Elora's POV
We barely dodged the door that almost got botched.
Okay. That sounded smoother in my head. But in my defense, I was busy not dying.
Kael yanked me through a collapsing archway that slammed shut behind us with the enthusiasm of an executioner. Dust choked the air, thick with the smell of old magic and older regrets.
"Are all these Vaults this friendly?" I wheezed.
He didn't answer. Just glanced back, sword still drawn, jaw set like a curse had bitten it. I hated that it looked good on him.
We kept running,dodging sentient vines, whispering walls, and a statue that tried to baptize me in lava. I mean, seriously, what kind of Vault has a lava priest?
"This place is insane," I muttered.
"It's ancient," Kael replied. "Built to test heirs of blood."
"Couldn't they just use a quiz?"
His eyes flicked to me. "You wouldn't pass."
"Wow. Thank you. Deeply motivating."
We skidded into a round chamber lit by green flames. The air buzzed. Not magically literally. Something was buzzing.
Kael tensed. "This is the Trial of Echoes."
"Does everything here sound like an edgy band name?"
"Shh."
The buzzing grew louder. Then a chorus of voices rose around us,dozens, maybe hundreds. All whispering the same thing:
"She's not ready. She's not real. She's a fake. A fraud. A mistake."
I flinched.
Because those voices?
They sounded like me.
Every doubt I'd ever had was echoing in surround sound. Every cruel thing I'd told myself after the village burned. After I lost my parents. After I'd survived things no one should.
"You're nothing," one voice hissed.
"She's breaking," Kael said sharply. "Elora listen to me now."
I tried. But the echoes wrapped around my skull like cold fingers.
"You're a curse," they said. "A ticking bomb. You'll hurt him, too."
Kael grabbed my face. "Hey. Eyes on me."
That cut through.
His hands were rough, warm. Steady.
"None of that's real," he said. "It's pulling your fears. That's all."
"I—I don't think I can shut it out."
"You don't need to shut it out," he said. "You need to drown it out."
I blinked. "With what?"
His mouth twitched. "With something louder."
Which, apparently, meant yelling a battle cry and swinging his sword into the wall.
Because Kael is very subtle like that.
The echoes shrieked as the stone cracked. I don't know how it worked but something inside me sparked. I screamed too not in fear, but in fury.
"You don't own me!"
The air burst.
The chamber fell silent.
We stood there panting, and for once, Kael looked a little winded too.
"Trial of Echoes?" I said between breaths. "More like Trial of Emotional Baggage."
His lip twitched. Almost a smile.
Then—
CLANG.
A trapdoor dropped beneath Kael.
"KAEL!"
I dove after him without thinking. Because apparently, risking my life for sarcastic sword boys was now my full-time personality.
We hit the next floor hard.
Well, he hit it. I landed on him.
"Oof," he groaned. "You're welcome."
"Saved your life," I said, not moving.
"I was doing fine."
"You were falling through a floor."
"I was scouting ahead."
I rolled off him with a snort and then froze.
The room was full of mirrors.
Hundreds of them.
Each one showed… something.
In one, I saw myself laughing. In another, I was bleeding. In one, I was wearing a crown.
And in one….
I was dead.
"What is this?" I whispered.
Kael rose slowly, watching the mirrors like they might bite. "This is the Hall of Reflections."
"Oh, great. Another dramatic name."
"These Vaults are alive. They show truths, possibilities… and lies."
"So which one's real?"
"All of them," he said. "Or none."
I stared at the crown-wearing version of me.
She looked regal. Powerful. Alone.
"Would you follow her?" I asked Kael.
He was quiet for too long.
"That depends," he said finally. "Is she still you?"
That answer rattled me more than the reflections.
Because I didn't know.
Before I could respond, the mirrors began to flicker.
Then they all turned black.
Except one.
A tall mirror at the center of the room now showed a scene I knew too well:
My childhood home.
My mother's voice. My father's laughter.
Then the flames.
I stepped toward it like a sleepwalker.
"Don't," Kael warned.
"I need to see."
"It's not real, Elora."
"I know," I said softly. "But I still need to."
I watched the house burn. I saw myself screaming. I saw them vanish.
And then—
I saw someone standing in the flames.
Not my parents.
Me.
But… older. Stronger.
With eyes that glowed like starlight.
She looked straight at me through the mirror.
And whispered:
"Run."
The mirror exploded.
I staggered back, heart pounding.
Kael grabbed me. "What did you see?"
"Me," I said. "But not me. I think…"
"You think it was a warning?"
I nodded.
And then the walls began to shake.
Again.
"Not again," I muttered.
But this time, it wasn't just shaking.
The floor beneath the mirror peeled open like a maw.
And something crawled out.
It was tall, skeletal, with limbs that bent wrong and a mouth that opened sideways. Its eyes glowed the same starlight white.
It looked like a twisted version of me.
Kael stepped in front of me, sword raised.
But the creature didn't lunge.
It spoke.
"Elora of Grimeva," it rasped. "You have awakened the Vault. Now face your reflection… or be devoured by it."
I swallowed hard.
"Is this normal Vault stuff?"
Kael didn't answer.
Because the creature was moving.
And it looked hungry.