Entity (softly): "Let me be you."
Dante (snarling): "Over my dead body."
SFX: BWOOM! — The void shakes violently as light bursts from Dante's chest, pushing the shadow back.
Scene 2 — Reality: Ada's Return
SFX: KRRRSHHHHH! — A column of energy erupts from the crystal core in the real world.
Raen and the Stranger shield their eyes.
Raen (shouting): "He's fighting it! But it's tearing him apart!"
The energy surges up through the ceiling — slicing through the upper floors of the Glass Tower.
SFX: BOOOOOOOM!!!
Cut to: Upper tower, dark corridor.
Footsteps echo softly — click… click… click…
A figure in a sleek black coat steps from the smoke. Her short dark hair sways as she adjusts her glove.
The faint reflection of crimson light flickers in her eyes.
SFX: FWSSSH! — Her communicator activates.
Ada (cool, calm): "This is Ada. The Heart's awake."
Voice (over comm): "And the subject?"
Ada: "Still resisting. But not for long."
She pauses, glancing down the ruined corridor.
The walls shimmer faintly — reflections forming faces, whispering her name.
SFX: WHHHHSSSSSHHH…
Ada (under breath): "Don't start this again…"
Her eyes flicker — for a moment, a brief reflection shows another Ada smirking back at her.
Reflection-Ada: "You should've told him the truth."
Ada (gritting teeth): "Not yet."
SFX: SHHHRK! — She fires her grapple and launches toward the lower levels.
Scene 3 — Crossing Threads
Visual: Split panels — half show Dante fighting the shard entity inside the mental void; the other half shows Ada descending through the collapsing tower.
Shard Entity (mocking): "Even she hides things from you, Dante. Do you really think Ada Wong came here for you?"
Dante (shouting): "SHUT UP!"
SFX: BOOOOOM! — He drives his fist into the entity, the shockwave shattering several mirror fragments.
Ada (panting as she lands): "Raen! Status!"
Raen (pointing to Dante's body): "He's… connected to it! If we cut the link now, it could kill him!"
Ada (coldly): "Or if we don't, it'll kill everyone else."
SFX: Zzzttt–KRRRSHHH! — Sparks erupt as she draws a glowing handgun, aiming at the containment shard.
Raen (furious): "You're not doing that!"
Ada (flat): "Then move."
SFX: CRACK! — The ground splits beneath them as the crystal heart's pulse goes berserk.
Scene 4 — Between Fear and Control
Inside the void, Dante's hands tremble — the shard entity merging halfway into his chest.
SFX: HSSSSSSHHHH! — The chains around it tighten.
Shard Entity:
"Stop fighting it. You could become more. You could become fear itself."
Dante (growling): "I already promised myself… I'd never become the thing I hate."
He channels everything — his guilt, pain, rage — and drives his hand into the mirror's surface.
SFX: KRAAAAAK!!! — The glass bursts outward, light flooding the void.
Dante (roaring): "I'M NOT YOUR REFLECTION!"
Scene 5 — The Aftermath
SFX: BOOOOOOOOOOM!!! — A blinding white light engulfs the chamber.
When the smoke clears —
Raen and Ada stand over Dante's body, faint steam rising from his skin.
The shard on his belt? Cracked. Inert.
Raen (quietly): "…He did it."
Ada (coldly): "For now."
She turns away, tapping her earpiece.
Ada: "Tower containment's broken. Begin retrieval."
Raen (snapping): "You used him as bait, didn't you?"
Ada (without looking back): "He volunteered. He just doesn't remember."
SFX: click… click… click… — Ada walks into the shadows.
Narrator:
Every fear has a mirror.
And sometimes… the reflection lies.
Upcoming
Next Chapter — The Woman Behind the Glass.