Chapter 20
Some doors don't open with keys.
They open with doubt.
And the Mirror Gate stood as the Pale Crest's cruelest invention—where reflections lied, memories shifted, and identity shattered like glass beneath frost.
🪞 The Gate That Sees
The gate was neither steel nor magic. It was… awareness.
It stood at the edge of the Silent March, glimmering like a frozen waterfall, shimmering with faces of those who dared approach it—and died never knowing if they were still themselves.
Lucien stood at Seraphina's side.
"Looks like every nightmare I've ever buried."
Rynn whispered, "It's showing us our worst version."
The Archivist's scroll had warned them:
"To pass the Mirror Gate, you must defeat not your enemy… but the version of you that surrendered to them."
One by one, they stepped through.
🧊 Lucien vs. Lucien
Lucien's breath fogged as he stood across from a perfect reflection—same scars, same eyes, same cocky smirk.
But the other Lucien wore a crown.
And blood on his gloves.
"I stopped fighting for others," he said casually. "Took the throne myself. Why bleed for a queen who might forget your name?"
Lucien drew his blade. "Because she never did."
The fight was fast. Brutal. Not won with swordplay—but with one phrase whispered into his reflection's ear.
"You never forgave yourself. I did."
The crown shattered.
🔥 Rynn vs. the Flame
Rynn stood before a scorched version of himself—eyeless, hollow, with blackened arms.
"I let them in," it hissed. "Burned the candles. Watched them forget. It was easier."
Rynn knelt.
"I nearly did too."
The reflection lunged—
—and was consumed by a brilliant surge of flame.
Rynn's hands glowed, unscarred.
"I remember now. Fire is memory."
💔 Seraphina vs. Silence
She passed through last.
The others emerged beyond the veil, shaken but whole.
But Seraphina… did not return immediately.
Within the gate, she stood in a moonlit throne room.
Alone.
Until she wasn't.
A version of herself appeared—draped in silver robes, face serene, eyes blank.
"I let the world forget me," the mirror-Seraphina said. "And in forgetting, they stopped suffering."
The real Seraphina clenched her fists.
"You abandoned them."
"No," her reflection said. "I freed them."
Then came the weapon. Not a blade. Not a curse.
But a child.
A little girl appeared beside the false Seraphina. Pale hair. Familiar eyes.
"This is who you would've saved, had you obeyed the Pale Crest."
Seraphina stepped back.
Tears welled. "That child died during the siege of Norwyn."
"She never had to. Not in this version."
Her voice trembled. "This isn't mercy. It's erasure."
The false Seraphina smiled.
And offered a hand.
"Join me. Rewrite it. No more pain. No more burden."
She almost did.
Almost.
But she looked into the girl's eyes—and realized they were empty.
"No fear. No joy. No fire."
She turned, closing her eyes—and whispered a name.
"Lucien."
The Mirror Gate shattered behind her.
🪓 One Didn't Return
But when the light faded—one was missing.
Cedric.
Only his blade made it through, clattering at Seraphina's feet.
For a moment, silence.
Then—
His voice. Behind them.
"I'm here."
But Rynn's flame flickered.
Lucien's hand went to his hilt.
"Where's your scar?" he asked.
Cedric paused. Smiled.
And answered too quickly.
"Right shoulder."
The real Cedric's scar was on his left.
Seraphina didn't speak.
She simply nodded—and Rynn's fire engulfed the impostor.
It screamed in a thousand voices before vanishing.
Lucien whispered, "That… wasn't a person."
"No," Seraphina said. "That was the Hollow Throne. Testing the waters."
🩸 The True Path Revealed
With the gate shattered, the landscape beyond shifted.
A vast obsidian staircase rose from the frozen earth, coiled in shadows, spiraling into the heart of a crimson storm above.
The Hollow Throne.
It pulsed at the center like a heart.
Seraphina turned to her remaining allies—Lucien, Rynn, Kael, three others.
She didn't need to speak.
They nodded.
They climbed.
🕳️ The Cliffhanger
At the 77th step, a voice echoed—not around them, but inside them.
"One of you is already mine."
Rynn gripped his chest.
Lucien blinked rapidly.
Kael shook his head.
"Lies," Seraphina said.
But the voice laughed.
"Not lies. Foreshadowing."
And one footstep—one echo—did not match the others.
Someone among them… was not what they seemed.
End of Chapter 20