The crack in the mirror was more than just glass. It was a scream Lena couldn't hear, a ripple through the very air around her. The moment Riven's lips left hers, she felt it. Something deep and ancient had shifted.
She pulled away, breathless, a storm of confusion swirling behind her eyes.
Riven's chest was heaving too, his hands still ghosting near her waist like he didn't know whether to pull her back or push her away. "I shouldn't have done that," he muttered.
Lena took a step back, touching her burning wrist. The mark Dev had left shimmered—angrily.
"I… I need time," she whispered.
"You don't have time," Riven said softly. "That kiss? It wasn't just a mistake, Lena. It was a trigger."
"A trigger?"
Riven looked up at the moss-covered temple gods as if searching for help. "There's an ancient rule: if a Mirrorwalker binds emotions to someone while being Marked by another… the mirror realm begins to fracture."
Lena's voice dropped. "What happens if it breaks?"
His gaze turned back to her, cold and haunted. "Then both versions of you—the real and the reflected—will meet. And one has to die."
---
Love Has Consequences
Back at school, the tension had multiplied like static electricity. Lena felt it the moment she walked into the hallway.
Kian wasn't smiling anymore.
And Dev? He was waiting.
Not near her classroom, but leaning casually against the railing near the science block, where few students lingered.
When she passed, he turned slowly and said, "That mark on your wrist is glowing brighter today."
Lena kept walking.
He fell in step beside her.
"You kissed him," Dev murmured. "I could feel it. The mark responded."
"I don't belong to you," she snapped.
Dev stopped walking. "Not yet," he said, too calmly. "But if the mirror realm opens… only I know how to pull you out."
She turned. "And if I don't want your help?"
His eyes glinted with something that wasn't quite anger—but it was close. "Then you'll drown in a world made of your fears."
---
The Mirror's Pull
That night, it happened.
Lena wasn't asleep. She was lying in bed, eyes open, watching the ceiling fan spin in slow hypnotic circles.
And then the room flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then it froze.
The air turned thick, like water. Her breathing slowed. And her reflection in the mirrored closet stood up—even though Lena hadn't moved.
The reflection turned.
Smiled.
And whispered, "Finally."
---
Lena screamed—but no sound came out.
The reflection stepped through the glass like it was walking through fog. It was her, but wrong. Taller. Crueler. Eyes the same violet as Lena's—but shimmering with silver flame.
Lena scrambled backward. Her fingers touched her phone, and she pressed the emergency call.
The screen blinked, then shattered.
No signal.
The other Lena stepped closer. "I'm what you become if you keep choosing them."
"Choosing who?"
The reflection smirked. "Kian. Riven. Dev. You think they care? They want a power, not a person."
Lena shook her head. "That's not true."
"Oh?" Mirror-Lena cocked her head. "Then tell me, which one do you actually love?"
Lena opened her mouth—and froze.
She didn't know.
Because she loved them all.
In different ways.
And she hated that.
"Exactly," Mirror-Lena whispered. "That indecision is a wound. And wounds fester."
Then she lunged.
---
Between Worlds
Lena fell backward into her bed—but it dissolved.
She landed hard on cold glass, the entire world around her now a kaleidoscope of reflections. There were hundreds of her—laughing, crying, screaming. One version had Dev's arms around her. Another showed her slapping Riven. A third—twisted and dark—held hands with Kian, both covered in blood.
"This is the mirror realm," a voice echoed.
It wasn't the reflection anymore.
It was Dev.
Standing on a bridge of light, far above her.
"Dev—"
"You're not supposed to be here alone," he said. "You triggered it early. Your emotions cracked the veil."
"How do I leave?"
"You don't," came a new voice.
Kian appeared beside her, emerging from a shadow. "You don't leave until you choose."
Lena stared between the two.
"What choice?"
"Which version of yourself survives," Dev said. "The one who runs from her power—or the one who embraces it."
Another figure stepped forward.
Riven.
Of course.
So now all three of them were here, in this place where Lena's soul felt like it was being dissected.
Riven stepped closer, fists clenched. "She's not choosing between you two. She's choosing herself."
"She is us, Riven," Kian hissed. "She's every choice she didn't make."
Lena screamed.
"Stop!" she shouted. "All of you—just stop!"
The ground cracked beneath her.
Her mark blazed.
And the mirror version of herself—the silver-eyed doppelgänger—rose again.
But now… it was growing wings.
---
The War Begins
The winged version of herself—twisted, regal, and burning—hovered above the fractured realm.
"I am the queen of what you repress," she said. "And I will rule this body."
"No," Lena whispered. "You're not me."
"I am the version that survives when love turns to ashes."
And then the battle began.
Dev summoned twin daggers of light.
Kian drew a sword made of shadows.
Riven's eyes ignited with flame, his hands swirling with invisible threads.
And Lena?
She stood at the center, torn between three forces and a version of herself that wanted to take her place.
But as the battle exploded around her, Lena understood something.
They weren't here to save her.
They were here to fight for her soul.
And she was done being fought over.
---