Chapter 10: The Mirror's Smile
For a few heartbeats, the chamber was nothing but silence and light.
The crystal shards floated around Kael like frozen rain, their edges catching the glow of his unstable Flow.
Then the sound returned — a low hum, deep and alive, pulsing through the marble floor. The instructors' muffled shouts reached him, distorted by the resonance still thrumming in the air. Kael blinked rapidly, vision blurring as if the world itself couldn't decide what shape to hold.
And then he saw it — in the largest shard hovering before him.
His reflection was smiling.
Not in relief. Not in joy. But something older, crueler — as though the image in the glass remembered something he didn't.
The shard pulsed once, and the smile moved.
"You shouldn't have come here, Kael."
His chest tightened. He stepped back instinctively, stumbling over the grooves of the ritual circle. The shard tilted, following him, its voice echoing without sound.
Who are you? he wanted to ask, but his throat wouldn't obey.
The smile widened — teeth sharp, eyes flickering with a dim violet light.
"The part of you that remembers."
A flash of light erupted from the crystal's heart, and the shard finally shattered for real — pieces falling harmlessly to the ground. The oppressive hum died instantly, leaving only the distant sound of instructors rushing toward him.
Kael fell to one knee, gasping. His veins burned like fire and frost all at once.
"Student Kael!" one of the instructors — Master Irien — knelt beside him. "Don't move. You overloaded your Flow circuit. You're lucky your core didn't fracture."
Kael tried to nod, but even that sent a pulse of pain through his chest. He could still feel the phantom smile, echoing inside his mind. That voice… it didn't feel like a hallucination. It felt like memory.
---
He woke hours later in the Academy infirmary. The air was still heavy with the scent of burning incense — a purifier for unstable energy.
Beside his bed sat two familiar faces: Lyra, her expression sharp with restrained worry, and Selene, who looked oddly serene, as though she'd been expecting this.
"You really know how to cause a scene," Lyra muttered, arms crossed. "They said no student's ever caused a full crystal rupture before. You might've ruined half the testing chamber."
Kael groaned softly. "That's… good, right?"
"Good?" She glared, but her voice cracked halfway through. "You could've died, idiot."
Selene leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand. "You didn't, though. Which means whatever happened wasn't just reckless energy control." Her pale eyes met his. "Something responded to you, Kael. The instructors said the crystal sang before it broke."
"Sang?" he repeated weakly.
She nodded. "They said it's an omen. A resonance between a soul and something older. Usually means the Flow recognizes you… or fears you."
Lyra shot her a look. "Don't fill his head with that nonsense."
But Kael wasn't listening. His mind was back in the chamber — the hovering shards, the voice, the reflection that had spoken his name.
It wasn't nonsense.
It had felt real.
---
Two days later, he was summoned to the Headmaster's office.
The doors opened with a whisper of runes, revealing a tall, austere man framed by shelves of shimmering tomes — Headmaster Vaerik. His eyes were a pale gold, the mark of one who'd reached the Fourth Ascension, far beyond what any student could hope to achieve.
"Kael," Vaerik said, his tone calm but unreadable. "Do you know what you awakened in that chamber?"
Kael hesitated. "No, sir."
Vaerik leaned back. "Neither do we. The crystal's residue recorded a mirror pattern — Flow that folds inward instead of expanding. A forbidden phenomenon known in ancient texts as The Hollow Resonance."
The words sent a chill through Kael's spine.
Hollow… again that word. The same one that haunted the whispers in his dreams.
Vaerik continued, "You will continue your studies under strict supervision. No external duels. No unsanctioned channeling. If your Flow reacts again, it could destabilize the entire district."
Kael swallowed. "Understood."
"Good." The Headmaster's gaze softened — slightly. "There's potential in you, Kael. But potential often hides its price."
As Kael turned to leave, Vaerik spoke one last time.
"Oh — and, Kael? The mirror you shattered… it's still humming."
Kael froze.
---
That night, sleep didn't come.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw that same reflection smiling back — not in malice, but in quiet recognition.
The part of you that remembers.
He didn't know what it meant yet.
But deep down, beneath the fear and confusion, a small part of him felt it too — that faint tug of something ancient… waiting to wake.
And when it did, the world would never be the same again.
---
End of Chapter 10
Next: Chapter 11 — "The Hollow Pulse"