Prelude: Smoke Over Stillwater
Three days had passed since the Mirror's assault. The city of Axis had suffered—but it hadn't broken.
The fires had been quenched, the wounded healed, but the fear lingered like ash in the air.
Elira stood atop the eastern watchtower, her spear now permanently slung across her back. The chains that once glowed like moonlight had dimmed—sleeping, not dead.
Arin joined her quietly, hands in his coat pockets.
"He's not gone," she said without turning.
"I know," he replied. "But I can't wait for him to strike again."
A Dangerous Plan
Back in the Citadel, Sarai unfurled an ancient map. Her gloved fingers traced a blood-red mountain etched in ink.
"The Oracle of Seryph rests here—in the ruins of Vel Solari," she said. "If anyone can predict what the Mirror's next move will be, it's her."
Elira frowned. "The Oracles don't speak unless paid in memory."
Sarai nodded. "Exactly. One of us has to give up a part of our mind… forever."
Arin looked at the faded sketch of a crystal temple carved into rock. The idea of losing even one moment from his life scared him—especially now, with Elira beside him again.
But time was not on their side.
"I'll do it," he said.
The Journey to Vel Solari
The path to the ruins was long and winding.
Past the burning meadows of Kael, through the whispering woods of Nysh, and across the shattered bridge that once led armies of light to war.
WSSSHH.The wind howled as they entered the canyon. Whispers floated through the air—ghosts of those who'd made this pilgrimage and never returned.
Vel Solari emerged from the fog like a dream carved in crystal—spiraled towers and floating orbs, fractured by time and overgrowth.
The Oracle's Sanctum awaited them at its heart.
Inside the Sanctum
The doors opened without touch.
Inside, silence reigned.
Arin, Elira, and Sarai stepped through a corridor of glass-like stone, each footstep echoing as if walking on memories.
A voice greeted them—soft, aged, but woven with terrifying clarity.
"You seek the forbidden truth."
The Oracle sat atop a throne of living crystal—her eyes blank, her hair white, her body suspended in spectral chains.
"The future is a cruel god. Do you still wish to know its secrets?"
Arin stepped forward. "Yes. I want to know where the Mirror is going. What he wants."
The Oracle extended a trembling hand. "Then offer me a memory."
The Price of a Moment
"What kind of memory?" Arin asked.
She smiled—a sorrowful thing.
"Your first kiss. Your happiest day. Your deepest regret. The more precious, the clearer the prophecy."
Elira touched Arin's arm. "You don't have to—"
But he already knew.
He reached into his own mind, and with effort that made his soul groan, he conjured a moment:
A silver night. A lone lake. Elira, wet hair clinging to her shoulders, smiling as she taught him how to catch fireflies.
His first moment of peace after the exile.
He handed it over.
SHHHNNNGGG.
The room shuddered as the memory left him. He blinked… and forgot what he had just lost.
The Prophecy Unfolds
The Oracle opened her eyes fully—and for a moment, they glowed with galaxies.
"The Mirror seeks the Crown of the Hollow World. It lies beyond the Vale of Bone, where even gods turn back. But he will not go alone."
She looked at Elira.
"He will come for you. Because the power you hold is older than Axis, older than stars."
Elira tensed. "What do you mean?"
"You are not just the Guardian. You are the Key."
The lights dimmed. The Oracle gasped—and faded.
Just like that, she was gone.
The Cost of Knowing
Outside, Arin touched his temples, blinking.
Elira looked at him. "Are you okay?"
"I… yeah." He tried to smile. "I just feel like I lost something I shouldn't have."
She didn't tell him what memory he had traded.
Some things, she believed, were better kept sacred.
Meanwhile… In the Vale of Bone
Far across the world, beneath a sky choked with ash and lightning, the Mirror stood before a giant obsidian gate.
Strange figures—humanoid but faceless—knelt before him.
He raised a hand, and they obeyed.
Soon, he would breach the gate.
Soon, he would take the Crown.
And then—
"Let them see what the world looks like… in reverse."