Chapter Fifty-Eight – The Toll of Wanting

The mirror vanished after that.

Not faded—vanished, as if it had never existed. The clearing quieted, but the air remained charged, the forest not yet satisfied.

Kael helped steady me. "We need to move. This place... it's waiting."

Riven stood with his arms crossed, gaze still locked on the space where the mirror had been. "That wasn't just a test. It marked you."

"I know," I said quietly.

We pushed forward.

But only ten paces ahead, the forest shifted.

The trees twisted violently, roots curling up to block the path. Shadows formed a gate of thorns and obsidian bark—an impossible, breathing threshold.

Words scrawled themselves into the archway in golden script:

> "Every desire has its price.

To pass, surrender one."

Riven swore. "I hate this place."

Kael stepped forward and tried to read more, but the inscription shimmered and rearranged:

> "Only one of three.

One memory, one power, one bond.

Choose."

The silence that followed was heavy.

"What does it mean?" I asked.

Kael's voice was low. "One of us has to give up something... essential. A piece of ourselves."

Riven looked between us. "Memory. Power. Bond. It's not just symbolic. It takes it."

I felt it in my bones. The forest was alive. Watching. Listening. Waiting.

"I'll do it," I said.

"No," Kael cut in. "You've already given too much. Let me—"

"I'll do it," Riven interrupted, stepping forward.

Kael turned. "Riven, don't—"

But Riven ignored him. He faced the gate. "Take my memory of my sister."

My eyes widened. "What?"

"She's dead," he said simply. "And I've carried it long enough. Let her be free. Let me be free."

The gate pulsed.

A wind swept past us, warm and hollow.

And then—Riven staggered.

His breath hitched. His eyes flickered.

"Sera?" he asked, confused. "Why do I feel... like I lost something?"

Kael's face darkened. "You did."

The gate opened.

No fanfare. No light. Just a path forward, cold and silent.

We walked through.

But I watched Riven.

And I saw the hollow in his gaze, the space where a name used to live.

He'd made the sacrifice.

And the forest had taken it.

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