Lina walked alone down the west wing hallway. It was late, and the academy was finally quiet. The only sound was the soft tap of her shoes on the stone floor.
She needed answers. The normal library had nothing about the Mirror World. The teachers would not talk about it. That left only one place: the forbidden archives.
As she walked, the hallway began to feel strange. The shadows on the wall did not match the glowing wall lamps. They stretched in the wrong direction.
Reyon's sticky illusions. He had practiced his magic in this hallway days ago, but the fake images were still stuck to the walls. A fake statue stood in the corner. A fake window showed a sunny sky, even though it was night outside.
Lina reached out and touched the wall. It felt cold and slightly soft, like old rubber. Reality was getting contaminated. Nobody knew what was real anymore, not even Reyon.
She pushed the feeling of sickness down and kept walking. She had to be brave. She had to be the investigator now.
She reached the heavy iron door of the forbidden archives. It was supposed to be locked with a magical seal. But when Lina grabbed the cold metal handle, it turned easily. The door creaked open.
She stepped inside. The room was pitch black and smelled like dust and old paper.
Lina struck a small match. The tiny flame flickered, casting long, dancing shadows.
In the center of the room, there were no bookshelves. There was only a tall, full-length mirror standing in the dark.
Lina froze. A cold fear wrapped around her heart. She did not want to look. But she had to.
She took a slow step forward. The glass was dark and cloudy.
Then, a shape moved inside the glass. It was not Lina's reflection.
It was Kai. The real Kai.
His face was pale and covered in sweat. His eyes were wide with pure panic. He was pounding his fists against the glass from the inside.
Lina gasped. She dropped the match. It hit the floor and went out, but the mirror glowed with a faint, sickly light. She reached out and pressed her hand against the cold surface.
"Kai!" she whispered, her voice breaking.
He could not hear her. He kept pounding on the glass. His mouth moved, forming a single, desperate word.
Run.
Suddenly, a hand rested gently on Lina's shoulder.
Lina stopped breathing. Her blood turned to ice. She slowly turned her head in the dark.
The False Kai was standing right behind her. His smile was wide and perfect, but his eyes were completely dead.
"You should not be in here, Lina," he whispered.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2026
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Next Chapter Summary: Trapped in the archive with the False Kai, Lina must rely on her wits to escape, while the countdown above her head suddenly begins to tick down faster.