Chapter 9, Part 1: The Fifth One Watches

❖ Lower East Ward – Mirror Cell, 3rd Tier Below Registry

He hadn't slept in days.

Not because he couldn't.

Because sleep meant surrender.

And he wasn't surrendering to anything ever again.

Not to the Council who passed him over.Not to the Archive that never opened for him.Not to the System that scanned him—and looked away.

"Unfit."

That was the word it used.

The mirror on the wall now trembled softly. The glass no longer reflected—only shimmered.

Envy sat cross-legged on cracked tiles. He hadn't left the cell in months. Didn't need to. He collected.

Mirrors. Relics. Broken charms that once belonged to other candidates.

He had touched their auras. Just briefly.

Enough to taste what they'd become.

"They're not stronger," he whispered."They're seen. That's all."

He ran a hand down his arm.

Skin pale. Muscles corded, but stretched thin.

Aura twisted. Impure.

The System couldn't process him fully. But that didn't matter.

Because Envy wasn't a glitch.

He was a shadow.

And shadows know how to follow.

[System Alert: Passive Distortion Radius Detected – Aura Type: Mirror-class Instability]

[Candidate: ENVY. Cognitive State: Fragmented. Loyalty Anchor: Corrupted. Risk Level: Red Tier-3.]

❖ Red Sigil — Jeska's Command Post

Jeska stared at the shard.

It hummed louder now.

One of her lieutenants, a woman named Maren, stepped forward.

"We think it's Envy."

Jeska didn't blink.

"Do we know where?"

"No. He's not moving. But he's pulling."

Jeska turned to the war table.

Four tokens were already marked "Claimed."

One remained black.

She slammed her dagger into it.

"Then let him pull."

"We'll shove something back."