The Foyer of Reflections was not a hallway; it was a labyrinth of vertical silver rivers. The walls of Aeolus were made of "Liquid Chrome," constantly shifting to show different versions of reality. As Kael's team walked, their reflections didn't follow them—they lingered, whispered to each other, or walked in the opposite direction.
"Don't look at them," Kael ordered, his voice echoing with a grounding Taurus-frequency that kept Jax from swinging his hammer at a reflection of himself that was mocking his Runic bellows. "They aren't ghosts. They're data-projections designed to desync your neural link."
At the end of the hall sat a throne made of woven light. It didn't rest on the floor; it drifted in the center of a massive, circular balcony that overlooked the clouds.
Sitting on the throne was Lady Vespera.
She was the perfect embodiment of the Gemini. Her hair was a split of midnight black and snow white, and her eyes were a kaleidoscope of shifting violet. She wore a gown of "Phase-Silk" that seemed to contain a miniature galaxy. But what stopped Kael's heart was the girl standing at her right hand.
The girl looked exactly like Lyra.
"Lyra?" Sia gasped, her light-filaments sparking in confusion. She looked back at the Lyra in their neural link, then back to the girl on the balcony.
"That is not Lyra," Kael said, his platinum eyes narrowing. He stepped forward, his Sovereign Vanguard mantle absorbing the violet light of the room. "That is a Dual-Shell. A biological copy."
Vespera let out a laugh that sounded like two bells chiming in harmony. "A 'copy' is such a crude term, Sovereign Kael. In the House of Gemini, we prefer 'Possibility.' This is the Lyra who never left the Spire. The Lyra who accepted her destiny as the Eye of the Twins."
The "Other Lyra" looked at Kael. Her eyes were not the warm violet of their friend; they were a cold, calculated silver. She raised a staff—identical to Lyra's Gemini staff—and the air between the two groups began to fracture.
"You've spent your time building a mountain in the desert, Aries," Vespera said, leaning back in her drifting throne. "A beautiful, heavy, static mountain. But the sky does not care for mountains. The sky is about flow. About change. About the ability to be two things at once."
"I didn't come here for a philosophy lesson, Vespera," Kael said. He raised his hand, and the gravity in the room hummed, a warning of the 50x pressure he could unleash in a heartbeat. "I came for the Gemini Array. I know you're trying to split the Protocol to create a second Sovereign. One you can control."
Vespera's smile didn't falter. "Control? No. We want Balance. You are a singularity, Kael. A disruption. The stars hate a monopoly. By creating a second Aries, we ensure that no one man can reset the world on a whim."
She gestured to the Other Lyra. "And who better to lead the new world than the one who knows you best?"
Suddenly, the "Real" Lyra's voice screamed through the neural link. "Kael! The data-stream! She's siphoning my memories! The Other Lyra isn't just a shell—she's a vacuum! She's pulling my identity through the Gemini link!"
Kael didn't hesitate. He lunged.
He didn't use speed; he used Absolute Inertia to delete the distance between him and the throne. He was a blur of platinum light, his fist aimed at the silver girl.
But as his punch connected, he didn't hit flesh. He hit a Mirror-Shield.
The impact was perfectly reflected. Kael felt the 100% force of his own strike travel back through his arm. He was thrown backward, his boots skidding across the liquid chrome floor.
"You cannot strike the sky, Kael," Vespera said, her voice now coming from every direction at once. "The more force you use, the more force we return. In Aeolus, your power is our power."
The Other Lyra stepped forward, her silver staff glowing. "Gemini... Split."
The air around Kael didn't crush him. It doubled.
Kael felt a searing pain in his mind as his consciousness was violently pulled in two directions. For a split second, he saw the room from his own eyes—and from the eyes of a second Kael standing ten feet away.
[WARNING: NEURAL DESYNC] [ZODIAC SYNC: 2.0% (GEMINI)] [TRAIT DETECTED: THE MIRROR-EGO]
A second Kael, clad in an identical obsidian mantle but glowing with a cold, violet light instead of platinum, stepped out of the air. He didn't look like a reflection. He looked... real.
"Hello, Aries," the Mirror-Kael said, his voice an exact match for Kael's. "I've been waiting to show you what a Sovereign looks like without the 'weight' of a conscience."
Kael stood up, his platinum eyes clashing with the violet eyes of his double. Behind him, Jax and Sia were already being engaged by Mirror-versions of themselves. The Foyer of Reflections had become a war of identities.
"Rin!" Kael shouted. "The Nullifier! Now!"
But Rin didn't move. Rin was staring at a mirror that showed a version of the Mute who could speak—and the words the reflection was saying were so terrifying that even the "Zone of Silence" began to crack.
Kael was alone. Faced with his own power, his own memories, and a House that turned his every strength into a weakness.
[DEAD MAN'S SWITCH: 03:15:20] [STATUS: COMPROMISED]