The glow of the mirror still clung to the back of my eyes.
That name echoed in the air like it had been carved into the stone:
Vaerra.
And the woman standing behind me—
Unmasked now.
Still wearing black.
Her eyes were sharper than I remembered at the masquerade.
Older than they should've been.
She tilted her head slightly, watching me like I was some long-lost relic she'd finally recovered.
"You're remembering too quickly," she said softly. "The system was meant to slow you down."
I swallowed. My mouth felt dry. "You know what I am?"
She stepped closer, heels silent against the stone.
"I know what you were."
She glanced at the mirror. "What you still are."
---
Pain Conversion:70%
Memory bleed: accelerating.
Residual identity: unstable.
System skill threshold: unmet.
---
"Delmira," I whispered, half to myself. "She was burned alive. They said she was the monster."
The woman shook her head, almost gently.
"No. Delmira was the girl they crowned to contain the storm. Vaerrawas the storm."
---
The mirror flickered again.
This time, it didn't show my face.
It showed a circle of women — kneeling in blood. Runes drawn across their spines. One woman stood in the center, head bowed, her long white hair drenched in something dark.
Then she looked up.
And smiled.
My smile.
---
I stepped back. My heel scraped against stone.
"Why are you showing me this?" I whispered.
"You've already seen it. I'm just confirming you didn't imagine it."
---
I narrowed my eyes. "Who are you?"
She dipped into a shallow bow — not out of respect, but habit.
"Serel," she said. "Daughter of the Second Circle. Keeper of the fractured line."
My head spun. None of those words made sense… and yet they did.
"I used to kneel to you," Serel continued. "Before the flames. Before you shattered everything we built."
"I didn't build anything," I said. "I was Delmira—"
"No." Her voice cut the air. "Delmira was the crown. Vaerra was the knife.The voice in red. The queen beneath the mirror."
---
My knees felt weak.
The system pulsed under my skin. The shard in my belt was glowing now — faint, red, alive.
Pain Conversion: 70%
Cognitive interference: moderate.
WARNING: Memory loop approaching breach threshold.
---
Serel stepped forward, gaze softening only slightly.
"You think this is just about a forgotten life. But Vaerra was never simply alive. She was chosen. Forged. She made the pact with the Ashbind system herself — and now it's waking."
I took another step back.
The stone behind me pressed cold into my spine.
"So what happens if I reach a hundred percent?"
Serel's smile was small. Pitying. Dangerous.
"That depends," she whispered, "on whether you choose to become her again… or fight her."
---
A long silence passed between us.
She looked down at my hands, then back at my eyes.
"You're cracking," she said simply. "If you wait too long to choose, there won't be an Elira left to decide."
---
Then she turned and began to walk away, toward another passage I hadn't even seen until now.
Before vanishing into the dark, she paused.
"Come back tomorrow night," she said. "If you want to remember how you died the first time."
---
She left.
And the mirror went still.
I was alone again.
Only, I wasn't sure that was true.
Because for the first time since waking in this body—
I wasn't sure I was still alone inside my head.
---
System notice: Identity Conflict Active.
Memories from multiple lifetimes are converging. Isolation barrier weakening.
Do not sleep near reflective surfaces.
---
I climbed out of the chamber and shut the hidden panel behind me.
The chapel above was quiet.
But the moment I stepped into the fading daylight, I could feel it:
Something was watching me.
Not a person.
A memory.
---