Year 11 – Late Summer, Blood River Fortress
The Blood River slept beneath a sky of crimson glass. Its current had grown strange since the raid on Khar-Neth—every ripple mirrored Ketsuraku's reflection a thousandfold, each version watching him with patient, silent eyes.
He stood alone in the fortress's lower sanctum, surrounded by spider lilies and the low hum of the river's pulse.The Fragment of the World Tree and the Heart of Nihility burned inside his chest, two opposing forces twisting like stars colliding.
"You've taken much," whispered Ix from the shadows. "Now it's time to give."
Ketsuraku sat cross-legged before the blood-mirror pool. He exhaled slowly, letting Blood Qi and Void Qi coil together.The air thickened, the lilies bending toward him. The pool trembled.
His aura cracked reality.
For a heartbeat, the world stopped.
Meditation of the Void
Within the stillness, he saw his astral clones—each kneeling in formation. The alchemist, the blacksmith, the hunter, the raider. Their souls merged into his like threads returning to a loom.
He spoke softly. "All rivers return to one sea."
Red light spilled from his chest. The reflection of the river rose upward, forming a vertical curtain of living glass.He cut his palm, and blood fell onto its surface.
Where it touched, the mirror bloomed.
Birth of the Realm
A ripple became a gate. Beyond it stretched a vast ocean of mirrors suspended in darkness, illuminated by floating islands of red crystal and silver root. The air itself shimmered with coded runes—the pulse of creation.
Ketsuraku stepped through. His foot met solid light.
Above him unfurled a sky of shifting reflections—his own face fracturing into constellations. Beneath him flowed the Sea of Blood and Glass, endless and calm.
He raised his hands.The Heart of Nihility and the World Fragment resonated, forming a single sphere of red and black flame. When he released it, it soared upward and exploded into branches of mirrored light.
A tree grew there—small at first, its bark made of obsidian glass, veins of crimson coursing through it.Its leaves were mirrors, and from their undersides dripped glowing blood that fed the floating isles below.
"The Reflected Realm," Ix said behind him."A world born of blood and thought. Every desire you cast here will take form—but it will cost you memories to keep them."
Arrival of the Queens
Two new reflections appeared beside him—Rosa and Luminous, their astral projections entering through twin portals.
Rosa whistled. "You've really gone and made your own heaven."Luminous adjusted her gloves, scanning the horizon. "It's unstable, but fertile. We can build anything here—alchemy labs, markets, sanctums. It's pure data in astral form."
Ketsuraku smiled faintly. "Then let's begin."
Rosa struck her dagger into the ground; red code flared, forming a tower of obsidian veins—her Crimson Veil Hall, a spire for her assassins.Luminous drew glyphs of trade; spheres of mirrored glass formed laboratories floating over the sea, each connected by silver bridges.
The realm pulsed brighter with every act of creation.
System Manifestation
[System Update]
New Domain Created – Reflected Realm (Tier I)
Realm Energy: 43% StabilityFunctions Unlocked:
• Domain Forge – Craft Weapons & Potions using Realm Energy• Reflection Market – Trade directly with Mirage Exchange• Memory Vault – Replay stored battles for training
Astral Capacity: 7/7 (Expanded)
Domain Growth Linked to Creator's Will
The Song Across Mirrors
While they worked, Ketsuraku's gaze drifted toward the great mirror-tree at the realm's center.Its roots reached down through the blood-sea, deeper than sight.Something stirred there—music, faint and sad.
He walked to the water's edge. The melody grew clearer, a voice like silver wind and roses after rain.
"Child of reflection," it whispered, "your tree has touched the dying root of another world. Follow the song, and you will find me."
Within the depths of the mirror-sea appeared a vision:A woman standing beneath a broken tree in a land of pale light—an elf of impossible beauty.Her rose-blonde hair flowed like dawnlight, her gray eyes gleamed with sorrow, and upon her head glowed a red crystal crown, petals of living flame circling her temples.
Around her, the forests of Alfheim burned.Yet even as the world collapsed, she sang.
"I am Cartethyia, keeper of the last root.Help me, and the elves shall serve the blood that remembers life."
Her image faded, leaving only ripples of rose-colored light.
Rosa looked at him. "Who was that?"Ketsuraku's crimson eyes glowed. "A goddess… or the echo of one."Luminous folded her arms. "So your world already attracts deities. Try not to marry this one too."
He laughed quietly. "We'll see."
Above them, the mirror-tree's branches spread wider, its leaves reflecting both Cartethyia's song and the distant light of the Aeons.The Reflected Realm pulsed once, alive and waiting.
[System Notification]
Event Triggered – Connection Detected: Realm of Alfheim (Stabilization 8%)
Possible Entity: Divine Signature – Cartethyia, Goddess of Renewal
Quest Unlocked – "The Whisper of Alfheim"
The Blood River beyond the gate shimmered crimson and silver.Ketsuraku stared into its mirrored depths, a faint smile touching his lips.
"A dying goddess calls for help," he murmured. "Then the River Jarl will answer."
And as the reflection swallowed the fortress in red light, the world itself began to hum with the song of the Crimson Crown.