Chapter 22: The Echoes of Fate

The air was thick with an oppressive silence as Eryx and Ophis stepped onto the next floor. They had crossed the threshold of the Veil of Secrets, and though they had defied the future the Tower tried to impose on them, a lingering tension hung between them. The visions they had seen in the mirror still weighed heavily on their minds.

The new floor they entered was vastly different from the others. Gone were the towering spires, the labyrinthine cities, and the grand halls of power. Instead, they found themselves in a desolate wasteland. The ground beneath their feet was cracked and dry, stretching into an endless horizon of barren land. The sky above was a dull, hazy grey, as if the very life had been sucked out of the world.

Eryx scanned the surroundings, his senses alert. There were no immediate signs of danger, but he had learned that in the Tower, the absence of danger was often more unsettling than its presence. Ophis stood beside him, her gaze distant, lost in thought.

"You still thinking about the mirror?" Eryx asked quietly, breaking the silence.

Ophis didn't respond immediately, her eyes tracing the jagged horizon. Finally, she sighed, her voice low. "It's hard not to. What I saw… it wasn't just a possible future. It felt real, like a path I could easily fall into."

Eryx nodded, understanding the weight of her words. "The Tower shows us what it thinks we'll become. But it's just one possibility. We can change that."

"Can we?" Ophis turned to him, her expression serious. "Or are we just delaying the inevitable? The more we climb, the more I feel the Tower trying to shape us, twist us into something we're not."

Eryx met her gaze, his eyes full of determination. "We're not pawns, Ophis. The Tower doesn't control us. We've already defied it by getting this far. We've faced the visions, and we're still standing."

Ophis stared at him for a moment longer, then nodded, though the doubt in her eyes hadn't completely faded. "You're right. We keep moving forward."

As they continued to walk, the landscape began to shift subtly. The cracked earth gave way to patches of strange, twisted vegetation—gnarled trees with blackened bark and vines that seemed to pulse with an unnatural energy. The air grew heavier, laden with a faint metallic taste, as if the world itself was sick.

The silence was unnerving. No wind, no distant cries of creatures, nothing but the sound of their footsteps. It was as if this floor had been abandoned, left to decay.

After what felt like hours, they reached a large, crumbling stone structure that jutted out of the ground like the skeletal remains of a fortress. Its walls were cracked and worn, but it was the only structure they had seen in miles. Eryx approached cautiously, his hand resting on the hilt of his weapon.

"Do you think there's anyone here?" Ophis asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Eryx shook his head. "I don't know. But it's worth checking out. There might be clues about what we're supposed to face on this floor."

They entered the fortress, stepping over the rubble and debris that littered the ground. Inside, the air was cold and stale, the faint smell of dust and decay lingering. The walls were lined with ancient carvings, their meanings long lost to time, but Eryx felt a strange familiarity with them, as if he had seen similar symbols elsewhere in the Tower.

As they ventured deeper into the structure, they came upon a large, circular chamber. At the center of the room stood a massive stone pedestal, and on it, a single object—an ornate mirror, similar to the one they had encountered in the Veil of Secrets, but smaller and more intricately designed.

Eryx's heart skipped a beat at the sight of it. He could feel the same oppressive energy radiating from the mirror, the same sense of fate trying to close in around them.

Ophis stepped forward, her eyes fixed on the mirror. "Another test," she murmured. "But this one feels… different."

Eryx nodded, feeling the weight of the moment. "We need to be careful. The Tower's trying to get into our heads again."

As they stood before the mirror, an eerie silence settled over the chamber. The surface of the mirror rippled, and once again, they saw their reflections—though this time, something was off. Their reflections didn't mimic their movements exactly; they moved independently, as if they had a will of their own.

Eryx tensed, his hand instinctively reaching for his sword. "This isn't like before."

Before he could react, the reflections stepped out of the mirror, solidifying into fully formed versions of Eryx and Ophis. The doppelgängers stood before them, identical in appearance but with an unsettling coldness in their eyes.

"Welcome to the next stage of your journey," Eryx's reflection said, its voice a distorted echo of his own. "This is where you will confront the truth of your existence."

Ophis's reflection smiled darkly. "You cannot escape the fate the Tower has laid out for you. We are your future, and you will become us."

Eryx tightened his grip on his sword, his mind racing. He had faced doppelgängers before, but these were different. They weren't just physical copies—they were manifestations of the futures they had seen in the Veil of Secrets.

"We're not going to let that happen," Eryx said, his voice firm.

The reflections stepped forward, their movements fluid and confident. "You don't have a choice," Ophis's reflection said, her smile widening. "You will fight, and you will climb. But in the end, you will become exactly what the Tower wants you to be."

Without warning, the doppelgängers lunged forward, their weapons flashing in the dim light of the chamber. Eryx barely had time to react, raising his sword to block the strike from his reflection. The impact sent a shockwave through his arms, and he staggered back, gritting his teeth.

Ophis moved with the speed and grace of a shadow, dodging the attack from her reflection and countering with a series of swift strikes. But the doppelgänger matched her move for move, anticipating her attacks as if it knew her every thought.

"They're too strong," Ophis gasped, her breath coming in short bursts. "It's like they know everything we're going to do."

Eryx parried another blow, his mind racing. "They're us. They know how we fight, how we think. We can't beat them by using the same tactics."

The battle raged on, each clash of weapons echoing through the chamber. Eryx could feel his strength waning, the relentless assault from his reflection pushing him to his limits. He had never faced an opponent like this—one who was not only his equal but his exact mirror.

As he fought, a thought occurred to him. The Tower was trying to break them, to force them into becoming what it wanted. But they had already defied it once. They had seen their futures and chosen to fight against them.

This was no different.

Eryx dodged a strike from his reflection and leaped back, his mind racing. "Ophis! We need to change the way we fight. They know our moves, but they don't know what we haven't become yet."

Ophis's eyes widened in realization. "You're right. We need to fight differently—unpredictably."

With renewed determination, they changed their approach. Eryx stopped relying on his usual sword techniques, instead incorporating wild, unorthodox movements into his attacks. He fought with a recklessness that his reflection couldn't anticipate, and slowly, he began to gain the upper hand.

Ophis followed suit, abandoning her calculated strikes for a more chaotic, aggressive style. Her reflection faltered, unable to predict her erratic movements, and for the first time, they gained the upper hand.

With one final, powerful strike, Eryx shattered the sword of his reflection and plunged his own blade into its chest. The doppelgänger's form flickered, then dissolved into nothingness.

Ophis delivered a swift blow to her reflection, and it too disintegrated into the air.

Panting, they stood in the center of the chamber, their hearts pounding. The mirror on the pedestal shattered, its shards scattering across the floor.

"We did it," Eryx said, his voice filled with relief.

Ophis nodded, though her expression remained serious. "For now. But this won't be the last time the Tower tries to test us."

Eryx sheathed his sword and glanced around the chamber, the weight of their journey pressing down on him once more. They had survived this trial, but the Tower's true nature was becoming clearer with each floor they climbed.

It wasn't just a physical challenge. The Tower wanted to break them, to mold them into something they weren't.

But as long as they stood together, they would continue to defy it.

As they left the chamber, the echoes of their battle fading behind them, Eryx felt a renewed sense of purpose. The Tower might try to shape their fate, but he and Ophis would fight for their own future—no matter what the cost.