The hallway beyond the platform was narrow and dark. Smooth stone walls curved inward, guiding Kaien down a path without corners. There were no windows, no torches, no scribes or watchers. Only light from thin glyphs etched along the floor, pulsing in time with his steps.
Each pulse grew fainter the farther he walked.
He followed the path in silence. His heartbeat slowed. His breath leveled. But the feeling beneath his ribs did not fade. It remained like a weight he had never noticed until now. It did not hurt. It did not burn. It simply reminded him it was there.
The hallway opened into a smaller chamber.
Round again. Always round. Like the world had been built to fold inward.
The walls of this room were smooth, black, and cold. No carvings. No benches. No observers. Just a single mirror standing in the center—tall, narrow, shaped like a blade stabbed into the stone.
Kaien stopped in the doorway.
The glyphs at his feet faded one by one, until only the mirror remained illuminated. It glowed faintly along its edges. The reflection showed nothing but darkness.
A voice filled the space. Calm. Measured. Not the same as the one from before.
"This is not a test of strength. It is not a measure of skill. Step forward and face your line."
Kaien did not move at first.
His eyes remained on the mirror.
No image formed. No symbols appeared. The glass remained dark. Flat. Empty.
He stepped forward anyway.
Each step felt harder. Not heavier, but slower, like he was walking through water he could not see. The pressure around his body thickened. His thoughts began to slow. Memories surfaced without warning.
A name he did not remember. A field of white grass. A star that pulsed in reverse.
He reached the mirror.
His reflection was not there.
Only a faint shimmer. A breath behind glass.
Then it changed.
Not into an image.
But into a question.
Kaien did not hear it with his ears. He felt it. Like a string pulled tight inside his mind.
What are you?
He said nothing.
The glass shifted again. Shapes formed and vanished too quickly to follow. Glyphs that did not belong to the gods. Symbols not meant to be remembered. A shimmer passed across the mirror's surface like oil in still water.
The weight behind his ribs pulsed once.
The mirror cracked.
Only slightly. A thin, jagged line across the bottom right.
No alarm sounded. No light flared.
Just silence.
Then the voice returned.
"Proceed."
Kaien stepped back.
The light returned to the floor, guiding him to the next door.
He did not look at the mirror again.
But he felt it watching him as he left.