The silence after the mirror's destruction was deafening.
Flickers of shadow still danced in the corners of the chamber as if remnants of the vision lingered, resisting reality. The altar stone had cracked where Lucien's hand landed. He rose slowly, his breath uneven.
Hana sat beside him, her face pale, hands trembling not from fear, but recognition. She'd seen Yul. Heard his voice. And beneath it... the Echo.
"He's not gone," she whispered. "He's still inside. Somewhere."
Lucien stared at the fragments of the Mirror of Silence, its edges glinting like broken stardust. "He doesn't just carry the Echo... he's becoming it."
Ae-rin swept her blade across the space, confirming the mirror's energy had finally dispersed. "Then the Fortress of Relics isn't just a seal location. It's a summoning point."
Seonwu stepped forward, arms folded. "If the Echo merges with Yul fully, the seal won't matter. The next awakening will rewrite time itself."
Lucien's voice turned cold. "Then we stop it. Before that happens."
"But how do we reach the Fortress?" Hana asked. "It's cut off outside the mortal map, in suspended time."
"There is a way," Ae-rin replied, voice low. "But you won't like it."
Lucien gave her a tired look. "I haven't liked any of this."
Later – The Southern Shrine, Outskirts of Gyeongju
Night fell like a whisper as they arrived at the Southern Shrine, an abandoned temple, hidden between forgotten trails and old stone gates. Crickets sang in the distance, and an eerie wind rustled the trees.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Hana asked, stepping over moss-covered tiles.
Ae-rin nodded. "There's a relic buried beneath the shrine, one of three sacred compasses forged by the Moonbound Priestesses. It can point to any realm, even those beyond mortal time."
Seonwu muttered under his breath. "If it's still intact."
Lucien moved with a grim urgency. "We dig."
The shrine's underground chamber was buried beneath centuries of ash, roots, and time. Ae-rin cleared the entrance with a ceremonial blade, slicing through sigils woven into the earth. The air turned colder as they descended.
The chamber wasn't empty.
Below – The Burial Vault
Statues of forgotten guardians lined the path, their eyes hollow but somehow still watching. At the center of the vault, encased in glass, floated a sliver of starlight, the Moon Compass.
But surrounding it were faded corpse bodies petrified in reverence or punishment. Lucien counted at least a dozen.
"Priestesses," Ae-rin murmured, kneeling. "They died protecting it."
As Lucien reached for the compass, a whisper swept through the room.
"Only one may claim the path to the relic gate. The rest must pay."
Hana grabbed his arm. "Don't."
Lucien looked at her. "We don't have time for riddles."
But Seonwu understood. "It's a soul-bonding relic. It chooses one bearer… and demands something in return."
Lucien clenched his jaw. "Then it chooses me."
Without another word, he stepped into the inner circle.
The light of the compass surged, scorching bright.
Within the Compass Vision
He stood alone in a realm of mist and echoes, a barren reflection of his mind. But instead of silence, he heard the cries of past lives, his voice, calling for Hana, over and over, in different tongues, different lifetimes.
A boy in Joseon, falling in love with a noble's daughter, before war tore them apart.
A man in postwar Italy, watching a stranger in a crowd and knowing she'd been his.
A soldier. A painter. A scholar. Each time, the same fate.
He found her. And he lost her.
"Why do you seek her again?" a voice asked.
He turned. The mist gathered into a silhouette.
Yul is a young man this time. Beautiful. And cold.
Lucien's heart twisted. "You're not real."
"I'm what's left of what you abandoned."
Lucien stepped forward, fury building. "You are not my son."
"I was, once. But you sealed me away, let time devour me. Now you come again, dragging her heart back into this cycle."
Lucien's hand curled into a fist. "She chose this. We both did. We wanted to find you."
"Then prove it," the image said, eyes glowing with the silver of the Echo.
"Let her go."
The mist fractured, and Lucien was thrown back into reality.
Back in the Burial Vault
Lucien gasped, falling to his knees, the Moon Compass glowing in his palm.
Ae-rin rushed forward. "Did it bond to you?"
He held it up.
The compass turned once, then locked in a specific direction.
Southwest.
Seonwu frowned. "That's… the In-Between."
"The Gate's opening," Ae-rin whispered. "The Fortress is calling."
Lucien rose slowly. "Then we answer."
That Night – Hana's Room
Alone for the first time in days, Hana sat near the old paper window, knees drawn to her chest. She looked out at the night, her fingers absently tracing the pendant she always wore a gift from a life she hadn't remembered until now.
She heard the door creak.
Lucien entered silently, holding two cups of tea.
"Couldn't sleep either," he said.
She offered a faint smile. "I keep thinking of him. Of Yul. That voice wasn't all the Echo. Some part of him is still in there."
Lucien sat beside her. "Then we get him back. Whatever it takes."
She looked at him carefully. "What if… to save him, we lose each other?"
He set the cup down. "Then I'll find you again."
Hana reached out, her fingers brushing his face. "Even if it takes another life?"
"I'll take a thousand."
She leaned forward, their foreheads touching.
No promises. No lies.
Just a quiet now.
Elsewhere A Watching Eye
Across the country, in a tower untouched by age, a woman in red stood before a map lined with glowing threads.
Each one connected to a soul.
She watched the southwest line pulse.
"The compass has awakened," she murmured.
Behind her, a man dressed in black robes knelt. "Do we intervene?"
She turned, eyes burning.
"No. We prepare the vessel."
"The boy?"
She smiled faintly.
"No. The mother."