The tranquil landscape of the mirror-portal began to fray. The vibrant greens bled into a sickly, charcoal gray.
"It's a containment field," Kieran murmured, his eyes scanning the horizon where the sun was being swallowed by a jagged tear in the sky. "This reality is being held together by pure willpower."
"The life force here is tethered to the Ancient One," Lyra added, her hand trembling against a tree that had started to wither. "If we're being watched, it means the darkness has found a way to bleed through."
Circe suddenly drew her blade, eyes darting to the ground. "It's not watching from above," she hissed. "It's coming from beneath."
The grass erupted. Shadow-wreathed tendrils wove themselves into the shapes of the group members. It was a hall of distorted mirrors made flesh.
The doppelgänger of Kieran lunged. It didn't just mimic his style; it anticipated his every move.
"Don't fight your own style!" Rory shouted. She closed her eyes, reaching for the frequency the Ancient One had taught her. She envisioned a sharp, discordant note—a sound meant to shatter rhythm.
She struck the air with her palm. A pulse of sonic energy rippled outward.
The shadows flickered and tore like wet paper.
"Rory, keep it steady!" Lyra shouted, weaving a web of light to pin the dissipating shadows.
The "beautiful" reality shed its disguise. The hills vanished, revealing a jagged, floating island suspended in a void. In the center stood a spire of pure, white crystal.
"That's the anchor," Kael pointed. "If we reach that, we can stabilize the resonance and block Erebus."
The ground beneath them began to disintegrate into dust. They had no bridge, only the void.
Rory looked at her friends. She gripped the Echo Stone. "We don't jump. We resonate. Link with me."
They grabbed hands. Rory didn't just push; she pulled. She matched the frequency of the crystal spire, and the void itself obeyed.
They didn't jump. They arrived.
The spire stood before them, towering and silent. But as they landed, the hum of the crystal shifted. It wasn't welcoming them. It was playing the same discordant note they had heard in the cavern.
Someone was already inside.
Rory's hand hovered over her sword. "Erebus," she whispered. "He beat us here