Kiss of the Cursed

Alina stared at the mirror.

Where there was once glass, only liquid shimmer remained.

And Selene was gone.

The girl from the East, still pale and watching, murmured, "It's not a mirror anymore. It's a passage."

Alina didn't wait.

She stepped forward, not knowing whether she'd drown or dissolve.

What met her was not death.

But light.

And then—

Dark.

Alina landed on cold stone, the sky above her filled with cracks of memory and bleeding stars.

This wasn't the Hollow.

This was the Shattered Veil.

The realm between what is forgotten and what is forbidden.

Selene lay ahead, suspended in the air—strings of magic threading into her back like puppet wires.

Before her stood Narael, not reflected now, but real. Her body stitched from shadow and silver.

"You followed," she said to Alina, voice calm. "You always were the brave one."

Alina gritted her teeth. "Let her go."

Narael tilted her head. "She chose to stay."

Selene stirred, eyes half-lidded. "Alina… I remember everything."

The stars above groaned.

And something older than memory began to awaken.