The doorway of light pulsed ahead, beckoning Mira forward.
But just as she stepped through, a sudden gust of freezing wind tore across the path, slamming the portal shut with a crack of thunder. The forest dimmed. The air thickened.
Then, from the trees, the shadow returned.
Only now, it was solid.
Taller.
Darker.
And wearing her face.
Its eyes burned — not with fire, but with *emptiness*, like a void that devoured all light.
"You think you're ready?" it snarled, voice low and bitter. "You've only scratched the surface."
Mira took a cautious step back. "You're not real."
"Oh, I'm very real," it whispered, stepping forward. "I'm your fear. Your doubt. Every moment you almost gave up. Every time you wished you were someone else."
Without warning, it lunged.
Mira leapt aside just in time as the creature's claw tore through the ground, leaving deep scars in the earth. A spiral of wind and memory surged around them—scenes of her failures, her regrets, her heartbreaks.
She was drowning in her own past.
"I've healed," she said through clenched teeth.
"Not everything!" it roared. "You hide your pain beneath hope. But I see it. I am it."
Then—its form shifted, rapidly cycling through versions of her: sad, angry, rejected, afraid.
Mira fell to her knees, hands over her ears, but the voices pushed into her mind.
"Not enough."
"Too weak."
"A mistake."
Then…
Stillness.
From deep within her, a warmth stirred — not fire, but rooted strength.
She stood.
And from her palm, she summoned the seed of becoming — now glowing bright gold.
"You're right," she said softly. "I've failed. I've feared. But I'm still here."
She threw the seed forward. Light burst out.
The shadow screamed, unraveling like smoke in sunlight, vanishing into the wind.
Silence fell.
The forest exhaled.
The path reopened, clear and bright.
But Mira stood still for a moment, trembling—not from fear, but from release.
The shadow wasn't gone.
But she had faced it.
And that made all the difference.
She stepped forward again.
This time, not just toward the next chapter—but into it.
(Fun stories by Gabrielle Ehi).