The wind howled through the ruins as Kai stepped into the morning light. The fortress grounds were as lifeless as ever — cracked marble, shattered pillars, and vines that crept like claws over forgotten statues. What once stood as the outer sanctum of Eldoria's royal palace was now a tomb of silence.
But he didn't come here for nostalgia.
He came for answers.
His boots echoed across the stone path as he walked toward the edge of the training courtyard, where a statue of a forgotten king had long since lost its face. He knelt beside it, brushing aside moss until his fingers found the groove — a sigil only visible to those who had died in this place.
He had. Twice.
With a subtle twist, the sigil pulsed faintly. Stone shifted, groaning under its own weight, and a circular staircase spiraled downward beneath the earth.
A hidden vault.
Again.
Kai descended slowly, the only sound the faint hum of the pendant around his neck. Down here, light had no dominion — only the memory of magic long buried. The walls were laced with old runes, some flickering weakly, others cracked and leaking dark energy like blood from a wound.
At the bottom, he stepped into a chamber of mirrors — a circular room, every wall reflecting distorted versions of himself.
Some angry.
Some broken.
Some already dead.
He hated this place.
"Back again, are you?"
The voice echoed like a whisper across water. Kai didn't flinch.
"Show yourself."
A figure stepped from the shadows — a mirror version of him. Same face. Same scar over the left brow. But where Kai stood grounded in grit and fire, this one dripped with cruel confidence, eyes glowing faintly red.
"Still chasing salvation?" the mirror-Kai mocked. "How many times will you crawl back here hoping for a different end?"
Kai drew the Eternal Flame halfway from its sheath. "As many times as it takes."
The mirror-Kai laughed, the sound sharp and hollow. "You keep forgetting. This world isn't meant to be saved. It's meant to be ruled."
For a moment, neither moved. The silence stretched like a blade's edge.
Then, as if triggered by Kai's will, the runes on the chamber walls ignited. The pendant pulsed violently. A surge of energy rushed through his body—raw, ancient, untamed. His thoughts scattered for a second.
Visions flashed.
— A tower cloaked in storm clouds.
— A child crying alone in a burning library.
— A girl with silver eyes, standing at the center of a collapsing bridge.
Kai staggered.
The mirror-Kai was gone.
Only whispers remained in the chamber.
> "The truth is buried beneath the third moon… the Blood Archive… find it before they do."
Kai clutched his chest, the pendant burning hot against his skin.
Blood Archive.
A name he hadn't heard in this loop yet.
He turned and left without hesitation. There was no time to waste. Every loop tightened the knot of fate — and this one had started differently. That meant he was getting closer.
As he reached the surface, the wind had stilled. A raven sat atop the headless statue, its one eye glowing faint blue.
Not a real raven. A message.
Kai raised his hand, and the raven dropped a scroll tied in silver thread.
> "The Court moves at dusk. The princess rides north. You have one day."
—S
Seraphine.
He tied the scroll to his belt and looked toward the horizon.
The kingdom was still broken.
The shadows still spread.
But now, he had a direction.
The Blood Archive.
The princess.
And the coming dusk.
The game had changed.
And so had he.