The spiral staircase of light descended endlessly into the shadows. Each step hummed under their feet, as though alive, vibrating faintly with a low, rhythmic pulse like the beating of a heart buried deep in the Labyrinth itself. The air grew heavier the further they went, as if they were stepping down into the marrow of time itself.
Kai led the way, his blade still glowing faintly from the battle with the Guardian. He kept glancing at the team behind him, Mira silent and calculating, Juno cracking her knuckles to mask her unease, and Reiss typing furiously on his wrist console as if the constant stream of data might distract him from the oppressive atmosphere.
"Anyone else getting the feeling we just jumped out of the frying pan and into a collapsing black hole?" Juno muttered. "Because I'm pretty sure my ears are popping from sheer existential dread."
Reiss snorted without looking up. "Your ears are popping because we're crossing multiple overlapping dimensional layers. The pressure difference between"
"Yeah, yeah, save the science babble for later," Juno cut him off. "Translation: everything here sucks."
Kai didn't respond. His focus was locked on the faint whispers drifting through the darkness below, voices that seemed to call his name. "Kai… you failed us…" The words were almost inaudible, like echoes of memories he'd buried.
Lyra's voice. Or something pretending to be her.
He clenched his jaw and gripped his sword tightly. "Stay alert. Whatever's waiting for us down there it's not going to give us time to breathe."
The staircase finally opened into a massive circular chamber. The walls were lined with mirrors, hundreds of them, but none reflected the team correctly. Some showed them younger, others older, and in one cracked mirror, Kai saw himself drenched in blood, his eyes glowing with the same golden hue he'd glimpsed earlier in the Fractured Clock.
"Uh, guys?" Juno said, taking a cautious step closer to a mirror that displayed her wearing a military uniform she'd never owned. "Please tell me this is just some creepy décor and not a sign we're all about to get murdered by evil versions of ourselves."
"This place…" Reiss's voice trembled slightly. "It's a Temporal Reflection Chamber. The Labyrinth is showing us every possible version of our lives. Futures. Pasts. Choices we never made."
Kai's reflection leaned closer to the glass, lips curling into a mocking smile. "You think you can save them, Kai? You couldn't even save her."
Kai's stomach twisted. He wanted to smash the mirror, but something told him that would only make things worse.
The air turned icy, and a ripple of black mist swept across the floor. The mirrors darkened. From the centre of the chamber, a figure emerged cloaked in ragged black robes, its face hidden beneath a smooth, featureless mask.
"Welcome," the figure said, its voice distorted, as if layered with a dozen tones at once. "I am Erevos, the Herald of the Architect. You are… not supposed to be here."
Mira's blades were in her hands instantly. "Too bad. We're here anyway."
Erevos tilted its head. "Your arrogance amuses me. I have seen every thread of your timelines, and I know how each of you dies."
"Cool story," Juno muttered, aiming her rifle. "Wanna bet you're wrong?"
The Herald ignored her and fixed its gaze on Kai. "Especially you, Kai. You die not as a hero… but as a monster."
Kai's grip on his sword tightened. He could feel the dark energy within him stirring at the Herald's words, as if it recognised this creature. "We'll see about that."
Without warning, Erevos raised a hand, and the mirrors shattered but instead of falling, the shards floated, spinning like blades. Each shard reflected not their present selves, but alternate versions of them: a broken Mira kneeling in blood, a smiling Juno wearing a general's badge, a Reiss with cybernetic eyes, and Kai… standing alone, drenched in shadows.
"Defend yourselves!" Kai shouted.
The floating shards launched forward like projectiles. Mira whirled through them, slashing fragments out of the air. Juno fired precise shots, shattering reflections before they could slice through the group. Reiss crouched low, raising a temporary barrier field that fizzled under the pressure.
"This isn't just glass!" Reiss yelled. "Each shard is a piece of potential time! If we get hit, it'll"
Too late. A shard grazed Kai's shoulder, and suddenly he wasn't in the chamber anymore. He was back in the moment of The Fall watching Lyra reach out to him, her voice screaming his name as the world collapsed.
"Kai! Move!" Mira's voice yanked him back. He ducked just as another shard flew past where his head had been.
Erevos extended its arms, and the entire room warped. The floor tilted like a spinning carousel, forcing them to fight just to stay on their feet. The Herald's body flickered between forms one moment tall and cloaked, the next shifting into a towering, shadowed version of Kai himself.
"Is that supposed to be me?" Kai spat, slashing at the shadow. His blade connected, but the figure dissolved into mist.
"It's mocking us," Mira said, dodging a flurry of shards. "But every time we hit it, it gets faster."
Reiss was frantically typing. "I think it's feeding off our timeline fractures. The more we doubt ourselves, the stronger it gets!"
"Well, that's great," Juno snapped. "Because nothing about my life screams stable timeline!"
The dark energy inside Kai surged, responding to Erevos like a wild animal. His vision blurred, and every heartbeat echoed like a drum. He could end this. He could obliterate this thing with one swing if he let the darkness in.
Lyra's voice whispered in his head:
"Use it, Kai… you can save me. You can fix everything."
"No!" he shouted aloud, driving his blade into the ground. The shockwave cleared a space around him, but his hands trembled. "I'm not… that thing. I won't be."
"Kai!" Mira called out, her voice sharp. "Stay with us!"
"Reiss! Tell me you've got something!" Juno shouted as she ducked under a spinning shard.
"Working on it!" Reiss yelled. "I need a distraction. Ten seconds!"
"Ten?!" Juno groaned. "Fine. Cover me."
She sprinted across the battlefield, sliding under a wall of mist as Mira's blades cleared a path. Grabbing a pair of time charges from her belt, she planted them on the far wall.
"Erevos!" she shouted. "Do you like reflections? Let's see how you like being shattered!"
She fired at the charges. They exploded, creating a localised distortion that twisted all the shards into one swirling vortex. Erevos hissed, its form flickering violently.
"NOW, REISS!"
"I've got it!" Reiss yelled, slamming his palm on his console. "I'm syncing all our time signatures with the chamber. It'll give us a ten-second window where Erevos can't manipulate our timelines!"
"Ten seconds is all I need," Kai growled.
Silver energy, his own, not the dark kind, surged through him as he dashed forward. Mira moved in tandem, both of them weaving through the collapsing shards. Juno provided cover fire, every bullet striking true.
Kai leapt, blade glowing. "This ends now!"
Time slowed.
For just a heartbeat, Kai saw Erevos's true form: a mass of broken clocks, screaming faces, and the faint imprint of a golden mask that reminded him too much of Ozymandias.
He roared, pouring every ounce of his willpower into the strike. His blade cleaved through the Herald's chest, splitting it down the middle.
Erevos let out a piercing shriek, its voice splitting into a thousand echoes. "The Architect… sees you…"
And then it shattered like glass.
The chamber fell silent. The shards dissolved into motes of light, leaving only the team, breathing heavily in the stillness.
"Is… is it dead?" Juno asked, lowering her rifle.
"For now," Mira said, scanning the room. "But if that thing was a Herald, then the real danger is still ahead."
Reiss's console beeped. "We've got movement in the Core. The next layer of the Labyrinth is opening."
Kai wiped his blade and looked at the door of shadow forming on the far side of the chamber. His chest still burned with the memory of Erevos's words.
You die not as a hero… but as a monster.
As they approached the door, the walls trembled. A voice, deep, resonant, and cold, filled the chamber.
"You've made it far, Kai. But every step you take brings you closer to the truth… and to me."
Kai froze. "Ozymandias."
The voice chuckled. "I wonder… When the time comes, will you destroy the Clock? Or will you use it to undo the one thing you can't forgive yourself for?"
Lyra's face flashed in Kai's mind. His grip tightened on his sword.
"Let's move," Mira said sharply, snapping him out of it. "We can't let it get in our heads."
The team stepped through the shadow door, descending deeper into the Labyrinth. The air grew heavier, the walls closing in with pulsating veins of golden light.
Kai walked at the front, his mind torn between fear and determination. He knew the fight with Erevos was only the beginning.
Somewhere below, Ozymandias, the Architect of Time, was waiting.