The faceless woman didn’t move.

  She didn’t breathe either.

  She was just there, like a glitch given form, repeating an error that had never been fixed.

  “Sera,” I whispered. “Stay behind me.”

  She didn’t answer. But her hand gripped mine.

  I stepped toward the mirror. The cloth still pulsed.

  The world around us trembled in silence. As if it knew we were about to break something irreversible.

  —

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  And then, instinct screamed at me:

  > Use the ability. See the futures. Avoid the worst.

  My fingers already tingled, eager to activate “Eclipse of Three Moons (Awesome name I made up 5 minutes ago).”

  To let the paths unfold before me like marked cards.

  But for the first time…

  I didn’t.

  —

  Because something inside told me I shouldn’t look.

  Not out of fear.

  But because… if I saw it, I’d make it real.

  I’d turn that possibility into destiny.

  And I didn’t want that.

  “Not this time,” I whispered.

  “What did you say?” Sera asked behind me.

  I turned slightly and smiled.

  “This time… I want to trust who we are now. Not who we could’ve been.”

  She said nothing. Then nodded. Just once.

  —

  I touched the chain.

  The metal dissolved into dust.

  The cloth fell.

  —

  And what we saw…

  wasn’t a reflection.

  It was a frozen scene. Impossible, and yet… familiar:

  An altar. A fallen god. And a Ryouhei seated on a throne made of dead extras.

  —

  “That’s… not you,” Sera murmured.

  “Not yet,” I replied. But I didn’t look away.

  Because even without seeing the futures… I knew this image was a warning.

  —

  Then the mirror flickered.

  And on its surface… a new symbol appeared.

  One we had seen before.

  The letter “S.”