The morning after the star returned, the world felt quieter — as if it, too, had taken a long, peaceful breath.The silver sky began to fade into soft blue, and sunlight kissed the fields again.
Kael, Lira, and Seren continued walking, following an old stone road that led east.Birds began to sing — the first they had heard in days.Lira smiled softly. "Do you think the world is healing?"
Kael looked toward the horizon. "Maybe. Or maybe it's just remembering how to breathe."
Seren grunted. "Either way, I'll take it. I'm tired of miracles that come with nightmares."
They walked until they saw a great wall of shimmering glass in the distance.It sparkled under the sunlight, reflecting the land like a mirror.Beyond it stood a city — shining, but strangely empty.
A faint wind carried a whisper: "Enter, if you wish to meet the lives you left behind."
As they passed through the gate, the air grew heavy.Buildings here were made of crystal and light, each reflecting dozens of ghostly shapes.At first, Kael thought they were shadows — but soon realized they were people.Each figure moved inside the reflections, repeating fragments of old lives.
One version of Kael sat on a bench, laughing beside a woman he didn't know.Another walked through a burning street, carrying a fallen friend.Another stood before a throne, crown on his head, face cold as stone.
Lira froze beside a window. Inside its reflection, she saw herself — older, her hair white, standing alone in a garden.She reached out a trembling hand to touch the glass, but her reflection whispered first:
"You never stopped waiting for him."
Lira stepped back, heart racing. "That can't be me…"
Kael turned toward her gently. "These are echoes — pieces of what could have been. Not what must be."
Seren, too, stared at a mirror showing him as a warlord, eyes filled with fire.He clenched his fists. "I swore I'd never become that man."
Kael's voice was calm. "Then you won't. Reflection doesn't mean destiny."
As they walked deeper into the city, Kael began to hear whispers following him — soft, like a song under the wind.The words came from his own reflections:
"You left us behind.""You promised peace, then vanished into light.""You burned everything, then wept for the ashes."
Kael's steps slowed. He could feel their weight pressing on his chest.Each voice was familiar — part of his past, part of his soul.
He stopped before a tall mirror that shimmered brighter than the rest.Inside, he saw himself kneeling in a temple of stars, his hands glowing, his face calm but empty.It was a version of him that had given everything to bring balance — and lost all feeling in the process.
Kael whispered, "Is that what I was?"
The reflection looked up and answered softly, "No. It's what you might become again, if you keep carrying guilt instead of grace."
The words struck him like thunder.He pressed his hand against the glass. It was warm — like skin.
"Then what am I supposed to do?" he whispered.
The reflection smiled faintly. "Listen."
The glass rippled, and suddenly Kael was surrounded by visions — the mountain, the sleepless sky, the glowing child, the star's return.Through it all, he heard his own voice — quiet, uncertain, human.
"Maybe I'm not meant to be a savior. Maybe I'm just meant to remember."
And in that moment, the city began to change.
The reflections around them flickered, their lights dimming.The people in the mirrors turned toward Kael — hundreds of versions of him, bowing their heads.
Lira and Seren stepped back in awe as the sound of thousands of heartbeats filled the air.Then, one by one, the mirrored figures spoke in unison:
"Remember us not as mistakes, but as lessons."
Kael closed his eyes. He felt warmth flood through him — sadness, love, hope, regret — all blending together.For the first time, he didn't push any of it away.He let every feeling pass through him like waves through sand.
When he opened his eyes again, the city's glass walls had turned to water.The reflections melted into ripples that drifted upward like silver dust, returning to the sky.
Lira exhaled shakily. "They're gone."
Kael nodded. "No. They're free."
Seren looked around. "Free from what?"
Kael smiled gently. "From being trapped in the past."
Lira studied his face. "And you?"
He looked up, watching the dust vanish into clouds."Maybe I'm learning to forgive the man I used to be."
For a while, no one spoke.The wind carried the sound of distant chimes, like laughter from another world.
As they reached the city's edge, a single crystal shard floated down from the sky and landed in Kael's palm.Inside it shimmered a faint image — three figures standing together under a starlit sky.Himself, Lira, and Seren — older, but smiling.
He closed his hand around it.Maybe it was a promise, or maybe just a dream that had found its way back.
Either way, it made his heart lighter.
That night, as they camped outside the fallen city, Kael wrote something quietly in the dirt with his finger:
"The past isn't something you leave behind.It's the light that follows you home."
Lira smiled as she read it."That sounds like something the stars would say."
Kael chuckled softly. "Maybe they already did."
Above them, the sky shimmered — now full of stars again, faint but growing stronger with each passing breath.