Chapter Fifty-Seven – Reflections of Becoming

The mirror pulsed again.

Not a smooth shimmer, but like a heartbeat—alive and aware. Its surface rippled with energy I couldn't describe. Ancient. Sentient. Hungry.

Kael reached out to stop me, but I lifted a hand. "I have to see."

"Sera, it could—"

"I need to know."

I stepped forward.

And the mirror responded.

Suddenly, I was no longer in the clearing. The world around me blurred and reshaped into a throne room carved of glass and obsidian, suspended in the sky. Beneath my feet, clouds curled like silk. The stars outside the glass shimmered blood-red.

I stood at the center.

Or rather—she did.

The other me.

She sat on the throne, clad in a gown woven from living threads of the Loom itself. Power curled around her fingers like smoke, her eyes glowing with ancient light. Her expression was calm. Too calm. The kind you wear when you've lost everything but control.

She looked at me.

And smiled.

"So," she said, voice echoing like bells on water, "you made it this far."

"Who are you?" I asked, though I already knew.

"I'm you. The version that stopped being afraid. The version that didn't hesitate to take what she wanted."

"I'm not you," I said quickly. "I won't become this."

She rose, descending the steps of her throne with grace and weight.

"But you could. All it takes is one moment. One desire you don't pull back from. You think your power is a gift? A calling? It's a mirror, Sera. Everything you want will cost you everything you are."

I stepped back. "I'll never become like you."

She reached out and touched my chest—no warmth, only cold.

"You already are," she whispered.

Then the vision shattered.

I stumbled back into the clearing, gasping for air, Kael's arms catching me.

"What did you see?" he asked.

I shook my head. "A warning."

Riven, already watching me, narrowed his eyes. "Was it one you're willing to listen to?"

I couldn't answer.

Because deep in my soul, part of me had listened.

And part of me… had agreed.

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