Kael's breathing slowed, but his pulse did not.
The relic—Fragment 017—hovered in silence now, its glow dimmed. It had embedded into his second body briefly, only to retreat moments later. As if something was… off.
"You bear the resonance," it said finally. "But… there is an anomaly."
Kael stood slowly, a weight coiling in his chest. "What kind of anomaly?"
"You reflect the Lord's path. But your echoes are blurred. Incomplete. As if someone painted over the truth with memories that do not belong."
Kael's eyes widened—but he said nothing.
"To proceed, you must be purified. Not of corruption, but of confusion."
The ground rumbled. A symbol lit beneath his feet—a spiral of broken lines and stars. The air warped, thickened, then shattered like glass.
And the world changed.
Not darkness. Not illusion. Something more visceral.
Kael found himself standing in a mirror-world, but not one made of light and glass. Everything here was memory—distorted, frayed, stitched together by hands not his own.
The relic's voice echoed once more.
"This is not a test of strength. Not a test of courage. This is the Trial of Reflection. You must walk through the echoes of your life… and find the fractures."
The landscape shifted.
Kael stood in a sunlit village—a place he thought he remembered.
Children ran past. A woman called out a name. His mother? A friend? The memory felt real.
But when Kael turned to face them, their eyes were hollow. Their mouths smiled too wide.
"Kael," they whispered in unison. "You were never really here."
He stepped back. The sky bled red.
He blinked—and now he was in the Academy. The day he was chosen for mana core training. The proud moment where he awoke his gift.
Except… this version of the memory had no faces. Everyone wore masks. The instructors. His classmates. Even himself.
"You don't even know who you are," a masked voice whispered. "None of this belongs to you."
The scene shattered.
Kael fell through light—then landed in a quiet glade. In front of him stood a younger version of himself. Eyes clear. No scars. No second body. Just a boy with wide dreams.
"You're not me," the boy said quietly. "You're what someone wanted me to become."
Kael clenched his fists. "That's not true."
"Isn't it?" the boy asked. "You've forgotten. And worse… you believed what was left behind."
The boy raised his hand—and Kael felt his core pulse violently.
"To ascend, Kael… you must reclaim what was stolen. Or fall like those before you."
Suddenly, flames erupted around the glade. Screams. A burning village. A crumbling tower. Endless echoes rushing at him.
Kael dropped to his knees, hands clutching his head.
Too much.
Too fast.
None of it real—but all of it familiar.
He screamed.
And then—
Silence.
Kael stood again.
And around him was nothing but void.
A single line of light cut across the dark, forming a doorway. The relic's voice returned, calm and hollow.
"You did not break. That is enough—for now."
"Trial passed."
The void peeled away like smoke. Kael awoke, sweating, kneeling on the spire again. His second body hovered beside him, flickering with unstable mana.
But the relic now floated closer—and this time, it didn't hesitate.
"You are fractured… but unyielding. I will follow."
And with that, it embedded into the second body's core—not forcefully, but as if it had always belonged there.
Kael stood tall. Tired, confused, but… a step closer to the truth.
One echo down. A thousand more to go.