The mist thickened, rippling like a living veil. Lalin, Emma, and Allia found themselves standing before a mirror of water suspended in midair. Its surface shimmered with pale light, reflecting not their present selves—but fragments of their pasts.
A familiar voice echoed within the mist.
"Every heart carries illusions… What you see is what you fear most."
Lalin's reflection shifted. She saw her younger self kneeling beside a lifeless body—her mother's. The air around her thickened with grief.
"Why did you leave me?" she whispered, reaching out, but the image dissolved like smoke.
Emma trembled as her reflection revealed a ruined village engulfed in flames. Screams filled her mind—the memory of the day her people were hunted for their blood. Her knees gave way. "Stop it… please…"
Allia's reflection was the cruelest. She saw herself alone, surrounded by tombs of silver and frost—her people turned to statues beneath the moon. A single tear slipped down her cheek. "Even the gods abandoned us…"
The mist pulsed, feeding on their sorrow. Shadows grew heavier, whispering lies—twisting truth and memory until pain felt like reality.
But Lalin stepped forward, her hand glowing faintly. "This isn't real. It's a trial. Our hearts are stronger than the illusions."
She reached for Emma, then for Allia. Their hands met, and warmth spread between them, pushing back the darkness. The illusions cracked, shattering into motes of light.
When the mist finally cleared, the three stood together, trembling but unbroken.
Allia smiled faintly through her tears. "The second veil has fallen."
Emma nodded. "But two more remain… and they won't be kind."
Lalin looked ahead, her eyes steady. "Then we'll face them together—no matter what the past shows us."
And so, beneath the eternal glow of the Mists, the three girls stepped forward again—toward the next veil, where truth and sacrifice awaited.