"Choose, Lina Veris."
Jax's voice from the other side of the mirror sounded almost kind—like he was offering her a seat, not ripping Kai apart.
Kai's shadow stretched again, a dark ribbon being reeled into the glass. Kai's breath came out in a ragged gasp, his hand tightening around Lina's like he could hold himself together through sheer will.
Lina shook her head violently.
"No."
The mirror hummed, amused.
"Then watch him slip."
Reyon's chain clanged as the pull increased. His face was soaked in sweat, jaw clenched so tight the muscles trembled.
"I am one inspirational speech away from passing out," he wheezed. "Can we—like—choose faster?"
Seren didn't look away from the mirror. Her eyes glowed with Soul Echo strain, tears hanging on her lashes like glass.
"It's not just pulling his shadow," she whispered. "It's mapping him. Through Lina. Through their bond."
Lina's chest burned where the Ninth Tear sigil lived. She could feel it like a living brand—responding to Kai's panic, feeding off it, tightening like fate had hands.
"Kai," she whispered, voice shaking. "Tell me what to do."
Kai's gold-lit eyes met hers, raw with fear—but steady.
"Let me go," he said.
Lina's heart stopped.
"No."
"I mean it." His voice cracked. "Lina—if you keep tethering me, it'll keep finding me through you. It'll take you next."
"I don't care—"
"I do," Kai snapped, then softened immediately, because the anger wasn't for her. It was for the helplessness. "I care. I can't—" He swallowed hard as another tug made his shadow jerk. "I can't be the reason you lose yourself."
Lina flinched, because it hit too close.
The cost.
Her flame's price had already started.
She tried to hold onto her thoughts like knives in her hands—tight, desperate—because she could feel them slipping when fear spiked.
"Kai," she whispered, and his name steadied her. "I'm not sending you away."
Jax leaned closer to the glass, face calm, voice softer.
"I'm not asking you to abandon him. I'm asking you to stop pretending your grip is stronger than a gate."
Seren's head jerked up.
"Jax," she said sharply. "Who's under your voice?"
For the first time, Jax hesitated.
Just a flicker.
Like a marionette string tightening.
Then he smiled again—too smooth.
"Seren," he said, "you hear too much."
Seren recoiled as if slapped.
"I hear someone riding you," she whispered. "Someone wearing your sound."
Reyon's chain rattled again, metal groaning.
"Okay, so Jax is haunted too," Reyon panted. "I officially hate this school."
Kai's shadow slid another inch into the mirror.
Kai gasped and doubled slightly, pain flashing across his face like a lightning strike through his ribs.
Lina's flame surged in panic—gold, then a sick thread of black.
"No—no, stop—"
She tried to pull the gold back.
Tried to calm.
Tried to remember the breathing trick Mira used to teach her—
And the moment she reached for Mira's voice in her mind…
Nothing.
Blank.
Lina froze.
Her breath caught.
She couldn't hear Mira's laugh.
Not even the shape of it.
A cold terror crawled up her spine.
"I—" Lina whispered. "I forgot…"
Kai's eyes sharpened. "What did you forget?"
Lina stared at him, horrified.
"I forgot… her voice."
Seren's face crumpled.
"The memory cost is accelerating," she whispered. "Because the Tear is active. Because the gate is pulling on the bond."
Reyon's hands shook.
"Kai—if she keeps using flame, she's going to start losing… big things."
Kai's throat worked. He looked at Lina like she'd been stabbed.
"No," he said quietly. "No. Not because of me."
Lina's eyes burned with tears.
"Kai, don't you dare turn into a martyr right now."
His mouth twitched—a ghost of his usual sarcasm.
"Too late."
Then the mirror tugged again—hard.
Kai's shadow yanked violently, the ribbon nearly snapping.
Reyon screamed, "CHAIN'S FAILING—!"
The metal links began to frost over, white crystals forming as if the mirror was convincing the chain it was brittle.
"Stop thinking it can break!" Seren shouted at Reyon.
"I'M NOT THINKING THAT!" Reyon yelled back. "MY BODY IS THINKING IT!"
Kai's shadow slipped further.
Half his shadow was inside the glass now.
Lina stepped forward, trembling, and something inside her went frighteningly calm.
Not peace.
Decision.
"Kai," she whispered.
He looked at her.
"Whatever you're thinking," he said, voice tight, "don't."
Lina lifted her hand—flame gathering at her fingertips, bright gold and painfully pure.
"I'm not losing you," she said. "But I'm also not losing myself."
Kai's eyes widened.
"What are you—"
Lina pressed her palm to his chest, directly over the Oathbreaker seal.
Kai jerked at the contact, shadow and gold flaring.
The sigil over Lina's heart answered—glowing hot.
A thin ribbon of gold flame peeled from her palm like silk.
It wrapped around Kai's wrist—once, twice—forming a delicate band that pulsed with heat.
A tether.
A mark.
Seren gasped.
"She marked him."
Reyon choked. "Like… magical tracking?"
Lina's voice shook, but she didn't stop.
"So I can find you," she whispered to Kai. "Even if you're taken. Even if my memory tries to betray me."
Kai stared at the flame-band around his wrist like it was a promise and a curse.
"Lina…"
Her breath trembled.
"Now listen carefully," she whispered. "If I let go… it's not because I'm choosing the gate. It's because I'm choosing you coming back."
Kai's eyes filled with something raw.
"You're insane."
"I know," Lina whispered. "But you like me like that."
A broken laugh tore from Reyon's throat.
"ROMANCE. DURING SHADOW EXTRACTION. ICONIC."
Kai's gaze didn't leave Lina.
"If you let go," he whispered, voice cracking, "promise me you won't follow without thinking."
Lina swallowed hard.
"I can't promise that."
Kai's hand tightened around hers.
"Lina—"
"I love you," she whispered, like ripping the last shield off her chest. "So I'm going to do the scariest thing possible."
Kai went still.
The mirror pulsed—hungry.
Lina released Kai's hand.
For half a heartbeat, everything paused.
Then the Mirror Door yanked.
Kai's shadow ripped free like cloth tearing, and Kai staggered forward, dragged by something that didn't need chains.
"KAI!" Lina screamed, lunging—
—but Seren grabbed her.
"Lina, no—!"
Kai looked back over his shoulder, face strained, eyes shining gold.
"Remember me," he said hoarsely. "Even if the flame—"
The mirror swallowed his words.
Jax leaned closer on the other side, catching Kai's shadow like it belonged to him.
Kai's body followed—one step, then another—pulled toward the glass.
Lina's flame tether around his wrist burned brighter, shaking like it was resisting.
"STOP!" Lina screamed at the mirror. "GIVE HIM BACK!"
Jax's face softened—almost pitying.
"You want the truth?" he murmured. "Fine."
Lina's blood turned to ice.
"Who is the traitor?" she demanded, shaking. "Who?!"
Jax's lips formed the name with deliberate care—like he wanted it to hurt.
"Mira Sun."
Lina stopped breathing.
The room went silent.
Even the mirrors seemed to hold their breath.
Seren's face went white.
Reyon's eyes widened in horrified disbelief.
"Kai—" Lina whispered, voice breaking, "no—no, that's not—"
Kai's gaze snapped to her, shock and pain colliding.
"Mira?" he rasped.
Jax smiled faintly.
"She did it to save you," he whispered.
And then the Mirror Door surged—
pulling Kai through the glass.
His body vanished into the mirror like he was swallowed by water.
The last thing Lina saw was the gold flame-band on his wrist—
and the way it snapped taut, as if it was still connected to her heart.
Then the mirror sealed shut.
Lina screamed his name—
and the Mirror Library answered by turning every mirror toward her…
each one reflecting Mira's face.
Smiling.
Wrong.
To be Continued© Kishtika., 2025
All rights reserved.