Night was already done when Kyle and Aster left the ruined tower.
Words were not exchanged between them for some time. The stars were dim above, veiled by acres of drifting clouds. Their foot on frozen-killed grass, and the trees complained with a gust of cold wind.
Kyle's thoughts were in an uproar, not with terror, but with something sharper—urgency. The Hand's arrival had only made that certain.
He was no longer behind. The pieces on the board were moving.
They came to a stop at the top of a wide ridge, staring down into a vast basin. At its center, a black obelisk stood towering from the earth, smeared with throbbing crimson veins that glowed like hot coals—like a living pulse.
Kyle stared at it, his chest constricting. It was beckoning him.
"The Second Gate," Aster said.
He looked at her. "How do you know?"
"I've seen it in the archives. I didn't think it would be operational."
System Alert: Gate Proximity Detected.
Warning: Activation might draw hostile entities.
Proceed?
Kyle took a step forward. "Yes."
The Gate Awakens
As he approached the obelisk, the system pulsed more brightly.
Initializing…
A raw blast of wind burst forth as the ground trembled. Runes blazed around the base of the obelisk, a perfect circle hovering inches above the ground.
Kyle held out his hand.
The moment his fingers touched the rock, the world was changed.
He was on a barren plain of endless sky and wind. No sun, no moon—only silver clouds roiling above. There floated before him an orb of changeable light.
System Trial: Gate of Reflection – Phase II Initiated.
A resonant voice spoke from out of nothing. It was his own.
"Face what you fear becoming."
The world distorted—and in front of him stood a rendition of himself.
But it was not a mirror.
This Kyle lacked emotion in his eyes, no doubt. He relaxed in his posture, but he could kill you dead with one careless motion. The system interface that engulfed him glowed a deep crimson, not the typical blue.
Aster was not at his side.
There were corpses at his feet—friends, foes, maybe innocents. It made no difference. He stood on a throne of victory bought in blood.
The Duel
The opposing Kyle spoke.
"You think restraint makes you righteous."
Kyle held back. He took a stance, dagger tight in grasp, and called upon the feeble aura of Echo Sense. The double attacked first—too fast.
Steel rang on steel. Sparks danced around. Each blow of the double was brutal, efficient, merciless. Kyle parried and dodged, perspiration trickling down his brow, muscles protesting. Room to catch breath did not exist.
Then—
System Trait Evolved: Echo Acceleration (Rank I)
Time dulled. A bit. But it was enough.
Kyle whirled away from a blow, swung up, and rammed his knee into the ribs of his double. The clone staggered.
And Kyle attacked.
Not to kill.
He slammed the clone in the chest—not to kill it, but to reject it.
"I will not become you," he declared.
Light flared from the strike.
Trial Complete
The field blew. Kyle gulped in a breath as he popped back to reality. The obelisk dissolved—but something was altered.
Hanging in the air in front of it now was a tiny shard of clear crystal, glimmering faintly.
System Reward: Shard of the Echo – 1/7 Acquired.
New Ability Acquired – Inner Reflection (Passive): Resistance against mental corruption boosted by 15%.
Gate Progress: 2 out of 7.
Kyle reached out and grabbed the shard, and as soon as he made contact with it, it disintegrated into light and was absorbed by the system.
Aster strode over from the ridge's edge. "That was fast."
"Not from where I was standing," he complained.
She smiled faintly, then became serious. "You've opened two Gates. The Watchers will not be inactive."
"I'm counting on it," Kyle said, still observing the vanishing obelisk.
Far North
Snow swept across a broken citadel buried in mountains.
In its central room, a large mirror broke. The Hand knelt before it, blood seeping from his left arm.
"The second Gate opens."
The Bone Mask waited at his shoulder, in the reflection.
"It does," he said. "The boy is advancing too quickly."
The Hand looked up, voice whispering with something close to awe. "He passed through the Reflection Trial. And spurned it."
The Bone Mask did not respond at first.
Then: "Summon the Hollow Kings."
And on the road below
Kyle and Aster walked in silence again.
Then he spoke.
"Two Gates left. Five to follow."
"Hurder than the last," she warned.
He looked at her. "You're coming with us, aren't you?"
She raised an eyebrow. "You think you can manage without me?"
Kyle cajoled a tired smile. "Point taken."
The wind started to pick up. The stars were returning, and the sky was clearing.
They moved on—toward the next Gate, and toward whatever else lay beyond the veil of secrecy and system disruption.
Somewhere far away, out of their view, something laughed.