Isaac stood at the edge of the containment chamber, watching the last shimmer of Safa Almaus's wings vanish into the corridor beyond. The seal around the room hadn't lifted, but it had shifted—no longer a prison, but a perimeter. A warning. A threshold not to be crossed lightly.
His mind reeled.
Rizz. Aethra. A mirrored reality. And now, himself—thrust into a web of fate where every thread felt like it led to war.
He moved to the center of the room, staring at the runic platform that still pulsed faintly beneath his feet. But something else stirred inside him now. Not the chaos he'd felt during the awakening, but a subtle rhythm—like a song echoing through crystal, buried deep in bone.
> "You are one of the three," Safa had said. "But you must find the fourth."
The fourth? Was that another person? A force? A key?
> No… not a fourth person, Isaac thought. It's a bond. A link. A thread holding the rest of us together.
He placed a hand over his chest.
The silver in his eye burned slightly, and in that moment, he felt her.
Aethra.
Not in a dream. Not in a memory.
In the present.
She was moving. Escaping something. Her emotions trembled through the thread—like the touch of wind over still water.
Fear. Curiosity. Defiance. And beneath it all… longing.
Their connection wasn't just emotional. It was magical. Something had imprinted between them the moment they both awakened. Perhaps it was the void-light. Perhaps something even older.
He closed his eyes.
And then—he saw her.
Standing on a shattered rooftop under a sky streaked with twilight. Black glass glistened around her feet. Her silhouette was wrapped in shadow, but her face was unmistakable.
Eyes like his. Opposite, yet familiar.
She turned, startled, as if sensing him.
> "Aethra?" he whispered.
She blinked in surprise.
> "You… can see me?"
They stood in two worlds. One foot in the real, one in something beyond. Between memory and prophecy. Between life and something deeper.
And still, their souls reached across the breach.
"I don't know how long this will hold," she said, her voice distant, yet crisp. "I've escaped my containment. But something followed me."
Isaac swallowed. "What kind of something?"
Aethra tilted her head, the air around her flickering. "Not outworlders. Not angels. Something older. Something that feeds on… potential."
As she spoke, Isaac's hand started to burn.
He looked down. A glowing line had formed from his chest to his palm—a soulthread. It pulsed, alive, vibrating with energy that wasn't entirely his.
Aethra saw it too. "So it's true. The mirror doesn't just reflect—it binds."
"Binds us?" Isaac asked.
"Yes," she said. "We're not just individuals. We're pieces. Pieces of something that broke a long time ago. And now…"
She looked up. The wind screamed behind her. Shadows rose from the broken cityscape behind her. Twisting forms—some humanoid, some like beasts born from nightmares.
> "They're coming for us."
Isaac took a step back. "Where are you? I can come—"
"No," she cut in. "Not yet. If you come now, you'll burn everything around you. You're not ready. But he might be."
Isaac stiffened. "Rizz?"
"Yes," Aethra said, quietly now. "He's close. His flame cuts through the veil. Even now, I can feel it... and so can they."
The soulthread between them pulsed again, then frayed at the edges. The vision dimmed.
> "Wait—Aethra!"
She met his gaze one last time. "Protect your core, Isaac. Don't let them corrupt your soul. We're not just fighting enemies…"
Her voice echoed as her image began to blur.
> "…we're fighting destiny itself."
The thread snapped.
Isaac gasped, stumbling back, hand clutching his chest. The room had returned to silence, but the energy still vibrated under his skin.
Footsteps echoed from the hall. The containment mages were returning. They must have sensed the soul disturbance.
But Isaac didn't care anymore.
He was done waiting behind walls.
He walked to the edge of the containment seal and raised his hand. Power surged to his fingertips—not wild, not explosive, but controlled. Focused. Balanced between the threads that now ran through him.
A new rune lit up on the chamber's surface, not cast by the mages… but by him.
It read:
> "Soul Class: Mirrorborn – Initiated."
He turned as the wall of runes shimmered and vanished.
> Time to find Rizz.
And together, they'd face the coming storm.
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