The reflected light drifted farther and farther away. Joey looked down. The darkness beneath him was like a hungry beast, waiting for its prey, dragging him deeper and deeper. He struggled, thrashing to break free, gasping for air. His heartbeat pounded louder and louder. He kicked and clawed at the invisible grip around him, trying to reach the surface but it was useless.
His chest felt like it had been stabbed, every movement burning with pain. Slowly, his strength gave out. His limbs stopped fighting, his body surrendered. He let go.
He fell.
The water swallowed him in one instant. It wasn't just deep—it felt alive, black and endless, curling around him, pushing him down. Panic rose in waves, suffocation tightening his chest, water invading his lungs. The darkness pressed in, and for a moment, he thought this was the end. His vision blurred, thoughts scattered, and despair wrapped around him like a suffocating cloak.
Before his eyes close for the last time, he saw something swimming his way, it's a black thing, a monster? a shark?
Then, a firm, unyielding hand grabbed his leg. Strong, icy, and steady, it held him just as he was about to descend into the abyss. He kicked once more instinctively, and the grip pulled him up. His body floated, suspended, safe for now.
Moments later, Joey felt the sand beneath him, the salty breeze brushing against his face, the roar of the waves filling his ears. His bloodshot eyes blinked open. He was on a beach. He pushed himself up, brushing wet sand from his clothes, shaking out his hair. His limbs were weak but intact.
The water ahead was black, alive with writhing shapes, tiny demons clawing and fighting as if he were their prey. Fear gripped him again. Yet, as he remembered the creature's hand, he whispered to himself:
"Did… did it save me?"
He limped away from the shore, desperate for safety, hoping to find his friends and return home.
Far away, somewhere else in the same strange and unsettling world, a different kind of chaos was unfolding. The faint echo of crashing waves and distant shadows lingered in the air, almost like a link between the two events. Zain stirred, ears twitching as an unexpected sound pierced his rest a sharp, shattering noise that rattled his bones. Dust and debris fell around him as he pushed himself up, rubbing his eyes, disoriented.
The world around him was familiar yet strange...he knew this place very well
..its the old family mansion, with its echoing halls and secrets long hidden. He adjusted his leather jacket and held his family's engraved dagger, following the sound carefully, his instincts alert.
As he ascended the staircase, the shattering intensified. Each step seemed to resonate with the echo of another world, a world connected, in some inexplicable way.
The second floor loomed ahead, and the source of the sound became clear a single, massive golden door, inscribed with Roman letters and protected by countless spells.
"This… this is the forbidden door of Gelvia," Zain murmured, placing a hand lightly on the door.
Voices echoed from within:
"It's all because of you! …All because of you!"
The door creaked open on its own. Inside, mirrors with golden frames stretched from floor to ceiling. Zain saw his reflection multiply endlessly. The air in the room felt heavy, thick with something ancient and malevolent. A shiver ran down his spine.
"I still look handsome… maybe even better than before. So what? Did grandfather seal this room to punish vanity?" he murmured, his fingers brushing the mirrored surfaces as he advanced. He stopped before a mirror his own size, studying his reflection carefully, wondering if there was anything hiding beyond the endless glass.
Then, a voice whispered, low and venomous, curling into his mind like smoke:
"You always think you can hide, don't you? Pretend the past won't follow you… that nothing will ever come for you."
Zain froze.his hand rested on the dagger on his waist, without blinking.
" Iam in control" he said as a whisper to himself.
The mirror behind him cracked with a sharp sound. From the shards, the reflection stepped forward, eyes blazing. "Control?" it spat. "You call this control? You obey orders, you betray, you kill… and call it control? You think you are free? You are a pawn, and I… I feed on your hesitation!"
Zain turned around to see the source of the malicious voice.
He saw it, the reflection before him… was alive. Its lips curved into a cruel, cunning grin, eyes burning with a fury that mirrored his own, but darker, twisted, and infinitely more patient.
"I am you," it said softly, almost hypnotically. "But the you you know… the one you trust, the one you believe controls everything… is nothing. I am what you fear to face. I am the part of you that cannot be ignored, the shadow behind every choice, every hidden regret."
The mirrors pulsed, hundreds of distorted versions of his own face whispering and mocking, twisting his doubts into sharp edges. The reflection's eyes gleamed with malice.
"You believe your life is yours to command, don't you?" it hissed.
"Yet everything trembles around you, every secret, every mistake you thought buried. You hide from them, but hiding changes nothing. Everything you've touched, everything you've failed… it follows you. And I… I have always been here, waiting to remind you."
Zain's grip tightened on his dagger. The reflection stepped closer, deliberate, predator like, shadows stretching from the mirrors themselves, reaching toward him as if alive.
"You feel that fear creeping into your chest? That unease, the weight in your bones? That is only the beginning. I will break you… strip away everything you think you own. Your strength, your pride, your soul… all of it belongs to the truth, and I will show it to you."
Cracks appeared in the largest mirror, jagged lines crawling across the glass. The reflection drew a sword from thin air, stepping out like a predator stalking its prey. Zain braced himself, dagger ready, heart hammering, aware that this wasn't just a battle it was a confrontation with his own hidden sins, his darkest self, and the truth he had always feared to admit.
Zain froze for a moment, his black hair catching the dim light of the shattered mirror room. He tightened his grip on his dagger, stance firm, muscles coiled. Every step the reflection took sent a shiver through the floorboards, shards of broken glass crunching under its boots.
"Why all this?" Zain asked, voice steady but eyes sharp. "Why attack me like this? What do you want?"
The reflection smiled coldly, eyes burning with hatred. "Iam the one who will make sure you pay for your past mistakes."
Zain's fingers tightened on the dagger. "You're talking about mistakes… which one exactly are you talking about?"
The reflection stepped closer, sword raised, every movement deliberate. "I want revenge… for every pain you caused… for the blood of those we loved!"
Zain's heart thumped, but he held his ground. "Revenge? For whom?"
The reflection shot him a look, eyebrow raised, silently mocking: "Oh, you don't know?"
"Liz..." Zain said like a whisper to himself.
His mind reeled, shocked, as flashes of that terrible day pounded him like a hammer blow.
For a heartbeat, the world tilted around him, the shards of the broken mirror reflecting every shadow of his guilt and regret.
But then he drew a slow breath, forcing his heart to steady, his mind to focus. He pushed the memories to the edges of his awareness, gathering the shards of his composure like armor. Calmly, he centered himself, every muscle and nerve alert but controlled.
Finally, his voice emerged, steady and unwavering:
" I did no mistakes that day "
Zain's calm, collected demeanor hit the reflection like a cold blade. The more composed Zain remained, the tighter the tension in the reflection's movements grew, each step faltering slightly as if the dark energy feeding him was losing strength.
The reflection hissed through clenched teeth, eyes flashing with barely contained fury. "How… how can you stay so… calm?!"
Zain didn't flinch, didn't waver. Every measured breath, every controlled movement radiated a quiet power that made the reflection's anger coil tighter and tighter, like a spring ready to snap.
"Your anger… your fury… it won't break me," Zain said, voice steady, eyes locked on the advancing threat. "If anything, it only sharpens my focus. You're feeding on what you think is fear… but I have none for you."
"She was half human, half from the underworld. Dangerous. Uncontrollable. and did what was necessary . And you this anger of yours will not shake me."
The reflection faltered, fury coiling tighter in his chest. His sword trembled slightly in frustration. Zain's calm was a force he hadn't anticipated a focus unshaken by fear, unbroken by pain, and it gnawed at him more than any blade ever could.
Shards of glass crunched beneath their feet as Zain's dagger met the reflection's sword. Sparks flew, slicing through the dim light of the shattered mirror room.
The reflection lunged, wide and heavy, fury in every strike. Zain pivoted, rolling sideways, dagger flashing, narrowly deflecting the blow. Calm and collected, his black hair fell over his forehead, eyes never leaving his opponent.
"You think you can stand against me?" the reflection hissed, voice dripping with malice. "Her memory… her death… it weakens you!"
Zain's dagger swept in a counterattack, forcing the reflection back a step. "It sharpens me," he said, voice steady.
They spun, struck, and ducked in a deadly dance. Each swing of the sword met a precise parry. Every lunge from the reflection was countered. His fury grew, but Zain's calm, collected movements only tightened the reflection's frustration, his dark energy flickering like a flame in the wind.
A spin, a roll, a thrust. Zain's dagger grazed the reflection's sleeve. Sparks flew. The reflection's golden eyes flashed, rage twisting his features, yet his confidence wavered. Zain pressed forward, feints and strikes blending into one seamless rhythm, pushing him across the shards of broken mirror.
"Enough games," Zain said firmly, voice like ice.
"This ends now."