The moment Lina recognized the face in the mirror, the air turned to ice.
Jax Enlor stood on the other side of the glass like he belonged there—casual posture, familiar smirk, hands in his pockets like this was just another day of Kai dragging them into trouble.
Except—
his eyes were too calm.
Not scared. Not confused. Not desperate.
As if the Mirror Door wasn't a nightmare—
As if it was home.
"Jax?" Kai rasped, voice shredding into disbelief.
The shadow tugging at him stuttered—like it hesitated.
Lina's flame pulsed hard against her ribs.
Warning.
Reyon's chain rattled as he strained to keep Kai anchored.
"Okay," Reyon said, voice cracking, "that is either Jax… or the academy's most dramatic prank."
Seren didn't move.
She stared at the mirror, shaking.
"I hear… two voices," she whispered. "Jax's voice… and something underneath it."
Kai stepped closer, ignoring the pull on his shadow. The chain yanked him back, metal clanging.
"Jax," he said again, sharper. "What are you doing in there?"
Jax smiled gently.
"Kai." His voice was warm. Familiar. The exact tone he used when he wanted to pull Kai out of his own head.
"I'm saving you."
Kai's expression cracked.
"Saving me from what?"
Jax's smile widened.
"From the seal. From the Council. From the prophecy that wants to make Lina your executioner."
Lina's throat tightened.
It knew too much.
Kai swallowed. "How do you know about—"
"Because," Jax said softly, "I've been watching you for a long time."
Lina felt her flame flicker—gold, then a thread of black.
"No," she whispered. "That's not—"
Kai turned to her. "Lina, that's Jax. That's his face—"
Her voice shook harder.
"Faces don't matter anymore, Kai."
Jax's eyes flicked to Lina—just a fraction too slow.
Like he was studying her.
Evaluating her.
"Hello, Lina Veris," Jax said politely. "The famous Seventh Flame."
Reyon's eyebrows shot up. "Okay, yeah, no. Jax has NEVER been polite."
Jax laughed.
"Reyon." He sounded amused. "Still alive. Still loud."
Reyon's mouth fell open. "This is… creepy. This is deeply creepy."
Seren's hands clenched.
"The echo under his voice is… shadow-coded. Like Veilbound resonance."
Kai's jaw tightened. "Jax—if this is some Veilbound trick—"
Jax raised his hand, palm open, like he was trying to calm a frightened animal.
"Kai, listen. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here because you are running out of time."
The mirror-door tugged again.
Kai's shadow stretched toward Jax like it recognized him.
Kai flinched as pain cut across his chest.
Lina grabbed his arm. "Kai—don't let it pull you!"
Kai's breath shook. "Jax… I don't understand."
Jax's gaze softened.
"You weren't supposed to," he said. "That's the point of cages. They convince the animal it's safe."
The words hit like a slap.
Aetherion Academy wasn't safe.
It was a cage.
Lina's flame hissed in her chest.
Reyon's chain trembled again as the pull increased.
"I'm gonna need everyone to stop having emotional revelations," Reyon groaned, sweat pouring down his face. "This chain is about to divorce reality."
Kai looked at Lina, then at Jax, torn in half.
"Why are you there?" Kai asked again, voice breaking. "If you're my friend—why didn't you come sooner?"
Jax's smile faltered.
For the first time, a crack appeared in his calm.
"Because I wasn't allowed," he whispered.
Seren inhaled sharply.
"That… sounded real."
Lina's flame flared.
But not toward Jax.
Toward the glass.
Because she could feel it now—the Mirror Door's true function.
It wasn't reflecting Jax.
It was… translating.
Showing a version of him shaped by the other side.
Reyon blinked hard, then suddenly lifted his hand.
"Okay. Test time."
He snapped his fingers and launched a tiny illusion—small, harmless, shaped like a paper bird—toward the mirror.
The bird hit the glass—
And didn't bounce.
It vanished inside.
One heartbeat later, something slammed back out of the mirror—
A black shard—fast, sharp, real—aimed straight at Reyon's throat.
Reyon shrieked, dropping.
The shard sliced the air where his head had been.
Kai's Shadowsteel shot out instinctively, pinning the shard to the wall.
It hissed like a living thing.
Everyone froze.
Jax watched calmly from the other side.
"Don't test the glass," he said softly. "It tests back."
Lina's heart hammered.
"That wasn't Jax," she whispered. "Not fully."
Kai's voice cracked. "Jax… why didn't you stop it?"
Jax's expression didn't change.
"Because you need to understand," he said. "This side doesn't play by your rules anymore."
Seren stared at him, trembling.
"The mirror doesn't show who someone is… it shows who they've become."
Jax nodded.
"Yes."
Kai went pale.
"Jax… what did you become?"
Jax's eyes darkened.
Then—very gently—he said:
"I became the only person who can get you out."
The Mirror Door pulsed.
Kai's shadow slid another inch toward it.
Lina grabbed Kai harder.
"No."
Jax's gaze slid to Lina.
"You're holding him like that will save him," he said softly. "But you're the reason he's being pulled."
Lina's breath hitched.
"What?"
Jax's voice sharpened slightly.
"The flame-shadow bond. It made him visible to the Veilbound gate. You tethered him… and now the gate can track him through you."
Kai flinched.
"Lina—"
"I didn't—" Lina choked. "I was saving you—"
"I know," Jax said gently, and that gentleness was worse than cruelty. "But your love is a beacon, Lina. You're lighting him up."
Reyon, still on the floor, muttered, "Romance: the leading cause of supernatural disasters."
Seren whispered, "Jax… why are you helping the Veilbound?"
Jax's eyes flicked to Seren.
"I'm not helping them," he said. "I'm helping Kai."
"By pulling him into a mirror prison?" Reyon snapped.
Jax sighed like they were exhausting him.
"Kai is already in a prison," he said. "The academy. The Council. The vow. The seal. All of it. This gate is the only exit."
Kai's voice shook. "And what happens if I go through?"
Jax's smile returned—slow and deliberate.
"You live."
Lina's stomach dropped.
"And if he stays?" she whispered.
Jax held her gaze through the glass.
"Then he dies," he said softly. "Not today. Not tomorrow. But soon. The seal will choose again. The prophecy will tighten. And the academy will make sure the Seventh Flame's choice is bloody."
Kai's hand trembled in Lina's grasp.
Seren whispered, horrified, "He's telling the truth… but it's twisted."
Reyon looked up, eyes wide. "So what's the catch?"
Jax's eyes glinted.
"There's always a catch," he said.
Then he leaned closer to the glass—so close his breath fogged it from the inside.
And he spoke the sentence that split the room open:
"Let Kai go," Jax murmured, "and I'll tell you the truth about the traitor."
Kai went still.
Lina stopped breathing.
Seren's eyes widened.
Reyon's face drained of color.
Because this wasn't just an offer.
It was a blade.
And Lina realized with sick dread—
If she refuses, Kai might be taken anyway.
But if she agrees…
She might be the one who sends him into the Veilbound.
Jax smiled, voice soft as poison:
"Choose, Lina Veris."
And the Mirror Door pulled hard—
ripping Kai's shadow another inch into the glass.
To be Continued© Kishtika., 2025
All rights reserved.