𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐎𝐟 𝐄𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐧

Chapter 8: The Memory That Wasn't Hers

Mira’s fingers closed around the Key of Echoes.

The instant she touched it, the room exploded with light—and memory.

She was no longer in the Whispering Vault. She stood in a grand hall of mirrors, each one reflecting a different version of herself. Some were older. Some carried swords. Some wore crowns. All stared at her.

Then one mirror shattered.

Through it, she saw Cael—much younger, laughing with a girl who looked exactly like Mira. Not kind of like her. Exactly like her.

Thistle’s voice echoed through the memory: “The key remembers all who’ve shaped the realms.”

The memory blurred.

Now she saw Cael falling into a mirror, screaming. Shadows wrapped around him. The girl—her double—stood frozen, helpless. Then she, too, vanished.

The vision ended.

Mira collapsed, gasping. The key pulsed in her hand.

Thistle helped her up. “What did you see?”

“I… I think I knew Cael. In another time. Or another version of me did.”

Thistle blinked. “That’s what the key reveals. Echoes of who we were… or might’ve been.”

Mira stared at the crystal. “He wasn’t always like this. The shadows twisted him. But maybe he can still be saved.”

“If he wants to be,” Thistle murmured.

Outside the Vault, the sky split with violet lightning. The third Shadow Gate was stirring.

Mira looked at the map again. The ink swirled into a new symbol: a flame wrapped in chains. Below it, a single word burned across the page: Hollowspire.