The hourglass turned.
Blue sand fell like starlight through the air. As the final grain touched the bottom, the lights in the Archive shifted from a soft warmth to an icy violet. The change woke all four children at once — as if their bodies were tethered to the magic.
Aryan sat up, heart pounding.
Kio was no longer on the floor.
He stood near one of the walls, staring into it. The wall wasn't stone anymore — it was smooth, like a dark mirror. Aryan could see his reflection faintly in the background. But Kio's eyes weren't focused on his own face.
He was seeing something else.
"Kio?" Aryan asked.
No answer.
The Archivist appeared near the staircase that now led nowhere. He spoke without preamble.
"The second trial begins now. This one is not about the past. It is about perception. What you believe — what you hide. What you fear others will see. The Archive will show you… the truth beneath your skin."
The wall split open silently.
A new corridor formed — its floor made of cracked glass, its ceiling low, its walls entirely reflective. On each surface, fragmented versions of themselves stared back: distorted, older, younger, monstrous.
"The Mirror Trial," said the Archivist. "You will each walk it alone. But what you see… may never leave you."
✦
Zair went first.
He didn't argue. He simply nodded, ran a hand through his messy hair, and stepped through the reflective archway.
The moment he crossed the threshold, the air around him shimmered and sealed.
Aryan tried to watch, but the reflections shifted violently — all light inside the mirror corridor warped and scattered like oil over water.
"He's in," Aryan muttered.
Seconds turned into minutes.
Then the corridor pulsed.
Zair stumbled out.
He was shaking — but not from fear.
From rage.
His eyes were wild. His breathing rapid.
Aryan stood, reaching for him. "Zair, what happened?"
Zair grabbed Aryan by the collar, snarling. "I killed myself. That's what happened."
Aryan froze.
Zair let go, panting. "It showed me… a version of me. A cruel one. A bully. A leader of the Watch. The ones who executed families for stealing water."
Aryan's heart dropped. "And?"
"I tried to stop him. Me. I begged him not to push the button. He laughed and told me, 'Weakness is mercy.' I couldn't stand it. I fought him."
"And?" Nara asked quietly.
Zair's voice cracked. "I snapped his neck."
No one spoke for several seconds.
Then Nara stepped forward. "I'll go next."
She walked into the mirror corridor with her recorder in hand — but this time she did not hold it like a shield. She held it like a sword.
The shimmer swallowed her.
✦
When Nara returned, she was crying — but not from pain.
From joy.
She clutched the recorder to her chest and whispered something no one else heard.
The Archivist tilted his head. "What did you see?"
She didn't answer. Not with words.
She hit play.
A voice filled the Archive — not hers, not her mother's.
A man.
Soft, nervous, but real.
"If you ever find this… I'm sorry. I never meant to disappear. I joined the resistance because I thought it would protect you. If I survive, I'll find you. If not… know I loved you. Always."
Nara sobbed and fell to her knees. "My father."
Aryan put a hand on her shoulder. She didn't shake it off.
Kio stepped forward without waiting.
The corridor shimmered once more and pulled him in.
✦
Inside the mirror, Kio faced himself — but not his body.
His mind.
The reflections didn't mimic him. They argued. They mocked. They screamed his doubts aloud.
"You'll break again."
"You're the weakest of them."
"You saw the future. You know they die."
"You'll fail them."
He stumbled through endless versions of himself — in chains, in flames, on his knees before the Hollow Star. He saw visions of Nara burning, Zair turning into a tyrant, Aryan alone in the void. All of it whispered through the mirrors.
Then… one mirror refused to reflect him.
Instead, it showed only a symbol — a circle with a jagged spiral through it.
He touched it.
The mirror shattered silently.
He emerged from the corridor pale and blinking. His first words were:
"I know who Kael Vire was."
✦
Now only Aryan remained.
He stood before the mirror archway, heart thundering in his chest. He thought of Rayyan. His mother. His city.
He thought of the Echoes — and of what they might show him.
Then he stepped inside.
The reflections twisted instantly — showing versions of himself that never escaped the city. Dying in the rubble. Starving in the slums. A mirror showed him alone in a cave, drawing spirals on the walls, laughing like a madman.
But one mirror was not warped.
One mirror showed a boy who never forgot.
Aryan walked toward it. In the mirror, the boy looked older — maybe sixteen. Wiser. His eyes burned with light.
Behind him stood the Archivist.
"You're me," Aryan whispered.
"No," the reflection said calmly. "I'm who you become… if you make it to the end."
"Do we?"
The reflection nodded.
"But you have to choose who you lose."
Aryan flinched.
"What do you mean?"
The mirror cracked. The reflection faded.
He was flung out of the corridor.
✦
Back in the Archive's center, all four kids stood again.
The Archivist did not speak.
Instead, the hourglass reversed. Blue sand rising instead of falling.
Above it, a strange projection formed — the shape of a man in a cloak with a starburst scar across his chest.
Kio whispered: "Kael Vire."
The Archivist finally spoke.
"You passed the Mirror Trial. You've seen your echoes. Now you know: the Archive remembers everything. Even what hasn't happened yet. And the one who failed before you… is beginning to stir."
Zair turned toward him. "He's still alive?"
"In a way," the Archivist said. "He walks the edges of this world, seeking the code that will let him rewrite his ending. And he knows… four new players have entered the game."
The lights darkened.
And somewhere far away, a voice echoed like thunder across the fabric of the Archive:
"I remember you."