"The most dangerous truths are not the ones we bury… but the ones that wait beneath."
--
The ground beneath the Forest of Mirrors pulsed with an unnatural hum, sending tremors through the roots of ancient trees. Jayden Ochieng and Zayden stood at the edge of a fissure that had opened moments ago—where their mother's message had appeared.
Now, something else was waking.
A massive, spiraled staircase unfolded downward like a serpent uncoiling from the earth, glowing faintly with blue and gold inscriptions. Words in an old tongue Jayden could read without ever learning them.
"The Pavilion," he whispered.
Zayden clenched his fists. "It wasn't just a myth."
From the darkness below, a soft chime rang—like a bell tolling for an ancient god.
Matilda stepped between them. "The Pavilion wasn't a myth. It was a prison. A place where time was twisted and fate was forged."
She turned to Jayden, her voice low and haunted. "This is where you were split. Where Ochieng was severed… and where Jayden was born."
---
They descended into the Pavilion, the stairs endless and the air growing colder with each step. Along the walls, murals of children with glowing eyes stared down—each with chains wrapped around their limbs and mouths sewn shut.
Zayden growled. "They experimented on us."
Jayden touched one mural, where two figures—identical in face but opposite in color—stood facing each other across a battlefield.
A whisper filled the chamber.
"One to rule the silence. One to awaken the storm."
Suddenly, lights sparked around them. A chamber opened at the end of the descent. Inside, a massive black monolith stood in the center, and floating above it… a small golden cube.
Jayden stepped forward, the cube pulsing to his presence.
"Do not touch it," Matilda warned.
But the cube hovered into Jayden's palm on its own. The moment it made contact—memories not his own flooded his mind.
Children screaming. Scalpel flashes. His mother crying. His father's voice—cold, commanding.
"Split him. Give me a weapon and a shield."
Jayden fell to his knees.
Zayden's eyes widened. "They didn't want a son… they wanted tools."
---
Jayden rose slowly, the cube spinning in his palm. Its light became a map—dozens of cities, hidden bloodlines, and a mark that blinked dangerously: KIREMAH.
"What's Kiremah?" Zayden asked.
Matilda's face paled. "It's the city where the first Pavilion was born. A city no one can find. A city that moves."
Jayden turned to them, voice firm. "Then we're going to find it. If the truth about us began there… maybe the way to stop what's coming does too."
Zayden smirked. "You're starting to sound like a leader."
Jayden's eyes hardened. "I'm starting to sound like Ochieng."
For the first time, he accepted it—the name not as a past, but a legacy.
Jayden Ochieng.
Half light. Half shadow. Both truths. One name.
---
Elsewhere—far above the world—a blood moon hung over a black tower.
The woman in the red veil stood before a council of hooded figures.
"They've entered the Pavilion," she said calmly.
One voice growled, "Then the timelines are converging."
Another hissed, "And if Jayden Ochieng awakens the other half of himself… we may lose control of the Rift."
The red-veiled woman turned, her voice chilling. "Then we'll strike before the Rift fully opens. Send the Silver Huntress."
From the shadows, a figure emerged—dressed in white silk, with silver eyes that shimmered like knives.
"I've been waiting for this," she purred.
---
As Jayden, Zayden, and Matilda began to climb back from the Pavilion's depths, the air above them cracked.
An arrow struck the rock near Jayden's face—carved with a symbol they all knew.
The Huntress had found them.
Jayden turned toward the sky, gripping the cube in one hand and his blade in the other.
"No more running."
---