Chapter 12: A Glimpse of Fate

Kael was in shock, his eyes fixed upon the body on the stone altar. Time had come to a standstill around him. His brain struggled with all its might to try and understand what he was looking at, but his head spun from an impossibility into being.

Lying there upon the cold stone was his own most perfect reflection: the dark hair, the features sharp, even to the scar running across his left cheek—there it all was. Yet this version of him, this dead Kael, lay still, lifeless, his skin pale, cold as marble.

His heart racing in his chest, his mind struggled to understand the impossible scene laying before him. How could this be real? Some sort of illusion? A hallucination? Something even more sinister?

Kael took a cautious step forward, his hand clenching tight over the hilt of his sword. He wanted to look away, to turn and run from the room, but something held him in place-an unseen force that kept him rooted to the spot, compelled to face whatever dark mystery had brought him here.

The w