Part 1
The sun was high, burning the desert like fire. Kael's clothes stuck to his skin. His water was almost gone. But he kept walking.
He had left the broken camp before sunrise. Thayen was gone and no sign of him anywhere. Only that blood-stained metal and the scroll warning him:
"Do not trust anyone."
The words echoed in Kael's mind with every step.
He held the Echo Stone tight in his hand. It felt heavier today, as if it knew something he didn't. Sometimes it pulsed. Not with light—but with memory.
Kael saw flashes: a woman screaming, fire in a temple, his hands covered in blood.
He shook the images away. "No. Not now."
After hours of walking, he finally saw it: dark towers rising in the distance. The Temple of Mirrors.
It looked like glass and bone, half-buried in sand. Large statues stood at the entrance—broken faces with blind eyes.
Kael's heart beat faster.
"This place… it remembers me," he whispered.
⸻
He stood at the gate and raised the Echo Stone. A low sound rumbled beneath his feet. The sand shifted. Then, the temple doors creaked open.
Inside, it was cold.
The walls were mirrors-cracked, dusty, and strange. When Kael looked into them, he didn't see himself. He saw pieces of someone else's life.
One mirror showed a child crying in a cell. Another showed soldiers bowing before a shadow on a throne.
"This place stores memories," Kael whispered. "Memories no one wants to see."
He moved deeper inside.
Then he heard a voice.
"You made it."
Kael turned, drawing his blade.
A young woman stood there, wearing long blue robes. Her hair was tied back. Her face was calm-but her eyes watched him too closely.
"Who are you?" Kael asked.
"My name is Seliah. I came here with Thayen."
Kael didn't lower his sword. "Where is he?"
She looked down. "Gone. I woke up, and he had vanished. But he left this for you."
She gave him a small leather pouch. Inside was a second shard of mirror-glass, glowing faintly.
"Thayen said to give you this. He said it would help you remember."
Kael took the shard. It stung when he touched it. His hand shook as visions poured in:
A boy standing at a burning city wall.
A woman's voice saying, "Hide the truth… he must never remember."
And a younger Thayen, bowing before the Hollow King.
Kael pulled his hand back.
Seliah stepped closer. "You don't trust me."
"No," Kael said quickly. "I don't trust anyone."
She nodded. "That's smart. Neither do I."
They sat near an old fountain inside the temple. Broken water channels hissed with dry wind.
Kael looked at her carefully.
"How do you know Thayen?"
"He saved me," Seliah said. "Years ago, the Hollow King's men tried to take me. I was born with the Sight."
"The Sight?"
"I see truths before they happen," she said. "I see danger. Lies. Death."
"Then what do you see in me?"
She was quiet for a moment. Then: "I see someone running from himself."
Kael looked away. "Do you know what the Hollow King wants?"
"Yes. He wants your blood. Your memories. You carry something inside you that can destroy him."
"And Thayen?" Kael asked. "Why did he really leave?"
"I don't know," Seliah said. But her eyes looked unsure.
Kael stood. "You're hiding something."
"No. I just don't —
"I said don't lie," Kael snapped. "If you're working with him, say it now."
Seliah stood too. "If I was working with him, you'd be dead."
They stared at each other, both breathing hard.
Finally, Kael turned away. "Let's keep moving."
⸻
As they walked deeper into the temple, the mirrors started to glow. One of them called to Kael. He stopped and touched it.
He saw himself as a child—crying, locked in a box of stone.
The woman from his dreams appeared again. Her face was soft but sad.
"Kael… if you are seeing this, they failed to keep the truth hidden. You must go to the Hollow Fortress. Your name is not Kael.
You are—"
The mirror shattered before the words finished.
Kael fell to his knees. Seliah ran to him.
"What did you see?"
He looked up, shaking. "I saw her again. The woman. She knows me."
"You must not touch these mirrors again," Seliah said, pulling him up. "They are breaking. The past is trying to return too fast."
Kael held his head. "I need answers."
"You will get them. But not here. We must go."
They stepped into a circular chamber. At the center stood a tall mirror—not cracked, not broken. Whole.
Before Kael could move, Seliah shouted, "Stop!"
A red mark glowed on the floor around the mirror.
"A trap," she said.
Just then, a soft laugh echoed from the shadows.
A woman stepped out, wearing black armor. Her hair was white like bone.
Kael knew her face. From the dream. From the vision.
"Neriah," he said quietly.
She smiled. "Hello, brother."
⸻
[End of Part 1
Part 2 (continued from Part 1)
Kael took a step back. "Brother?"
Neriah's smile sharpened. "Did they not tell you? Of course not. Truth has always been poison in your world."
Seliah stepped between them. "He doesn't remember. Don't speak in riddles."
"Oh, I will speak clearly," Neriah said, her voice like ice scraping stone. "Kael and I were born under the same star. Chosen by the same prophecy. But only one of us was saved."
Kael's mind spun. "No… I don't know you.
I would remember—"
"No, you wouldn't," Neriah snapped. "They erased your memories. Hid you in the sands. Called you Kael. But your real name is Aresh."
The chamber fell silent.
"Aresh," Kael whispered. "Why?"
"Because you are the weapon," she said. "The one who can open the Vault of Thorns. The Hollow King wants you because only your blood can break the final seal."
Kael's hand moved to his blade. "And you? What do you want?"
Neriah stepped closer. "I want the same thing he does. But I'm not here to kill you, brother. I'm here to make you remember—and choose."
Seliah frowned. "Choose what?"
"Choose who to trust," Neriah said. "Me… or the ones who left you in the dark."
The air grew heavier. The mirror behind them began to hum.
Neriah lifted her hand, and the mirror shimmered like water.
"Step through this, Kael," she said. "See the truth. See what they did to us."
Seliah shook her head. "Don't. She's trying to manipulate you."
"And you're not?" Neriah laughed. "Tell him how you met Thayen. Tell him you were a spy for the Hollow King."
Kael turned to Seliah.
She looked hurt—but didn't deny it.
"I was," she said softly. "A long time ago. I escaped. Thayen believed in me."
Kael stepped back from both of them.
"So I'm just surrounded by liars," he said. "Everyone playing their own game."
"I never lied to you," Seliah said. "I told you I don't trust anyone… because I was once used too."
"But you didn't tell me the whole truth."
"I was afraid."
Kael clenched his fists. The Echo Stone burned hot in his pocket.
"So what do I do?" he asked, half to himself. "Step into a mirror with a woman who calls herself my sister… or follow someone who lied about her past?"
"You follow your own path," Neriah said. "Or you keep running from it."
The chamber began to tremble.
"The seal is weakening," Neriah said. "You have to choose, Kael. Now."
He looked at the mirror. It showed him a memory:
A castle. A crown. His own face—older, darker. Leading warriors into fire.
He looked at Seliah. She was shaking her head. "If you step through that mirror, Kael, you may never come back."
He stepped forward anyway.
But before he could touch the glass, the mirror shattered-exploding in shards of silver light.
Everyone fell to the ground.
A voice spoke—deep, ancient, and full of pain.
"You are not ready."
Kael gasped, his ears ringing. His arms were cut by flying glass. When he looked up, Neriah was gone.
So was the mirror.
Seliah helped him stand. "That voice…"
Kael nodded. "The Echo Stone. It stopped me."
He pulled it out. It was no longer glowing.
Later, under the broken sky, they made camp.
Seliah cleaned Kael's wounds. They sat in silence for a long time.
Finally, she said, "I'm sorry for what I hid."
Kael didn't answer right away. He stared at the fire.
"I don't know who to believe," he said. "I don't even know who I am."
"You're Kael to me," she whispered. "Not a weapon. Not a prophecy."
Kael looked at her, eyes hard. "That's the problem. Everyone sees something different. I want the truth, not loyalty."
Seliah's face darkened. "Then maybe I should leave."
He didn't stop her.
But as she turned to walk away, he said, "Wait."
She stopped.
"I need you," he said quietly. "Even if I don't trust you… I don't want to do this alone."
Seliah came back.
They didn't speak again that night.
But the silence between them had changed.
Far away, in a tower of black glass, the Hollow King stood watching a shard of mirror.
He smiled.
"They are coming," he said to the darkness. "Let the desert swallow the truth. Let the storm begin."
[End of Chapter 3]