Kaine's POV
The copy of myself moves exactly like I do. Thinks like I do. Fights like I do.
That's what makes it so dangerous.
I block its strike, shadow meeting shadow, power crackling between us. Behind me, Sera screams as three copies of herself attack her at once. Through the bond, I feel her terror, her pain as claws rake across her arm.
I want to help her. Need to help her. But I'm pinned down by my own reflection.
"You can't protect her," my copy says in my voice. "You're going to watch her die. Just like everyone else you ever cared about."
"Shut up." I slam my fist into its face. It laughs and hits back twice as hard.
We're surrounded. At least twenty copies of me, thirty of Sera. The forest is full of our twisted reflections, all of them trying to kill us.
The Trial Realm knows exactly how to break us.
Sera manages to blast one of her copies back with a burst of golden light, but she's bleeding from a dozen cuts. She's never fought before today. She doesn't know how.
"Sera!" I shout. "Get to me!"
She tries. But her copies surround her, blocking the path. One of them—the one that looks most like her—smiles coldly.
"You're weak," it says in Sera's voice. "Always have been. Your family was right about you. You're nothing special. Nothing at all."
"Stop it," Sera gasps, holding her bleeding arm.
"Miranda was always better than you. Prettier. Smarter. More talented." The copy circles her like a predator. "Your father knew it. That's why he never loved you. Nobody could love someone as worthless as you."
Through the bond, I feel Sera's pain spike—not physical this time, but emotional. The words are hitting harder than any attack.
"Don't listen to it!" I yell, finally breaking away from my own fight. "It's not real!"
But three more copies of me block my path. They attack in perfect coordination, forcing me back.
"You're the Eternal Sovereign," one says, mocking. "The great enforcer of cosmic law. But you couldn't even follow the one rule that mattered—never bond with a mortal."
"You broke everything for a girl you just met," another adds.
"And now she's going to die because of you," the third finishes.
Their words don't hurt me. I've lived three thousand years. I know who I am.
But Sera is different. She's already broken from her family's cruelty. The copies know it. They're attacking her mind, not just her body.
"You opened that box hoping something would save you," her main copy continues, advancing on her. "But nothing can save you. You're cursed. Broken. Wolfless—wait, wrong story." It grins. "You're powerless. Worthless. Alone."
"I'm not alone," Sera whispers.
"Aren't you? He's an immortal. You're human. In fifty years, you'll be dead and he'll still be here, forgetting you ever existed."
Sera's eyes fill with tears. Through the bond, I feel her belief wavering. She's starting to think the copy is right.
"Sera, no!" I fight harder, desperate to reach her. "Listen to me! You're not worthless! You're—"
One of my copies grabs me from behind, locking my arms. Two more pin my legs. I struggle but there are too many.
They force me to watch as Sera's copies close in on her.
"Nobody wants you," they chant together. "Nobody ever wanted you. Not your family. Not your friends. Not even him."
"That's not true," Sera says, but her voice shakes.
"He only protects you because the bond forces him to. If he could break it, he would. You're a burden. A mistake. You always have been."
Sera drops to her knees, sobbing. The copies raise their hands, ready to strike the killing blow.
And something inside me snaps.
The bond between us flares hot and bright. I feel Sera's pain like it's my own—all her years of rejection, all her loneliness, all her desperate wish to matter to someone.
"ENOUGH!"
Power explodes out of me, not shadow this time, but golden light. The same color as our bond. It tears through my copies, destroying them instantly.
I run to Sera, dropping to my knees beside her. "Look at me. Sera, look at me."
She raises her tear-stained face.
"Every word they said is a lie," I tell her fiercely. "You're not worthless. You're not a burden. You're brave and strong and you've survived things that would break most people."
"But I'm just—"
"You're the person who looked at three thousand years of my pain and felt compassion instead of fear. You're the person who opened a prison box because you thought whoever was inside couldn't be worse than the cruelty you'd experienced. You're the person who's learning magic in hours that should take years." I grab her shoulders. "You matter, Sera. To me. Bond or no bond, you matter."
Through our connection, I push every ounce of sincerity I feel. Every truth.
Sera's eyes widen. She can feel that I mean it. Every word.
Her copies hesitate, flickering like bad TV signals.
"He's lying," one says, but it sounds uncertain now.
"He has to say that," another adds, but its voice is weaker.
Sera stands slowly, her tears stopping. She looks at her copies with something new in her expression—anger.
"No," she says firmly. "You're the liars. You're just my fear talking. My doubt. But you're not truth."
She raises her hand and golden light pours out, brighter than before. It doesn't just destroy her copies—it unmakes them, erasing them from existence.
When the light fades, we're alone in the forest. No more copies. No more attacks.
Just silence.
Sera sways on her feet. I catch her before she falls.
"I did it," she whispers. "I actually did it."
"You did." I'm holding her close, feeling her heartbeat through the bond. "You were amazing."
She laughs weakly against my chest. "I was terrified."
"Being brave doesn't mean—"
"—not being scared. I know." She pulls back to look at me. "You told me that already."
For a moment, we just stare at each other. The bond hums between us, stronger now. Changed somehow.
"Kaine," Sera says quietly. "Did you mean what you said? About me mattering to you?"
Before I can answer, the forest starts to dissolve around us. The Trial Realm is changing.
"What's happening?" Sera asks.
"I don't know. We passed the first test, but—"
The trees vanish. The ground disappears. We're falling again, but this time into light instead of darkness.
We land in a new place—a massive hall made of mirrors. Thousands of them, stretching in every direction. Each one shows a different reflection. Different versions of ourselves. Different possible futures.
And in the center of the hall stands a figure I never thought I'd see again.
My younger self. Human. Before the curse. Before the emptiness.
He looks at me with eyes full of hope and life.
"Hello, Kaine," he says. "Let's talk about what you gave up. What you lost. What you can never get back."
Sera grips my hand tighter. "Kaine? Who is that?"
"Me," I whisper. "Before I became a monster."
The mirrors around us start to glow, showing scenes from my past. My family. My kingdom. My humanity. Everything the curse stole from me.
"The second trial," young-me says, smiling sadly. "To pass, you have to face what you lost. And decide if getting it back is worth the cost."
One of the mirrors changes, showing an image that stops my heart.
It shows Sera. But older. Grey hair. Wrinkled. Dying in a bed while I sit beside her, unchanged. Still young. Still immortal.
"That's your future if you keep the bond," young-me says. "You'll watch her age. Watch her die. Watch her leave you alone again for another thousand years."
"Stop," I say.
"Or," he continues, and another mirror lights up. This one shows Sera alive and young, standing with someone else. Happy. Loved. Living a full human life. "You can break the bond. Let her go. Let her live without you dragging her into your cursed existence."
"Kaine?" Sera's voice is small. Scared.
I stare at the two mirrors. Two futures. One where I keep her and watch her die. One where I let her go and never see her again.
Both feel like dying.
"Choose," young-me commands. "You have sixty seconds. Keep the bond and curse her to a short life in your dangerous world. Or break it and set her free."
The countdown starts. Sixty. Fifty-nine. Fifty-eight.
"Kaine," Sera says urgently. "Don't listen to him. We can—"
"You deserve better than me," I interrupt. "Better than this life. Better than everything I've dragged you into."
Thirty seconds left.
Through the bond, I start reaching for the threads that tie us together.
If I pull hard enough, I can break them. Free her. Send her home.
"Don't you dare," Sera says fiercely. "Don't you DARE choose for me!"
Twenty seconds.
"I'm trying to save you," I say.
"I don't want to be saved! I want—"
Ten seconds.
What does she want? I stop, my hand frozen on the bond threads, and look at her.
"I want you to ask me what I want," Sera finishes. "Instead of deciding for me like everyone else in my life has done."
Five seconds.
"What do you want?" I whisper.
"I want to choose for myself," she says. "And I choose—"
Time runs out.
The mirrors explode into light, and the Trial Realm screams in rage.
Whatever Sera was about to say, it's too late.
The choice has been made.
But by whom?