Noah once again stood before the stone covered in inscriptions. He hadn't lost his way, nor had anything unexpected happened along the path.
The journey here had been as peaceful as a stroll through a park.
But now, standing in front of the stone, he faced a new problem. He had been staring at it for five minutes, scanning every inch, even using his right eye—but he had found no way to activate it.
"Could it be broken?" he wondered, though he doubted that possibility.
Whoever had created such magic must have been a powerful wizard. It wouldn't be so fragile as to simply break.
That left other explanations.
Had someone come before me? Is this so old its secrets have already been uncovered?
It was possible. Nothing guaranteed that the only way to know this place's secrets was through the tapestry.
Yet Noah doubted that as well. He couldn't explain why, but ever since he had seen the tapestry, he felt connected to this place. Most likely, he just hadn't figured out how to make it work yet.
With a sigh, Noah decided to be less cautious. Stepping forward, he placed his hand on the stone.
The moment he did, a tremor ran through his body. Almost as if a whisper echoed in his ear, he suddenly understood what to do.
"Magic."
He had to pour his magic into the stone.
Noah hesitated for only a second before doing exactly that. His magic fused with the stone, the golden runes lit up, and they began to shift.
The inscriptions spun across the stone, the glow growing stronger and stronger. Noah felt his hand lock in place—no matter how hard he pulled, he couldn't break free.
Before he could think of a way out, everything changed.
In a blinding flash of light, Noah vanished.
The forest returned to its usual silence and shadow, where danger lurked in every corner.
But Noah was far away from there now.
He reappeared in a grand hall, as splendid as a royal palace. A boy materialized in a burst of light, the sound of his body hitting the ground echoing through the chamber.
"Damn it!" Noah cursed.
He hadn't managed to soften his fall with magic. "That hurt." He rubbed his aching backside from the impact.
Being transported like this was unpleasant the first time around. Whether it was losing control of your body or the uncertainty of the destination—both were equally awful.
But there was no time for complaints. He was safe and in one piece, so he needed to understand his situation.
"What is this place?" Noah muttered as he stood, straightening his clothes.
Now with a clear view of his surroundings, he took it all in.
The chamber looked as if it had stepped out of a painting. Massive round pillars stretched up to a ceiling more than thirty meters high. The ceiling was dark as night, but without stars.
Encircling each pillar were inscriptions unlike anything Noah had ever seen—except for the ones on the stone that brought him here.
The floor gleamed silver, polished like a mirror. Noah moved cautiously as he walked, staying alert.
The place seemed empty. He circled it twice, but found nothing unusual—no doors, no objects.
"What did I miss?" he whispered in confusion.
"Revelio." He flicked his hand, but nothing hidden was revealed.
Not that he expected otherwise—he had already used his right eye and found nothing.
Still, Noah sighed and pressed on.
Wasn't this the good part of an adventure? The challenge of exploring the unknown?
"Maybe I can break a wall?" It was worth a try. With a flick of his wand, a ball of fire condensed before him and shot toward the wall.
The flames struck—but nothing happened. No explosion, no cracks. It was as if his magic had no effect at all.
In fact, it was stranger than that.
The wall seemed to absorb his magic.
He launched a whole barrage of fire spells. The hall became a festival of lights.
"Won't break, huh?"
Not a single mark marred the wall.
Noah grinned, lifting his wand upward.
"Guess I'll have to use this after all…"
A small sphere of light formed at the wand's tip.
But before he could continue, something startled him.
"There's no shadow?" he muttered, glancing at his feet.
"No, that's not it…"
He lowered his wand.
He did have a shadow—but no reflection.
The floor was silver, as smooth as a mirror. Noah remembered noticing that when he first arrived. At that time, he had clearly seen his reflection.
So what changed? Why did he have no reflection now?
Not just him—nothing had a reflection.
The pillars had no reflection on the floor either.
Noah turned back to the spot where he had landed.
There, his reflection reappeared.
"Strange…"
He stepped to the side until the reflection vanished again, then repeated it in different directions.
He concluded that his reflection only appeared within two steps of the landing point—as if that spot were the center of a square. Beyond that boundary, nothing reflected.
That didn't give him an answer—but it confirmed the room was hiding something.
And clearly, the mystery of the reflections was the key.
"All right, outside that square, nothing reflects on the floor…" He muttered and almost bit his tongue as a thought struck him.
Lifting his gaze upward, he froze.
There it was—his reflection.
Above him, the ceiling was mirrored as well. But it was different. In the reflection above, the floor wasn't reflective at all—in fact, there seemed to be no floor.
Just a void, black as the densest night.
Even though he felt the solid ground beneath his feet, Noah swallowed hard, gripped by the fear of falling into that abyss.
Shaking his head, he steadied himself.
There was something else in the reflection.
His mirrored self had a glowing right eye.
Noah didn't take long to realize what that meant. Activating his ocular ability, he looked again.
Now, another detail appeared in the reflection.
To his right—footprints. Blue, glowing footprints stretching across the darkness.
He had no doubt what they meant. That was the path forward.
And he had no choice but to follow.
Keeping his eyes fixed upward, Noah walked in sync with the footprints. Oddly enough, even once he stepped outside the square where the floor no longer reflected, the ceiling's reflection remained.
But that was strange too—he was sure he had looked up from this spot before and seen nothing.
"Maybe I needed to start from the right point?" It seemed plausible, but he didn't dwell on it. Instead, he focused on following the glowing steps.
Step by step, Noah moved carefully. It wasn't difficult, though the path was unnecessarily winding.
Like wanting to reach a point to your right—but instead being led meters to the left, circling around until you finally arrived at the same place.
Eventually, the footprints stopped. Noah stood before a door.
The problem was—he didn't remember seeing a door here. And looking straight ahead, there was indeed nothing.
But in the reflection above—there it was.
Trusting it, Noah reached out. His hand grasped something invisible, right where the doorknob should be.
It was bizarre—his hand felt it, even though he touched nothing.
Twisting his wrist, he pulled it open.
And suddenly—before him stood a door.
Already ajar. No handle, no hinges. Just… there.
In truth, he wasn't sure he could even call it a door. It looked more like a veil of blue mist.
Noah hesitated. He glanced up at the reflection—the mirrored version of himself still held the knob.
"Bizarre," he muttered, taking a deep breath before stepping through.
It was like walking into a sheet of liquid glass.
The passage radiated pure magic, squeezing around Noah's body like a sponge wringing itself out.
He felt raw, unfiltered power sink into every pore.
It lasted only seconds.
And then Noah was gone—leaving the first room behind.