> "The first lie ever told was reflection."
— From The Codex of the Abyss
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The halls of the Abyssal Citadel no longer screamed.
For the first time since creation bled, silence ruled the kingdom of darkness.
The flames that once raged across the sky were now gentle embers, drifting like dying stars.
The war was over.
But in the quiet, something began to speak.
Nyxira heard it first.
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She stood before her mirror — a massive wall of living glass forged from divine essence and shadow.
It rippled when she breathed, whispering secrets no one else could hear.
> "Show me the heavens," she said softly.
The mirror obeyed.
Golden clouds appeared, glowing faintly, revealing what remained of Heaven.
Ruins.
Angels turned to ash, cities of light crumbling into dust.
Yet amid the ruin, a single flame still burned — a sphere of divine brilliance, pulsing like a heart.
> "The Core…" Nyxira murmured. "Still alive."
A voice answered — but it wasn't hers.
> "Alive… and waiting."
She froze. The reflection in the mirror smiled — but she hadn't.
Her reflection tilted its head.
> "Do you really believe he created you?" it asked. "Or did you steal existence from what was left of him?"
Nyxira stepped back.
> "You are a lie."
> "No," the mirror whispered. "I am the truth he buried."
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🩸 Scene: The Throne Room
Chaos sat upon his throne of bone and fire, eyes half-closed.
The weight of silence pressed against his mind like chains.
He could still feel Azrath's mark burning through the Abyss — the tremor of rebellion, faint but growing.
> "Father."
Nyxira entered, her voice trembling.
> "You sense it too," Chaos said before she could speak.
She hesitated.
> "Something survived the heavens' fall. A remnant of the Core. It speaks… through my mirror."
Chaos opened his eyes. The air around him shattered.
> "The Core cannot speak. It was sealed."
> "Then explain this."
She lifted her hand. The mirror followed — forming a portal of liquid light. Within it, Chaos saw his own reflection.
But not as he was.
This version of him had no crown.
No eyes of flame.
Only calm, human features — and a faint smile.
The reflection spoke.
> "You cannot kill what you used to be."
The Citadel trembled.
Every flame in the throne room extinguished.
> "Enough." Chaos rose, his voice breaking reality. "I burned the past. I am not bound to it."
But the reflection kept smiling.
> "You are not the future either. You are the loop."
Then the mirror shattered.
The explosion of divine energy sent Nyxira flying back.
Chaos stood, breathing heavily, his power cracking the floor beneath him.
> "Father," Nyxira whispered, "what was that?"
Chaos's eyes glowed faintly — not red, not gold, but gray.
> "Something that should not exist anymore."
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⚡ Scene: The Whisper
That night, as the Citadel slept, the shards of Nyxira's mirror began to move on their own.
Each fragment whispered a different voice — all calling the same name.
> "Azrath…"
"Azrath…"
In the Shadow Warscape, the warrior awoke, drenched in sweat.
The same gray flame burned faintly on his chest, where Chaos had branded him.
He heard the whispers.
He smiled.
> "So it begins," he muttered.
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🌘 Final Scene
In the throne room, Chaos sat alone.
He stared into the emptiness where the mirror once stood.
A faint reflection appeared again — but this time, it wasn't human.
It was himself, wearing the same crimson eyes, the same crown…
and whispering the same word he had never said aloud:
> "Father."
Chaos clenched his fists.
Something was awakening inside his own soul — something older than the Abyss itself.
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⚫ End of Chapter 8