The voice faded.
Yet its presence remained.
Heavy.
Ancient.
Watching.
Mirror stood motionless, his eyes fixed on the colossal hand gripping the Black Tower.
The hand did not belong to any creature he had ever seen.
Each finger was covered in obsidian scales, cracked with veins of crimson light that pulsed like molten lava.
The tower trembled in its grasp.
Ancient chains wrapped around the structure groaned under impossible pressure.
One snapped.
The sound echoed across the wasteland like the ringing of a funeral bell.
Every shadow on the battlefield suddenly stopped moving.
Then, as one, they knelt toward the tower.
The soldiers looked around in confusion.
"They're... bowing."
"No."
An old mage shook his head.
"They're worshipping."
"My Queen!"
Captain Rowan rode toward Myreiya, his horse struggling to remain calm.
"We have to retreat!"
Myreiya never took her eyes off the tower.
"If we retreat now, whatever is inside will reach the kingdom before dawn."
"But staying here is suicide!"
She knew he was right.
Every instinct screamed at her to turn back.
To protect her people.
To abandon this cursed place forever.
Yet...
The parchment hidden inside her cloak felt strangely warm.
Find the First Prison.
The old man had not told her to destroy it.
He had told her to find it.
There had to be a reason.
Mirror suddenly staggered.
The mark on his chest pulsed violently.
His breathing became uneven.
Myreiya immediately noticed.
"Mirror."
He didn't answer.
His eyes remained fixed on the giant hand.
Then, without warning...
He whispered,
"It knows me."
The words were barely audible.
"What?"
Mirror slowly shook his head.
"I don't understand..."
"But..."
He pressed a trembling hand against his chest.
"It called me."
The air became colder.
So cold that frost spread across the wet ground.
The soldiers' breath turned white.
Even the rain transformed into tiny crystals of ice before touching the earth.
A deep laugh rolled from beneath the tower.
It was neither cruel nor joyful.
It sounded...
Lonely.
"So many centuries..."
The voice echoed again.
"And yet..."
"It is your soul that answers."
Mirror closed his eyes tightly.
"I don't know you!"
The laughter stopped.
Silence followed.
Then the voice replied,
"No."
"You simply forgot."
Suddenly, the sky split apart.
A beam of crimson light descended from the clouds, striking the ground between the army and the tower.
The earth exploded.
Stone and dust filled the air.
When the smoke settled...
A massive creature stood there.
It was nearly fifteen feet tall.
Its body was covered in black armor fused directly into its flesh.
A broken crown rested upon its head.
Its face was hidden behind a silver mask with no eyes.
Only darkness.
It slowly drew a sword taller than a man.
The blade was chipped.
Ancient.
Yet it radiated enough power to make every royal knight step backward.
Captain Rowan swallowed hard.
"What... is that?"
The old priest fell to his knees.
His lips trembled.
"The First Guardian."
The Guardian looked around the battlefield.
Ignoring the soldiers.
Ignoring the mages.
Ignoring Myreiya.
Its empty gaze settled on Mirror.
Then...
To everyone's shock...
It lowered its enormous sword.
And knelt.
The battlefield fell silent.
The Guardian spoke in a deep metallic voice.
"My..."
It paused, as if struggling to remember.
"...King."
Mirror's heart nearly stopped.
"No."
The word escaped his lips automatically.
"No..."
The Guardian slowly lowered its head.
"I have awaited your return."
"No!"
Mirror stepped backward.
"You have the wrong person."
"I am only a servant."
The Guardian remained kneeling.
"My King."
"I am your shield."
"I always will be."
Mirror felt dizzy.
Fragments of memories flashed before him.
A castle of white stone.
Golden banners.
An army kneeling before him.
Then—
Nothing.
The visions disappeared.
Leaving only pain.
Myreiya stared at Mirror.
Questions raced through her mind.
Servants did not have ancient guardians kneel before them.
Servants did not awaken forgotten towers.
Servants were not called "King."
Who...
Was Mirror?
She remembered every day she had spent humiliating him.
Every punishment.
Every cruel word.
A strange guilt settled inside her chest.
One she could not explain.
Captain Rowan raised his sword.
"My Queen!"
"The creature is distracted!"
"This is our chance!"
Several mages began gathering mana.
Bright circles of light formed beneath their feet.
They were preparing a forbidden spell.
Mirror's eyes widened.
"Stop!"
No one listened.
The chief mage slammed his staff into the ground.
"Holy Judgment!"
Hundreds of spears made of pure light fell from the sky.
The Guardian did not move.
It simply remained kneeling before Mirror.
The spears struck.
A blinding explosion shook the battlefield.
Dust covered everything.
The soldiers cheered.
"We got it!"
"It worked!"
Then...
A heavy footstep echoed from within the smoke.
Another.
Another.
The Guardian emerged.
Completely unharmed.
Not a single scratch marked its armor.
The holy spears had shattered against its body like glass.
The cheering stopped instantly.
Fear spread through the army.
The Guardian slowly stood.
For the first time...
It raised its sword.
Not toward the soldiers.
Toward the sky.
Dark clouds immediately began circling overhead.
Lightning crashed around the blade.
The old priest screamed,
"Everyone run!"
"It's going to break the seal!"
But it was already too late.
The Guardian swung its sword once.
Only once.
The air itself split apart.
A massive crack stretched across the heavens.
Beyond it...
A forgotten world became visible.
Ruined palaces floated in an endless crimson sky.
Countless broken crowns lay scattered across black deserts.
And at the center of that dead world...
A lone throne waited.
Empty.
As if expecting someone to return.
Mirror stared at it.
His chest tightened.
For reasons he couldn't understand...
It felt like home.
Far beneath the tower, the ancient voice laughed once more.
"Come back to me..."
"My King."
And for the briefest moment—
Mirror took an unconscious step toward the tower.
As though something inside him wanted nothing more than to answer that call.
To be continued...