The Broken Reflection

Leon fell.

Again.

The sensation should have been familiar by now—plunging into nothingness, weightless, directionless. But this time, something was different.

This wasn't an uncontrolled fall into the abyss. Something was pulling him.

The void around him twisted, shifting like torn silk unraveling in slow motion. Shapes flickered past—fragments of worlds, echoes of realities lost in time.

Leon caught glimpses of them, each one appearing for only a second before dissolving:

A massive city suspended upside down, its skyscrapers hanging over an ocean of swirling silver.

A battlefield frozen in time, soldiers locked mid-motion, expressions of agony and terror permanently etched on their faces.

A colossal machine, its gears grinding against the very fabric of reality, sparking raw energy that bled into the air.

Leon barely had time to process what he was seeing before the force around him shifted violently.

Gravity changed.

His stomach lurched as his body angled downward, yanked toward an unseen destination.

Then—

Impact.

The collision rattled his bones.

Leon's body slammed into the surface, skidding across it before rolling to a stop. Pain burst through his ribs, his lungs seizing as he gasped for air.

The ground beneath him was cold.

Not like ice. Not like metal.

Something else. Something unnatural.

A low groan pulled him out of his daze.

Leon turned sharply—heart pounding.

A few feet away, Selene was on her hands and knees, breath ragged. Strands of her black hair had come loose, falling across her face, but her eyes—sharp, assessing, never dull—were already scanning their surroundings.

Leon pushed himself up, wincing. "Selene—"

"I'm fine," she cut in, exhaling sharply. She rolled her shoulders, muttering, "But if we have to fall one more time, I swear I'll kill someone."

Leon almost laughed—almost.

But then, he felt it.

The cold.

Not just physical, but something deeper.

It crawled under his skin, seeped into his bones, slowed his heartbeat.

Leon inhaled—and looked up.

And froze.

The space around them was wrong.

There were no walls. No ceiling. No horizon.

They stood in the middle of a boundless reflective expanse, the ground so smooth it looked like liquid glass, a mirror stretching infinitely in every direction.

And above them—

Leon's stomach twisted.

It wasn't a sky.

It was alive.

Darkness loomed above, but it wasn't empty.

Shapes moved within it, shifting like oil on water—shadows with no source, twisting, merging, pulling apart. Some of them almost took human form, their outlines flickering before distorting back into nameless voids.

The horizon was a lie.

It curved upward, infinitely, like they were trapped inside a vast, spherical illusion—a space that had no beginning and no end.

A prison with no doors.

Leon's breath came faster. "This… this isn't real."

Selene was already on her feet, her gun drawn, scanning the empty expanse. "Feels real enough."

Leon ran a hand through his hair, his fingers trembling slightly. "Where the hell are we?"

A voice answered.

But it wasn't Selene's.

It came from directly in front of him.

Leon turned—

And his breath stalled.

There, standing just a few feet away—

Was himself.

The other Leon.

The dark version.

The one who had been waiting for him.

Leon felt his pulse spike.

Selene reacted instantly, her gun snapping up, finger tight on the trigger. "Back the hell off."

The dark Leon didn't move.

He just watched.

Then, he smiled. "You always were impatient, Selene."

Leon felt his stomach turn.

Selene's eyes narrowed. "You don't get to say my name."

Dark Leon tilted his head slightly. "But I do, don't I?"

His coat—**identical to Leon's but darker, lined with shifting silver veins—**moved like it was part of him. But it was his eyes that unsettled Leon the most.

They weren't glowing.

They weren't black.

They were empty.

Just… nothing.

Leon clenched his fists. "What do you want?"

Dark Leon took a slow step forward. "You already know."

Leon didn't move.

But the air shifted.

The space around them rippled, as if reacting to the conversation itself.

Dark Leon sighed, almost disappointed. "You still don't understand, do you?"

Leon exhaled sharply. "Understand what?"

The other Leon's gaze locked onto his. "Everything you've been running from. Everything you've tried to forget. It all leads back here."

Leon's hands curled tighter into fists. "You're not making any sense."

Dark Leon simply lifted his hand—

And the world shattered.

Leon staggered.

For a second, he wasn't standing in the mirror realm anymore.

He was somewhere else.

A burning city.

The sky was crimson, the air thick with smoke and ash. Buildings collapsed in slow motion, debris hanging unnaturally in the air, frozen in the moment of destruction.

And in the center of it all—

A figure stood before a colossal machine, its core pulsing with chaotic energy.

Leon's chest tightened.

He saw himself.

Standing in front of the machine, his hands coated in blood, his face unreadable, eyes cold.

Selene gasped beside him. "Leon… what the hell is this?"

Leon's mind screamed.

He knew this place.

Somewhere, deep inside him—

He had been here before.

"No," he whispered. "This isn't real."

Dark Leon laughed softly.

"But it is."

Leon's heartbeat roared in his ears.

Then—

A sharp, searing pain ripped through his skull.

Leon staggered back, gasping as flashes of memories slammed into him.

A city crumbling.A machine spiraling out of control.A voice—a girl's voice—screaming through the collapsing timeline.

"Leon, shut it down! You have to shut it down!"

Leon froze.

That voice—

It was Lira.

Then—

The vision shattered.

Leon collapsed to his knees, his breath ragged.

Selene was beside him in an instant. "Leon! Hey—stay with me!"

Leon barely heard her.

The truth was sinking in, deep and undeniable.

He had been here before.

He had done something terrible.

Dark Leon watched him, expression unreadable.

Then, he turned away.

"When you're ready," he murmured, "find me."

And just like that—

He was gone.

Leaving Leon alone with the pieces of his forgotten past.

Leon's breath was ragged.

The vision had ended, but the echoes still pulsed inside his skull.

He could feel it.

A phantom ache. A weight pressing against his chest—not physical, but something deeper.

Memories.

Not just glimpses, not just whispers.

Real.

Undeniable.

He had been there.

He had stood before that machine.

He had caused something.

Something irreversible.

Leon's hands curled against the cold, reflective ground beneath him, his fingers digging into the smooth surface. His pulse hammered out of rhythm, his breathing uneven.

Then—warmth.

A hand.

Selene's hand.

Firm, grounding. Real.

"Leon," she said, voice low, steady. Holding him in the present. "Look at me."

Leon forced himself to.

Her gaze was sharp, cutting through the haze clouding his thoughts. She was assessing him, reading him, like she always did. But there was something else beneath the calculation—concern.

"You need to breathe," she said. Not a suggestion. A command.

Leon inhaled. Shaky. Uneven.

But he obeyed.

The pounding in his chest slowed.

Not much, but enough.

Selene didn't let go.

She studied him for a moment longer, then, satisfied he wasn't about to break apart completely, she released her grip and turned her attention to their surroundings.

Leon followed her gaze.

Dark Leon was gone.

The vision had shattered, but the world around them remained unchanged.

The endless mirrored expanse.

The sky that wasn't a sky—alive, shifting, watching.

A prison with no doors.

Leon swallowed hard, pushing himself upright. His legs felt unsteady, like the weight of what he had just seen had physically drained him.

Selene's voice broke the silence.

"We need to move."

Leon let out a breath. "Move where?"

She exhaled sharply, scanning their surroundings. No walls. No pathways. No visible escape.

But she wasn't the type to accept a dead end.

Leon knew that about her.

She tilted her head slightly, as if listening to something beyond his perception. A habit. She always did that when she was processing, piecing together possibilities.

Then, she looked at him.

"What exactly did you see?"

Leon's stomach twisted.

He wanted to say nothing.

Wanted to lie.

But he couldn't.

Not to Selene.

He swallowed. "A city… burning." His voice sounded far away. "A machine. Something powerful. And…" His throat felt tight. "I was there."

Selene didn't react immediately.

Then—a muscle tightened in her jaw.

She had suspected.

Now, she knew.

Leon forced himself to continue. "And I heard her."

Selene's eyes flickered. "Her?"

Leon's fingers curled. "Lira."

The name felt heavy.

Selene went still.

She wasn't the type to show much emotion, but Leon knew her well enough to recognize the shift.

A flicker of something—pain, regret, something she wasn't saying.

Then, it was gone.

She turned away slightly, one hand pressed against her temple. Thinking. Calculating.

Finally, she spoke.

"If Lira was in that vision, then she's connected to all of this." Her tone was measured, but he could hear the undercurrent of something deeper. "And that means—"

"She's still alive."

Leon hadn't meant to say it out loud.

The words had just… slipped out.

Selene's expression didn't change.

But something in the air shifted.

Leon felt it between them—a tension that had always been there, unspoken, unresolved.

"Leon." Her voice was steady, but there was something beneath it. "We don't know that."

Leon clenched his fists. "Then what do we know?" His voice was sharper than intended. "That the Keepers think I caused something? That some version of me is playing mind games? That I'm supposed to just accept that none of this makes any goddamn sense?"

Selene didn't flinch.

But she didn't answer either.

Leon exhaled harshly, running a hand through his hair. "We have to find her."

Selene's jaw tightened. "You don't even know if she's—"

"I do."

His voice was firm. Final.

And for once—Selene had no argument.

Silence stretched between them.

Then—

Something shifted.

Not between them.

In the air.

Selene noticed it first. Her posture stiffened, her head snapping toward the open expanse. "Leon."

Leon felt it an instant later.

A ripple.

A distortion.

Something breaking.

The surface beneath them shuddered.

Leon's pulse spiked. "What the hell—"

The reflective ground cracked.

Not like glass.

Like a living thing splitting apart.

A low, vibrating hum filled the air.

Then—

A voice.

Not Dark Leon's.

Not the Keepers'.

Something else.

Something older.

"You are not supposed to be here."

Leon's breath caught.

The voice didn't come from one direction.

It came from everywhere.

Selene's gun was already up, but there was nothing to aim at.

Leon gritted his teeth, his heart pounding. "Yeah, well, I didn't exactly book a ticket."

The voice ignored him.

"You have opened a door that cannot be closed."

Leon hated this.

Hated the riddles. Hated the cryptic warnings.

Hated not knowing.

The cracks beneath them spread.

And then—

The sky above them moved.

Leon's blood went cold.

Because for the first time—

The shifting void took shape.

Not just flickering silhouettes.

Not just fractured shadows.

Something real.

Something coming.

Leon barely had time to react before—

The ground collapsed beneath them.

And once again—

They fell.

But this time, Leon knew—

Something was falling with them.