The world spiraled.
Voices blurred. Light fractured. A cold presence slid through Elara like ink spreading in water.
"Elara!" Kael's voice echoed as if underwater.
She felt herself falling—until arms caught her. Familiar. Fierce. Trembling.
Kael held her against his chest, breath sharp with panic.
"Elara, stay with me—open your eyes."
But she couldn't.
The cold was everywhere.
A whisper curled into her ear, almost gentle:
"Your bond is beautiful… fragile… perfect."
She choked on a breath. "N–no… no…"
Kael snarled, aura exploding.
"Aren! Pull it out of her mind!"
"I'm trying!" Aren yelled, already kneeling at her side, palms pressed to her temples.
But the Mirror inside her was vibrating violently, like a heart beating out of rhythm.
"It's not attacking," Aren whispered in horror. "It's… introducing itself."
Kael froze.
"What?"
The cold voice slid through again.
"He does not understand you, little healer. Not like I do."
Elara whimpered.
Kael's rage ignited the air.
🔥 The Devourer Shows Its First Face
The temperature dropped instantly.
Frost formed on the council table. Shadows deepened until they looked liquid.
Then—
A silhouette stepped out of nothing.
A tall figure… faceless… made of shifting void.
Like a hole in reality wearing a man's outline.
Several Elders gasped. One collapsed.
Kael shoved Elara behind him, blade drawn, his body vibrating with killing energy.
"Touch her," he growled, "and I END YOU."
The shadow tilted its head as if amused.
"You cannot kill what you do not understand, Mirror-Bound."
Aren stepped between them, shaking. "Get back! She hasn't agreed to anything!"
The shadow didn't even look at him.
Instead, it leaned—though it had no face—toward Elara.
"You see threads," it whispered. "Pieces. But I see the whole weave."
Something in Elara broke open.
She felt the Mirror flare, wild and shaking.
Kael grabbed her waist to steady her.
"Don't look at it," he whispered, voice raw. "Don't answer it."
But the Devourer's voice slithered inside her skull, bypassing sound.
"Your anchor created something new when you touched the titan. A doorway."
Elara's heart stumbled.
"I—I didn't mean—"
"Oh," it purred,
"you meant every step. You seek life. I seek what gives life shape. We are not enemies, Elara."
Kael lunged.
Aren threw up a shield.
"Kael, STOP—!"
Kael's blade passed through the Devourer like smoke.
The shadow didn't even flicker.
"Foolish creature," it murmured. "Your rage is loud. Her clarity is quiet. She is the one who listens."
Elara shook violently.
"No. Stay out. You don't belong here."
"Oh, but I do," it said. "Your Mirror was born from my world."
Every Elder in the chamber gasped.
Seran shouted, "Impossible! The Mirror was forged by the First Healer!"
"And where did she learn the structure?" the Devourer whispered. "Where did she see the threads?"
Elara felt the answer before anyone spoke.
Inside her.
Aren collapsed to his knees. "Elara… you're resonating with it too closely. You need to break eye contact—"
She couldn't.
Something inside her was unraveling.
Understanding too much.
Too fast.
Kael grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to face him.
"Elara. Listen to me—look ONLY at me."
"I—I can't," she choked.
"You CAN," he whispered fiercely. "Because I am anchoring YOU now."
His forehead pressed to hers.
The Mirror flickered in her chest, pulled back from the Devourer's cold grip.
But the shadow only laughed.
"You think you can anchor her alone, Kael Varran? She is tied to TWO. You are not enough."
Aren stiffened.
Kael bared his teeth. "Try me."
The chamber shook.
⚡ The Three Bonds Ignite
Elara suddenly felt Aren's hand on her shoulder—warm, grounding.
"Elara," Aren whispered, "focus on me too. Don't fight the bond—use it."
Something clicked.
The Mirror wasn't a shield.
It was a bridge.
Two soul-bonds lit at once—
Kael's: a wildfire of fury and devotion.
Aren's: steady moonlight, calm but trembling.
Elara gasped as the two energies wrapped around her, weaving into something stronger.
The shadow paused.
"…interesting."
Kael snarled. "Get. Out. Of. Her. Head."
A pulse exploded from Elara's chest.
White-gold light shot outward in a ring.
The Devourer recoiled—the FIRST time it had shown discomfort.
But then…
It laughed.
A slow, delighted sound.
"You are awakening faster than I hoped. Good. I need your Mirror whole."
Kael's eyes widened. "WHY?"
The Devourer whispered:
"Because only Elara can unmake the world I want."
Silence fell like a blade.
Aren's voice cracked. "Un…make?"
"Yes. She has the ability to reverse the collapse. The only one. The Mirror rewrites anything it touches—life, death, boundaries between worlds…"
The shadow leaned closer.
"…but she does not yet understand the cost."
Kael stepped in front of her fully, shield raised, blade glowing red.
"You will never touch her again."
The Devourer tilted its head.
"Touch? Oh, Kael Varran… I already have."
Elara clutched her chest.
The foreign thread inside her pulsed—cold, demanding.
"No—stop—" she gasped.
Kael caught her before she fell.
"Elara, breathe. I've got you—stay with me—"
But the Devourer's whisper curled around her ribs like smoke.
"When your Mirror opens fully, little healer… the first soul it consumes will be your own."
The lanterns shattered.
The chamber plunged into darkness.
When the lights flickered back—
The Devourer was gone.
The room was silent.
Elara was on her knees, gasping, gripping Kael's shirt so tightly her knuckles blanched.
Aren pressed a shaking hand to the floor to steady himself.
Kael looked like a creature carved from wrath and terror.
Seran whispered, barely audible:
"…The prophecy was wrong.
The Devourer doesn't want to destroy her.
It wants her alive."
Kael's voice was a low growl.
"No. It wants her controlled.
And I will burn this entire world before I let that happen."
He lifted Elara into his arms, holding her against his chest as if she were the only thing keeping him alive.
"Elara," he whispered, voice breaking,
"no matter what it said… you are NOT a weapon. You are NOT its vessel. You are mine to protect."
Aren stood slowly, eyes wide with fear and realization.
"Kael… it wasn't lying.
Elara isn't just marked."
He swallowed.
"She's becoming the key."
Elara buried her face in Kael's shoulder, trembling uncontrollably.
Because for the first time—
She felt it too.
The Mirror wasn't waking up.
It was choosing sides.
And she didn't know which one would win.