The plain twisted into a labyrinth, each step shifting into new shapes of terror. Walls of bone rose from the ground, and rivers of black fire cut across their path. The air was thick, metallic, and alive with whispers that clawed at their thoughts.
Kaelen swung his phaseblade in defiance, carving a glowing path through the dark. Every strike left afterimages hanging like echoes of light, fleeting beacons in the nightmare.
But the shades pressed harder now. They weren't mindless; they began to fight like Kaelen himself—mirroring his stance, his movements, even his scars. One shade lifted its blade in a perfect copy of his, smirking with his face.
Lyra's voice cracked through the chaos. "They're pulling from us. Our fears, our anger… it's not just its will—it's us reflected back."
Kaelen locked blades with his double. The impact was deafening, sparks scattering like shattered stars. He snarled, driving his forehead against the doppelgänger's. "Then let's remind them—we're not afraid of ourselves."
With a savage push, he broke the reflection apart, the double shattering into a thousand screaming shards of shadow.
Lyra staggered as her own shade took form before her—a pale version of herself, hollow-eyed, its voice trembling with venom. "You're nothing but a vessel. Without the Seed, you're hollow. Worthless."
Her chest clenched, but she forced herself to stand taller. "Maybe I am afraid. Maybe I am weak. But I am me, and that's enough."
She unleashed a wave of radiant force, her true self blazing brighter than the false. The shade dissolved, its scream fading into silence.
The labyrinth buckled under their defiance. Black fire hissed into mist. Bone walls cracked and fell into endless void. Beyond the ruin, the black sun loomed closer, larger, its pulse now deafening.
Kaelen grabbed Lyra's arm and steadied her. "No more mirrors. No more games. Just us and it."
But as they advanced, a colossal shadow rose from the ground, dwarfing even the shades before it. A knight of void, plated in fractured stars, its blade the length of a battleship.
The Echo-Lord's voice thundered through it:
"Last light of mortals… if you reach for my heart, you must first be broken."
Kaelen gritted his teeth, planting his blade in defiance. Lyra stood beside him, her light burning hotter than ever. Together, they faced the towering nightmare, knowing this was the last trial before the core itself.