The violet light spat them out into separate places.
Kai landed on cracked linoleum that smelled like old takeout and cheap detergent. Dockside apartment—his old one, down to the peeling wallpaper and the leak stain on the ceiling shaped like a crooked heart. He was small again, maybe ten, knees scraped, hiding under the kitchen table while voices yelled in the next room.
Mom's voice, tired and sharp. Debt collectors banging on the door.
A mirror stood in the middle of the room—full-length, framed in chipped wood. His reflection stared back: current Kai, bloodied jacket and all. But the eyes were kid-Kai's. Scared.
The system text hovered, gold and cold.
[First Chamber: Childhood.
Speak the fear you never named.
Time limit: 5 minutes.]
Kai's mouth went dry. "This is bullshit."
The walls creaked. Cracks spiderwebbed across the floor, slow but steady. Penalty starting.
He circled the mirror. No door. No exit. Just the reflection watching him.
Far away—like through thick water—he felt Aria. A tug in his chest, faint but there. She was in her own hell.
The reflection spoke, voice his own but smaller. "You gonna say it, or let the floor eat you?"
Kai laughed, short and ugly. "Fine."
He stepped closer. The glass rippled.
"I was scared," he said, words scraping out. "Scared that if I didn't awaken, I'd always be nothing. Disposable. That one day Mom would look at me and see Dad's mistake. Just another bill she couldn't pay."
The mirror cracked—clean down the middle. Light poured through.
Pain hit his chest, not his—hers. Echoed Sync Strain, like Aria had just taken a hit too.
The room dissolved.
He spilled into a neutral space—gray fog, single door ahead. Aria was already there, back to him, shoulders rigid. Platinum hair loose now, ends brushing her collar.
She didn't turn. "You heard that."
"Yeah." He kept his voice steady. "You heard mine?"
Silence.
Then: "I was eight. Crown took me after my parents died in a Gate collapse. They said I had potential. Trained me twelve hours a day. No friends. No crying." Her voice was flat, but the tether hummed with something raw. "I was scared that if I let anyone close, they'd die too. And it'd be my fault for being weak."
Kai exhaled. The fog between them thinned.
The system chimed, soft.
[Truth acknowledged by both.
Sync Efficiency: 28% → 35%
Stage 1 progress: 19% → 42%
Minor Sync Pulse upgraded → Sync Pulse (voluntary, mid-volume)]
The door ahead glowed. Next chamber.
Aria finally faced him. Eyes red-rimmed, but dry. "Don't say anything."
"Wasn't gonna."
She walked past him, close enough that their arms brushed. The contact sent warmth through the tether—no pain this time.
They stepped through together.
New chamber: bigger, circular, mirrors on every wall. Dozens of reflections—Aria and Kai from every angle, but wrong. In some, Kai was alone, bleeding out in Dockside alleys. In others, Aria stood over graves, face blank.
Center mirror was largest. It showed them older, scarred, standing back-to-back against something huge and shadowy. Winning. Barely.
Text appeared.
[Second Chamber: Future.
Speak the fear you share.]
The mirrors rippled. Reflections started moving on their own—Kai turning away, Aria walking off. Distance growing. Sync Strain building in real time, cold wire tightening.
Aria's hand twitched toward him. Stopped.
Kai felt it first—the shared fear. Obvious now.
He said it. "I'm scared we'll never trust each other enough to make this work. That the bond will kill us slower than any monster."
Aria's voice came quieter. "I'm scared that if I do trust you… I'll lose you anyway. And it'll hurt worse than being alone."
The central mirror shattered outward—glass raining like slow snow.
Pain lanced both their chests. Sync Damage. But the door opened.
They stumbled through, breathing hard.
Third chamber waited: smaller, darker. Single mirror.
This one showed nothing. Just black glass.
Text:
[Final Chamber: Present.
Speak the truth you deny.]
The black glass swirled. Slowly, an image formed—Juno Vale, smiling at Aria like she was his. Then Rook, offering Kai an Ironwake badge. Separate paths. Safe paths.
The tether burned.
Aria stared at the glass. "I could sever this. Find a way. Go back to—"
"Don't." Kai's voice cracked. "Don't say it if you don't mean it."
She looked at him—really looked. "I don't want to."
The words hung there.
The mirror cracked on its own. No big shatter—just a hairline fracture straight through the center.
System text, brighter than before:
[Pruning Trial: Passed.
Stage 1 achieved: Truce.
New skill unlocked: Echo Step (brief teleport to partner within 50m, 1/day).
Warning: Astral Crown monitoring intensified.]
The Domain collapsed.
They spilled back into the Spire's gate chamber—sweating, shaking, alive.
Rook waited outside the containment field, expression unreadable.
Shen stood beside him, tablet glowing with fresh data.
And behind them, Juno Vale—face pale, eyes locked on Aria like she'd just come back from the dead.
He stepped forward.
"They're saying the bond stabilized." His voice was too calm. "That means Crown owns you both now. Permanently."
Aria straightened, hand brushing Kai's—deliberate this time.
Juno noticed. His smile didn't reach his eyes.
"Good," he said. "Because the next trial just got approved. And it's not in a sim."
He turned the tablet so they could see.
A new Rogue Gate alert—red priority.
Location: Dockside Market.
Status: Unstable. Monsters breaching.
Estimated civilian casualties: Rising.
And stamped across the bottom in Crown gold:
MANDATORY DEPLOYMENT: SYNC PAIR 07.
Kai's blood went cold.
Mom worked nights at that market.
(To be continued…)