Ethan's mind reeled.
Brother?
He turned to Noel, eyes demanding the truth, but Noel's expression was locked in a mask of shame and silent fury.
Zevian stepped forward, the black river parting beneath his feet like water afraid to touch him.
"Come now," he said softly. "Surely you've felt it, Ethan. The way Noel hides things from you. The way he never told you the real reason he was trapped."
Ethan's voice was barely a whisper. "What are you talking about?"
Zevian smiled, a sadistic tilt to his lips. "I cursed him, yes. But what I cursed was already broken. You see—he's Mirrorblood."
Noel flinched.
"What's Mirrorblood?" Ethan asked, his heart pounding harder with each word.
Zevian answered before Noel could.
"It means he was born in Reverie… but connected to your world by blood. By fate. It means he can walk between both… and eventually, so can you."
Noel finally spoke, voice tight. "Don't listen to him."
"But he should," Zevian said, circling them like a predator. "Because if Ethan stays too long here, his soul will forget how to return. The longer he stays, the more of this world he becomes. And then—"
"Stop!" Noel shouted, stepping between Zevian and Ethan. "You lost your right to speak of fate when you betrayed us!"
Ethan reached for Noel's arm. "Is it true? Am I… changing?"
Noel turned, guilt carved into every line of his face. "You've already changed. That's why I didn't want you to follow. The mirror only allows those with threads between worlds. You weren't supposed to have any. But you do."
Zevian's eyes gleamed. "Because you tethered him. You gave him your name in the mirror, remember? You wrote it down. That was all it needed."
Ethan's knees nearly gave out.
That small, innocent moment… writing Noel's name with his finger on the mirror. That was the thread.
"I didn't know," he whispered.
Noel's hands gripped his shoulders. "I'm sorry."
Zevian raised his arms.
The river boiled.
From its depths, creatures began to rise—mirror hounds, their bodies cracked and gleaming, eyes glowing white with emptiness.
"You should've stayed in your cage, brother," Zevian said. "Now you'll lose him again. And this time… it's permanent."
Noel stepped in front of Ethan. "Run."
"No," Ethan said, stepping forward beside him. "Not without you."
A flash of light.
Noel's eyes glowed silver as his hands moved in the air, drawing ancient runes with swift, beautiful precision.
The hounds snarled, but the ground cracked with a pulse of magic.
"I'm not leaving you," Ethan said again.
Noel turned to him—and finally smiled. A real, breaking, grateful smile.
"Then we fight. Together."
And as the creatures lunged from the river, time split open like a shattered mirror—two souls standing side by side, ready to burn the darkness that dared to tear them apart.