Chapter 115: The Mirror of Frost
The Mirror of Frost was not made of glass. It was a massive, vertical sheet of frozen moonlight that rippled like water whenever Elara breathed near it. Lyra stepped aside, her silver staff pulsing a warning. "Once you enter, Silas and Fenris cannot follow. You will be alone with the versions of yourself you fear the most."
Silas gripped Elara's hand one last time. "I'll be waiting right here. Don't let the ice convince you that you're alone."
Elara nodded, took a deep breath, and stepped forward. The surface of the mirror swallowed her with a numbing chill. When she opened her eyes, the Starlight Valley was gone. Instead, she stood in the ruins of the Spire. Silas lay motionless at her feet, and the Moon-Oak was nothing but a charred stump.
"Is this what you wanted, Bridge?" a cold, distorted version of her own voice echoed.
From the shadows emerged an Elara dressed in the Winter Queen's icy armor. Her eyes were hollow, bleeding frost. "You tried to save them, but you only brought them here to die. Look at Silas. Look at the pack. Your 'Silver Pulse' was just a beacon for their destruction."
Elara felt the cold seeping into her heart. The pain of seeing Silas fallen felt more real than the mirror. For a moment, she wanted to give up, to let the frost consume her so she wouldn't have to feel the failure.
But then, she remembered Silas's words. Don't let the ice convince you that you're alone.
She reached out, not with her power, but with her memory. She didn't look at the fallen Silas; she looked at the warmth they had shared under the Moon-Oak. "This isn't the future," Elara whispered, her voice growing stronger. "This is just a shadow. And shadows cannot exist without light."
She closed her eyes and hummed the Song of the Oak. The silver light didn't explode outward; it glowed from within her, steady and unbreakable. The Spire ruins began to crack like thin ice, and the dark version of herself dissolved into mist.
When she opened her eyes again, she was back in the Starlight Valley. The mirror was gone, replaced by a single, glowing crystal key in her hand.
Lyra smiled, bowing low. "You found the light in the dark. The path to the Winter Queen's heart is finally open."