The air within the dome turned cold — unnaturally so. What once shimmered like playful light now rippled like blood beneath glass. The mirrored corridors twisted, reflecting faces that weren't quite theirs. Every footstep echoed twice — once real, once from somewhere behind them.
Garrick spun around, voice shaky but trying to sound confident. "Okay, so… illusion maze, right? Just mirrors and mana tricks?"
"Then why does it smell like iron?" Selene whispered, her hand glowing faintly as she drew her staff. The reflection of her movement lagged a breath too long, then copied it backward, smiling with eyes that weren't hers.
"Stay close," Ash said firmly. His eyes swept the warped reflections, his second circle flaring faintly beneath his skin — lines of sapphire light dancing across his arms. "The Codex says this place is alive."
The Codex pulsed against his chest, its ancient voice threading through his thoughts like a quiet current:Illusions do not lie. They reveal.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he muttered aloud.
Caius stepped forward, his expression cold, argent eyes scanning the crimson glow bleeding from the mirrors. "It means this isn't about confusing us," he said. "It's about breaking us."
The path forked ahead — two corridors spiraling in opposite directions. Both looked identical, both humming with quiet menace. Selene glanced between them, biting her lip. "Which way?"
Ash closed his eyes for a moment, focusing on the pulse of mana. His senses brushed against something — a faint rhythm beneath the distortion. "Left," he said. "The flow's stronger there."
Garrick frowned. "You can feel that?"
Ash's reply was quiet. "I can now."
They pressed on, boots clicking softly against the mirrored floor. With each step, the reflections became stranger — walls now showing fragments of memory rather than faces. Ash glimpsed a flicker of his younger self scavenging through the slums, the hunger in his eyes sharper than any blade. Selene's mirror showed her standing in a grand hall, nobles bowing — her smile brittle, her eyes empty. Garrick's reflection looked older, shoulders hunched, laughter gone. And Caius — his was the most haunting.
From the glass, a monstrous silhouette loomed behind him — eight serpent heads writhing in silence, each eye gleaming with molten silver.
Caius froze, breath catching. "Naga Moros…" he whispered.
The reflection turned its heads, each one sneering in a different voice. You call yourself Serpentis, and yet you cower from your blood.
Caius's jaw clenched, veins of dark energy flickering briefly beneath his skin. Ash stepped forward, gripping his arm. "Ignore it. It's not real."
Caius's silver eyes snapped to him, anger and fear warring beneath the surface. "It is real, Vale. That's the problem."
The mirror hissed — a sound like a thousand serpents. The floor beneath them cracked, rippling outward as the reflections shattered into crimson mist. Suddenly, the corridor stretched infinitely in both directions, and shadows began to crawl along the walls.
Selene gasped. "We're being split apart!"
Before they could react, the ground shifted like liquid. In an instant, the group was torn away from each other, each swallowed by a different section of the labyrinth.
Ash hit the floor hard, breath leaving him in a gasp. The corridor around him was silent now, his reflection gone. Only the faint whisper of the Codex remained, steady as a heartbeat.
You are not alone, it murmured. You carry me. Focus. Observe. Adapt.
Ash stood, hands glowing faintly with blue mana. "Alright then," he whispered, steadying his breath. "Show me the way."
The mirrors around him began to hum, faint glyphs appearing across their surfaces — symbols older than the language of the Empire. His second circle flared, responding instinctively. He pressed his palm to one of the glowing symbols.
In an instant, the world around him changed.
The corridor melted into a vast hall of mirrored pillars, each one reflecting a different version of himself — laughing, crying, angry, terrified. He took a step forward and they all moved, perfectly synchronized. But when he reached the center, one reflection didn't.
It smiled.
Ash froze.
The reflection stepped out of the mirror — identical in every way, yet its eyes burned gold. "You hesitate," it said softly, voice layered with power. "You fear what lies within. The Archstrategos feared the same once."
"I'm not him," Ash hissed.
"But you will be."
It lunged, palm glowing with the same mana signature as his. Their spells collided, rippling the mirrored floor like water. Waves of azure light burst outward, reflecting endlessly between the pillars. Ash ducked under a searing beam of mana, countering with a pulse from his circle that shattered the nearest reflection.
But every time he struck one, another appeared. Dozens now — each smirking, each speaking in his voice.
"You can't fight yourself forever," one whispered."Every victory becomes arrogance," said another."Every kindness becomes weakness," hissed a third.
Ash's breath quickened, his mana flaring dangerously. Codex… help me.
Calm, came the ancient reply. The reflection feeds on emotion. You are its source — cut it off.
He closed his eyes, forcing his breath to slow. The noise dulled, the taunting voices fading to whispers. Then, in one precise motion, he released his mana outward — not as attack, but as a pulse of clarity. The mirrors around him shattered in unison, the reflections dissolving into silver dust.
The hall vanished.
He stood again in the crimson corridor — and heard distant echoes. Garrick shouting. Selene's voice crying his name.
He ran.
Elsewhere, Garrick stumbled through a twisting passage, muttering curses. "Bloody mirrors — I liked it better when the worst thing I saw in the morning was my bedhead." He stopped when a whisper echoed beside him — his own voice saying, "You'll never keep up with them. You're just a fool in their shadow."
Garrick paused, frowning. "Well, you're not wrong," he said aloud, forcing a grin. "But at least I'm the best-looking fool here." He pushed forward, laughter echoing defiantly — and for a moment, the mirror hissed and cracked as if his sheer stubbornness offended it.
Selene, meanwhile, knelt in a vast mirrored glade where illusory flowers bloomed in glass petals. Her reflection appeared regal, distant, a crown upon her brow. "You could have ruled," it whispered. "Why waste yourself with them?"
Her lips trembled. "Because they make me feel human."
The reflection sneered. "Humans are fragile."
She raised her staff. "Then I'll cherish that fragility." Light burst from her circle, pure and white, shattering the illusion.
Caius faced his own storm. The serpents of Naga Moros circled him in mirrored fire, voices echoing in a chorus of judgment. "Weak heir," they hissed. "Your ancestor devoured gods. You barely survived a duel."
He clenched his fists, scales of shadow crawling across his arms as his bloodline answered. "Maybe I'm not him," he growled. "But I'll earn my strength — not inherit it." His circle burned silver, flaring brighter until the serpents recoiled and the glass around him split like cracking stone.
One by one, the corridors began to converge — the mirrored walls breaking down into streams of light, guiding them toward the center. The four of them emerged, battered, pale, but alive.
Selene's voice was shaky. "What was that?"
Ash looked around, eyes narrowing. "A test."
Caius wiped blood from his lip. "No. A warning."
The Codex's voice echoed faintly in Ash's mind — low and grim.He who toys with mirrors may one day drown in them.
A pulse of mana tore through the dome, and in a flash of light, they were ejected back into the festival square. The crowd gasped as the crystal maze shattered behind them into a rain of harmless shards.
Darius stood among the spectators, his smile faltering as Ash's gaze locked onto his.
For the first time, it wasn't a look of defiance — it was calm, composed, and deeply unsettling.
Ash stepped forward slowly, brushing the dust from his shoulders. "Nice trick," he said quietly. "You'll have to try harder next time."
Darius's smirk twitched, his crimson eyes narrowing. But before he could reply, Caius placed a hand on Ash's shoulder, his silver eyes flashing warning. "Not here," he muttered.
Ash nodded, letting it drop.
But as they walked away, Selene glanced back at the shattered dome, the crimson shards glinting under the lantern light. "He won't stop, will he?" she whispered.
"No," Caius said softly. "And next time, he won't play with illusions."
The festival continued around them — laughter, music, color — but beneath it all, a quiet unease settled like shadow beneath the sun.
And somewhere in the depths of the academy, in chambers lined with mirrors and roses, Darius Redthorne watched them go — his reflection in the glass smiling long after he did not.