Darkness embraced her like a bottomless ocean, where neither boundaries nor ground could be found. Melania froze, staring at her double, standing before her. It was not a typical mirror reflection: every movement of this entity seemed unnaturally sharp, as if each action was the result of deep inner tension.
“I am the you that could have been,” the voice of the mirrored Melania sounded like cracked glass. There was no warmth in her eyes, only the cold gleam of despair and disillusionment.
Melania took a deep breath. She knew this was a test. She knew the being before her was not just an illusion but a part of herself she had hidden, avoided, even forgotten.
“You are merely the echo of my fears. You are what I left behind,” she replied, trying to maintain her composure. Her voice was firm, but her heart pounded like an alarm bell within.
The mirrored shadow raised a hand, and black threads began to pour from its palm like living entities. They twisted into spear-like shapes, aimed directly at Melania.
“If you left me behind, why am I still here? Do you think you can change anything by denying me?” A mocking laugh filled the emptiness.
Melania stepped back, feeling the cold tendrils of darkness threaten to touch her. Yet she knew that fleeing was not the way. To navigate this labyrinth, she had to face it, not evade it.
“I do not deny you,” she said, raising her head. “I accept you. I acknowledge that you are part of me. But you do not define me. You are not all that I am.”
The shadows paused for a moment, and the mirrored Melania tilted her head as if pondering her words. Suddenly, the shadow burst apart: its body split into dozens of small fragments, each becoming a separate form, a memory, or a fear.
Melania found herself at the center of this chaos. Scenes from her past flashed before her: moments of failure, loss, and choices she considered mistakes. She saw herself when she first encountered the Guardians of Eternity, the moment she had to leave her hometown to save what was left of their world.
Her legs weakened, and she fell to her knees. It was all here again—all she feared, all she ran from.
“Strength lies not in fleeing but in acceptance,” she told herself. “If I let this consume me, I will become just like you.”
Melania closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, recalling the words of an old teacher who had once told her, “Greatness lies not in the absence of weaknesses but in the ability to transform them into sources of strength.”
Her inner light, the very essence she carried within her, began to grow. It seemed that this radiance came not only from her soul but from her very being, from the place where her hopes, fears, and even the part of herself standing before her converged.
“I accept you,” she repeated, louder this time.
The world around her began to shift. The darkness started to retreat, and the shadows dissolved into light. The mirrored Melania shattered into countless golden threads, which entered Melania’s body, filling her with a new energy.
Now she stood in the same place, but it was no longer a cold void. Around her, a forest of mirrored trees had grown, their branches glowing with a gentle silver light.
Ahead of her stood a man in a long cloak. His figure seemed familiar, but his face was hidden beneath a hood. In his hands, he held a crystal similar to the Sphere, but it glowed with a deep blue hue.
“You have completed the first part of the path,” he said, his voice resonating like the echoes of many voices at once. “But the journey has only just begun.”
Melania did not respond. Her gaze was steady, and there was no longer any doubt within her. She knew that whatever lay ahead could no longer break her.