The corridor narrowed as Rafe walked, the living stone shifting quietly behind him, sealing the path he had already crossed.
No way back.Only forward.
His breathing steadied after the stabilization pulse — but a soreness lingered deep in his core, the kind that made every heartbeat feel heavier.
The ruin whispered in the distance:
"Second chamber preparing."
Rafe muttered, "Great. Can't wait."
The hallway opened.
A wide circular room awaited him — silent, empty, except for a single raised platform in the center. Runes spiraled outward from it, glowing faint blue.
But what drew his eye wasn't the platform.
It was the mirror.
A massive vertical sheet of polished obsidian stood behind the platform — tall enough to touch the ceiling and wide enough to reflect the entire chamber.
Rafe approached slowly.
His reflection looked back at him:
Sweaty.Breathing hard.Bruises forming across his ribs.Shadow and light flickering faintly under his skin.
He hated how fragile he looked.
The ruin's voice filled the chamber:
"Begin second trial."
The mirror rippled.
Rafe froze.
"…No. No, no, I know this kind of thing. This is where something crawls out or—"
A hand pressed against the inside of the mirror.
Rafe stumbled back.
The reflection stepped forward — but it wasn't him.
Not exactly.
It had his face.His body.His eyes.
But the eyes glowed faintly — one white, one black — and its expression was empty.Emotionless.As if carved from stone.
Rafe whispered, "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me…"
The ruin continued:
"Projection calibrated.""Balance assessment commencing."
The reflection stepped out of the mirror.
Its feet touched stone silently.
Its aura radiated a perfect equilibrium:
Light mana flowed from its left side.Shadow mana from its right.Seamless.Effortless.Complete.
Rafe felt a cold pit form in his stomach.
"…So this is what I'm supposed to become?"
"This is possibility," the ruin answered."And comparison."
The reflection tilted its head.
Then moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
Rafe barely dodged as a fist cut through the air beside his cheek. The force alone cracked the stone wall behind him.
"HEY—! Give me a second—!"
The reflection didn't give him a second.
It charged.
Rafe threw himself sideways, rolling across the floor. He scrambled to his feet, heart hammering.
It's faster. Stronger. More stable.It had none of his flaws — none of his hesitation.
Rafe raised his fists anyway.
"Okay… okay… you want a fight? Fine."
The reflection appeared in front of him in a blink.
Rafe blocked—
A mistake.
The impact sent him sliding across the chamber, arm numb from shoulder to wrist.
He gasped.
"That… that thing hits harder than Selene!"
The ruin corrected him:
"It hits as you would if fully aligned."
"…Wonderful."
The reflection approached again, slow this time. Observing him. Studying him. Testing him.
Rafe exhaled, sweat dripping down his chin.
"I get it," he muttered. "You're perfect. I'm not."
He braced himself.
"But perfection doesn't matter if it doesn't have a will."
The reflection's head twitched slightly — like it didn't understand the concept.
Rafe stepped forward this time.
Left fist glowing faint white.Right fist flickering with shadow.
Not stable.Not perfect.
But his.
He swung.
The reflection caught his punch effortlessly.
Rafe grinned through the pain.
"That's fine. I wasn't trying to hit you."
Shadow mana blasted from Rafe's right foot as he kicked the ground, spinning his body. His heel slammed into the reflection's side — enough to knock it off-balance for a second.
He landed, panting.
"Guess you don't have instinct."
The reflection turned its head slowly, eyes empty.
Rafe tightened his stance.
"You're just a possibility. I'm the real thing."
He charged.
Light flared from his left.
Shadow surged from his right.
The energies clashed again — unstable, painful — but he forced them together just long enough to throw a combined strike.
The reflection blocked—
But stumbled.
A tiny step.
Barely a movement.
But a weakness.
Rafe didn't hesitate.
He let both forces surge wildly inside him — ignoring the ruin's warnings, ignoring the pain — and threw a final punch.
A raw, imperfect, messy punch.
The reflection shattered.
Into smoke.Into fragments.Into light and shadow dissolving back into the mirror.
Rafe fell to his knees, gasping.
Then the ruin spoke:
"Assessment complete.""Perfection rejected.""Instinct accepted."
The mirror rippled once more.
A doorway formed in the surface.
Rafe stood, shaking, rubbing the blood off his lip.
"So the lesson was…?"
The ruin answered:
"You are not meant to be perfect.""Only whole."
Rafe blinked.
"…I'll take it."
He stepped through the newly formed doorway.
The chamber closed behind him.
Ahead—
A deeper darkness waited.
Breathing.
Watching.
Waiting for the third trial.