The manor stood still, as if holding its breath. Outside, the clouds parted — revealing a full, blood-red moon.
Aarav stood before the hidden staircase in the wine cellar, the same path that had led him and Maya to the ritual chamber days ago.
But tonight felt different.
He could hear it — the heartbeat of the house. Slow. Heavy. Coming from beneath.
Maya clutched the old Blackthorn grimoire. Her face was pale, her voice firm.
"The last mirror… it's below the altar. The Mirror of the Master. The one Ambrose used to speak to the other side."
Aarav nodded.
"I think it's been waiting for me."
The air thickened as they descended.
Torches lit themselves, one by one, as if expecting them. On the walls, blood-red sigils glowed faintly — the Eye of Thorns, over and over again.
The ritual chamber looked the same — seven pedestals in a circle, six now glowing faint gold. And in the center, the black marble altar.
But something had changed.
The floor beneath the altar now shimmered like a pool of oil.
"Where's the mirror?" Aarav asked.
Maya stepped forward. "You don't look at this mirror. You step into it."
Aarav blinked. "What?"
She nodded grimly. "It's not glass. It's shadow. A soul-trap. It holds Ambrose himself… or what's left of him."
Aarav touched the altar.
The shadows beneath began to rise — liquid and alive — forming a tall, obsidian mirror that reflected nothing but void.
Then — it moved.
A face emerged.
His own.
But older. Twisted. With bleeding eyes and a smile carved too deep.
The mirror spoke in his voice:
"You came to finish what I started."
"I came to end it," Aarav said.
"Then bleed. Offer what I gave you — and the gate shall shut forever."
The altar began to pulse.
Maya grabbed his arm. "Don't listen. That thing is not Ambrose. It's what he became."
The mirror shattered — not outward, but inward — sucking the light from the chamber.
A storm of whispers erupted as the walls cracked and a tall figure emerged from the void.
Ambrose Blackthorn.
Or what remained of him.
His skin was smoke. His robes moved like fire. His eyes were bottomless.
"You freed the others," he hissed. "But I am the gate."
He raised his hand — the room darkened.
Aarav fell to his knees, the pendant burning into his chest.
Maya screamed, casting a protective sigil. But it cracked in her hand.
Then…
Aarav stood.
And walked straight into the mirror.
Inside the void, Aarav saw everything.
The original ritual. The screams. Eleanor's tears. Amara's sacrifice. Lucien's silence. Thorn's madness. The chapel's lies.
And Ambrose.
"Your blood ends the curse," Ambrose said. "But only if given freely."
Aarav nodded. "Then take it."
He bit his thumb and pressed it against the glowing eye symbol in the void.
The darkness screamed.
Aarav collapsed back into Maya's arms.
The mirror was gone. The altar was cracked.
And on the ground, burning in gold, were the final words:
"The Gatekeeper"
All seven mirrors had been found. All seven souls released or sealed.
But as Maya looked at Aarav, she saw something terrifying.
His eyes had changed.
One iris… was black.