The Court of Realms did not sleep. Time folded and unfolded upon itself like breathing silk, and within its shifting walls, Lina stood at the edge of a floating balcony, gazing into an abyss lit with stars that did not belong to any known sky.
Elira stood behind her in silence, her presence weightless but never absent.
"What do you see?" the Keeper asked.
Lina's fingers curled around the railing. "Possibility. And danger."
Elira nodded slowly. "Both are always present in your kind. But in you, they twist tighter."
Lina's voice softened. "He made it past the first gate, didn't he?"
Elira closed her eyes, just for a moment. "He did. And the second waits."
A beat passed. Then Lina turned to her. "I want to train."
That caught Elira's attention.
"To master what you are… you must first understand why you are."
Lina stepped forward. "Then show me."
Without a word, Elira raised her hand—and the entire balcony twisted upward into a stairway of glowing runes. Each step thudded like a drumbeat as Lina climbed.
At the top, a vast chamber unfolded—its ceiling a mirror of forgotten memories, its floor a web of choices never made.
In the center, a throne stood. Empty.
"Sit," Elira commanded.
Lina hesitated. "That's not mine."
"It was, once," Elira said. "In another life, another thread."
Lina stepped forward, drawn by a force she couldn't explain. As she approached, the chamber changed. Flames danced along the edges of memory. She saw herself—dressed in black, laughter twisted into power, Kai at her feet again, unmoving.
"No," Lina whispered. "That's not who I am."
"Not yet," Elira replied. "But your soul remembers. All paths are one, unless you choose to break them."
Lina placed a hand on the throne's armrest—and the air shattered.
She fell—not downward, but inward.
Into a memory not her own, yet deeply familiar.
---
A world of glass and storms.
Lina walked alone. No Kai. No Elira. Just silence and broken sky.
But something called her name—not out loud, but like a string tied to her ribs. She followed it.
Through the storm. Into a hall of mirrors.
Each mirror showed a version of her.
One wore a crown of fire. Another wielded death like a dance. Another... was ash.
They all turned when she entered.
And one stepped out.
"I am you," the mirror-Lina said, voice calm but ice-cold. "The you that chose power. The you that left him behind."
Lina stiffened. "Then you're the one I refuse to become."
The other Lina smiled. "You think it's about refusal? It's about inevitability."
She attacked without warning.
No blade. Just emotion.
Pain. Rage. Betrayal.
Lina collapsed, clutching her chest, breath ragged. She saw herself walking away from Kai. Not because she wanted to—but because she had to. Because the universe demanded it.
"I won't," she gasped.
"You will," the other hissed. "Because you'll be given a choice: save him… or save everyone else."
Lina's scream tore the sky.
And she woke—back in the chamber, drenched in sweat.
Elira stood beside her, unmoved. "That was the first veil. There are six."
Lina looked up, voice hoarse. "Then I'll break them all."
---
Elsewhere…
Kai stood in the center of a void-lit battlefield.
The second trial had no gate. No beast.
Just… silence.
And then—
Lina appeared.
Not the real Lina. A projection. But she looked at him the same way she always did—eyes filled with fire and hurt.
"I'm tired," she said softly. "Let go."
He faltered.
"Don't you want peace?" she whispered.
He lowered his blade.
She smiled. Walked to him. Took his hand.
And then stabbed him in the chest.
Pain exploded—but not in his body. In his soul.
This trial wasn't physical.
It was a test of conviction.
Of faith.
Of love.
Bleeding, Kai dropped to his knees. He saw the real Lina—in his mind—standing tall, wounded but unbroken.
He smiled through the pain. "You're not her."
And the illusion shattered.
Kai stood again, breath ragged, blood evaporating into light.
"Second gate," he growled, "opened."
---
Far away, in the Court of Realms, Lina clutched her chest.
And whispered, "He's coming."
Shattered Memories – Second Trial
Kai stepped into the darkness—but this time, there were no roars, no snapping jaws or clawed beasts. Only stillness. A hazy space, frozen in a moment where time itself had cracked. With every step he took, the ground beneath him fractured like glass, each shard reflecting thousands of memories—not his own, but Lina's.
"Welcome to the Realm of Shattered Memories," a voice echoed. It wasn't a whisper, but a presence—resonating from the air itself, from inside his own mind.
Floating in the broken silence were fragments, glowing red like stained glass: Lina screaming in solitude, collapsing again and again, eyes filled with betrayal and despair, and the haunting moments where she stared at the sky, asking why she even existed.
Kai gripped his sword tightly. "Don't use her pain against me."
The space trembled, and from the scattered memories emerged a figure—not a monster, but Lina. Yet not his Lina.
This was a version of her from a different timeline. One consumed by her own power. Her eyes blazed red, her presence radiating a cold, merciless fury.
"You were my weakest link," she said, her voice ragged and low like it came from the abyss. "If not for you, I would've never faltered."
Kai met her gaze without flinching. "If you are her… then I definitely won't back down."
She—this dark version of Lina—lunged at him. Not with a blade, but with memories themselves. Visions of his death. Lina's abandonment. Broken promises. A love twisted by grief and fear.
Kai staggered as each vision struck, carving into his mind like blades. But he did not fall. He remembered her voice. Her trembling hand in his. The smile she wore even as her world collapsed.
"Love," he said, "isn't a chain. It's strength."
He leapt forward, sword blazing—not just with willpower, but with raw emotion: rage for her suffering, resolve to protect her, and a promise etched into his soul: "I will reach you—even if I have to walk through the hell you once lived."
His strike cleaved the dark image in half.
The space shattered, dissolving like a broken dream. A warm, golden light wrapped around him.
A gate opened—this time, not a torment, but a passage.
Kai stepped through, exhausted but unyielding.
Two trials passed. One remained.
---
Meanwhile, at the Celestial Court of Realms…
Lina knelt in the center of a star-forged circle, sweat beading on her brow as energy surged through her.
Elira stood behind her, voice calm and distant: "You can't bear the power of the Seven Realms unless you face the deepest part of yourself."
Lina bit her lip, drawing blood. Again, the vision of her standing among thousands of corpses flickered—but this time, she didn't turn away.
"I'm not afraid of becoming a monster," she whispered. "I'm afraid of forgetting why I fight."
Light burst from her chest, ripping through the illusion and hurling her from the circle.
Elira approached, no longer cold. "You're improving. But your soul is still fragile. If you want to save him—Kai—you must learn how to hold yourself together."
Lina looked up, still shaking but burning with resolve. "Even if I shatter... I'll hold onto that one piece of light."
Elira nodded. "Then pray it's strong enough... when the final choice arrives."
---
Elsewhere, beyond the third gate…
A figure stepped from the shadow, eyes fixed on Kai.
This time, it wasn't a test of memory or monsters.
It was something far more ancient.
A being that wore his face.
"You want to save her?" it asked, voice echoing from the beginning of time.
"I do," Kai answered, sword lifted.
"Even if it means destroying yourself?"
Kai narrowed his eyes. "No. I'll become something greater."
The figure smiled. "Then step forward. And face your final boundary—yourself."
And the last trial began—not between enemy and hero—
—but between a man… and everything he has yet to become.