The air between us buzzed with recognition—and rejection.
The girl who stood across from me looked like me, but she wasn't a reflection. She was a refinement. Her stance was sharper. Her eyes colder. Her presence… controlled.
"Call me Veyra," she said, stepping down from the twisted throne.
I stayed still. Elyra moved behind me. Kael moved in front.
"Why do you look like her?" Elyra asked.
"Because I was designed to," Veyra replied. "Bred from the same line. Grown in shadow. A seed planted in case the original heir failed."
"You're a contingency," Kael muttered.
"No," she corrected. "I'm the weapon your Vault refused to wield."
---
Around the throne, more glyphs began to awaken—this time not from flame, but from voidlight—a magic twisted into silence.
Veyra waved her hand and the chamber responded. Lights danced behind her. Her voice grew louder.
"Centuries ago, the first Vault fractured because its stewards believed in balance. In restraint. They bound themselves to its memory."
She turned to me, smiling.
"But I was never taught to remember. I was taught to claim."
With a flick of her hand, the air cracked—and one of the ancient pillars shattered into dust.
Kael stepped forward, sword drawn. "You can't control it."
"I don't need to," she said. "I've already bent it."
---
Back in the capital, Queen Amelthea stood in the Royal Archives, deep beneath the citadel. Camden had summoned her after decrypting a scroll hidden in the spine of the original royal chronicles.
They unrolled it together.
The parchment was aged but intact. At the center, scrawled in blood, not ink:
> "When the First Heir opens the Vault, beware the Mirror."
"She is the unspoken twin. Not born, but built. If she rises before the kingdom is ready, she will bring flame without mercy… and war without end."
"Only one may bind the Second Seal. Only one may endure."
Amelthea whispered, "A prophecy."
Camden looked up. "A warning."
---
In the Hollow Spire, I faced my shadow.
"You think power will bend to will," I said. "But the Vault doesn't answer to control. It answers to truth."
Veyra tilted her head. "And your truth, Seraphina, is soft. You let the kingdom breathe. I will make it kneel."
She raised her hand again—and this time, the Vault symbols on the floor flared red.
Elyra shouted, "Seraphina, move!"
I didn't.
Because I felt it. The Vault responding to her. Recognizing her as it had once done with me.
But this time… it fought back.
A blast of feedback surged from the ground, throwing Veyra to her knees. She snarled, but her control cracked for just a second.
And in that second, I stepped forward.
"I didn't come to fight you," I said. "I came to choose."
I placed my hand on the broken altar beside her throne—and the flame ignited blue.
Veyra flinched.
Kael stepped to my side. "What just happened?"
I smiled grimly. "It chose me again."
---
Later that night, in the vault-shadowed city, Veyra knelt in a circle of masked figures.
They bore no crests. No titles.
Only scars—and burned crowns.
The tallest among them spoke:
> "The Mirror has touched the flame. It is not enough."
Veyra bowed her head.
> "Then I'll take the rest by force."
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