The winds turned cold as Kael and Selene approached Valehart—a monastery long forsaken, perched atop cliffs jagged as broken teeth.
Its gates hung crooked, twisted by time and grief. Vines choked the stone, and statues of angels wept blood from cracked eyes.
A black fog curled around the base of the monastery.
Selene stared up. "This place is wrong."
Kael's cursed eye pulsed.
Wrong was an understatement.
"She's here."
They entered.
Inside, silence reigned. No birds. No wind. Only the faint drip-drip of water, echoing through ancient halls.
And then—
Laughter.
High, soft, and familiar.
Kael froze. That voice.
He turned, and standing down the corridor was Lyra.
His sister.
Dead for years.
"Kael… you let me die."
Kael took a step back.
Selene whispered, "It's not her."
He knew that. His mind knew that. But his heart—his guilt—ached.
The illusion smiled, and its face cracked, glass shattering across invisible seams.
Behind it stepped a woman in silver robes, face veiled in cracked mirrors. Her voice came from every angle.
"Do you remember your worst sin, Kael Valtheris?"
Kael gritted his teeth. "I remember all of them."
The Mirror Wielder tilted her head. "Then you know why I'm here."
Selene drew her blade. "We don't want to fight."
"But your guilt does," the Mirror said.
The room fractured.
Suddenly, Kael stood in a familiar street—the night Lyra died.
Rain poured. Fire raged. A hand slipped from his grasp.
"You could have saved me." Lyra's voice again.
"You ran."
Kael dropped to his knees, clutching his head. The curse thrashed inside him.
Selene's voice broke through. "Fight it, Kael!"
Kael roared.
The cursed eye blazed black. The illusion cracked.
The monastery returned. The Mirror Wielder recoiled.
Kael stood slowly, blood leaking from his nose, but steady now.
"I've mourned her. I carry that every day. But you don't get to wear her face."
He thrust out his hand. The cursed flame lashed forward.
The mirror veil shattered, revealing a woman whose eyes were filled not with malice, but tears.
She collapsed to her knees.
"I… I don't remember who I was. The mirror took everything."
Kael lowered his arm. The curse pulsed. It did not hunger. It understood.
Selene stepped forward. "Then help us stop it. Before it takes everything from all of us."
The Mirror Wielder looked up. Her eyes, once empty, began to glow faint silver.
"My name… was Elira. I will follow you, Kael. Even if the end is written in ash."
End of Chapter 17
The Mirror Wielder joins Kael's cause—but with each new ally, the throne's weight grows heavier. And somewhere in the dark, something ancient has begun to stir.