The glowing path carried Kaelis and Selara deeper into the Realm of Mirrors. Each step echoed faintly, as though the ground beneath them were hollow, a fragile bridge between worlds. The air grew colder, heavy with a pressure that made Kaelis's chest tighten.
Selara slowed, her eyes narrowing. "Do you feel that?"
Kaelis nodded. "The whisper… it's different this time. Stronger. Like it's coming from something alive."
They entered a wide chamber made entirely of glass, its walls reflecting infinite versions of themselves. At the center stood a figure cloaked in black, motionless, as though carved from shadow.
Selara's breath hitched. "It's him."
The figure stirred, eyes blazing crimson. His voice resonated through the chamber, low and commanding. "Kaelis Veyra. Selara Nyx. The prophecy binds you, but you will not escape me."
Kaelis instinctively stepped in front of Selara. "Who are you?"
The figure lowered his hood, revealing sharp features twisted by scars and darkness. "I am Maelor, the broken heir of Elyndra—the one your people abandoned to the shadows." His gaze flickered to Selara, burning with recognition. "And you… you carry the curse of my bloodline."
Selara stiffened. "That's impossible."
"Is it?" Maelor's lips curled into a cruel smile. "The curse you fear so much was born from me. From what I became. You are my legacy, Selara."
The words hit her like a blade. She staggered back, her illusions faltering, the light in her hands flickering. "No… that can't be true."
Kaelis caught her before she fell. "Don't listen to him. He's twisting the truth."
Maelor spread his arms, the chamber trembling with his power. "Twist? No, boy. I offer you both clarity. The prophecy says your bond will change the fate of worlds. But fate does not demand salvation—it may just as easily demand destruction."
Shadows surged from his body, filling the chamber like a storm. The mirrors cracked, showing not reflections, but visions—cities burning, skies collapsing, Selara herself consumed by darkness while Kaelis stood helpless.
Kaelis gritted his teeth, fighting against the fear pressing into his chest. "No. That's not our fate. We choose our own path."
Maelor's laughter shook the chamber. "We shall see."
With a wave of his hand, the shadows coalesced into monstrous forms, their hollow eyes fixed on Kaelis and Selara. The trial was over. This was war.
Kaelis drew Selara close, whispering fiercely, "We fight, together."
Selara's fear hardened into resolve. "Together."
And with that, light and shadow clashed in a storm that shattered the chamber into fragments of a thousand broken realities.