Riven woke up with a headache.
Not normal headache. The kind that sits behind your eyes and pulses. Like something was trying to push its way out.
He sat up. The room was dark. Elara was asleep. Kael too.
The cracks were still there.
He could see them everywhere. Thin silver lines in the air. In the walls. In the ceiling. Like the whole world was a broken plate someone had glued back together badly.
Is this what everyone sees? he wondered. Or just me?
He got up. Quiet. His feet were cold on the stone floor.
He walked to the door. Opened it. Stepped into the corridor.
The cracks were brighter out here. Some were thick. Some were thin. They pulsed. Like veins.
He followed them.
The corridors were empty. Everyone was sleeping. Recovering from the trial.
He walked past the lower hall. Past the stairs. Past the door that led to the training room.
The cracks led him somewhere new.
A door he hadn't seen before. Old. Iron. Covered in rust.
He touched it.
The cracks on the door glowed.
Open it, a voice said. Inside his head. Not his voice.
He pushed.
The door opened.
Inside was a small room. Empty except for a mirror.
The mirror was old. Silver frame. Tarnished. The glass was cloudy.
He walked to it.
Looked at his reflection.
The face looking back was his. But different. Older. More tired. There were scars on its cheeks.
This isn't me, he thought.
This is someone I used to be.
The reflection smiled.
"You found me," it said.
"Who are you?"
"A fragment. Like the one you took from the dream. But different. Older. From a different cycle."
"I don't understand."
"You will. In time. For now, just know that I'm here. And I can help you."
"How?"
"I can show you things. Memories. From your other lives. But every time I show you something, it costs you."
"What's the cost?"
"Time. You lose time. Hours. Days. Maybe more."
Riven stared at the reflection.
Another fragment, he thought. Another power. Another cost.
I just got one. Now there's another.
"I'm not ready," he said.
"No one is ever ready."
The reflection faded. The mirror went dark.
Riven stood there for a long time.
Then he left.
The cracks in the corridor were dimmer now. Fading.
He walked back to the dorm.
Elara was awake. Sitting on her bed.
"Where did you go?" she asked.
"Walking."
"You shouldn't walk alone at night. People disappear at night."
"I can take care of myself."
"Can you?"
She looked at him. Her eyes were red again.
"Lira had nightmares," she said. "All night. She kept screaming."
"Is she okay?"
"Physically, yes. Mentally... I don't know."
Riven sat on his bed.
"The trial changed her," Elara said. "It changes everyone. You seem different too."
"I feel different."
"Good different or bad different?"
"I don't know yet."
They sat in silence.
Kael snored in his bed.
After a while, Elara spoke again.
"There's going to be another trial. In two weeks. A harder one."
"I know."
"Are you going to do it?"
"I have to. I need more fragments."
"Why?"
"Because Theron has dozens. If I want to beat him, I need to catch up."
Elara looked at him.
"You're really going to try to beat him."
"Yes."
"He'll kill you."
"Maybe."
She lay back down.
"You're an idiot," she said.
"Probably."
She turned to the wall.
Riven lay down too.
Stared at the ceiling.
The cracks were still there. Faint. Silver.
Two weeks, he thought. Two weeks until the next trial.
Two weeks to get stronger.
Two weeks to figure out who I really am.
He closed his eyes.
The reflection's face appeared behind his eyelids.
Older. Tired. Scars.
Someone I used to be.
He slept.
No dreams.
Just the cracks.
Waiting.