The forest pressed in, heavier than before.

  Kael staggered, one hand braced against the rough bark of a tree. His chest heaved, lungs ragged from the tiger’s hunt, his body slick with sweat and blood. But it wasn’t just exhaustion choking him now—something in the air had changed.

  The shadows bent wrong. The trees leaned closer, their branches clawing like skeletal fingers. The mist thickened, curling low to the ground, until the forest itself seemed to close a fist around him.

  Kael blinked hard. His good eye burned. Not real. Just shadows. Just—

  A whisper slithered through the air.

  “Kael…”

  His breath hitched. He spun, fists clenched, but the clearing was empty—save for a figure in the mist.

  At first it was only a silhouette. But as the haze thinned, Kael froze.

  It was him.

  The boy in front of him looked no older, no taller. But where Kael’s face was torn by a scar and his left eye clouded, this version’s face was whole—perfect, unmarred. His golden right eye gleamed like a blade, while the left glowed with an eerie, unnatural brilliance.

  The double smiled, but there was no warmth in it. Only malice.

  “You’re weak,” the mirror-Kael said, voice a perfect echo yet twisted sharper. “You run. You hide. You beg to live. That’s all you are.”

  Kael’s jaw locked. “Get out of my way.”

  The mirror tilted its head. “But I am you. The part you hate. The part that breaks. Do you know what people see when they look at you? A mistake. A boy too fragile to carry what’s inside him.”

  Kael’s fists trembled. The words hit like knives, too close to his own buried thoughts.

  The mirror stepped closer, its eyes boring into his. “Do you remember the fireball? The way your knees buckled, the way you screamed? The world saw a boy who should have died, but didn’t. Do you know what survival looks like, Kael?”

  Kael ground his teeth, forcing words past his throat. “It looks like standing here when I should’ve fallen.”

  The twisted self chuckled, low and cruel. “No. It looks like stealing breath that belonged to braver souls. You weren’t chosen—you were left behind. You live only because fate couldn’t be bothered to finish the job.”

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  “Shut up,” Kael muttered, voice raw.

  “You cling to scraps,” Mirror-Kael pressed, circling him now, each step leaving ripples in the mist. “Scraps of food. Scraps of strength. Scraps of hope. Tell me—when you close your eyes, do you see the ones who burned? Do you hear them screaming while you crawled away like a rat?”

  Kael’s chest heaved. His nails cut into his palms. “I… survived.”

  “Survived?” The mirror spat the word like venom. “You call that victory? Survival is nothing but cowardice stretched thin. You ran from death, but you didn’t escape it—you dragged it with you.”

  “I’m still alive,” Kael snapped, louder this time, as if forcing the words to build walls around him.

  The reflection sneered. “Alive… but for what? To suffer? To bleed? To stumble alone in the dark until something stronger tears you apart? You are not strength, Kael. You are a delay. A pause before the inevitable.”

  Kael’s voice cracked, fury and grief tangled together. “You’re lying. You’re not me.”

  The mirror grinned, too wide, too sharp. “But I am. I am the part that knows the truth. You hide behind rage, behind stubbornness, but deep inside—you agree with me. Don’t you? Don’t you, Kael?”

  Kael’s throat closed. For a moment, silence stretched. His heart thundered against his ribs.

  And then another figure emerged from the mist.

  Kael’s blood ran cold.

  Eric.

  The boy’s face was exactly as he remembered—sharp grin, brown hair falling across his brow, eyes gleaming with contempt.

  “You’re still alive?” Eric sneered, stepping closer. “Pathetic. You should’ve burned with the rest. You should’ve stayed down.”

  Kael staggered back, his pulse hammering. His lips barely moved. “You’re not real.”

  Eric laughed, jagged and cruel. “Does it matter? You hear me all the same. Every day since that night, haven’t you? My voice, my face, reminding you how useless you were. How you screamed while others burned.”

  “Shut up.”

  “You begged,” Eric pressed, eyes narrowing, voice dripping venom. “Begged to live while others died. That’s who you are. Nothing but ash walking.”

  Kael’s blood roared in his ears. His fists clenched tighter, nails digging into skin.

  “Stop it…”

  Eric’s grin widened. “You looked at me that night, remember? You wanted me to save you. But I turned away. Because you weren’t worth saving.”

  “STOP IT!”

  “Even now,” Eric whispered, stepping so close Kael could feel the phantom heat of the fire that had once engulfed them both. “Even now you wish someone would reach out and pull you free. But no one will. Because deep down… you know you’re better off dead.”

  Kael’s breath ripped from him like a roar. His body trembled, not with fear but with rage.

  “I said—SHUT UP!”

  The forest shook.

  Fire surged—not from the trees, not from the mist, but from inside him. It burst outward in a wave of searing heat, the ground beneath his feet glowing with veins of molten light.

  The illusions wavered, their forms rippling like smoke.

  Mirror-Kael’s smile faltered. Eric’s laugh turned shrill.

  Kael stepped forward, his good eye blazing, his teeth bared. “I survived fire. I survived hunger. I survived you. I won’t break—not for ghosts, not for lies, not for you.”

  He lunged, swinging a fist into the mirror-self’s chest. The impact cracked like shattering glass. The twisted double screamed, its features splitting apart in a burst of light.

  Eric tried to lunge at him, but Kael caught him by the throat. His hand burned white-hot, fire searing through the illusion until Eric’s face melted away in a haze of smoke and ash.

  “Stay dead,” Kael snarled through clenched teeth.

  And then—silence.

  The mist recoiled, the forest stilled.

  Kael collapsed to his knees, chest heaving. His fists trembled, his body wracked with exhaustion. But his rage still smoldered like a coal in his gut, keeping him upright, keeping him alive.

  He pushed himself to his feet, swaying but standing. His good eye swept the trees, searching for the next cruelty the forest would throw at him.

  That was when he heard it.

  A low growl.

  His breath caught.

  From the shadows, eyes opened. Dozens of them, gleaming pale in the dark. Shapes moved low and fluid, circling him with silent precision. Their breath came in hot clouds, their teeth glinting in the faint moonlight.

  Wolves.

  The same pack he had glimpsed at the beginning of his ordeal, when survival was still raw and new. Now they were here again, larger, closer, hungrier.

  Kael’s heart thundered. His fists clenched, trembling not from fear but from the fire still burning inside him.

  The circle tightened.

  One wolf padded forward, its massive frame bristling, its eyes fixed on Kael with cold, primal intent.

  Kael stood his ground, shoulders squared, blood still dripping down his arm. His breath came sharp, but his voice carried steady through the clearing.

  “…Then come.”

  The wolves growled in unison, their forms closing in.

  And the night held its breath.