The other Maelin stood at the edge of the crystalline platform, her robes flowing in a wind that didn't exist. Her crown of fractured Choir glass hummed with ancient power.
Maelin's breath caught.
It wasn't just a version of her.
It was a possibility—one path she might yet become. One future that had already happened, looped and looped, again and again.
> "How many times have you stood here?" Maelin asked.
The mirror-Maelin smiled sadly. "Hundreds. Thousands. Sometimes I open the Gate too early. Sometimes too late. Sometimes I never find the Whisper at all."
> "Why show me this now?"
"Because this is the first time you asked that question."
Behind them, the Hollow Light stirred—its melody growing stronger. The very edges of the realm began to flicker, as though the world couldn't decide whether it should still exist.
Maelin stepped forward. "I won't let him in."
"You already have," the other Maelin said. "But that doesn't mean you've lost."
She raised her hand—and the Celestial Locket floated between them. It was cracked, yes, but alive. Inside it, stardust swirled.
"You're not meant to defeat Liraen," the mirror whispered. "You're meant to change his song."
Maelin froze. "Change it? He's darkness. He's destruction."
"No," her reflection said, stepping back. "He's grief. He lost the stars. He lost his voice. You're the Whisper because your song still has space for sorrow."
And then the Hollow Light screamed.
It surged forward, taking shape—a form made of broken constellations and Choir tears. Eyes like collapsed galaxies. Hands like blades of frozen melody.
Maelin stood firm.
And she sang.
Not with her voice—but with memory. With every broken star chart. Every whispered lullaby from Elara. Every joke Caelum told her by firelight. Every ache she had kept silent.
The Locket blazed with violet flame.
The Hollow Light paused.
And in that second, Maelin stepped forward and touched its heart.
---
Elsewhere
Outside the Gate, Caelum and Eira watched the obsidian monolith shake violently.
"She's doing it," Eira whispered. "She's inside the Song itself."
"But can she win?" Caelum asked.
"I don't think it's about winning anymore," Eira said. "It's about rewriting how the story ends."