The river hung above Kael like a liquid chandelier, droplets suspended mid-fall. Lyra's silhouette flickered ahead, her movements jerky, Gideon's cobalt glow trailing her like smoke. Kael plunged after her, the inverted current swallowing him whole.
Cold. Silence.
Then light.
He stood in a hall of mirrors, each reflection warped. Some showed Lyra burning alive. Others showed Kael as a desiccated corpse. One mirrored Kael as Gideon, his hands stained with Lira's blood.
"Charming, isn't it?" Gideon's voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere. "A gallery of possibilities."
Lyra stood at the hall's center, her back to Kael. Her hair floated as if underwater. "He's… lying," she forced out, trembling. "Don't… believe…"
"Quiet, pet." Her body stiffened, Gideon seizing control. She turned, eyes glowing. "Welcome to my workshop, Prince. Let's discuss her design."
A mirror shifted, revealing Lyra's creation: Gideon stitching Lira's memories into a hollow-eyed clone. "She was always meant to break you. To make you rage. But you disappointed me—you showed her mercy."
Kael gripped his shard. "Where's the real Lyra?"
"You're standing in her." Gideon spread Lyra's arms. The mirrors rippled, showing the valley, the poisoned river, the child's corpse—all reflections in Lyra's eyes. "This realm is her mind. Fragile. Malleable."
Lyra's hand twitched. A crack split the air as one mirror shattered. Glass shards hovered, sharp as scalpels.
"Let her go," Kael said.
"Or what? You'll steal more time? Look at yourself."
Kael's reflection aged rapidly—hair whitening, skin sagging. The shard in his hand crumbled to dust.
"You're out of seconds, Prince," Gideon sneered. "But I'll offer a trade: her freedom… for your submission."
Lyra's lips quivered. "Kael… don't—"
The glass shards shot toward him.
Kael dodged, but one grazed his cheek, slicing years from his life. His knees buckled, vision blurring. Lyra screamed, clawing at her throat as if fighting invisible bonds.
"Stop!" Kael rasped. "I'll agree!"
The shards froze.
Gideon tilted Lyra's head. "Say it."
"I submit. Take me. Let her go."
Lyra's eyes flooded with amber. "Liar."
She lunged, seizing a glass shard. For a heartbeat, Kael thought she'd stab him—but she drove it into her own chest.
The realm shuddered. Mirrors exploded, each shard reflecting a memory: Lyra's first breath in a lab, Gideon's hands braiding her hair, Kael's face the first thing she saw.
"No!" Gideon's roar distorted as Lyra's body disintegrated into light.
Kael caught her as the realm collapsed. "Why?!"
She smiled, blood flecking her lips. "You don't… get to die… for me."
The world went white.