### **1**
Nimora's night bore no stars, no moon—only gray shadows breathing to a silent rhythm. Adam sat at the edge of a rock, staring into a stagnant pool… yet his face didn't stare back.
*"Why can't I see myself?"* he rasped.
Laboubo, perched on his shoulder, replied:
*"Because this place doesn't reflect who you *are*… but who you *were*."*
Silence.
The words were an arrow to his ribs.
Zera stood a few paces away, her back turned, white hair swaying in a wind only she could feel. Adam approached her:
*"Have you ever felt like you're living inside a colossal lie… but have to keep playing your part?"*
She turned slowly. Her eyes held something new—fear? Regret? *Knowledge?*
*"I don't live a lie, Adam,"* she said. *"I *built* one."*
Time fractured.
*"What do you mean?"*
She stepped closer until her breath grazed his skin:
*"When I was a child… I was part of a secret project. We were trained to resist the Darkness. But we weren't protecting the world. We were *tools*… to keep it *sealed*."*
*"By whose order?"*
*"Your grandmother's. And *her* world."*
Adam's heart stuttered.
Each word was a chisel striking the fragile statue of his grandmother's memory.
---
### **2**
Laboubo's shriek shattered the moment:
*"Adam! The water—it's moving!"*
They rushed to the pool. An image formed on its surface—not a reflection, but a *scene*:
**A younger Adam, just a child, standing beside his grandmother in a lab brimming with violet-lit tubes.**
Adam's whisper was a noose around his own throat:
*"This… is impossible. I wasn't born yet—"*
Zera's pupils dilated:
*"Adam… are you *sure* you know who you are?"*
Laboubo screamed: *"GET BACK!"*
A surge of energy erupted from the pool. A blackened, distorted hand shot out, grabbed the image of the boy, and dragged it underwater before the surface sealed shut.
---
### **3**
Later, in a dark cave sheltering them from Nimora's howling winds, Adam spoke:
*"I need the full truth. Who was my grandmother? *What am I?*"*
Laboubo's voice was feather-light:
*"Some truths aren't told… they're *fought*."*
Zera added:
*"The only place you'll find answers is the *Tower of Reflection*. But it's not just a tower. It shows reality *unfiltered*. *Merciless*."*
Adam's resolve was a blade unsheathed:
*"Then I'll go. Even if it costs what's left of me."*
---
### **🕯️ Author's Note:**
> *"What we see in ourselves is often just a shadow of what we truly are.
> Do not fear the mirror that burns—only the lies that don't."*
---
### **Key Revelations & Foreshadowing:**
1. **Zera's Confession**: Her role as a "lie-builder" recontextualizes her loyalty—*was she sent to monitor Adam?*
2. **The Pool Vision**: The child Adam in the lab hints at **cloning, time manipulation, or alternate dimensions**.
3. **The Black Hand**: Suggests a *third force* is erasing evidence of Adam's origin.
4. **Tower of Reflection**: A Chekhov's gun for Part 41—will it reveal Adam as *part of the Original Mirror*?