The fire had long since faded into embers, but Daelen and Sylen still lingered in the clearing.
The silence between them was sharp—like the pause before a sword's descent. Neither of them spoke, and the weight of the quiet hung like a heavy fog, making the air thick and difficult to breathe.
Daelen stared into the smoldering ashes, his mind racing through fragments of what had happened. The vision—no, the recognition—it had shaken something deep inside him. The Mirror of Becoming had not been a fleeting hallucination.
It was real.
And now, everything felt different.
"I need answers," he muttered, brushing off the remnants of the fire from his robes.
Sylen looked at him from where she sat cross-legged, her dagger now resting at her side. "Answers aren't found by staring at smoke."
"No," Daelen said, a fire igniting in his chest. "But I know where to look for them."
She raised an eyebrow. "And where's that?"
"The Shrine of Echoes."
She snorted, a sharp sound in the stillness. "That place? I thought you'd given up on ghosts and stories by now."
"It's not a story. It's a place," he replied, voice firm. "And I'm going there."
---
They set off at dawn.
The forest was dense and thick with fog as they traveled, the air heavy with the scent of damp earth and decaying leaves. The path narrowed as they ascended, the terrain growing more jagged and hostile as the Dead Ridge loomed before them.
Few dared cross the ridge—not because of monsters or beasts, but because of what lay beyond it.
The Shrine of Echoes.
A place forgotten by time, where only the whispers of the forsaken remained.
---
By the time nightfall descended, they arrived.
The Shrine was a broken thing. Shattered columns jutted from the earth like the remnants of ancient teeth, their surfaces weathered and worn, choked by creeping vines and frost. At the center of the ruin stood a cracked pedestal, upon which lay the remnants of a mirror frame—silvered wood, now half-swallowed by stone and ruin.
Daelen felt something stir in him, something that wasn't hunger or exhaustion. His body moved on instinct, compelled by something deeper.
He knelt before the pedestal, the same instinct guiding him.
And then—
---
[SYSTEM UNLOCKED]
[THE MIRROR OF BECOMING HAS RECOGNIZED YOUR EXISTENCE.]
[STATUS SCREEN AVAILABLE]
A shimmer passed through the air, like a ripple on the surface of still water. Words formed—not spoken, not written, but real. Etched into the world itself, and Daelen felt them in the deepest corners of his being.
---
[Mirror Status Update: Recognition Achieved]
Name: Daelen
Title: None
Path:
Creed: "I will not die the way they wrote it."
Affiliation: None
Alignment: Forming
Resonance: 17% — "The soul leans toward clarity. The first thread has been tied."
Attributes:
STR: 2.24
AGI: 2.13
END: 2.05
INT: 1.74
WIL: 2.07
PER: 1.56
Martial Comprehension:
Feral Counter — 26% Harmony
Unnamed Flowing Strike — 9% Harmony
Echo Trace:
Footwork Displacement Pattern: Low Drift Step — Dormant
Achievements:
"Survived Certain Death"
"Rejected Fate"
"Heard the Mirror's Whispers"
Mirror Reflection:
> "The name lingers where silence once ruled. You have not claimed your fate. But you have denied another's."
Warning Tags:
"No Fate Assigned"
"Progression Unbound"
"Deviation Detected"
---
Daelen staggered back, his breath coming in ragged gasps. His hands trembled as he looked at them—glowing faintly with a golden hue. He blinked, his mind struggling to comprehend what was happening.
"What the hell…?" His voice came out hoarse, barely a whisper.
Sylen was by his side in an instant, her hand pressing against his shoulder. Her voice was filled with concern. "Your eyes—they're burning."
He looked at her, barely hearing her over the thudding in his chest. He didn't know how to respond—how to explain what had just happened. He looked at his hands again, the golden light flickering with every breath he took.
"It's real," he whispered. "It wasn't just in my head. The Mirror… it sees me."
And then, in the far distance, a presence shifted. Like something—someone—was watching from afar, behind clouds and stars.
---
Note:
The Mirror of Becoming is not a system of cheats or guidance. It is an ancient force, a reflection of one's very essence. It recognizes those who defy the prescribed fates of their world, acknowledging their will and achievements.
Daelen is not chosen.
He was simply seen.
The Mirror does not offer help. It merely reflects the truth of the soul, unflinching. And those who see themselves in its reflection… are often changed in ways that cannot be undone.
Also Daelen isn't just the only one that unlocked the Mirror, there are also people who unlocked it. Think of this as a Universal Status Screen. Not many have But when given the right conditions, theycan unlock it.