At Arcanum Academy, silence didn't last long. By the third day after the Labyrinth incident, rumors had mutated into a full-blown magical flu of paranoia.
So when Headmistress Elenora appeared in the central atrium with six professors and a floating scroll, everyone knew something was coming.
> "The Labyrinth reactivation has created psychological instability," she announced. "To ensure the safety of all students, the academy will administer an experimental trial: the Mirror Test."
> "All students involved in the breach are required to participate. Voluntarily."
A nervous laugh rippled through the crowd.
---
🪞 The Mirror Room
It was called the Chamber of Reflections, but Renn renamed it the Panic Room.
The walls were liquid glass. Hundreds of mirrors shimmered on all sides, enchanted to read thoughts, extract illusions, and reflect "buried truths."
One by one, the Labyrinth survivors were sent inside.
Renn went first. Five minutes later, he ran out sweating.
"I stabbed Lucien in one of the illusions," he whispered. "I don't even remember owning a sword!"
Ira marched in, looked at the first mirror, and loudly declared, "That's not my trauma, that's Tuesday."
Two mirrors exploded. The others melted. She was excused.
Seraphina walked out without a word. Her eyes were unreadable.
Caelum refused to enter.
That left Lucien.
---
🧠 Lucien Steps Inside
The air buzzed faintly as he entered.
The moment the door shut, the mirrors activated — showing not just reflections, but scenes. Memories. Possibilities. Threats.
A child crying inside a sigil cage. A teenager collapsing a library on a professor. An older Lucien turning his back as students burned.
He raised one brow. "Bold."
---
🔍 How He Broke It
> "Curious," Lucien muttered. "These run on emotional resonance... anchored to guilt frequencies."
He walked up to the image of his younger self — eyes bloodshot, drawing sigils in red ink that might not have been ink.
> "That memory is real," he said calmly. "But guilt? Let's rewrite that with professional admiration."
The mirror flickered. Hesitated. Then reformed.
The blood became chalk. The boy stood taller. The fear was replaced with fascination.
> ❝"He's not giving the mirror the truth," whispered Professor Mirein from the viewing gallery.
"No," said another. "He's re-authoring the memory."
"That shouldn't be possible."
"It is," Mirein replied. "If you understand how truth is constructed."❞
---
🎭 Lucien's Illusions Continue
One mirror showed Seraphina confessing her love.
Lucien tilted his head. "Too early. Edit for pacing."
Another showed Caelum striking him down in a duel.
Lucien snorted. "Try again. He'd rather time-stop me and walk away."
Another showed Lucien standing before the Obsidian Project council.
His voice was different. Cold. Too clear. He was giving orders.
Lucien tapped the mirror. "Fabricated. If I were in charge, none of them would still be alive."
---
🌀 Then the mirror glitched
A new image tried to appear — a looping sigil so complex it folded in on itself. It pulsed, fought the spell.
Lucien stared.
> "Page six," he said.
The mirror broke. Not shattered — resigned.
---
🧃 Aftermath: Juice Boxes and Professors
Lucien walked out of the chamber sipping something from a juice box labeled Mango Hexplosion.
Mirein was waiting.
> "You're very good at lying."
Lucien smiled lazily. "I prefer 'creative survival.'"
> "We'd like to offer you a place in a... private research wing. Advanced sigil development."
Lucien took the letter. Nodded. Smiled.
And tossed it in the nearest trash can the moment she turned away.
---
👁️ Caelum Watches
He had been standing near the balcony above the test chamber. Watching them, not Lucien.
When Lucien mentioned "page six," one of the professors flinched. Caelum noted it.
Later that night, he would sketch the same looping sigil in his notebook. He'd seen it once before.
Not in the Labyrinth.
In a file marked "Obsidian Subject: Architect."
Later That Day – The Forgotten Alcove
> That evening, long after most students had returned to their dorms and the academy lanterns flickered low, Caelum found Lucien exactly where he expected him to be — curled up beneath the stone arch of an abandoned spellcraft tower, a place no longer mapped on student guides.
They used to call it "Tower Six", back when it hosted failed sigil experiments and unrecorded detentions. Now, it was just Lucien's favorite hiding spot. Quiet, forgotten… like someone else he knew.
---
Caelum sat beside him, arms folded.
When you said Page Six during the Mirror Test… someone reacted."
Lucien didn't look up. "Let me guess. Professor Alther twitched like someone stepped on his spellbook?"
Caelum nodded.
"So. Coincidence?" he asked quietly.
Lucien finally turned, eyes amused.
"In a school where detention rooms move, students vanish during duels, and half the faculty are either spies or fossils?
Yeah, total coincidence."
Caelum shifted tone.
> "And the Headmistress… she's paying too much attention. Why? If Ira and Seraphina didn't retain memories of the Labyrinth, then from her perspective, nothing happened. But she's still watching us."
Lucien smirked. "Curiosity, maybe. Or concern."
Then, with mock drama:
"Or maybe she doesn't remember what happened… and she's terrified she once did."
Caelum leaned closer.
"You know, the Pale Sigil's been quieter than usual. Almost like they're waiting. Or repositioning."
Lucien took a bite out of an over-salted academy biscuit he'd smuggled from the mirror room.
"Maybe they're just reorganizing their cult schedule. You know—Monday's 'Backstabbing for Beginners,' Tuesday's 'How to Recruit Your Roommate Without Them Knowing.'"
Caelum sighed. "Be serious."
Lucien chewed thoughtfully.
> "I am. If they start offering internships, I'm applying with a fake résumé."