Chapter 27: The Mirror’s Choice

We slept near the stream. Not because it was safe, but because we were too exhausted to pretend it mattered.

That night, I dreamed of the mirror.

But not of "S."

I dreamed of myself.

There were three versions of Ryouhei:

One with his eyes covered by bandages.

Another dressed in a hero's robe.

And the third, naked and covered in scars.

They all stared at me. None of them spoke.

Then a voice—my own—said:

> "Only one of us gets to leave."

—

I woke before choosing.

Maybe that was for the best.

Sera was already awake, drawing a small protection circle with ashes.

"You tossed in your sleep," she said.

"I dreamed of myself," I replied.

"Did you like you?"

"I seemed... suspicious."

—

We had dry bread and warm water for breakfast. Like two fugitives pretending the day didn't have weight.

But the weight was there. On our backs. In the unspoken things. In the crack left by the mirror.

"What if they're pushing you to pick a path just so you abandon the others?" she asked suddenly.

"And what if not choosing is just as dangerous?"

"Then... choose, but lie," she offered with a half-smile. "Pick one with a mask. Let them think you're someone… while you become someone else."

—

I thought about it.

Not as strategy, but as instinct.

In Eclipsia, even the truth had an expiration date.

So I decided to try.

I placed my hand on my chest. Where the seal of my dormant ability rested.

"Eclipse of Three Moons."

I hadn't used it in days.

Because I didn't want to see.

But now… I wanted one vision.

One possible "me."

I activated it.

—

And I saw:

A Ryouhei walking alone. No allies. No name.

A world rebuilt in his image.

But with empty eyes.

And I understood something:

That future existed… but it could still be avoided.

—

I shut down the power.

And said to Sera:

"I want to try something different."

"What?"

"To become someone I don't recognize…

…but who doesn't make me sick."