Chapter 46: Echoes in the Mirror

The morning fog coiled like breath over the broken earth, the sky a curtain of muted gray. As they approached the entrance to the Path of Echo, the terrain shifted—no longer forest, no longer ruin. The ground shimmered faintly underfoot like glass kissed by frost, and the trees were silent, skeletal, each branch reflecting faint glimmers of memories long past.

Liam could feel it—the weight in the air. Like a pressure behind his eyes, tugging at something within. Kael staggered briefly, clutching his head.

"We're in it," Aeris said, voice quiet. "The Path of Echo doesn't wait. It begins the moment it recognizes you."

Airenne stepped forward first, her posture too calm for Liam's liking. He watched her closely.

"What is this place really?" he asked.

Airenne turned to him, her pale eyes almost silver in the low light. "A mirror, Liam. But not of glass. Of soul."

They moved cautiously, each step forward distorting the world around them. The air grew heavier. Light twisted. Shapes rippled at the edge of vision.

Kael paused, his jaw tight. "I hear... crying."

"I see something," Nyra murmured. Her summoner's stone pulsed at her chest.

From the mist, a flicker of movement: a child, running barefoot. Liam reached out instinctively—but the moment his hand passed through the image, a whisper lashed through his mind.

You left me...

He flinched.

Aeris touched his shoulder. "The Path will show you what it must. Not to break you, but to make you remember what you've buried."

They pushed on, the echoes deepening.

The ground opened into a clearing surrounded by arching crystal trees. And there, waiting as though time itself had frozen, stood another Liam.

He looked no older, no different—except for his expression. Hollow. Angry.

"What the hell is this?" Kael stepped forward.

The copy didn't move. It simply watched.

"Don't engage it," Aeris warned. "It's a manifestation of what he fears becoming."

But the other Liam spoke.

"Weak. You let them die. Your mother. Your real father. You didn't stop it."

Liam felt a spike of ice drive into his spine. "You're not me."

"Aren't I?" it mocked. "What if all this power you're gathering... what if it turns you into me?"

Airenne stepped forward slowly. "This path reveals what you might become. But you are not destined to be it."

"Unless you believe it," Aeris added.

The copy vanished in a pulse of light, and Liam dropped to one knee, breathing hard.

Nyra knelt beside him. "It's showing us our worst selves."

"No," Liam whispered. "It's showing us the part of us we're afraid is real."

Further in, they came to a black stone lake, the surface perfectly smooth. One by one, each of them looked in and saw not their reflection—but a moment from their past.

Kael saw his fallen squad.

Nyra saw her dying mentor.

Aeris… saw a younger version of herself in a hospital bed, tubes and monitors, a man sobbing beside her. Liam watched her tense.

And then Airenne stepped up.

The lake boiled.

A vision erupted across its surface: Airenne, standing at a gate of light, being pushed through by someone—a figure cloaked in violet.

"That's... realm magic," Aeris breathed.

Airenne's voice was distant. "I wasn't always from the realm. I was born human. But I crossed over. And I never went back."

Liam turned sharply. "So you do know both worlds."

She nodded slowly. "I didn't lie. I just never said it."

"Why now? Why reveal it?" Kael asked.

"Because if we're going to survive what's coming, you need to know I understand the stakes. I've lost people too."

A sudden pulse of magic cracked the lake.

From the shattered reflection rose a creature—mirror-skinned, faceless, and massive. Its arms stretched like blades, and it hissed with a sound like shattering glass.

"Trial," Aeris said. "This is our test."

Kael surged forward, blade glowing with windlight. He clashed with the creature's bladed limb, sparks flying. Nyra summoned a spectral wolf that leapt onto the creature's back.

Liam raised his hand and focused—but the magic resisted. The path was dampening their powers, making them work for it.

"It feeds on doubt!" Airenne shouted.

Liam closed his eyes. He pictured his mother. His father's journals. His friends beside him. The fragments they'd claimed. The path they walked. Not out of fear, but out of purpose.

The spell burst forth.

Light lanced from his palm, carving into the creature's chest.

Kael leapt and struck the wound. Nyra's wolf pulled it down. Aeris channeled a blast of searing heat, melting its mirror limbs.

The creature screeched and shattered into stardust.

They stood, breathless.

Liam looked to the horizon. "How many more trials like this?"

Aeris stepped beside him. "Enough to forge us. Or break us."

Airenne said nothing, but her gaze was fixed ahead, where the fog began to thin, revealing a gate of obsidian carved with runes.

Beyond it... the next shard.