"What do you call a love that death can't kill?A curse. A flame. Or a god's mistake."
Nightmares in Chains
Kiaan woke up chained to an obsidian wall, deep underground.
The last thing he remembered: walking through the orchard near Eshaan's hut… a sharp sting in his neck… and darkness.
Now he was somewhere else.
But not just anywhere.
This was the Valley of Mirrors—an ancient soul prison where guilt becomes flesh.
The first mirror appeared.
Kiaan saw himself—cloaked in gold armor, standing over Lyra's dead body.
His own blade in her chest.
"You failed her once."
The second mirror showed him as a mortal again—on the highway, blood pouring from his chest.
"You left her pregnant and broken."
The third mirror was still.
Silent.
Then it cracked.
Revealing a fourth life…
A life he had not lived yet.
And in it—he killed their child.
Meher's Betrayal Begins
Back in Mussoorie, Meher paced, heart pounding. It had been two days since Kiaan vanished.
Eshaan was silent. The air felt… wrong.
That's when her best friend, Tanya, arrived.
Sweet. Innocent. The only one Meher had told about her dreams back when they were 15.
Tanya brought soup, warmth, and gentle words.
"You should go out. Clear your head."
"I can't. Something's wrong with Kiaan."
"You sure he didn't just leave again?"
That sentence—too sharp. Too cold.
Meher's eyes narrowed.
"Tanya… how do you know about 'again'? I never told you that."
Tanya smiled, softly.
"Because I know more than you think, Lyra."
Her voice dropped an octave. Her eyes turned… red.
Rishaan's mark appeared on her neck, faint and pulsing.
Tanya stepped back. "I'm sorry. I didn't know he was using me—until it was too late."
Then she vanished in smoke.
Eshaan's Intervention
Meher stormed to Eshaan's hidden temple beneath the mountain chapel.
"Kiaan is gone. Tanya's compromised. I need answers."
Eshaan finally showed her The Gate of Ashes—a spiraled doorway made of fossilized bones and obsidian roses. Only open during soul eclipses—when reborn souls are weakest.
"That's where Kiaan is.But he can't leave… unless you break the mirrors."
"How?"
"You enter with him. And take his guilt."
Meher shook.
"If I do that… I'll lose my memories again."
Eshaan looked at her with tragic kindness.
"Some loves are only saved by sacrifice."
The Descent
That night, under blood-moon skies, Meher stood at the gate, chanting the old flame-words. The doorway glowed, then swallowed her.
Inside—black water, floating souls, whispers of a thousand regrets.
She found Kiaan in front of the fourth mirror, on his knees, crying.
"I killed our daughter, Meher… in a future I haven't even seen."
"You didn't," she said softly.
"But I will."
"Then let's change that future. Together."
She put her hand on the mirror.
It shattered.
Return—and Revelation
They woke in each other's arms, gasping, back in the snow.
Eshaan stood nearby, tear on his cheek.
But he wasn't alone.
Tanya stood beside him.
Her eyes were normal again.
"He's using me like a puppet," she whispered. "I don't know how to stop him. But he's coming. Soon."
Eshaan nodded gravely.
"Then we move now. We go to the Shrine of the Third Flame.Where your daughter's soul is trying to take form.Where the war will begin."
End of Chapter Seven