Yūma awoke in a library that breathed.
Books whispered as they turned themselves, parchment rustled like leaves in windless air, and ink slithered across the floor like living veins. The blade — his Inkblade — lay across his lap, humming with faint light, whispering words he couldn't quite understand.
But someone else did.
"The blade speaks in stories, not commands. That's the curse of Vael'Ryn — the more you use him, the more you become the story."
Isha stepped from the shelves, her cloak now adorned with glyphs that moved like fireflies trapped in fabric.
"How do you know all this?" Yūma asked.
"Because my brother once bore an Eidolon. Not just any — but Eroniel, the Echo Harbinger. He thought he could bend fate. Now, he speaks only in echoes and rhymes."
Her eyes darkened.
"And he's trapped in the Mirror Vault — a prison for those who broke their Oath."
The Vault Opens
Yūma followed her through corridors that bent like thoughts. At the end, a chamber opened, circular and bound in polished obsidian — the Mirror Vault.
Inside, countless mirrors floated midair, each showing versions of him:
One where he was a king drowning in ink.
One where he was a child, crying in fire.
One where he stood with Vael'Ryn, ruling side by side.
"These are not futures," Isha said. "These are possibilities. What you could become — or avoid."
One mirror pulsed brighter than the rest. Yūma stepped toward it, and it shimmered.
"Will you accept Sequence One?"
The blade in his hand trembled, glowing gold.
📜 SEQUENCE ONE UNLOCKED
Name: Quill Step
Effect: Allows the user to rewrite short moments of movement — dodge, rewind a step, or trace the path of a foe. Must speak the rewritten line aloud.
Cost: Fatigue and fading of recent memories. Overuse erases your past.
"Say the words," the mirror whispered.
"Bind it to you, with an Oath."
Yūma raised the blade, heart pounding.
"I swear upon my story — I will remember who I am, even if the world forgets."
The mirror cracked.
His reflection screamed, twisting.
And from the shards, a figure emerged — his own face, twisted in ink and fire, with Vael'Ryn's voice wrapped around it.
"You wrote your first lie," it said.
"Now let's see if you can survive your second."
Duel of Reflection
It lunged — his doppelgänger — a version of himself who had already given in. The fight was not of fists, but of lines spoken like spells. Ink formed blades. Words became shields.
"Quill Step — erase regret."
Yūma vanished, reappearing behind his foe.
But every move cost him a memory — his father's face blurred. His school, forgotten. His first laugh, smudged.
"Who are you?" the doppelgänger roared.
"I'm the one who won't be written for," Yūma hissed, plunging the blade into the reflection's chest.
Ink exploded — not blood, but broken sentences. The doppelgänger collapsed into nothing but a torn page.
"Chapter One of your Legend," Isha said.
"Now let's see if you can finish the book."