I try to stand, fingers clawing at my chest as if I can rip the pain out of it. My breath comes in short, broken gasps, each one burning worse than the last. I keep looking at the reflection.
It's gone.
But the image isn't.
Bodies.
Blood.
My friends.
My parents.
The way they were twisted, broken, lifeless burned into my mind like it was carved there. I couldn't handle it. It hurt worse than any wound, worse than any blade or flame ever could.
"Why?" My voice cracks. "Why couldn't I protect them? I don't get it."
I spin slowly, frantic, scanning every surface. The crimson glass walls pulse faintly, dark veins running through them like infected arteries, but the reflection the thing that showed me that nightmare is gone. I force myself to breathe, deep and shaky, though my heart still feels like it's trying to tear itself apart.
I need to move.
I need to find the others.
If I don't… everyone dies.
As I walk, the whispers come back.
At first they're distant. Then louder. Then closer. Layered voices overlapping, crawling into my ears, into my head. I try to shake them off, clenching my jaw, but something feels wrong.
Why am I seeing this?
Is it the Domain?
The monster?
Kurohana?
The tunnel stretches on endlessly, the crystal maze repeating itself in cruel patterns. Every turn looks the same. Right. Another right. Straight. Nothing changes.
"Maya!" My voice echoes uselessly. "Maya! Cameron! Jordan! Anyone!"
No response.
"Damn it."
I kick a jagged piece of stone into the glass wall. It doesn't even crack. The impact rattles up my leg, mocking me.
Just me… or my reflection?
I stop.
"You're useless."
My stomach drops.
The glass shifts. My reflection stares back at me, eyes hollow, mouth twisted into something cruel.
"You can't do anything right."
"I'm imagining you," I mutter, forcing myself to turn away, to keep walking.
But it follows.
Footstep for footstep. Breath for breath.
"No," it says calmly. "This is what you actually think. You don't deserve these powers. You don't deserve to be here. You can't save the world. Look at you."
I glance down at myself.
My shinobi gi clings tightly to my body, the crimson scales layered across the armor pulsing faintly with my heartbeat. The suit fits like a second skin—hardened, living, built for combat. The collar rises high around my neck, the mask resting just above my mouth, hiding what I don't want the world to see.
"You're just a kid wearing armor," the reflection sneers. "A kid who can't save anyone. Maya, Cameron, Jordan… they could already be dead. Shu would be ashamed of you. Your mom would be disappointed. Your dad too. Is that what you want?"
"Stop it!" I shout. "Stop talking."
It doesn't.
"You're trash. That's all you'll ever be."
My legs give out.
I sink to the ground, staring up at the darkening sky above the glass, clouds twisting unnaturally as the light fades.
"What am I supposed to do…?" I whisper.
The whispers press in.
Give up.
Stay here.
Die.
I squeeze my eyes shut.
Then
"Hey."
Jordan's voice. Distant, but sharp.
"I'm not dying here. Not today. Not ever."
My breath stutters.
"Don't worry about it, man," Cameron says, almost laughing like he always does. "We'll figure it out."
My mother's voice follows, steady and warm.
"No matter how hard it gets, you don't stop moving forward."
My dad's voice joins hers.
"You fall, you get back up. That's who you are."
My hands clench.
"William."
Maya.
Her voice is calm. Grounding.
"Breathe. You don't need to rush. Just stay calm. We believe in you."
The whispers falter.
Then Jordan again clearer now. Stronger.
"You don't get to quit. Not on us. Not on yourself."
My eyes snap open.
I push myself to my feet.
"No," I say quietly. Then louder. "I won't."
The reflection recoils.
I grip my sword.
This time, I don't let the flames explode. I focus them. Pull them inward. Tight. Controlled. Burning hot beneath the surface.
"I'm not done."
I step forward.
And scream.
I slash.
Once.
Again.
Again.
The flames surge into the blade, brighter, hotter, screaming with me as if the sword itself understands. The glass fractures—then shatters.
A violent explosion tears through the maze.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
I drop to one knee, gasping as smoke and heat roll past me. The reflection is gone. The crimson glass dulls, its color fading, veins cracking and breaking apart.
Ahead, a new path opens.
Not another corridor.
An opening—leading toward the ocean. Waves crash against a dark shore beneath a warped sky. The maze isn't over. The fear isn't gone.
But there's a way forward.
I rise slowly, exhaustion weighing on every limb, and step toward the sound of the waves.
Somewhere out there, my team is still fighting.
And I'm not letting them face it alone.