It started with a whisper.
Low.
Unclear.
Coming from the sword.
Kael sat in silence on the edge of his bed, staring at the blade lying across his lap.
Moonlight glinted along its edge, but the steel felt colder than usual — too cold.
He hadn't spoken to anyone all day. Hadn't trained. Hadn't slept.
Too many things were changing.
A title.
A trait.
A warning in the mirror.
A soul that wasn't his.
And now, a voice.
"Who are you?" Kael asked the blade softly.
The sword didn't respond.
Then—
A ripple passed through it.
The metal shimmered like water.
And in the reflection, Kael saw not himself…
But another version of him.
Older.
Broken.
Covered in blood.
Staring back with a grim smile.
[System Warning]
Mirror Sync Active
Forbidden Trait Interaction Detected
Internal Voice Linked: Residual Soul Memory — Origin: Unknown (Possibly Self)
[Proceeding may cause Personality Overlap or Mental Drift]
Kael stood, sword still in hand.
The image didn't disappear.
In fact… it spoke.
"You should've stayed dead," the reflection said.
Kael tensed. "You're not real."
"I'm more real than what you've become."
Kael raised the blade — but the voice continued, calm and cold.
"You think you're rebuilding yourself? You're not. You're reconstructing me."
The whisper of metal inside his head sharpened.
"Let me guide you."
Kael stepped back. "No."
"Let me help you kill the ones who took everything."
"No."
"Let me show you the path you walked once… so you can finish it this time."
His hand trembled.
His grip loosened.
And the sword fell.
It hit the stone floor with a deep, echoing chime.
But it didn't stop ringing.
The whole room blurred — warping.
Then everything flashed white.
[Memory Sync Initiated]
Viewing Past Life Memory: Locked Fragment — Year 4, Final Siege
Kael stood in the middle of a burning citadel.
Bodies littered the ground.
Enemies, allies — all ash.
His sword — the same one — was glowing red.
Blood still dripped from the tip.
Across from him stood a King, blade shattered, chest heaving.
"Why…?" the King asked. "You were our hope…"
Kael's past self replied coldly:
"Hope was a lie. Only control saves lives."
He walked forward.
The King fell.
Kael screamed as the memory snapped back.
He was back in his room.
Breathing hard.
Sweating.
Bleeding.
And the sword… was floating.
[System Notification]
Mirrorblade Pact Detected
Choose: Bind or Reject
Bind: Unlock Trait "Twin Will" — share consciousness with fragment (risk: mental strain)
Reject: Seal fragment — power denied, risk delayed corruption
Kael stared at it.
He remembered what came after that day in the past.
He remembered the silence.
The fear in his allies' eyes.
He had become the weapon.
Not the warrior.
He swore he'd never repeat that.
But the voice in the blade… wasn't the villain.
It was him.
Just from a world where hope died too early.
"I don't need you to control me," Kael said aloud.
"But I'm done fearing myself."
He reached forward and grabbed the blade.
The metal glowed.
The voice whispered:
"Then we fight together."
[System Update]
Mirrorblade Pact: Bound
Trait Unlocked: Twin Will (Lv.1)
➤ Passive: Access to alternate combat memory
➤ Skill: Mirrorflash — Predict enemy movement by 0.5s once per battle
➤ Risk: If mental Sync drops below 40%, fragment may temporarily assume control
Soul Sync: 69%
Forbidden Sync Path — Now Visible
(Access to hidden trait tree enabled)
Kael dropped to one knee, overwhelmed.
The pressure… the knowledge… it was like trying to wear armor too big for his soul.
But he endured.
The sword pulsed once — then went silent.
The voice… gone.
For now.
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
Kael sheathed the sword and stood.
Lyra walked in.
"New assignment," she said.
Kael blinked. "Already?"
She tossed him a scroll.
"It's not Chain business this time. It's guild internal. Someone's been stealing soul-fragments from the artifact vaults."
Kael unrolled it.
One name was circled in red.
Taron Vance.
Kael's fingers curled into a fist.
Taron — the bounty broker who tried to buy Kael's life weeks ago — wasn't just corrupt.
He was part of something bigger.
Something collecting memory fragments, maybe even experimenting with the dead.
And now he was inside the guild's own protected archive.
"We move at night," Lyra said. "Quiet. Clean."
Kael nodded.
But his eyes didn't leave the scroll.
"Not clean," he said. "Not this time."
He stood.
The sword at his side hummed softly — as if it agreed.
Far away, beneath Frosthold's east wing, Taron walked into the restricted relic vault.
He placed a small crystal orb on a pedestal.
Whispers echoed around him.
Seven other orbs — glowing faintly red — were already in place.
Each held a soul fragment.
The final one was Kael's.
Taron smiled.
"Soon," he whispered, "I'll see what makes you so dangerous, boy."
Next Chapter: "Betrayal at the Vault"