The sanctuary's inner chamber pulsed with sacred light, but Rizz felt only coldness.
He sat alone now, his wings folded behind his back, the runes of the Soul Seal exposed on his bare chest, glowing faintly like cracks in glass. Safa had placed a time-lock field around the room, giving him a few slowed minutes—time to gather himself before his next step.
> "What else are you hiding from me?" he whispered, staring down at the seal.
Every time he tried to push divine or shadow energy through it, something strange happened—not rejection… but interference. As if something was trying to speak back.
He placed his hand on the seal and whispered the old mantra his aunt once taught him, a prayer of communion.
> "Light is the guide, shadow is the step, the flame is the truth—come forth."
Nothing happened.
Then—a flicker.
A vision exploded behind his eyes.
He stood in a void of mirrors, endless and shifting. Each mirror held a version of him. In one, he was cloaked in holy armor. In another, he bore black horns and eyes like burning ash. But the mirror in the center was different.
It showed a boy with no face… only a single mirrored eye.
"Who are you?" Rizz asked.
The boy tilted his head.
> "Who are you?" he echoed.
And then—CRACK.
The central mirror shattered.
Rizz snapped back to reality, gasping.
Outside the time-locked barrier, Safa and Raze were watching the glyph monitors. Elena entered moments later, clutching an ancient scroll.
"He accessed the Mirror Vein," she said grimly.
Safa nodded. "I thought so. That confirms the Soul Seal is linked to the Echo Realms."
"The Mirror Vein is too unstable," Raze muttered. "It connects forgotten souls and parallel selves. If it collapses while he's inside—"
"He won't just die," Elena said. "He'll fragment."
They turned to the chamber. Rizz emerged, pale but composed.
"I saw him again," he said. "The boy with the mirror eye. He's not from here."
"He's not," Safa confirmed. "But he just awakened… in our world."
Rizz's eyes narrowed. "Then I need to find him."
Raze raised an eyebrow. "Why? You don't know what he is."
"I don't care. If our fates are tied, I won't run from it. I'll understand it."
Elena stepped forward. "And if he's the one meant to undo the Balance?"
Rizz looked up, his wings flaring slightly.
"Then I'll carry the weight that breaks."
A sudden glyph pulse interrupted them.
> "Forbidden-tier subject temporarily stabilized. Name registered: Isaac."
> "Location: South Veil Containment Facility."
Safa smirked.
"Well then, little one. Time to meet the mirror."
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