Chapter 10: Mirrorborn
The throne beneath Kael pulsed with an ancient heartbeat that was not their own.
Its dark surface, forged of obsidian veined with fluid gold, shimmered in tandem with each breath they took. Thread-thin streams of light floated upward from its curved arms, weaving into the air like living strands of magic. The stone was warm. Alive. And terrifyingly familiar, as if their body had always known it.
Kael sat upright, back stiff, heart thudding against their ribs in a rhythm far too slow to feel human. The world around them moved with dreamlike clarity: hyperreal and unreal, every sound sharpened, every color bleeding with intensity. This wasn't the present. This wasn't the Elaris they had left.
It was the future.
A fractured future.
Their eyes rose slowly to take in the throne room.
A cathedral of impossible geometry, the ceiling high above was carved from living crystal and starlight. Mirrors lined every wall, each warped slightly, showing not their reflection but versions of themselves Kael crowned in flame, Kael cloaked in void, Kael with a serpent coiled around their throat.
And outside, through the stained-glass windows, the skies were dark.
Not black, but a storm of fractured light: violet torn through by crimson streaks, stars falling in slow-motion arcs like weeping comets.
Kael's fingers curled around the armrest.
The weight of power pressed against their skin like a second layer.
Footsteps echoed across the glass-stone floor.
They turned.
Five figures stood before them.
Not strangers.
Thorne. Kiel. Laeth. Aeris. And Riven.
But they were changed.
Thorne's coral armor had transformed now forged of deep sea-metal, flowing with glowing veins that pulsed like ocean currents. He stood taller, his expression no longer burdened by guilt but carved from resolve.
Kiel wore robes stitched from living time. Each thread blinked in and out of existence, like fragments of a story unwritten. His eyes carried layers moments Kael couldn't begin to comprehend.
Laeth's aura flickered between wolf and man, shadow and light. Feathers laced his shoulders, and his grin though familiar now held an edge honed by battle.
Aeris glowed. Her hair shimmered like starlight wrapped in flame, and her robes shifted like stormclouds over a silver sea. The runes etched on her skin pulsed with prophecy.
And Riven.
Oh, Riven.
He stood cloaked in shadow and fire, wings folded back. His chains were gone. His eyes were hollow suns. And when he met Kael's gaze, it was with the weight of someone who had burned kingdoms and grieved for each one.
"You're awake," Thorne said, voice low, reverent.
Kael swallowed. "Where… are we?"
Aeris stepped forward. "You're in the God-King's palace."
"God-King?"
Laeth whistled, grinning. "You always hated the title. But you earned it. Broke the Vein to get it. Remember?"
Kael stared at them. "I don't remember any of this."
Kiel stepped beside the throne and conjured a floating mirror oval, black, framed in silver bones. It hovered before Kael like a question.
"Then look."
They hesitated.
And looked.
Their reflection was not theirs.
It was them... but aged. Regal. Glorious. Terrifying. Hair flowing with silver threads. Skin marked with golden runes. Eyes that had seen a thousand battles and refused to blink. And on their head, a crown of fire and sorrow.
"No," Kael whispered. "That's not me."
"It's one of you," said Aeris.
Kael stood abruptly, the throne humming in protest.
"What the hell does that mean?"
Kiel stepped forward. "You are Mirrorborn."
Kael turned to him. "Explain. Now."
"You exist across timelines. Across realities. Every decision you make splits the Vein branches of you born from every choice. Some weak. Some monstrous. Some divine."
Laeth leaned against a pillar, folding his arms. "And some... end up here."
Kael walked toward the nearest mirror. It showed another version of themselves bloodied, wearing armor carved from starbeast bone, laughing as they slayed a god.
"And this is who I become?"
Riven stepped forward, his voice soft. "Only if you choose it."
Kael turned to him. "But I saw you kill me."
Riven met their gaze without flinching. "In a different thread. A broken one. Where love failed."
Kael looked away. The weight of it all threatened to drown them.
A second mirror rose from the floor massive, framed in obsidian, swirling with light.
A voice echoed from within.
Their own voice.
"Choose."
Kael took a step toward it.
"Choose what?"
No answer. Only reflections. Dozens. Hundreds. Kael the tyrant. Kael the martyr. Kael the wanderer. Kael alone. Kael adored. Kael in chains. Kael breaking them.
Aeris stood beside them.
"You don't have to become any of them. But you need to know them."
Thorne's hand rested lightly on Kael's shoulder.
"You are still yourself. That hasn't changed."
Kael dropped to one knee, vision blurring.
"How can I carry all this?"
Kiel knelt too. "You already are."
One by one, they all knelt.
Laeth. Aeris. Thorne. Riven.
"We chose you before you were a god," Riven said. "We choose you still."
The mirror cracked.
Light poured through the fractures.
Kael screamed.
And fell.
Stone. Cold.
Kael gasped, breath ragged. The shattered blood arch loomed above, pieces still glowing faintly. The city of Marrowspire was silent now, empty of revelers.
Aeris knelt beside them, hands glowing.
"You were gone for seconds," she whispered. "But the runes…"
Kael sat up.
And froze.
Their chest glowed. Golden runes blazed across their skin, etched like living tattoos. They pulsed with each heartbeat.
Kael touched them, breath caught.
Kiel leaned close. "They weren't there before."
"What do they mean?" Thorne asked.
Kael stared down.
The script shimmered.
And rearranged.
"Mirrorborn. Chosen. Bound. One shall rise. One shall fall. One shall break the wheel."
Kael looked up slowly.
Above, the stars shifted into a new constellation.
The symbol of a crown... cracked in half.
And from the distance, something began to stir.
Something waking.
Something hunting gods.