Gray mist swallowed the remains of dawn as Raka and Moksa returned to the surface of Arsha‑Tura. The mirror world was now silent—quieter than death. There was only the soft whistling of the wind and the faint vibrations of the Core Mirror orb in Raka's hand.
"What exactly happened?" Moksa asked, his voice hoarse with exhaustion and frustration.
Raka was still stunned. "I feel… something darker than anything we've fought. As if a consciousness is manipulating this dimension."
Suddenly, the mist at the end of the path glowed red. Two figures emerged: tall, dark figures, with no clear form—only scythe hilts and red eyes piercing the mist. They were not Blue Mirrors, they did not seem human. Just—Nameless Shadows.
FIRST DISCOVERY
The shadow followed their footsteps. Its voice echoed in Raka's head.
"Holder of the Core Mirror… you have opened a door that should have been sealed."
Raka's heartbeat quickened. "I—I am merely claiming what we fought for!"
The figure approached, its movements slow but full of urgency. "Claim? This world is not yours. The key awakens… chaos."
Moksa raised his staff. "Who are you? Or, what are you?"
The shadow closed its crescent eyes, then spoke slowly:
"I am… what is left between realities. I am not a 'name' but a shadow consciousness formed from the illusions of the guardians. The Core Mirror awakens my soul."
THE ORIGIN OF THE SHADOW
The mist around them swirled, and a long voice echoed. Suddenly, the shadow projected a vision into another dimension—an image of the Guardians of Light and Shadow who created Arsha‑Tura.
Shadow:
> "When the first temples fell, and chaos began to rise, the guardians created the mirror-dimensions so they could contain the effects of their illusions. But a portion of that illusion… remained within the mirrors—trapped—and formed into consciousness. I was once part of them."
Raka's face turned blue. "So… you were created from the fears and ambitions of humans?"
Shadow:
> "That's right. I want to return to reality. And since you hold the three keys, I have a way. I can free myself… but that would open a dimensional war."
THE BEGINNING OF THE DIMENSIONAL WAR
Suddenly, the air around them shook. Mirrors and skies shifted—the towers of Arsha‑Tura cracked and islands floated out of position.
Moksa gripped a piece of cloth at his waist. "Raka, hold on! This… is not just your fight."
The Nameless Shadow raised its scythe. "The last resort: you may take me to your reality, or the key will shatter the dimensions and merge—you dissolve with me."
Raka straightened up despite his injuries and weakness. "I will not let you destroy the world."
"Then… fight me!", a thunderous echo echoed across the five dimensions of sound.
DIMENSIONAL BATTLE
The wind suddenly ceased. Space around froze; the ground cracked like plywood, small mirrors falling. Ice dust and shadows mixed together.
Moksa shouted, casting a lightning spell at the Shadow. Lightning shot out but was absorbed by its misty body.
The Nameless Shadow slowly put his scythe to sleep, then released it — which transformed into a thick glass torrent that pierced through the dimension.
The scythe destroyed part of the Arsha‑Tura frame mirror, creating cracks throughout their small town. These cracks were not just physical damage — they were dimensional cracks, tiny doorways to other dimensions.
Raka matched his breathing to the heartbeat of the earth. He raised the Core Mirror, now pulsing like a human heart, as its light interacted with the Mirror-Crystal and the Orichalcum sphere in his body.
"Shadow," Raka shouted. "I know who you are—I know where you came from. You and I… both come from the rift. But right now I choose to maintain the balance, not break it."
With that he cast the spell he had learned: "Light of Collapse… True Awakening."
Suddenly Raka sent a wave of soft light across the city—straight through the cracks in the mirror, shutting out the suggestion and gloom of the illusory shadow.
The Nameless Shadow roared, his body cracking into pieces of mist and mirror shards. He tried to speak, but his voice had grown sharp.
"The war… has just… begun…"
Also, at the point where the mirror cracks—a path of mist has formed that leads to another world…
---
Dawn now breaks the silence in Arsha‑Tura. The city is now cracked in mirror dimensions, ready to shatter reality if not repaired.
Raka sits, breathing heavily, the third key still glowing in his hand. Behind him, Moksa pulls him to his feet.
Raka (weakly): "After this… I know we can't go back to the way we were."
Moksa: "You've closed one door, but millions could open. We must be ready. This world… runs between cracks."
The sky of Arsha-Tura shows floating mirror fragments. The sun is no longer one — but its shadow and dim light appear between the cracks.
And now, from among the largest mirror fragments, a pair of red eyes appear once more — but this time, looking directly at them.
Unnamed Shadow (faint voice from behind the mirror):
"This… is not… over…"
The sky of Arsha-Tura now looks like shards of glass dancing in the empty sky. Faint shadows move between the gaps of the opened dimensions. Raka stands atop the ruins of the central temple, looking far away into the light that seeps in from beyond the world.
Behind him, Moksa walked slowly, holding the ancient scroll they had just found in the basement of the Temple of Light in the Darkness.
"This is no mere warning," Moksa murmured, his voice almost lost in the wind. "This is a map… not of our world."
Raka turned his head. "The world of the rifts?"
Moksa nodded slowly. "Not one, but seven sealed worlds, each forming a layer of reality that has long been inaccessible… except to those who possess the dimensional key."
Raka held the Core Mirror tightly in his hand, still warm from the battle with the Nameless Shadow. "And I have unlocked that key."
MEETING IN THE TOWER OF ILLUSION
In the central chamber of the Tower of Illusion, now a temporary safe haven, Raka and Moksa gather with two new people they rescued from the mirror world: Lyra, the dimensional librarian, and Vannir, a former student from the Academy of Destiny who went missing two years ago.
"These rifts are not just physical cracks," Lyra explains, touching the light map emanating from the crystal artifact in the center of the round table. "They are passageways between realities. If we don't act, our world will be consumed."
Vannir adds, "We call them 'Crawling Shadows.' They are not entities, they are remnants of consciousness, hunger, and fear that have no fixed form. They explore the world through the rifts."
"So," Raka said seriously, "we are not just searching for an artifact or unlocking a secret. We are preventing the destruction of all existence."
Moksa nodded. "This expedition… is not just about the fourth key. It is about relocking reality before it is too late."
---
BEGINNING THE JOURNEY
Raka, Moksa, Lyra, and Vannir descended the Arsha-Tura courtyard toward the largest dimensional rift that had been opened by the Nameless Shadow's scythe. There, dark mist mixed with the mirror's light, forming an unstable vortex. They stood at the edge of the rift.
Lyra put her hand over her heart. "Once we step out, there's no guarantee we'll ever get back."
"This isn't the first time I've been lost," Raka said, half-smiling. "But now, I have a reason to come back."
Moksa looked at him. "And a reason to win." One by one they jumped into the gap.
--- To be continued...