Within the stone and shadow deep,
Where light retreats and secrets sleep,
A soul must stand where none have passed-
To break the chains that bind the past.
The moment Jake stepped into the Sanctum, the air shifted-thick with dust and silence. The flickering torchlight from Elira's hand threw dancing shadows across the crumbling walls, each one seeming to lean closer, to listen.
They descended a spiral staircase carved straight into the rock, every step echoing like a distant heartbeat. The deeper they went, the louder the pendant hummed, resonating like it knew this place.
"Elira," Jake said, voice barely above a whisper, "what if I fail the test?"
She didn't turn. "You won't."
"You don't know that."
"I do." She stopped at the base of the stairs and turned to face him. "Because if you weren't meant to face it... the Sanctum wouldn't have opened for you."
A low rumble spread through the stone beneath their feet, and a large circular door before them slowly slid open, revealing a wide chamber bathed in an unnatural blue glow.
In the center hovered a mirror-tall, ancient, framed in roots of petrified silver. But the reflection wasn't Jake's.
It was... someone else.
Someone who looked like him-same face, same eyes-but twisted. Older. Cruel.
Elira took a step back. "This is the Trial of Self."
Jake's throat tightened. "That's... me?"
The figure in the mirror smiled. "Not quite," it said. "I'm who you could become... if you fail."
"What's the definition of fail?" Jake asked himself or Jake 2 (as he called him in his mind)
The older Jake laughed so hard that his shoulders shook and then he stopped abruptly and said"I never knew I was this funny"
Jake flinched at the sound of the laugh-it echoed around the chamber like a mockery, like it had nowhere else to go but back into his bones. His reflection, this... Jake 2, stepped closer to the glass from the inside. The glow of the chamber flickered with his movement.
"Fail?" the older version repeated, grinning like he knew a secret Jake wasn't ready for. "Failing means giving in. Letting them control you. Letting her control you."
His eyes flicked toward Elira, who remained silent by the door, her face unreadable.
Jake frowned. "She's helping me."
"Helping?" Jake 2 sneered. "You think this is help? You're being led by the nose, Ashix. They've always been afraid of you. Even your parents. That's why they bound your wrist, why they locked away your memories. Not to protect you-but to control you."
Jake's grip on the pendant tightened. "You're lying."
"I'm you, remember?" Jake 2 said, tapping the glass. "The version that stopped pretending. The version that embraced the truth. You think you're strong? I've seen what you hide in the dark when you close your eyes. I am that darkness."
The glass between them began to crack-not shatter, just fracture like thin ice-as if reality itself was testing its boundary.
Jake felt his legs go weak. The pendant pulsed faster now, but it was reacting to both Jakes.
Elira finally spoke. "Don't argue with him. He's not real. He's the fear you haven't named yet."
Jake looked up, eyes locked with his darker self.
"But what if the fear is real?" he whispered.
Jake 2 smiled wider than before. "Then maybe I should be the one in charge."
The mirror groaned.
The cracks widened.
And suddenly, Jake 2 stepped through.
The air snapped like lightning as Jake 2 crossed the threshold.
He wasn't just a reflection anymore-he had weight, presence. His boots struck the stone floor with a sharp echo. The chamber dimmed, as if the shadows bent themselves toward him.
Jake stumbled backward, instinctively raising his hand, the pendant flaring with golden light-but Jake 2 only laughed.
"Still clinging to borrowed power?" he said. "You don't even know how to use it. You're afraid of what it might make you."
Jake's heart pounded. He could feel the pendant pulling at something inside him-like a door trying to open. But behind that door... rage. Grief. Power. Everything he'd suppressed for years.
"You're not real," Jake said, stepping forward. "You're just a test."
Jake 2 smirked. "Then pass me."
With a flash of motion, Jake 2 lunged.
Jake barely blocked in time-his pendant flared, forming a thin golden shield on his forearm. Sparks flew as Jake 2's blade-now conjured from black, glass-like energy-slammed into it.
The force threw Jake back across the chamber. He hit the wall hard, gasping.
Elira stepped forward, her hands raised, but the chamber shimmered with a seal-she couldn't intervene.
"It has to be you, Jake," she called out. "You have to own who you are. Light and shadow!"
Jake groaned, pulling himself up.
Jake 2 stalked toward him, blade spinning.
"You think you're special?" the double spat. "You're a scared little boy pretending to be a hero."
Jake clenched his jaw.
"No," he whispered, eyes starting to glow-like molten fire.
"I'm not pretending anymore."
The pendant exploded with light-no longer golden, but white-hot like a star being born.
Jake stood tall, and when Jake 2 swung again, he caught the blade mid-air with his bare hand. The black glass hissed and cracked under his grip.
"You are part of me," Jake said, voice steady. "But you don't get to lead."
He pulled Jake 2 forward and slammed his forehead into his double's.
For a moment-they both froze.
And then Jake 2 dissolved-no scream, no burst of flame. Just light... folding inward.
The chamber grew silent.
Jake stood alone.
Elira stepped through the barrier as it faded. "You did it."
Jake looked at his hands-still glowing faintly.
"No," he said. "I became it."