Kai's shadow moved.
Not like a normal shadow— not following the tilt of light or the angle of his body— but separating.
It peeled off the floor like wet ink lifting from paper.
Kai's breath hitched. His eyes went wide—human fear, raw and immediate.
"Lina—" he whispered.
And the mirror-door pulled.
A silent force yanked his shadow toward the open glass, the darkness stretching in long, twisting ribbons like a person being dragged by the ankles.
Lina grabbed Kai's arm with both hands.
"No. No—NO!"
Kai's fingers tightened around hers, but his grip didn't stop the shadow from sliding away.
It wasn't taking his body.
It was taking the part of him that made him… him.
Seren stumbled forward, eyes glowing violently with Soul Echoes.
"That door isn't a mirror— it's a passage. It's a Veilbound gate."
Reyon, pale as death, pointed shakily at the black pull.
"Okay— so we're doing shadow kidnapping now— PERFECT—!"
The mirror whispered again, amused and intimate:
"He fits."
Lina's flame flared hot in her palms.
"Who are you?" she snarled at the glass. "Show yourself."
The glass didn't reflect her.
It reflected Kai—but wrong.
Kai standing alone in darkness, surrounded by runes shaped like chains.
And behind him, a crowd of silhouettes wearing masks.
Veilbound.
Kai swayed as another tug ripped at his shadow.
His Oathbreaker mark pulsed like it was being called.
Lina felt it in her chest—her Ninth Tear responding, trembling in recognition.
"Kai—stay with me," she begged. "Stay here—don't let it take you—"
Kai swallowed hard, voice rough. "I'm trying."
His shadow stretched again.
A piece of it—thin like a ribbon—slipped into the mirror.
Kai gasped like he'd been punched.
Seren made a strangled sound. "That— that was a soul-thread."
Reyon snapped his fingers, frantic. "Can we… reattach it? Tape it back? Glue??"
Seren shook her head violently. "This is deeper than magic. The Mirror Door is taking what resonates with the Veilbound ritual."
Kai's jaw clenched, pain turning his voice sharp. "They want my Shadowsteel."
The mirror hummed, pleased.
"We want your vow."
Lina froze.
"Your vow?" she whispered.
Kai's eyes flicked to her—fear and apology colliding in one look.
"My seal… it's not just a curse," he rasped. "It's a key."
The words hit Lina like ice water.
Aetherion Academy wasn't a sanctuary.
It was a cage.
And Kai's curse was part of the lock.
Seren's eyes went wide as her Soul Echoes screamed warnings.
"The entity beneath the academy… it's not the only thing trapped."
Reyon stared at her. "Seren, I swear if you say 'there's something WORSE'—"
Seren's voice shook. "There's something hungrier."
The Mirror Library shuddered.
More mirrors began to whisper—soft, overlapping voices, like dozens of mouths speaking behind thin glass.
"Anchor him.""Pull him in.""Let him slip."
Lina's heart pounded so hard it hurt.
She looked at Kai—at his shaking hands, at the gold threaded through his Shadowsteel, at the way his shadow was being stolen inch by inch.
"I touched you," Lina whispered, terrified. "I anchored you. Why is it still working?"
Kai's mouth tightened. "Because you anchored me… but the gate is pulling what's tied to my oath."
The mirror's voice softened, cruelly tender:
"Oathbreaker… come home."
Kai's whole body went rigid.
Lina turned sharply to Seren.
"Whose voice is that?" she demanded.
Seren stared at the mirror-door, eyes wet and glowing.
"I… I know it," she whispered. "I've heard it in the walls."
Reyon swallowed. "That's not comforting."
Seren's voice dropped to a trembling hush.
"It's the Head Councilor."
Silence slammed down.
Lina's blood ran cold.
Kai's expression shattered—rage, betrayal, and old pain surfacing like something buried finally clawing free.
"The council," he rasped. "They built this door."
The mirror rippled like it was smiling.
"We built many doors."
Kai's shadow yanked again—harder.
Kai staggered. Lina held him up, her flame flaring instinctively.
And the Mirror Library responded to her fear.
The cracks widened.
Something moved inside the other mirrors—shapes pressing from within, hungry for the moment the glass would give.
Seren whispered, panicked, "If more doors open, Nightfall constructs will form—this room is a fear engine."
Reyon blurted, "I AM A WALKING FEAR ENGINE, SEREN, DON'T SAY THAT LIKE IT'S NEW!"
Kai gritted his teeth, fighting the pull. "Lina… if my shadow goes fully through—"
"Don't," Lina choked. "Don't finish that sentence."
He did anyway, voice breaking.
"—I won't be able to come back on my own."
Lina's hands shook.
The Ninth Tear burned at her chest like a warning brand.
She remembered the mimic's words:
The next time you touch him… you won't get him back.
And now she understood the twist:
It wasn't the touch that would lose him.
It was the bond.
Because the bond made him valuable.
The Veilbound weren't trying to kill Kai.
They were trying to take the part of him that could open the cage.
Reyon suddenly stepped forward, jaw tight, eyes hard—rarely serious.
"Okay. I hate this plan already. But my illusions are real in here, right?"
Seren's eyes widened. "Reyon—what are you thinking?"
Reyon pointed at the mirror-door. "I'm thinking I'm going to make a chain that believes it cannot break."
Kai snapped, "Reyon, don't—if the mirror rewrites you—"
"Then I'll rewrite it first," Reyon said, voice shaking but determined. "I'm tired of being the guy who cracks jokes while you two almost die every chapter."
Lina blinked through tears. "Reyon…"
He winked—barely. "Don't make it weird."
Then Reyon slammed his hands together.
An illusion formed—silver-white links, thick as rope, glowing with runes.
But this time, it didn't flicker.
It clanged.
Real metal.
The chain whipped forward and wrapped around Kai's waist, anchoring him to the stone floor with a violent snap.
Kai gasped as the pull on his shadow slowed—just slightly.
Reyon grunted, sweat beading on his brow. "Okay—yep—this is real—this is REAL—why is it REAL—"
Seren grabbed his shoulder. "Reyon, stop! The mirror will feed on your belief—"
Reyon's teeth clenched. "Then I believe harder."
Kai looked at Lina, breath trembling. "Lina… don't use your flame again. Your memory—"
"I don't care," she whispered.
Kai's eyes widened. "You will."
"Not if I choose what I lose," Lina said softly, stepping closer.
Her flame rose—gold, fierce, steady.
Kai shook his head, desperate. "Lina, please—"
Lina cupped his face again—both hands this time—locking her gaze onto his like an oath of her own.
"Kai Rhen," she whispered, "stay with me."
Her flame surged—not as a weapon, but as a tether.
She felt it hook into the braided resonance between them—felt the Anchor inside Kai respond, gold threads tightening like stitches.
For a heartbeat, she felt his shadow stop slipping.
Kai exhaled shakily. "Lina…"
Then the Mirror Door pulled back—angrier now.
The chain rattled.
Reyon screamed, "I'M LOSING IT—!"
Kai's shadow stretched again.
Lina's flame flickered—
And with it, a piece of her mind went blank.
Just a blink.
A name on the edge of her thoughts.
A detail she needed—
gone.
Lina gasped, horror hitting her.
"No—no—what did I forget—?"
Kai grabbed her wrists, panicked. "Lina. Lina, look at me. Say your name."
She trembled. "Lina Veris."
"Again."
"Lina Veris."
"Good." His voice cracked. "Now—say you won't follow me into that mirror."
Her breath hitched.
Because her eyes were already on the glass.
On the dark pull.
On the part of Kai being stolen.
Lina whispered, shaking:
"I can't promise that."
Kai's eyes softened—devastated.
"Lina…"
The Mirror Door whispered—delighted:
"Yes. Come, Little Flame. Follow your shadow."
And Kai's shadow slipped halfway into the mirror—enough that the far glass now showed movement on the other side.
A hallway of runes.
A circle of masks.
And someone stepping forward to greet him.
Someone with a familiar posture.
A familiar smile.
A voice Lina trusted.
"Kai," the figure said warmly from inside the mirror, "we've been waiting."
Lina's stomach dropped.
Because the face in the glass—
was Jax Enlor.
To be Continued© Kishtika., 2025
All rights reserved.