Silent Fen lived up to its name.
No wind. No birds. Just the wet, squishy sound of boots pressing into mossy planks and the quiet ripple of dark water.
Violet and Iris walked side by side, their shoulders brushing now and then. The fog hung like a curtain over everything, making it hard to tell where the path ended and the swamp began.
But Violet could feel it.
A pull.
The final shard was close.
---
"Do you trust him?" Iris asked quietly.
Violet didn't answer right away.
She looked at her reflection in the black water—blurred and wavy.
Then she said, "I want to."
"That's not the same."
"No," Violet agreed. "But it's all I've got."
---
The orb pulsed softly. "Tracking residual mana signature. Subject Ren's trail is consistent. Destination: central fen basin. Estimated travel time: seven minutes."
Seven minutes felt like forever here.
The trees around them were tall and thin, with long roots that twisted up out of the water like fingers. Sometimes Violet thought she saw faces in the bark. Frowning. Watching.
Once, she thought she saw a girl standing just beyond the path.
But when she blinked—
Gone.
---
The wooden planks eventually ended.
A mossy stretch of soft, spongy ground took its place.
Iris poked it with her dagger. "Think it'll hold?"
"We'll find out," Violet said, and stepped forward.
It didn't sink. Not right away.
But it moved.
Like something underneath was breathing.
They walked carefully, every step making the ground shift just a little.
The orb spoke again. "Warning: psychological interference increasing. Illusions likely. Remain anchored."
Violet looked at Iris. "What does staying anchored mean to you?"
Iris gave a small smile. "Sticking to what's real."
"And what if everything starts to feel real?"
"Then I hold onto you."
---
The mist parted.
And in the center of the swamp was a mirror.
A perfect circle of still, silver water.
No trees around it. No frogs. No insects. Just silence.
Ren stood at its edge.
Waiting.
---
Violet approached slowly.
"Is this it?" she asked.
He nodded. "This is where your journey ends."
She frowned. "You mean this part of it."
Ren's smile was faint. "Of course."
He turned and pointed to the water. "The last shard is down there."
Iris stepped forward. "Then why haven't you taken it?"
Ren looked tired. Older than he had minutes ago.
"Because I'm not allowed."
---
Violet stared into the water.
She didn't see her reflection.
She saw… a door.
A dark, round arch of stone, glowing with runes.
It pulsed softly.
"I have to go in?" she asked.
Ren nodded. "Just you. Only the one who bears the other six can enter."
Violet took a deep breath.
"Will I come back out?"
Ren hesitated.
Then said, "If you want to."
Iris grabbed Violet's arm.
"You don't have to do this now."
"I do," Violet said gently.
"I'm scared."
"I am too. But this is the end of the beginning, Iris. After this… everything changes."
Iris looked at her for a long second. Then she let go.
"Come back."
"I will."
Saying that, Violet stepped into the water.
It was cold.
But not wet.
It felt like walking into light shaped like water. Her body shimmered. Her mind stretched. Her feet never sank.
She walked through the reflection like it was a curtain.
And on the other side…
Was a door.
Just like she saw.
Stone. Rune-marked. Waiting.
She reached for the handle.
It turned on its own.
The door creaked open.
And Violet stepped through.
---
The door closed behind her without a sound.
Violet stood in total darkness.
Not the empty kind.
The thick kind.
It wrapped around her like smoke, warm and heavy, pressing against her skin. For a moment, she wasn't sure if she was breathing or floating.
Then—
A light blinked.
Small. Soft. Golden.
Just ahead.
She followed it.
As she walked, memories whispered around her. Voices that weren't her own. Feelings that weren't hers. Like pages from other people's lives floating through her thoughts.
She saw:
– a child's hand reaching for a mother's cloak.
– a soldier crying behind a mask.
– a monster, afraid of the light.
Then she heard her name.
"Violet."
---
She turned.
There—standing in the glow—was a girl.
Small. Golden hair in two messy braids.
She looked maybe five or six.
But her eyes…
They were hers. Not copies. Not illusions.
Her eyes.
Violet froze. "That's me."
The little girl nodded. "The part you left behind."
---
Violet knelt slowly. "You're… from when I was little. Before the outbreak. Before everything."
"You forgot me."
"I had to. To survive."
Little Violet tilted her head. "But I didn't survive."
That hit hard.
Violet's throat tightened. "You did. You're still here."
The girl held out her hand. In it was a shard.
The last one.
Whole. Gleaming.
"I kept it safe," the girl said. "But you can only take it if you remember why we were scared."
---
Violet touched the shard.
A wave of memory hit her like thunder.
Screaming.
Running.
Flames.
Her parents shouting her name.
Holding her. Protecting her.
Dying for her.
And her small hands—
Covered in blood.
---
She gasped.
Staggered back.
"I was the one who opened the door," she whispered.
The memory locked away.
The reason for the monsters.
That day, years ago… the outbreak had started near her home. No one ever knew why.
But she knew now.
She had touched something she wasn't supposed to. Followed a glow into the cellar. Broken a seal without knowing.
She had let them in.
"I didn't mean to," she said. Her voice cracked.
"I know," little Violet said gently. "But you blamed yourself anyway."
Tears slid down Violet's cheeks.
"I tried to be strong. I tried to fix it."
"You still can," the girl said. "But not by hiding."
---
The shard floated from the girl's hand into Violet's.
And it didn't burn.
It sang.
The other six pieces lit up at once, fusing together in a burst of warm light. Her mask shimmered, no longer cracked. No longer broken.
Whole.
Complete.
---
The world around her began to ripple.
The girl smiled.
"Tell the world who you really are."
Violet stood tall, eyes shining with golden light.
"I'm not just a survivor," she whispered.
"I'm the reason the world broke."
"And I'm the one who's going to fix it."
The door behind her opened.
The mist rolled away.
And Violet stepped back into the real world, her eyes full of fire.
---
Ren and Iris waited at the water's edge.
When they saw her, they both froze.
"Violet?" Iris asked.
Violet smiled softly. "It's me. All of me."
The orb beeped with awe. "Mana signature stabilized. Core memory restored. Final shard integrated. Magic levels: unprecedented."
Ren lowered his hood. "You found the truth."
"I am the truth," Violet said.
Then she looked toward the horizon.
The sky was dark.
But the fire inside her had never burned brighter.