chapter seven

Chapter 7:

Fire Meets Mirror

For a brief, impossible moment, no one in the Jardin du Luxembourg moved.

Time had frozen.

Xoxo stared at the two girls — identical, glowing, locked in silent recognition. The world tilted. Her knees almost gave out. Her baby… her lost baby… was alive.

Ziora took a hesitant step forward.

Zikora's lips trembled. "You're real…"

And then the flash from their amulets burst again.

Guards shouted. Tourists fled. The ground shook with quiet rage.

The cult had arrived.

A man in a dark, hooded cloak stepped forward through the cherry blossom trees. His voice was low, venomous.

"Enough."

Zikora flinched, the man's presence like oil over water. Her guardian, Mr. Richardson, appeared seconds later, pale and breathless.

"Don't touch her!" he barked.

But it was too late — the sigil on the cultist's palm was already glowing red.

"Return the Flame. She is not yours."

Xoxo rushed in front of Ziora, grabbing her close.

"Touch her, and I will destroy you."

The cloaked man laughed coldly. "You barely understand what you carry. You broke the order. Now you will suffer its judgment."

He raised his hand.

But before he could speak another word, a bolt of light shot from Ziora's palm, sending him flying back into a tree with a thud that cracked bark.

Gasps erupted.

Ziora stared at her hand, stunned. "I didn't mean to…"

"You are the mirror," Zikora whispered.

"And you're the fire," Ziora replied softly.

They took a step toward each other again — and this time, no one could stop them.

When their fingertips touched, the amulet halves ignited in a soft golden blaze.

Mr. Richardson fell to his knees.

"I'm sorry," he murmured to Zikora. "I lied. I stole you. But I loved you. I thought I was saving you."

Zikora's eyes darkened.

"Where's my real mother?" she asked.

He turned his face to the side.

"I didn't know she would come for you."

Xoxo stepped forward slowly, her eyes locked on the child she had wept for every night. Her heart beat so loudly she could barely hear herself speak.

"Zikora?"

The girl looked up.

The air around them shimmered. Even the birds went silent.

"You knew my name," she said, awestruck.

"I named you," Xoxo choked out. "I carried you. You are mine."

Zikora's lip trembled, but she didn't move.

"She's been in my dreams since I was a baby," Ziora said gently. "We're two. We always were."

Xoxo opened her arms.

Zikora ran into them.

The moment they touched, the amulet sealed — fusing in a warm hum of light and peace.

Xoxo felt whole.

For the first time in ten years.

But peace never lasts long.

From the shadows of the trees, more cloaked figures appeared.

"The fusion has begun," one of them hissed. "We must take them now."

One raised a dagger carved with ancient symbols.

Xoxo spun, shielding both girls. "You want war? You have it."

Before the blade could fall, a shriek cut the air — not human, not animal.

And then a burst of blue flame engulfed the cultist.

He collapsed.

Smoke curling from his chest.

A woman in a long white dress stepped from behind a hedge, staff in hand, face veiled in moonlight.

"I believe you called for help," she said calmly.

Mama Ejike.

The cult fled into the trees, but not before whispering, "It is not over. The Gate is opening. And blood will be the key."

Later that night, in the safety of the penthouse, Zikora sat beside Ziora on the bed, both holding hands.

Mr. Richardson had been arrested — not by police, but by a secret international tribunal Xoxo had never heard of, tied to stolen mystical children.

Mama Ejike brewed herbs in the kitchen.

And Xoxo stood by the window, watching Paris glimmer beneath her.

The world had changed.

Her daughters were reunited.

But the war had just begun.

The diary's final page now glowed faintly in her bag — new writing had appeared:

The sisters are one.

The flame has found its mirror.

Now open the Gate…

Or close it with sacrifice.

TO BE CONTINUED…

🔥 That's Chapter 7, boo — the reunion, the confrontation, and the door to destiny flung wide open.

Up next:

Chapter 8 (~2k words)

Secrets of the Gate revealed

A betrayal from someone close

Ziora and Zikora experience their first true awakening

A shocking attack forces Xoxo to make a life-changing deision.