Reality trembled that night.
Not in thunder or flame—but in whispers.
A broken lullaby drifted across Nova Citadel's skies, sung in dozens of voices that weren't quite real. Each note a fracture. Each syllable… a warning.
They were coming.
Ghosts—not of the dead—but of me. Or rather, what I could've been.
"The Mirrorfall has begun," Kaeli muttered, standing beside me at the edge of the Chrono-Aegis Array."Time is no longer linear here. Reflections bleed."
Behind her, the shimmering hexagonal grid that protected the city flickered—like glass catching moonlight in the wrong direction.
We'd laid the groundwork:
Twelve anchor pylons to hold the dimensional rift in place.
Aethera managing the temporal flow in real-time.
My sister… watching from the shadows, her powers just beginning to awaken.
But even I hadn't predicted how quickly the fabric would unravel.
The first ghost arrived at dawn.
He looked like me.
Older. Sharper jaw. Eyes colder than winter.
He walked through the eastern gate, unarmed, hands raised.
"I am Jaden of Realm-913. I come to parley."
"With who?" I asked.
"With the one who still dreams."
We brought him to the Core Chamber.
He wore armor like liquid chrome, laced with pulsar veins and fragmented sigils—none I recognized.
"You still believe in choice," he said, no emotion in his voice.
"I believed once. Until I saw the cost."
"Who killed your world?" I asked.
"I did," he replied. "To spare it from him."
"The Infinite Crown."
He nodded once. Slowly.
"He consumes. Assimilates. Your kindness is a signal. Your city—a flare in the dark."
"He's already on his way."
Suddenly, a warning flared across my vision.
System Alert:
Intrusion Detected: Mirror Entity Type-Beta
Allegiance: Unverified
Energy Spike Detected – Multiphasic Signature
Before I could react, the man grabbed my collar and yanked me forward, eyes blazing.
"He already marked you. I can feel it in your system—your seed code is fractured."
"He's already writing over your possible futures. You think you're in control?"
"He'll make you choose your own extinction."
Kaeli knocked him back with a pulse round.
"He's bleeding paradox," she warned. "Keep him here too long, and we risk an echo implosion."
I stepped forward. My voice calm, but firm.
"If you know how to beat him, tell me."
"There is no victory," he said, coughing, eyes flickering. "Only delay."
"But… there's a weapon. A map. Lost between the folds. A child made of light and entropy.
Find it… before he does."
And then he disintegrated—shards of him scattering like broken glass across the chamber floor.
Later that night, as I stood on the highest tower of Nova Citadel, I looked up at the stars.
One of them was flickering.
Not a star.
A ship.
A herald.
System Notification:
Mirrorfall Stability: 71%
New Quest Unlocked: Locate the Child of Entropy
Time Remaining Before Incursion: 18 Days