The silver light burst again, and Jason found himself standing in front of two doors—one black as coal, the other made of gleaming crystal. They stood alone in a vast void, suspended in emptiness.
Elias' voice echoed around him though the man was no longer visible:
"Trial of Choice. Only one door leads forward. The other... leads to something lost forever."
Jason stepped closer, feeling the weight of decision settle on his shoulders. There were no clues, no signs, no riddles carved into the doors. Only the silent hum of ancient magic.
Then, a sudden cry pierced the silence.
"Jason! Help me!" a familiar voice echoed.
Jason's heart stopped.
It was Leah.
He spun around, but there was nothing—only fog. "Leah? Where are you?"
Her voice came again, weaker this time. "I'm trapped... they're coming... please..."
Jason turned to the black door. It pulsed once.
Then the crystal door chimed like a bell—soft, hopeful, warm.
The voice returned—this time from Elias.
"One door follows truth. The other, illusion."
Jason clenched his fists. Leah had gone missing. Was it a trick? Or was she truly trapped behind one of these?
"Think, Jason," he whispered to himself. "Don't react. Choose."
He closed his eyes. The birthmark on his wrist flared hot—then cold—when he faced the black door.
He turned to the crystal door.
Warmth.
Truth.
He stepped forward and pushed it open.
—
Light blinded him. Then cleared.
He stood in a circular chamber of mirrors. Thousands of reflections looked back at him—each slightly different.
In one, he was covered in dark smoke. In another, he wore armor and carried a sword of fire. In yet another, he was older, eyes hardened.
A voice echoed around the mirrors.
"Who are you, Jason Riven? Who will you become?"
One mirror shimmered and showed Jason with his friends, laughing, unaware of magic, shadows, or gates.
Another showed him in the ruins of the forest, burned and shattered.
He reached for the mirror showing his friends—but it shattered instantly.
Only the reflection of him in flame-armored form remained. Slowly, the reflection stepped out of the mirror—and faced him.
"You cannot run from destiny," it said.
Then it attacked.
Jason ducked, rolling under a swing of the fiery blade. His heart pounded as he summoned the flame from his birthmark. A glowing shield flared to life, just in time to block a second blow.
They clashed, fire against fire, two versions of the same soul.
Jason realized something terrifying.
The reflection wasn't trying to defeat him.
It was trying to merge with him.
"I am your strength," the figure said, eyes burning. "Accept me!"
Jason fell to his knees, overwhelmed. The power was too much. He felt himself slipping.
"Not like this," he gasped. "Not without truth."
He remembered Evelyn.
He remembered Elias.
He remembered Leah, Tyler, even Mr. Rivers.
Then something snapped.
Jason stood, flame rising higher, not as destruction—but as light.
"I accept myself," he said. "But not as a weapon."
The reflection howled—and burst into sparks.
The mirrors dissolved.
Elias appeared once more. "Well done. You chose the hard path—the one that seeks understanding, not power."
Jason panted. "Was that... real?"
"All of it," Elias said. "And it has only just begun."
A doorway opened behind Elias, showing stars, ruins, and a mountain in the distance.
"Your final trial awaits," he said. "The Trial of Blood."
Jason stepped forward.