Elara gasped as her body flew through the glass, but she felt no impact or jarring pain. Only silence. The world around her vanished, replaced by a vast, endless sea of silver mist. The air shimmered slightly, reflecting bits of faces, memories, and moments that didn't belong to her—or maybe they did, buried deep in her mind.
She stood at the center, trembling, her heart racing in her ears. "Where am I?"
A voice responded, soft and familiar. "Inside yourself."
Elara turned quickly. Her reflection stood in front of her—same face, same eyes, same crescent mark—but colder. Her double smiled faintly, eyes glowing with a weak crimson light.
"The Mirror of Moira shows not what you wish to see," the reflection said. "It shows who you really are."
Elara swallowed hard. "You're not me."
The reflection tilted her head. "Aren't I? I'm the part you try to hide. The part that craves the curse."
"That's not true!"
"Oh, it is." The other Elara began to circle her slowly. "Every time you touched his magic, every time you fought for him, you felt it—the rush, the bond, the power. You didn't just fall in love with Kael; you fell in love with the darkness that ties you to him."
Elara's chest tightened. The air grew heavy, thick with the echo of her heartbeat. "I love him, not the curse."
Her reflection halted, eyes shining like liquid fire. "Then prove it."
The ground beneath them split, revealing pieces of her memories—her first spell, the night she saved Kael from the hunters, the moment their heartbeats synchronized under the blood moon. But each memory warped, twisted by shadows until Kael's touch burned and his gaze turned harsh.
"Stop it!" she cried, clutching her head.
"You can't stop what's inside you," her reflection said. "You are becoming the next vessel. That's what the mark means. You don't just have the power to break the curse; you are the curse reborn."
Elara's breath came in ragged gasps. "No… I can't be…"
The reflection's voice softened, almost pitying. "Your grandmother thought she could contain it. She was wrong. And you—" She reached out, touching Elara's chest. "—you have already begun to change."
A sharp pain surged through Elara's body. The crescent mark on her wrist glowed, spreading across her skin in veins of bright red. Her magic pulsed wildly, spilling from her in uncontrollable waves that cracked the mirror realm itself.
"Make it stop!" she screamed.
"Then make your choice," the reflection said calmly. "Accept what you are, or destroy yourself trying to deny it."
The silver mist parted, revealing two paths ahead. One bathed in bright white light, serene and still. The other dark and stormy, with a faint echo of Kael's voice calling from within.
"Elara…"
She turned toward the sound, her heart twisting. His voice—weak, distant, yet real.
"Kael!" she shouted, rushing toward it, but the reflection grabbed her wrist. "If you go to him, you'll lose yourself."
Tears burned in Elara's eyes. "Then so be it."
She broke free and ran straight into the darkness.
The mist around her twisted violently, showing flashes of Kael chained to the altar, his skin marked with runes pulsing in time with her heartbeat. The closer she ran, the stronger the pull became—until the air exploded in a shockwave of red light.
She fell to her knees, gasping. The reflection stood behind her now, its form flickering. "You can't save him without sacrificing something," it whispered. "The curse demands balance."
Elara looked up at the swirling chaos before her—a storm of light and shadow merging together. "Then take it from me," she said, her voice cracking. "Take whatever it wants. Just let him live."
The reflection smiled—a blend of sorrow and strength. "Spoken like the first witch."
The world shattered around her, and Elara was thrown back into her body.
She woke with a gasp, lying on the cold stone floor of the tomb. The mirror was gone, reduced to silver dust floating like ash in the air. Her body ached, her pulse thundered, but she could feel him.
Kael.
Alive.
Somewhere close.
Elara pushed herself up, her mark glowing brighter than ever—not just a crescent moon, but a full one, crimson and fierce. The power inside her had shifted. It wasn't wild anymore. It was awake.
And so was the curse.
She stood up, determination shining in her eyes. "Hold on, Kael," she whispered into the empty air. "I'm coming for you."
The shadows trembled, parting like a path ahead of her—leading deeper into the ruins.
And somewhere beyond the walls, a low growl answered her call.
It wasn't human.
It wasn't Kael.
Not anymore.