Each level they passed showed a scene.
Not visions. Not illusions.
Moments.
Ashra alone in a silent temple, whispering to something behind the Veil.Ashra screaming as the first shard burned its way into her body.Ashra tearing down a council of robed figures — not out of rage, but grief.Ashra watching the sky crack open and saying, "Finally."
Kaelen didn't turn away.
He watched her fall — not once, but dozens of times.
Each level showed her a little more hollow, a little more inhuman.
By the time they reached the top, the tower was completely silent.
And there she was.
Ashra.
Or what was left of her.
She stood in the center of a circular chamber made of living stone. Her body was light and ash and shape — no face, no mouth, but her presence was overwhelming.
Yreya collapsed to her knees. Bren froze.
Kaelen didn't move.
Ashra turned to him — slowly.
"You've come far."
Her voice wasn't sound. It echoed in his blood.
"You carry what I could not."
Kaelen swallowed. "You broke the world."
"I tried to free it."
He stepped closer. "From what?"
She looked at him — not with pity. With understanding.
"From time."
The chamber shook.
Ashra turned toward the ceiling.
"It's waking up."
Kaelen blinked. "What is?"
Ashra didn't answer.
Instead, she stepped forward and reached out a single hand made of woven flame and memory.
"You have one choice left."
"You can finish what I began."
"Or you can close it."
Kaelen's fingers twitched. The shards in his body lit like a heartbeat.
He didn't take her hand.
Not yet.
From below — deep below — a rumble began.
Not from the tower.
From the world.
Yreya stood. "Something's coming."
Bren drew his blade.
Kaelen met Ashra's gaze.
"What happens if I finish it?"
"Everything ends," she said. "But nothing breaks again."
"And if I close it?"
"You will be the last shard. Forever."
The tower trembled.
Outside, the mirror-world sky split.
And something with too many arms, too many mouths, and no memory of being human began to rise.