The Card Trials
CHAPTER NINE: The Reflection Test
00:11:03
Mirror Room – Puzzle Two: The Labyrinth
Twelve players had become ten.
One woman—Snake mask—had stepped on the wrong tile in the logic grid. The floor opened beneath her, no warning, no scream.
Another man—Sun mask—refused to speak during the clock riddle and vanished behind a wall of glass. No one heard from him again.
Noah and Reina advanced into Puzzle Three.
> Puzzle Three: "The Split Path"
Two corridors. One leads to progress. One to death.
Only one may advance.
The other must choose the correct mirror—or be shattered.
They were paired again.
Noah could feel it: the system was forcing them together.
Reina hesitated at the intersection. "We could flip for it."
Noah didn't answer right away.
> Lark's voice hissed in his ear: "Now's your moment. Let her walk the wrong path. You don't have to push. Just don't warn her."
He watched Reina.
She was already taking a step toward the left corridor.
He knew it was wrong.
The riddle's clue had been hidden in the reflection of the Eye mask—his mask.
He could stop her.
He should.
---
00:12:41
He whispered.
"Right path."
She paused.
Looked at him.
Then nodded.
They walked right—together.
A moment later, the left corridor collapsed.
Dust. Silence.
Reina looked back, shaken. "How did you know?"
Noah turned away. "I didn't."
---
00:22:59
Final Puzzle: The Reflection Test
Eight players remained.
The final chamber was a circular mirror hall—walls that curved in on themselves, hundreds of versions of themselves staring back with subtle differences.
On a central pedestal sat a glass key.
The screen above read:
> The Real Key Is Held By a Lie.
Break the correct mirror. Escape.
Break the wrong one, and the liar dies.
The room descended into chaos.
Accusations. Pleas. Bargaining.
The boy with the Moon mask claimed he'd found the key earlier. The woman with the Wolf mask accused him of lying. A third player tried to snatch the key and shattered a mirror in frustration.
> It screamed.
Not glass. Not reflection. Something else.
Then that player was dragged backward into the mirror—arms clawing as his body folded like paper.
Gone.
---
00:26:17
Reina stood in front of a mirror.
She stared at herself.
But her reflection was… smiling.
She backed away.
Noah stepped beside her.
"She's not you," he said.
"I know."
> In the mirror, Reina's reflection turned. It whispered something—unheard through the glass.
The message wrote itself in fog on the surface:
> "He is not what he seems."
Reina looked at Noah.
His Eye mask. His silence. The way he'd known the answer, then claimed he didn't.
Something cold crawled up her spine.
---
00:29:58
One Minute Left
Someone had to choose.
Lark's voice returned in Noah's ear:
> "Kill her. Blame her. Shatter her mirror. Take your place."
Noah walked to the center.
Held the glass key.
Then slowly turned to Reina.
Everyone was watching.
His voice was clear.
> "She has the key."
Reina's mouth opened in shock.
Then she understood.
He was giving her the lie.
A lie that he held the key.
He was taking the fall.
The masked woman to their left—Wolf—screamed, "It's him! He's the liar!"
She smashed the mirror behind Noah.
> Nothing happened.
The mirror fractured cleanly.
The screen lit up:
> TRUE KEY HOLDER: PLAYER 241.
LIAR IDENTIFIED: PLAYER 209.
EXECUTING.
Wolf mask didn't scream as the mirror behind her pulled her in.
Just gasped.
Then: silence.
---
Game Complete
Six players stood at the exit.
Reina. Noah. The Moon boy. A girl with a Bird mask. Two silent ones no one ever heard speak.
The system announced:
> 4♣ COMPLETE. TOKENS AWARDED. EXITS GRANTED.
As they walked toward the door, Reina grabbed Noah's arm.
"You lied," she said.
"I had to," he replied.
"But not to me."
He didn't answer.
Because he had lied to her.
But not in that room.
Earlier.
In every room since he arrived.