Sorry for the late chapter
---
Chapter 22 – Shattered Reflections
(Word count goal: Over 2000 words)
---
The black door closed behind him without a sound.
Lucian took a step forward—and the world shattered.
There was no warning. No slow descent.
One second he was walking on stone—
The next, he was falling through a sky made of broken glass.
Shards of himself reflected in every direction:
—A laughing Neo.
—A weeping Riv.
—A burning tower.
—A field of graves.
—A boy kneeling alone in endless darkness.
Lucian hit the ground hard.
Except... there was no ground.
Only an endless, shifting mirror, rippling like water, reflecting twisted versions of his memories.
> "Stay calm," the Book's voice whispered from nowhere—and everywhere.
Lucian forced himself up, breathing ragged. His hands trembled slightly.
The River of Moments was gone. This was different.
Wrong.
"Another test?" Lucian thought, clenching his fists.
"Fine. Bring it."
He moved forward.
The mirror beneath him shifted, rippling.
And the nightmares began.
---
First, small things.
He heard laughter — familiar, warm.
He turned, desperate — and saw Neo, Riv, and the butler sitting together at a table.
For a moment, joy surged in Lucian's chest.
But then...
The scene glitched.
Neo's smile twisted into a snarl.
Riv's eyes bled black.
The butler rose, a dagger in his hand, moving toward Neo's back—
Lucian shouted—but no sound came out.
He ran toward them—
—and the floor swallowed him whole.
---
Now he stood in a different place.
A battlefield.
Bodies everywhere.
The sky burned crimson.
Lucian stumbled forward—
—and saw himself standing over Neo's broken body, sword dripping blood.
"No," Lucian whispered. "No, no—"
The other Lucian turned, grinning wide.
"You chose this," it hissed.
The ground cracked.
Hands reached up—grabbing his ankles—pulling—pulling—
Lucian struggled, kicking wildly, but the hands wouldn't let go.
Their touch was ice.
Memory.
Regret.
---
Next came the loneliness.
Lucian wandered empty streets.
Every building abandoned.
Every door locked.
Every window shattered.
He called out, again and again.
Nobody answered.
He was alone.
Forever.
---
His mind began to break.
Somewhere deep inside, Lucian knew these weren't real.
They couldn't be.
But it didn't matter.
The emotions were real.
The pain was real.
The despair was real.
> "Make it stop," he begged once, voice raw.
"Please..."
No one answered.
The Tower had no mercy.
---
The nightmares escalated.
Lucian faced:
A dying Riv, whispering "You failed me."
The butler's silhouette, fading into ash.
A future where he walked alone, king of a dead world.
Each time, he tried to fight.
Each time, he lost something—
—A memory.
—A feeling.
—A piece of himself.
He screamed, punched, raged.
The mirror just laughed, shattering further, then repairing itself endlessly.
Time twisted.
Seconds felt like hours.
Hours felt like years.
Lucian knelt in the endless mirror field, shoulders shaking, blood dripping from his fists.
Broken.
Empty.
Done.
---
And then—
A spark.
Small. Weak.
But burning.
Somewhere deep inside him—a voice rose.
Not the Book's voice.
Not an enemy's whisper.
His own voice.
Quiet. Steady.
> "I am Lucian."
"I decide who I am."
"Not you. Not this Tower. Not anyone."
The mirror cracked at his feet.
Light spilled out.
The darkness recoiled.
Lucian rose slowly, fists clenched at his sides.
Tears streaked his face, but his eyes blazed.
"I don't care what you show me," he whispered.
"I'll save them anyway."
"I'll walk through hell itself if I have to."
"And if I fall..."
He smiled grimly.
"I'll crawl back up and try again."
---
The nightmare shattered completely.
A shockwave of silver light ripped through the world—
The mirrors exploded into a billion shards, raining down like stardust.
Lucian stood alone in a new place.
A silent stone corridor.
Smooth black walls.
Cold air.
His heart thundered in his chest.
His body ached everywhere.
He felt... heavier somehow. Stronger.
But inside—inside, something was missing.
He didn't understand how he'd survived.
He didn't know when his body changed.
He didn't know why his mind felt... different.
His hands shook slightly as he looked at them.
"How did I win?"
No answer.
"How did I get stronger?"
Nothing.
"What did I lose?"
The silence was deafening.
---
Lucian staggered forward.
Each step echoed unnaturally loud.
The corridor seemed endless.
At some point—he wasn't sure when—he realized he wasn't alone.
He turned sharply—
—saw a shadow at the edge of his vision.
A humanoid figure, tall, draped in darkness.
Watching.
Waiting.
But when Lucian blinked—it was gone.
Only a faint whisper remained, carried by a breeze that shouldn't have existed:
> "You have only begun to fall."
Lucian's blood ran cold.
He looked down—and saw a single black feather lying on the floor before him.
It pulsed faintly with light—as if alive.
Tentatively, he reached out—
And the chapter ended there.
---
---