Violet left the ruins before dusk.
She kept the mask tucked away, but the shard pulsed against her chest like a second heartbeat. Warm. Calm. Always guiding.
The sky above turned gold, then lavender. Birds circled high, and the forest seemed to hum with new life. The world looked… different now.
Clearer.
She saw mana trails in the wind.
Heard whispers in the leaves.
Every color had depth, as if the world had woken up with her.
But not everything felt right.
The further she walked, the heavier the air became.
Not with danger.
With silence.
A silence that didn't belong.
Her orb flickered. "Energy pattern detected. Disruption nearby. Mana sharpness: 78%. No known source."
Violet slowed her steps.
She reached into her satchel and touched the moon-shaped mask the boy had given her.
It was cold.
She stopped walking.
And that's when she saw her.
A girl stood in the center of the path ahead. Long hair, black as ink. Pale skin. No movement. No emotion.
And her mask… was burned.
Cracked across the middle. One eye missing.
Violet took a cautious step forward. "Hello?"
The girl didn't move.
But her voice came out anyway. Hollow. Dry.
"You should not wear the mask."
Violet's wand was already in her hand. "Who are you?"
"I was a Seeker," the girl said softly. "Until I broke."
She raised her hands—and her fingers glowed red with cursed mana.
Violet stepped back.
"Mask-breaker," the orb warned.
---
The girl lunged.
No spell. Just raw speed.
Violet ducked, rolled, and fired a stun blast—blue light surged, but the girl deflected it with a flick of her wrist.
"Too slow," the mask-breaker hissed.
She spun and launched a wave of crackling red energy.
Violet dove behind a fallen tree as it slammed into the ground, leaving a smoldering scar in the earth.
The orb buzzed. "Warning: enemy spellcraft is corrupted. Defensive magic compromised."
"I noticed!" Violet shouted.
---
She reached for the shard.
Held it in her hand.
It pulsed wildly.
Then her vision flashed.
Not a memory.
A choice.
Three paths appeared before her mind:
— Attack with fire.
— Shield with light.
— Listen.
She chose the third.
---
Violet stood tall.
Lowered her wand.
And put the mask on.
The world around her slowed.
The girl froze mid-attack.
And Violet saw it.
Behind the cracks in the mask… a memory.
A girl, once bright, sitting among others. Laughing. Studying. Holding her own shard.
Then… the purge.
Flames.
Screams.
Her friends taken. Her shard shattered.
Her voice silenced.
Until all that was left was pain.
---
Violet's voice softened. "You were one of them."
The girl's eyes widened.
"You remember," Violet said. "The chamber. The chants. The truth."
The girl trembled.
"Do you still hear it?" Violet asked.
The girl whispered, "Every day."
Violet reached into her satchel and pulled out the moon-shaped mask.
Held it out.
A peace offering.
"Then listen with me."
---
The red magic faded from the girl's hands.
She staggered back, gasping.
Her burned mask cracked further—then crumbled to dust.
She fell to her knees.
Tears streamed down her face.
"No one ever listened," she whispered.
Violet knelt beside her.
"I'm listening now."
---
The forest slowly returned to life.
The wind stirred.
The silence broke.
And the first mask-breaker—no longer broken—collapsed into Violet's arms.
---
Later, back in her dorm, Violet tended to the girl's wounds.
They didn't speak much.
Not yet.
But when the girl finally opened her eyes, she said one thing:
"My name is Iris."
Violet smiled softly.
"I'm Violet."
---
That night, while Iris slept, Violet added a new page to her notebook:
The Mask-Breakers are not enemies.
They are echoes.
And every echo can be heard.
The shard pulsed once in agreement.
---
But far away, in the dark tower, the cloaked figure watched his map.
The red light had dimmed.
Turned gold.
He snarled.
"She changed her."
The second voice from the shadows hissed, "What now?"
The man reached for a new mask.
One with teeth.
And no eyes.
"Send the next one," he whispered. "Let's see how long her kindness lasts."
---
The next morning, Violet woke before sunrise.
She found Iris sitting by the window, hugging her knees, eyes hollow. The broken girl who once tried to kill her now looked smaller than ever.
Violet handed her a warm cup of tea.
Iris took it slowly, as if unsure it was real.
"You don't have to say anything," Violet said gently. "Just… stay."
Iris gave the smallest nod.
A silent promise.
---
The orb hovered in the air, its tone quiet.
"Pulse activity increasing in the south. New shard energy detected. Location: City of Stained Light."
Violet looked up. "That's the old mana observatory, right?"
"Correct. Converted to a fortress after the second monster surge. Now heavily guarded."
"Then we're going."
---
They left at noon.
No goodbyes.
No explanations.
Just Violet, Iris, and the shard pulsing like a compass toward something ancient.
The City of Stained Light was days away, but Violet had already made up her mind.
---
On the way, Iris began to speak again—slowly, carefully.
"I wasn't always a mask-breaker," she suddenly said one night by the fire. "They took my shard. Said I was infected. That I needed to be 'cleansed'."
Violet didn't interrupt and listened quietly.
"They used fire," Iris whispered. "Burned the mask into my skin. Said it would silence the dungeon inside me."
She touched her face, where the mask had once been.
"But it only made it louder."
Violet placed her hand over Iris's.
"It's over now."
Iris met her eyes.
"Not yet."
---
The City of Stained Light shimmered on the horizon like a broken rainbow.
Tall spires. Wide crystal walls. Mirrors embedded in every tower, catching the sunlight and turning it into a blinding glow.
It was beautiful.
And terrifying.
Violet could feel the shard react the closer they came.
It pulsed not in warmth—but warning.
Something in that city remembered her.
And it did not forgive.
---
Guards lined the outer gates. Not soldiers—mages. Each with floating runes circling their heads. They scanned every passerby, searching for illegal relics.
Violet and Iris exchanged a glance.
"No way we're getting in through the front," Iris whispered.
Violet smiled.
"We're not."
---
They slipped through the old aqueduct.
A long, dark tunnel running beneath the city.
It stank of moss and mana runoff, but it was unguarded.
Iris lit a tiny orb of blue light.
Violet traced the map on her notebook.
"Shard's signal is coming from the central tower," she said. "Top floor. Same place they used to study dungeon echoes."
"Then that's where we go."
---
They reached the central tower by nightfall.
It loomed above the city like a sleeping giant.
Mirrors surrounded its base—watching, reflecting.
Violet pulled her mask down.
The world dimmed.
And then…
A whisper.
Not from the shard.
Not from her memory.
From the tower itself.
"You shouldn't have come back."
---
The doors opened before they touched them.
Inside, the air was colder.
Tighter.
The walls glowed with ancient runes. Names of those who once studied magic. Names long erased from history.
Iris pointed up. "There."
The spiral staircase stretched forever.
They climbed in silence.
Every step heavier than the last.
---
At the top stood a chamber of glass.
And in the center, floating above a pedestal—
A second shard.
This one dark purple, humming with power.
Violet stepped forward slowly.
But as her fingers touched the edge of its light…
The mirrors on the walls moved.
And from them stepped a figure.
Tall.
Sharp.
Unblinking.
It looked like Violet.
But wrong.
Eyes empty.
Voice hollow.
"You broke the silence."
---
The shard pulsed in Violet's hand.
The mask warmed her face.
She stood tall.
And whispered, "I'm here to listen."
The mirrored version of her raised a wand.
"You should have stayed quiet."