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The maze of mirrors

Author: Author Calypso
last update Last Updated: 2025-04-23 22:58:08

ALTHEA

The gates creak open at dusk and all of us make our way out. We’d been woken up from our sleeps less than an hour ago, and told that the king had a new task for us. He wanted us to conquer the maze of mirrors.

The maze stands before us like something torn from a nightmare—tall walls of glass and mirror, reflecting the fading light in a thousand twisting, fractured ways. The guards usher us forward with unreadable faces. The king’s voice cuts above the silence.

“Make it out before dawn,” he says. “Or don’t make it out at all.”

No one laughs. We all know he isn’t joking about it. And if anything, he’s proven to us that he could care less about any of us.

I step through the archway last. The air inside the maze is cool and still, and every surface gleams like ice. I catch glimpses of myself in the mirrors on either side—tired eyes, tight jaw, hands clenched at my sides.

The path splits into three directions. Each one looks exactly the same.

I take the left.

At first, it’s quiet.
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  • The Mate Games   Next time will be different

    ASHERIt’s quiet now.Not the kind of quiet that brings peace. The kind that settles in your bones and makes everything feel heavier. Like the silence is watching. Waiting. Stretching across every moment like fog you can’t shake.It’s been days since the attack.Since the fire, the screaming, the blood.Since I lost control.I sit by the stream, far from the city ruins. The water rushes past like it doesn’t care about any of it. What we lost, who died, what I became. I press my hand into the dirt just to feel something solid. Something real.But even the ground feels wrong beneath me now.My wolf is quiet. For once. But I know better than to think he’s gone.He’s there. Just under the surface. Pacing. Watching. Waiting for another chance to rise. And I know if I let him out again, it’ll be harder to pull him back. Each time costs something. I felt it during the shift, something in me broke. Snapped clean in two.It wasn’t supposed to be like that.But in a moment of urgency and desper

  • The Mate Games   A flicker

    ALTHEAEverywhere is chaos.Screams tear through the air, sharp and panicked. Dust and smoke swirl around me, making it hard to breathe, harder to think. The ground shakes beneath my feet. I can barely hear anything over the pounding of blood in my ears.This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.We were in control. We had the element of surprise. We did everything right, took down the guards, held the arena in our hands.But now—Now it’s all falling apart.I shove past two of our men as another set of explosions echoes somewhere behind us. The heat from the blast pushes against my back, flames flickering at the edge of my vision. My heart is beating too fast. My hands are slick with sweat. I can still hear the sickening sound of bones breaking, of men screaming, of something inhuman roaring.I glance toward the center of the arena.And I freeze.They’ve all frozen.Every revolutionary, every soldier, every bystander, they’ve all stopped moving. Every eye locked in the same direction.At

  • The Mate Games   And now he’s free

    ASHERMy mind feels muffled. Like I’m underwater.No, it’s more like I’ve been wrapped in cotton, thick and heavy. The air is too warm. My skin itches. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. I try to move, but my body doesn’t listen right away. My limbs are sluggish. My head… gods, my head feels like it’s been cracked open with a sledgehammer.This can’t be happening.We were just about to finish the ceremony. I remember the sunlight on my skin. The crown. The weight of everything pressing down on my shoulders. And then—Screaming. Metal. Pain.I blink slowly, trying to make sense of the shapes in front of me. Four figures. Standing in a circle around us. Around me and my men. They’re dressed in deep gray, masks pulled over their faces, weapons in hand. Their eyes are sharp, full of fury and fire.Revolutionaries.I can barely lift my head, but I see my guards slumped around me. Some still conscious, others not. They’re all groaning or clutching their heads. Same as me.We’ve been

  • The Mate Games   An empty room

    ALTHEAI didn’t sleep last night.I didn’t even dare close my eyes.I sat at the edge of the bed, knees pulled up to my chest, arms wrapped tight around them, and stared at the wall until the shadows began to fade and pale light crept into the room. My chest feels too tight, my skin too hot. I should feel better—safer—after Theo promised me Asher would remain unharmed. But deep down, something twists in my gut. Something raw and uncertain.Maybe because deep down, I don’t know if I believe him.I paced for hours. Back and forth across the rug until it was crumpled and wrinkled beneath my feet. Over and over again, I debated going to Asher’s door. Just once. Just to warn him. To beg him not to go through with it.To tell him I still care.But I didn’t.Because that would make this real.Because if I saw him again, I wouldn’t be able to go through with today.Today… the day he becomes king.And the same day he is overthrown.A soft knock comes just after dawn. I barely hear it at first

  • The Mate Games   Coronation day

    ASHERAnxiety is a feeling I’m all too familiar with.I wear it like a second skin. And like always, I bury it under layers of calm and control. I smile when I’m supposed to. I nod at the right people, say the right things. But underneath it all, I’m a mess of nerves.Because today… today is everything.Today, I stop waiting. I stop hiding behind duty, behind fear, behind the expectations of a father who’s ruled me even in his silence.Today, I become king.Even if it’s just temporary, acting king while my father lies in that bed with too many tubes and not enough breath, it gives me the power to choose. To act.And I know what I want.Althea.If she’ll still have me.I think about the look on her face the last time we spoke. The way she looked at me when I reached for her. The way her voice shook when she looked at me, scared to ask if I knew. I did. I knew, and I still let her walk away, because I was scared. Scared of what it meant. Scared of what her secret could be. Because one t

  • The Mate Games   A promise

    ALTHEA“Attention everyone!”Theo’s voice cuts through the chaos like a blade. The room stills, conversations dying mid-sentence as dozens of heads swivel toward the raised platform. The makeshift headquarters, an old, abandoned theater hidden beneath the city, is packed tonight. Bodies line every wall, the air thick with tension, sweat, and the unmistakable scent of anticipation.Theo stands under the cracked spotlight, tall and commanding. His face is grim, but his voice is steady.“Well,” he begins, glancing around, “I’ve got good news and bad news.”A few nervous chuckles ripple through the room. The tension is too high for laughter to last long.“I’ll start with the good news.” He pauses, letting the silence stretch just long enough to catch everyone’s attention. “Thanks to the great work of one of us, we’ve managed to get the key to the archive room in the palace. The one where they’ve kept the books we need. The real ones.”Murmurs break out instantly. The kind that hum with su

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