In the darkest reflections, your true self waits to be seen — if you dare to look."
Entry One: The Chamber's Chill
The chamber's cold was nothing like the raw bite of the maze.
That was a fierce, wild thing — sharp and immediate, demanding survival by sheer force.
This chill was different. A hollow, creeping cold that seeped through my skin and wrapped tightly around my bones, as if the very air inside was frozen in time. It swallowed me whole, pressing down so heavily I could almost hear my heartbeat hammering in my ears — loud and lonely, like a drum echoing in an empty cavern.
Time itself felt trapped here, frozen and stretched, every second pulled taut until it threatened to snap.
I swallowed the lump rising in my throat, trying to steady my shaking breath.
I thought about Seris's last words — "Trust your shadow, and don't trust the light."
I didn't understand yet. But I clung to them like a lifeline.
The weight of everything from the maze still pressed on me.
The ache of being marked an E-Class, the silent sting of the Rating Stone's cold verdict.
I reminded myself: Trial Two wasn't about muscle or speed or endurance. This one was about choice. About standing face-to-face with your darkest self — the part you might want to hide forever.
But how do you make a choice when you don't even know what lurks beneath your own skin?
I glanced around the chamber.
Others stood like statues, half-swallowed by shadows. Their eyes were sharp, cold — predators sizing me up like I was an unwelcome ghost haunting their territory.
Their gazes cut deep, reminding me how small and misplaced I felt. Like a puzzle piece forced into a box that wasn't mine.
The voice echoed again, clear and sharp — cutting through silence like a blade slicing silk:
"E-Class Elara Vayne. Prepare for Trial Two."
My throat constricted tight enough to choke.
There was no turning back.
Entry Two: The Mirror Room
The heavy stone door groaned open like a beast waking from a long sleep.
The room beyond was wider than I ever imagined — walls lined with mirrors towering higher than even the tallest warriors among us.
But these were no ordinary mirrors.
They shimmered faintly, alive with a subtle pulse, as if breathing shadows lurked trapped beneath the glass.
I stepped inside, and the air thickened — almost suffocating — heavy with whispers slithering through the space like smoke curling around a flame.
The whispers were distant, like secrets spoken just beneath the edge of my mind. I strained to catch the words, but they remained tantalizing and elusive.
Then, through the glass, I saw her.
Or was it just a shadow shaped like a girl?
Her eyes glowed softly — warm and alive — and reminded me of that strange flicker I felt beneath my skin in the maze. Dark, powerful, alive.
She didn't move her lips, but her voice echoed inside my head — clear and soft, certain and familiar — like a forgotten memory waking from a long sleep.
"You're not like them. You're not just an E-Class."
My breath hitched.
I wanted to look away, to deny it — to run.
But my feet were rooted, as if the mirrors themselves had reached inside me and wrapped icy fingers around my ankles.
The words echoed in my mind, stirring something raw and uncomfortable — something I wasn't ready to understand.
Entry Three: Shattered Truths
Without warning, the mirrors shattered.
The sound was deafening — glass exploding in a million shimmering shards that fell like frozen stars to the cold stone floor.
But it wasn't just the noise that made my skin crawl.
The shards twisted and shifted, reforming into dark, flickering shapes — figures with hollow eyes and clawed hands that reached for me in silence.
My heart pounded, adrenaline flooding my veins as I dodged their grasp, stumbling through the chamber like a desperate animal caught in a trap.
Panic clawed at my chest, hotter than any fear I'd known.
One shadowy figure lunged and caught my sleeve.
Its grip was ice-cold — biting through fabric like it wanted to sink straight into my skin.
A whisper hissed in my ear, barely more than a breath:
"The power you hide will either save you or destroy you."
Then, just as suddenly as it came, the figure vanished — slipping away like smoke in the wind.
I was left alone — hands trembling, breath ragged, heart pounding like a trapped bird desperate to escape.
Entry Four: The Name That Echoed
I stumbled out of the chamber, every muscle trembling as I tried to steady the strange warmth pulsing beneath my skin.
It was different now — deeper, more urgent — like a fire threatening to ignite.
Then — a whisper.
A single word slipped into my thoughts, ghostlike and impossible to ignore.
Kael.
I didn't know who he was.
I didn't know if he was friend or foe, memory or premonition.
But his name stirred something inside me — a shadow on the edge of my mind, a thread pulling tight in the dark.
The trial wasn't just about strength or endurance.
It was prying open parts of me I wasn't ready to face.
And I was scared.
But I couldn't turn back.
Entry Five: Faces in the Dark
Back in the common hall, flickering torchlight cast long shadows that twisted like serpents across the stone walls.
I forced myself to look at the others — to see who might stand with me, who would stand against me.
The academy was a crucible of power and ambition, and every face here was a story — some allies, some threats.
Joren's sharp gaze lingered too long, like he smelled something strange about me.
Kael's eyes, cold and calculating, seemed to hold secrets I wasn't ready to unravel.
Lyra and Senna stood near me — steady, loyal — the only anchors I had in this storm.
Entry Six: The Growing Fire
The warmth beneath my skin was growing.
It pulsed like a heartbeat, a secret flame flickering just beneath the surface, daring me to claim it.
I touched my palm, willing the magic to show itself again.
But nothing happened.
No glowing light.
No raging inferno.
Just silence.
The others whispered behind my back, calling me a mistake — a glitch in the system.
But I knew I was waiting for something.
For the moment when my shadow would no longer hide.
Entry Seven: The Bond, Unseen
That name — Kael — wouldn't leave my mind.
I didn't understand why it echoed so clearly, or what tie bound me to him.
But somewhere deep inside, a thread connected us — a bond I couldn't see but could feel pulsing like a quiet storm.
The magic inside me wasn't just mine.
It was ours.
I didn't know what that meant yet.
But I would find out.
Entry Eight: The Truth in Shadows
I held onto Seris's last warning tighter than ever:
Maybe the light was what the others wielded — flashy, bright, and easy to see.
But the shadow was mine — something darker, deeper, far more dangerous.
I was learning to trust that shadow.
Because in the darkest reflections, the truth waits to be seen.