The world was breaking again.
Kael could feel it in the way the air trembled — as if every breath he took was rearranging the sky.
Ever since the mirror incident, reality had become unstable. The streets of Arkanveil twisted upon themselves, buildings bending like reflections on rippling water.
He had thought the reflection — his other self — was gone, but echoes of that encounter haunted every step.
When he walked, his shadow moved half a second late.
When he blinked, the world blinked back.
---
"Kael," a voice called from the fog — soft, deliberate, almost mechanical.
He turned sharply.
A tall figure stood at the edge of a collapsing archway, cloaked in white with symbols running down its sleeves. Its face was hidden behind a mirrored mask that reflected Kael's own terrified expression.
"Who are you?" Kael demanded.
The figure tilted its head slightly. "I am called The Architect," it said, its voice echoing like dozens of layered tones. "You built this world… but you've forgotten how."
Kael frowned. "I didn't build anything. I just woke up here."
The Architect stepped closer, and the ground beneath them shifted like liquid glass.
"No one wakes up here by accident," it replied. "Arkanveil exists inside your mind — shaped by your memories, sustained by your guilt."
Kael took a step back. "My guilt?"
The Architect raised a single finger. The air shimmered — and suddenly Kael saw flashes of his old life:
A broken classroom window.
A girl's hand slipping from his grip.
Screams.
Then — silence.
He fell to his knees, clutching his head. "Stop it!"
The visions faded, leaving behind only the echo of his own heartbeat.
The Architect's tone softened. "Every coma has an architect, Kael. A mind that designs its own prison. You built this world to escape the truth. But the longer you stay, the more real it becomes."
---
Kael looked around — the academy's towers in the distance, the glowing runes across the sky.
"Then what about the other me? The reflection that escaped?"
The Architect's mirrored mask rippled.
"That was your anchor. The version of you that refused to sleep. It took your place in the waking world."
Kael's chest tightened. "You mean… he's alive?"
"Alive," the Architect said slowly, "but not you anymore. He carries your memories, but none of your restraint. He believes he's the real Kael — and he's rewriting reality around him."
Kael's voice trembled. "How do I stop him?"
The Architect gestured toward the horizon, where the sky began to tear open like cracked glass.
"Every world has a core — the Nexus. If you reach it, you can reclaim control. But the path will test everything you've buried."
Kael stood, wiping blood from his lip. "Where is it?"
The Architect pointed upward — toward a massive floating structure suspended in the storming clouds, pulsating with veins of blue light. It looked alive, like a beating heart made of stone.
"That," said the Architect, "is the Mind's Heart. Reach it before your reflection does, or both worlds will collapse."
---
Kael began to walk, but something in the Architect's tone made him stop.
"Why are you helping me?"
For a moment, silence. Then the mask rippled again, and Kael's own reflection appeared on it — but this time, older, sadder.
"Because," said the Architect quietly, "I was once a traveler too."
Before Kael could speak, the Architect's body dissolved into fragments of light that drifted upward like fireflies, vanishing into the clouds.
---
Hours — or maybe minutes — passed as Kael climbed the fractured roads leading to the floating structure. The sky screamed with thunder. Shards of memories flickered in the air — voices, laughter, the sound of a heartbeat monitor.
At one point, he saw a younger version of himself sitting beside a hospital bed, whispering:
> "I'll fix it this time… I promise."
He tried to touch the vision, but it shattered into dust.
The closer he got to the Nexus, the heavier the air became. Every step pulled him deeper into flashes of his own subconscious.
The faces of people he had forgotten — friends, teachers, a girl with golden hair.
Her eyes haunted him. He still couldn't remember her name.
---
Finally, he reached a floating bridge made of glass veins that led directly into the Nexus. Lightning coiled around it like living snakes.
"Almost there…" Kael whispered.
But as he stepped onto the bridge, the world screamed — and from the clouds descended his reflection.
Now fully formed, his doppelgänger wore Kael's face but with eyes glowing pale blue.
"So," the reflection said with a smirk, "you made it further than I thought."
Kael drew a breath, steadying himself. "You don't belong here."
The reflection laughed. "Neither do you. This world was never yours — it was mine all along."
They circled each other as lightning cracked around them. The reflection's movements mirrored Kael's perfectly.
Kael shouted over the thunder, "Why are you doing this?!"
The reflection's smile faded into something almost human.
"Because I remember what you forgot. She died because of you."
Kael froze. His heart pounded. "That's not true—"
The reflection raised a hand — the world flickered — and suddenly Kael was standing in a burning classroom. The girl with golden hair was trapped behind glass, reaching out.
Kael reached for her — but his reflection held him back.
"You left her," it hissed. "You saved yourself."
"No…" Kael whispered, tears cutting through the ash on his face. "I tried—"
"Then prove it," said the reflection coldly. "Climb the Nexus. Face the Architect's truth. Or I'll end both of us."
Before Kael could respond, the reflection vanished into the light of the Nexus, leaving only a trail of energy behind.
---
Kael stood trembling on the glass bridge, staring into the storm.
For the first time, he wasn't sure if he was fighting to wake up — or to stay asleep.
The Architect's voice echoed faintly through the thunder:
> "Every world must end where it began."
Kael looked up at the Nexus — a heart pulsing like a dying sun — and whispered,
> "Then I'll find the beginning… even if it kills me."
He took a step forward, lightning flashing across his face, and began his climb toward the truth.