ELYRA’S PRIVATE MOMENT
Fear, Family, and Someone Who Actually Cares
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The council dismissed. Plans were forming. Maps were drawn.
But Sereth could see it — the tremor in Elyra’s fingers, the stiffness in her shoulders, the breath she didn’t know she was holding.
Sereth placed a gentle hand on Elyra’s back.
Sereth (soft):
“Come with me, little hawk.”
They slipped away from the others, through the quiet west corridor and out onto one of Aurelthane’s flower-lined balconies.
The breeze rolled through the treetops.
Elyra set her hands on the stone rail, trying to hold herself together.
Her voice trembled.
Elyra:
“Mum… I thought—
I thought I was past this.
The fear. The helplessness.”
Sereth didn’t speak.
She wrapped both arms around Elyra from behind, pulling her gently against her chest.
Sereth:
“You are not helpless.
You never were.
What happened today wasn’t weakness — it was Silvenna trying to break you. And you’re still standing.”
Elyra blinked rapidly.
Elyra:
“It just— felt like being trapped in that mirror again.
Unable to move.
Watching things happen to me and having no control.”
Sereth pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
Her voice dropped to a fierce whisper.
Sereth:
“That will never happen to you again.
Not while I breathe.
Not while any of us breathe.”
A soft knock sounded.
They turned.
Tavian stood in the doorway — shy but determined, hands nervously wringing a corner of his tunic.
Tavian:
“Is… is this a bad time?”
Sereth gently nudged Elyra forward.
Sereth (smiling):
“No. Perfect timing.
I’ll give you two a moment.”
Sereth stepped inside, closing the door behind her… but not fully.
Just enough to listen, as any good mother would.
Elyra exhaled shakily as Tavian approached.
Tavian:
“I, uh… heard about the woods. About Silvenna. I just—
Are you okay?”
Elyra hated the tears prickling her eyes again, but she nodded.
Elyra:
“I’m fine.
Just… shaken.”
Tavian stepped closer.
He swallowed hard — courage catching in his throat.
Tavian:
“I don’t know how to help with magic or monsters or… whatever this is. But… you’re not alone. Not ever. Not if I’m here.”
Elyra stared at him.
Then she stepped into his arms.
A soft, grateful, trembling hug.
He held her quietly, one hand in her hair, the other steadying her lower back where her legs still felt uncertain.
Elyra (whispering):
“Thank you, Tavian.”
Tavian (blushing):
“…Anytime.”
They parted — barely — faces close, warm.
In the crack of the door, Sereth smiled.
Like a mother seeing something real begin to bloom.
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? THE TRAP IS SET
The Crimson Dice Prepare the Bait
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Later that afternoon…
The Dice assembled across the vast field outside Aurelthane’s estate — the perfect place for visibility, traps, and controlled engagement.
Kaer and Garruk hammered stakes into the ground to control flanking routes.
Borin carved runic anchors into the earth.
Arden wove radiant wards into the grass.
Vex and Laz placed mirror-disrupting powders around the perimeter.
Elaris conjured necrotic anchors to disrupt planar phasing.
Sereth stood guard, bow drawn, eyes hawk-sharp.
Elyra stayed close to her mother, twin blades ready, circlet glowing steady.
They waited.
The wind held its breath.
Then—
A whisper of glass.
A ripple in the air.
The first mirrorborn stepped out of a reflection in a hanging water trough — spindly, sharp, silver-skinned horrors with faces like broken versions of people they recognized.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
The Dice struck fast.
Garruk roared, smashing two mirrorborn with a swing that shook the earth.
Vex’s flames danced in deadly ribbons.
Kaer’s blade cut clean through reflections like slicing mist.
Elyra’s eyes flared green as she teleported in twin flashes, circlet humming with power.
Sereth shot arrow after arrow, never missing.
Elaris split the ground with green-white arcane fire.
One by one the mirrorborn shattered into reflective dust.
It was going well.
Too well.
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? THE SCENT OF ORCHIDS
And Borin Breaks Formation
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A strange wind rolled across the field.
Sweet.
Floral.
Soft.
Borin froze — nose twitching.
Borin:
“…Orchids?”
Garruk stopped mid-swing.
Garruk:
“Borin? What are you—”
But Borin wasn’t looking at the battlefield.
He was staring into the treeline.
His face drained of colour.
Borin (whispering):
“No… no no no—”
Elaris turned sharply.
Elaris:
“Borin? Look at me.”
But Borin didn’t hear him.
His pupils dilated.
His breath hitched.
And then—
He screamed.
Borin:
“ELYRA! THEY’RE TAKIN’ THE LASS—!”
Everyone froze.
Elyra spun, terrified.
Elyra:
“Borin— I’m right—!”
But he wasn’t seeing her.
He saw a vision — Elyra being dragged, screaming, through the trees by mirrorborn hands.
He dropped his hammer.
And ran.
Garruk:
“BORIN!”
Kaer lunged to grab him—
But Borin was already gone, sprinting full-speed into the treeline like a madman.
Sereth’s voice tore the air open.
Sereth:
“NO! GET HIM BACK! NOW!”
Elaris surged forward, magic blazing—
But the moment Borin’s boots crossed the treeline—
The forest swallowed him whole.
Not physically.
Not magically.
Like a curtain of illusions.
A shifting of reality.
A trap.
Sereth’s scream echoed the entire length of the grounds.
SERETH BREAKS FORMATION
“Borinnnn—NO!”
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The forest swallowed Borin like a maw closing.
For half a second — one heartbeat of stunned silence — everyone stared in disbelief.
Then Sereth moved.
No warning.
No hesitation.
No thinking.
A streak of white hair and ivory skirts — she sprinted straight for the treeline, voice tearing raw from her throat.
Sereth:
“BORIN!! GET BACK HERE!!”
Elaris felt the air leave his lungs.
Elaris:
“SERETH—DON’T—!”
But she was already gone.
Her boots hit the earth at a dead-on sprint, skirts flying behind her, bow gripped like a lifeline.
She didn’t even hear him — not over the sound of her heartbeat roaring in her ears.
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ELYRA FOLLOWS HER MOTHER
“Mum—WAIT!”
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Elyra didn’t think either.
The instant her mother vanished into the shadowed tree line, she took off, circlet glowing brightly as it fought the creeping fog of mirror magic.
Elyra:
“MUM—MUM WAIT—!”
Her legs trembled from adrenaline and the echo of the magic she’d used earlier, but they carried her — fleet and determined — after Sereth.
She could hear her mother breaking branches, see splashes of white gown between trunks.
Nothing — nothing — would make her lose sight of her again.
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ELARIS TAKES COMMAND
Necromancer, Husband — and now Commander.
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Elaris watched his wife and daughter disappear.
Every instinct in him screamed to follow.
But Kaer blocked him with a single arm.
Kaer:
“You can’t leave the line, Elaris.
If you go — everyone here dies.”
Elaris’s magic flickered violently around his hands, grief and rage twisting together.
Elaris:
“THAT IS MY WIFE—MY DAUGHTER—”
Kaer gritted his teeth and shoved him backwards.
Kaer:
“AND WE’LL GET THEM BACK.
But not if you die here.”
Another wave of mirrorborn spilled from a shattered water barrel — slender horrors with eyes like silver ink dripping.
Vex hurled a firebomb, snarling.
Vex:
“Oh look — MORE ABOMINATIONS—
Elaris, call it!”
Elaris looked at the forest.
At the battlefield.
At the two paths — one that led to Sereth and Elyra, and one that kept everyone alive.
His voice broke — but it came out strong.
Elaris:
“GARRUK!!
GO AFTER THEM! SAFE PATH ONLY!
KEEP THEM IN YOUR SIGHT!”
Garruk didn’t even answer.
He just sprinted — a charging avalanche of muscle and fury — barreling toward the forest.
Elaris turned back toward the mirrorborn, jaw tight.
Elaris (to Kaer, Laz, Vex):
“Finish this.
Then we go after them.”
His magic erupted — necrotic emerald fire surging in a sweeping arc.
The second wave of mirrorborn turned to dust.
The battle wasn’t over,
but the choice had been made.
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GARRUK ENTERS THE WOODS
“SERETH! ELYRA! HOLD ON!”
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Garruk charged into the trees, shoulders smashing aside branches, breath heaving like a war-beast.
The forest here felt wrong.
The air heavy.
The light fractured.
Every shadow seemed to move.
Garruk:
“I’M COMING! JUST—KEEP—SHOUTING!”
But the woods swallowed sound.
No echo.
No reply.
He pushed harder, boots sinking into thick moss that hadn’t been there a second ago.
Something was hunting them.
Something was bending the forest to its will.
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BORIN
The Hallucination Tightens
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Borin crashed through brush, tears streaming from his eyes as the illusion tormented him.
He heard her.
Not Elyra’s actual voice — but perfect, mirrored mockery.
Elyra’s Voice (illusion):
“BORIN! HELP! P-PLEASE—DON’T LET THEM TAKE ME—!”
He sprinted harder, lungs burning.
Branches whipped his face.
Roots grabbed at his feet.
The forest grew thicker, heavier, darker.
He saw flashes — Elyra being dragged by shadowy hands, crying, reaching for him.
Borin roared until his throat tore.
Borin:
“LEAVE ‘ER ALONE YE BASTARDS!! I’M COMIN’ LASS—HOLD ON—!”
He wasn’t a cleric now.
He wasn’t a blacksmith.
He wasn’t even a dwarf.
He was a father chasing a ghost.
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SERETH
The Forest Turns Against Her
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Sereth darted between trees, dodging thorns and illusions warping the shadows.
Sereth (shouting):
“BORIN! STOP! SHE’S SAFE! BORIN!!!”
But the forest swallowed her words whole.
The air soured — sharp as metal, cold as glass.
And then—
A reflection of Elyra —
shattered, glitching, crying —
appeared ahead.
Sereth’s breath caught.
Sereth (whispering):
“No… No that’s not real—”
She nocked an arrow and fired.
The image burst into shards.
But dozens more flickered between the trees.
A trap.
A maze.
A nightmare.
And somewhere ahead —
She heard Borin screaming.
Sereth’s heart split open.
Sereth:
“BORIN! HOLD ON!”
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Elyra
Running on Determination Alone
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Elyra’s legs buckled once — memory flashing of the bully pulling off her circlet.
She grabbed a tree, steadied herself, forced breath into her lungs.
Elyra (to herself):
“Not again.
Not today.
MOVE.”
And she sprinted again — following her mother’s trail of broken branches and crushed ferns.
She could feel the forest pressing in.
Reflections everywhere.
Her own face — dozens of them — watching her from between the trees.
Mocking her.
Echoing her fears.
But she pushed through.
Because her mother needed her.
Borin needed her.
This family — this life — needed her.
