Chapter 81: The Mirror Beyond the Abyss
The wind whispered through the jagged crags of the shattered plane, where the stars hung like broken chandeliers in a sky torn asunder. The Void Realm trembled—just slightly—as Kael stepped forward, his presence alone enough to bend the broken laws of this forsaken dimension.
Behind him, Elenai and Zeraphin hovered cautiously. The former, cloaked in radiant feathers of thought and intuition, wore a frown. The latter, wreathed in the cold light of pure Authority, was silent, but his gaze was fixed ahead—toward the impossible.
Before them floated a giant mirror, suspended in nothing. It had no edges. It reflected no light. And yet, it shimmered with color and shadow in equal measure, pulsing like a living thing.
The Mirror Beyond the Abyss.
This was not merely an artifact, nor a remnant of a forgotten god's imagination. This was something older than meaning—a boundary between realities, thoughts, and truths. Even the highest Authorities feared what lay on its other side.
Kael's hand hovered before it, the air between his fingers and the mirror humming like a chorus of collapsing stars.
"This thing…" Elenai whispered. "It doesn't just reflect. It remembers."
Kael smirked. "Then it should remember me."
Zeraphin finally spoke, his voice deep and rumbling. "We shouldn't be here. The Mirror was sealed by the First Transcendent to contain the Paradox King. If we breach it—"
"—Then maybe I'll finally get some answers," Kael interrupted, eyes sharp.
He had been searching—through the Fields of Forgotten Names, across the Dominion of Sleep, even inside the heart of Chronos itself. And all of it, every path and vision, had led him here. To this moment. To this gate.
But it wasn't a simple door.
The Mirror knew you. It revealed you.
And as Kael touched it, his mind was pulled violently inward.
Inside the Mirror
There was no sense of space or time. Only awareness.
Kael stood in a hall made entirely of mirrors—endless versions of himself stared back. Some regal, some monstrous, some broken beyond repair. He turned, and saw one mirror crack. Then another. Then all of them.
From behind each broken reflection stepped a Kael. But not him. Not quite. Each one bore different scars, carried different truths.
One version wore a crown of ash and ruled over death.
Another had no eyes, yet saw all truths.
Another wept eternally, carrying the weight of entire universes he failed to save.
Kael braced himself, fists clenched.
"I am the only one," he growled.
A voice whispered behind him. "That's what we all said."
He spun.
One last figure stood there.
Not broken. Not divine.
Just Kael—calm, tired, with no Authority swirling around him.
"You made it," the figure said.
"Who are you?" Kael asked.
"I'm the Kael who never became a god."
The silence that followed was heavy.
"I refused the Ascension," the alternate Kael said. "I chose mortality. I chose to live. To die. To love without power and suffer without escape."
Kael stared, something twisting in his chest.
"And?"
"I lived well," the mortal Kael whispered. "And then…I disappeared. Like all men do."
Kael turned away, eyes hard.
"That's not me."
"I know. But you came here looking for who you are. What you are. And I'm here to remind you—it's not about power, Kael. It's about choice."
Back Outside
The Mirror rippled violently. Elenai gripped Zeraphin's shoulder.
"He's been in too long. That thing could shatter his soul!"
But Zeraphin's hand stopped her. "Wait."
A burst of light shot out from the Mirror. Kael emerged, his cloak torn, his eyes storming with knowledge and something else—humility.
"What did you see?" Elenai asked softly.
Kael didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he stepped forward, and a small smile tugged at his lips. "I saw every version of myself. The gods I became. The monsters I turned into. The man I could have been."
"And?" Zeraphin probed.
"I'm still choosing."
Elsewhere — Beyond the Edge of Authority
High above, far beyond the bounds of the known cosmos, the Council of Paradoxical Thrones stirred. Their formless bodies writhed with anticipation.
"The Vessel of Equilibrium has been touched again," said one.
"The Mirror has spoken," hissed another.
A third voice, ancient and hollow, added: "Kael walks the line. He must be judged soon."
A dark chuckle echoed. "Let him continue. The deeper he digs, the more he'll unravel the Truth buried beneath creation."
End of Chapter 81