Chapter 16

Chapter 16: The War That Wasn't Theirs

The dream was crimson.

Crimson skies. Crimson stone. Crimson silence.

Kael stood at the edge of a battlefield, barefoot and blood-soaked, their hands heavy with a weapon that shimmered like starlight and shadow. Before them lay a ruin of a city once white and gold, now cracked open like a carcass.

Elaris… but not. Twisted.

A crown of fire rested upon Kael's brow, burning without heat. Their armor gleamed obsidian, runes dancing like oil on water. The very earth seemed to hum beneath their feet.

They took a step.

The air trembled.

Figures bowed as Kael passed soldiers, creatures, winged beasts. All whispered the same name:

"Veinborne Sovereign."

Kael's heart thundered. "This isn't me," they whispered.

But the dream-self turned, eyes locking with theirs across time and space.

"It is," the Other said.

Kael woke screaming.

The firelight flickered violently. Riven was already at their side, grasping Kael's shoulders.

"Kael. Kael breathe."

They did, ragged and shallow. Sweat poured down their temples.

"I saw it," they gasped. "A future. A war. I was "

"A god," Aeris said, stepping into the chamber, her robes disheveled. "That's what Mirrorborn are. The seeds of divinity fractured across timelines."

Thorne entered behind her, his coral armor dulled from lack of sleep. "And someone wants that seed to sprout now."

Riven sat beside Kael on the edge of the bed, eyes searching theirs. "Was it the Other again?"

Kael nodded. "But I was… leading them. A kingdom. An army."

Laeth appeared in the doorway, Kiel at their side.

"What army?" Kiel asked.

Kael swallowed. "All of Elaris. Everything burning. Everything bound."

Kiel looked grim. "And the Prism Order?"

"They weren't even there." Kael's voice cracked. "Maybe they failed to control me. Maybe they made me."

Aeris moved to the window, staring out at the gray dawn. "Time is unraveling. Threads are crossing that should never meet. That version of you is reaching back, Kael."

"Why?"

"To pull you forward. Into becoming them."

Kael sat in silence. Their hands trembled.

Riven touched their wrist, carefully. "Then we hold the line. We keep you here. With us."

Kael looked at him and then at all of them.

Aeris, eyes glowing with ancient futures.

Thorne, scarred and silent but unwavering.

Laeth and Kiel, shadow and fire, already half-bound by fate.

Riven, soul-wounded and still willing.

And Kael, a storm yet unborn.

"I don't want to become a god," they whispered. "I want to be whole."

Aeris smiled faintly. "Then we must unmake the crown."

They spent the day preparing.

Relewyn Keep's inner sanctum was transformed into a ritual hall. Aeris carved runes into obsidian slabs. Thorne summoned salt from the sea below. Laeth and Kiel hunted ghost-light through the woods, catching fragments of future-shadow in crystal jars.

Kael remained in the center of it all, meditating with palms upturned, trying to still the voices in their head.

But the Other never slept.

"You will betray them," it whispered. "They will hate you for surviving. Just like before."

Kael clenched their fists. "You are not me."

"Not yet."

Their thoughts spiraled. Every step they took in Elaris, every soul they touched, felt like another echo of something already written. But Kael didn't believe in fate. Not anymore.

Not if it meant becoming that.

They sought solitude in the eastern wing, a moon-bathed chamber with shelves of lost relics and parchment scrolls that hummed with forgotten magic. They studied the mirror fragments brought by Aeris, saw reflections of themselves that moved before they did. One smiled. One bled. One burned.

"You don't have to win this alone," came a voice behind them.

Kael turned. Laeth stood in the doorway, golden eyes catching starlight.

"You and Kiel…" Kael began.

"We dreamed of you long before we ever knew your name," Laeth said, stepping closer. "Not just as prophecy. As someone we were meant to guard."

"To love?"

Laeth paused. "If that's what you need. If that's what you choose."

Kael touched one of the mirror shards. "What if I choose wrong?"

"You won't," Laeth said. "Because every version of you I've seen still tries to save everyone else."

Kael met their gaze. "Even the god one?"

Laeth hesitated. "Even that one, in the beginning."

Kael's heart ached.

At moonrise, the ritual began.

The five guardians stood in a pentagram around Kael, each holding a different element: flame, salt, crystal, bone, and thread.

Aeris raised her voice. "We call the Vein! The soulmirror! The threads that bind all fates!"

The ground shook.

Kael felt their chest burn the rune pulsing wildly. Then light burst from their sternum, forming a ghostly double above them.

The Other.

It hovered, smirking.

"I knew you'd come," it said. "Curious. You always are."

Riven drew his sword. "Back. Now."

The Other waved a hand. Riven was thrown back into the wall.

Kael shouted, "No!"

The flame flared. Aeris screamed words in an ancient tongue. The pentagram closed, trapping the Other within.

It laughed.

"You think you can contain me? I am Kael. Just further along."

Kael stood, eyes blazing. "Then let me speak to myself."

They stepped into the center.

"You killed everyone," Kael said.

"To save one," the Other replied. "To keep one soul safe. You'll do it too. When the time comes."

Kael reached out.

Their fingers passed through the Other and touched something molten. Memories. Lives unlived. War. Blood. Love.

And pain.

So much pain.

Kael yanked their hand back.

"I won't become you," they said.

"You already are."

Kael stepped closer. "Then I'll change us both."

And plunged their hand back into the reflection.

A scream split the air both Kael's and the Other's.

Light blinded them all.

And when it faded

The Other was gone.

Kael stood, trembling, glowing.

Riven rushed to them, catching them before they collapsed.

"You did it," he whispered.

"No," Kael said faintly. "I absorbed it."

The others stared.

"You… what?" Aeris whispered.

Kael opened their eyes.

They were starlit now.

"He's in me," they said. "The Other. Locked behind mirrors. But awake."

Riven pulled them close. "Then we guard the mirror."

Kael nodded, but their voice was hollow.

"I felt what he felt. I know what it means to lose everyone. That's what drives him. Not power. Grief."

Thorne, quiet until now, murmured, "Then the war wasn't about conquest."

Kael shook their head. "It was about love. Twisted, desperate love."

Aeris began collecting the relics in haste. "Then we need to prepare for what comes next. Because now that you carry both souls Kael, you're the beacon. And the gods are watching."