"The streets are alive… but not in the way you know."
Prince stepped out of Nasir's home for the first time.The city of Irsia spread before him like a dream—or a half-forgotten nightmare.
Lanterns flickered in blue and violet hues.Cobblestone streets curved unnaturally, creating blind corners that shouldn't exist.Buildings leaned at impossible angles.Shadows moved in patterns that no light source could produce.
And yet… everyone in the city moved as if it were normal.A man crossing the street left a shadow twice as long as his body.A cat slinked along a wall, but when it disappeared around a corner, a second reflection lingered behind, blinking at Prince.
He shivered.
"This city… it's alive."
It felt like a thought—but not his.Not entirely.
First Encounters
Prince walked cautiously, hands brushing along the walls, feeling the faint vibration of reality bending.
The streets were almost empty.
A woman passed him, her eyes bright with unnatural clarity.Her face seemed slightly distorted, like a photograph printed too many times.
She whispered his name.
"Nasir…"
Prince froze.
"Who are you?" he asked.
But she was already gone.Only the faint scent of incense lingered, and a single footprint in the air, fading like smoke.
He blinked.The street appeared normal again.
"Not real… but not fake either," he thought.He realized: the Veil was thinner here.And the city itself was testing him.
The Alley of Mirrors
A narrow alley caught his attention.Every surface reflected him—not just his image, but slightly altered versions.
Some mirrors showed Nasir's face smiling when Prince was frowning.Some showed shadows moving independently of him.Some showed thrones, fog, and vast empty halls behind his reflection.
Prince stepped closer.The reflections rippled and whispered all at once:
"Choose.Observe.Control.Consume."
He stumbled back, chest heaving.
A faint echo in his mind responded:"Avatars… first rules…"
The Shadow Following
Prince sensed something behind him.A presence.Not Nasir.Not human.
He turned.
Nothing.
But when he looked again, a shadow clung to his back.
Not like his own.It moved independently.Watching. Waiting.
He remembered Nasir's warning from the first night:"The world will adjust… or break."
And suddenly, the shadow spoke—not in words, but in thought, a cold resonance inside his skull:
"You have arrived.Now begin."
Prince's stomach churned.He realized the Veil was marking him.Not just observing—it was engaging him.
A Hint of Hidden Power
He raised his hands experimentally.A subtle distortion appeared in the air.The shadow pulsed in response.
"Interesting," it seemed to say."You already touch the Veil without knowing.You may survive longer than expected."
Prince blinked.Could he control this?Did he even want to?
A faint memory surged: the throne he had glimpsed.The whisper: "Every reflection is a debt unpaid…"And Nasir's words: "One identity. Many faces. Many fates."
Something deep inside him stirred.A thrill.A warning.A hunger.
The Market of Forgotten Things
He wandered further into the city.Lanterns gave way to a marketplace.Vendors sold things that shouldn't exist:
Books that whispered their own content
Masks that cried when worn
Jars of fog, trapped and humming with life
Clocks with hands spinning backward
Every item seemed aware.Every shadow seemed to flicker toward him.
A vendor—a skeletal figure with hollow eyes—leaned across a stall.
"New arrival?" it rasped."Do you seek to survive… or to ascend?"
Prince froze.Before he could answer, the figure vanished.Only a jar of black smoke remained.
He felt a tug in his mind, a connection:"Consume. Learn. Control. Become."
The City is the First Trial
Prince understood something terrifying:
This city, this world, this Veil—they were alive.The world would test him, shape him, punish him, and reward him according to rules he did not yet understand.
And the shadow trailing him—the first hint of the Mirror Nexus's awareness—was proof.
He could already feel the Avatars forming, subtle threads connecting him to the fragments of himself that would follow.
A cold thrill ran down his spine.
"So this is the first step," he whispered."The city is alive. The Veil is alive. And I… am alive within it."
The lanterns flickered.Shadows bent.And the city exhaled, waiting for him to make his next move.
End of Chapter 5