NOVEL WEB Chapter 8: Chapter 6: The Self That Shouldn’t Be
Chapter 6: The Self That Shouldn't Be
The mirror was breathing.
Or rather—it was exhaling fog onto the floor, like some great mouth whispering secrets it didn't want overheard.
Eiren stood in the Mirror-Seller's abandoned workshop, the shard he'd once held now pulsing with warmth.
The room had changed.
The air was thicker. The shadows longer than the light allowed.
"Come closer," said a voice.
His voice.
But older. Sharper. Cruel.
He turned.
There was another him, standing where no one had been a moment before.
Same face.
Same coat.
Same scar across the left brow.
But this Eiren smiled in a way he never had.
As if life was a joke only he understood.
"I'm what you could be," the false-Eiren said.
"If you stopped pretending to be human."
Eiren said nothing.
The thing was perfect—down to the lilt in its voice and the slight tremble in its left hand when it reached for a vial. Even the memories were accurate.
And that was the worst part.
This wasn't just a copy.
It was a lie made of truth.
"Velkaris sent you," Eiren said finally.
The false one bowed slightly.
"I am you, after faith. After power. After you've stopped crying for a sister you couldn't save."
Eiren clenched his fists. "She was real."
"Yes," the double replied with a grin. "And so am I."
The room twisted.
Books began repeating their titles.
Shelves mirrored themselves into infinite recursion.
The candles flickered in reverse.
[System Alert: Reality distortion detected]
Instability threshold: 41%
Source: Entity of False Sequence – Simulacrum (Velkaris subtype)
"You can't stop me with fists," said the mirror-Eiren. "I'm not here to fight. I'm here to offer."
"Offer what?"
"Peace. Power. Purpose."
It took a step forward.
Eiren's reflection in the windows didn't follow.
"Forget her. Forget this path. Become what Velkaris intended. We can be gods, you and I. Not hunted. Not broken."
"We can rule falsity. And never need to suffer again."
Eiren stepped closer too.
They were face to face now.
Identical in body. But not in soul.
And Eiren whispered:
"If you were really me… you'd remember why I won't."
Then he drove the silver-tipped nail—the one from Lyra's keepsake—into the imposter's palm.
It didn't scream.
It cracked.
As if porcelain shattered underneath skin.
"This was a test," the false-Eiren said, staggering. "You passed."
"But know this—every choice you make now draws His gaze."
"You are not resisting the lie. You are becoming a new one."
It collapsed into itself, turning to dust that coiled upward like smoke, vanishing into the broken mirror.
Eiren exhaled, finally.
The room stilled.
The reflections fell back into alignment.
But in the mirror, just for a second,
he saw himself again.
Smiling.
When he wasn't.
[Quest Complete: Face the False Self]
Reward: +1 Anchor of Identity
Warning: Faith Resonance with Velkaris increased. Cloaking threshold at 72%. You are being watched.
Outside, in the silent fog beyond District 9,
a faceless figure stood at the edge of an alley.
He said nothing.
But his shadow bowed.
End of Chapter 6