Chapter 14: Mirrorfire Clash
Location: The Hollow Annex – Mirror Path
The Mirror Path twisted around Ren like a living dream. Each step he took shimmered with fractured reflections of himself—some younger, some older, all haunted.
Then he heard it.
A slow clap, echoing through the warped glass.
"I knew I smelled something... rotten beneath the scholar's robes."
Kael Veylor stepped into view. The crimson of House Veylor's crest glowed like molten gold on his chestplate. Behind him, mirrored flames flickered unnaturally.
"You're not just an anomaly," Kael said, drawing a thin, phoenix-winged blade. "You're a mistake."
Ren didn't flinch. "Then you'll be the lesson."
The Codex Nullum pulsed at his side. Void script writhed across its cover. The air bent subtly.
Kael struck first—his blade a blur of fire and fury, twisting the mirrored world into glass-bending heat.
Ren parried with nothing but a flick of shadow.
[Void Echo: Phase Lock]
Kael's sword halted mid-air—as if caught between seconds.
"What—?" Kael snarled, pushing through the temporal freeze.
Ren's voice was low. Controlled. Dangerous.
"You're fast. But I've read this moment already."
He unleashed [Script of Echoes], turning Kael's past strikes against him. The Mirror Path obeyed—the flames turned, reshaping into a mirrored Kael who lunged back at the original.
"You dare—use my own fire against me?!"
"It's not yours anymore."
As Kael staggered back, a red glyph flared above his heart. For a moment, Ren saw it: a seal. Divine. Forbidden.
"He's marked…"
Not just a Veylor. Kael was bound by something older. A contract with the Arbiter of Chains.
"You're hiding something too," Ren whispered.
Kael's mask cracked, fury breaking through. "You'll die before learning what it is."
The mirrored flames surged once more.
And Ren answered with darkness deeper than shadow.