Nathan spent the waning hours before sleep hunched over his journal, quill dancing across the page as he refined his notes on elemental resonance and dream?anchor techniques. The chalk ward he had painted around his bed glowed faintly in the lantern light, its sun?runes interlaced with protective symbols. A small mirror sat at his pillow’s edge, its surface polished and free of blemish—an invitation for Narcis to step through, if the ward held. His heart thudded as he wrote the final incantation one last time:

  Under hush of night where shadows lie,

  Let silver Moon and golden Sun unify.

  By the time he closed his journal, exhaustion had settled into his bones. He extinguished the lantern and lay between the chalk lines, staring at the mirror until his vision blurred. Fear whispered in his mind, reminding him of the beasts of rune and shadow that had nearly consumed him the first time. Resolve answered that fear: he would not fail his brother again.

  The candle lamp flickered in its bracket above the runic ward. Nathan’s eyelids drooped. He let the world slide away, focusing on the warmth of the ward beneath him and the memory of Narcis’s silver eyes. At the point where dream and wakefulness blurred, he whispered the incantation aloud. The candle’s flame bent toward him, and the ward glowed brighter. Darkness claimed his vision.

  When Nathan opened his eyes he felt the familiar sensation of floating, his body weightless, his mind alert. He stood on a floor of polished tiles that reflected an impossible night sky. Stars wheeled overhead in silent arcs, and the horizon curved like the inside of a shattered globe. Mist drifted across the tiles in ghostly ribbons.

  He tested a step. The floor rippled beneath his boots as though it were water. Calm intention settled his feet. He scanned the sky: constellations formed half?drawn runes that winked out when he looked too long. The dream?liminal realm welcomed him in fragments and illusions, but tonight it felt more stable. He inhaled deeply, tasting ozone and something metallic on the night breeze.

  Behind him a voice whispered, “Nathan.” He turned to see Narcis emerge from the mist, his pale hair catching starlight, his silver eyes shining with relief. He wore simple garments of gray linen that fluttered as though touched by windless currents.

  “You returned,” Narcis said quietly. His relief trembled through the word, making Nathan’s chest ache.

  “I promised I would,” Nathan replied. He stepped forward, careful not to break the fragile calm. “Are you safe?”

  Narcis shook his head. “Safe is a word I have not known in months. But you have… brought hope.” He offered Nathan a small, sad smile.

  Nathan blinked away the swirl of emotion. “We need to find the Liminal Mirror,” he said, voice firm. “Whatever it takes to bring you back.”

  Narcis nodded and led the way. They crossed the rippling tiles toward an archway of obsidian pillars rimmed in glowing runes. Through the arch lay a ruined classroom, its desks upended and shelves splintered. Chalkboards hovered at odd angles, inscribed with half?erased lessons on elemental theory and formless casting. Broken windows framed fragments of sky.

  Nathan paused to study the chalkboards. He recognized Professor Varis’s diagrams of triple?helix runes used for protective wards. Mouse?scribbles in the margins suggested someone, perhaps Narcis, had tried to anchor this place. The chalk raked dreams into the physical world.

  “You left traces here,” Nathan said. “Did you come to study before you were trapped?”

  Narcis’s face darkened. “I watched you learn. I hoped that one day you might find a way to open a door for me. I tried once, but the ward snapped shut and I was cast deeper.”

  Nathan clenched his fists. “Then we will build better wards, stronger anchors. But first we must traverse the Memory Forest.”

  They stepped through the classroom walls, which melted like wax, and emerged into a forest of silver trunks and luminous undergrowth. Mushrooms as large as drums glowed bluish?white. Ferns unfurled in spirals that pulsed to a heartbeat Nathan felt in his chest. The air smelled of rain and lavender, tinged with the electrical hum of magic.

  In the center of the forest gleamed two ancient cribs, their rails carved from moonstone. They sat on a dais of live moss. A single lantern hovered between them, its flame an impossible union of sunlight and moonlight.

  Nathan swallowed. “Our nursery,” he breathed. “Where they first tried to hide you.”

  A sorrowful lullaby echoed through the trees, like a woman humming in her sleep. Nathan’s throat tightened as he recalled the vision of a mother—pale and gentle—cradling two infants. A tall shadow passed behind her, a presence heavy with dread.

  A sudden crack echoed. The lantern’s flame split into two—one half gold, one half silver—and hovered over each crib. The cribs began to shift, revealing a hidden trapdoor beneath the moss. Nathan exchanged a glance with Narcis.

  “Go on,” Narcis urged. “I will hold the beasts at bay.”

  Nathan stepped onto the dais and lifted the lid of the trapdoor. Inside lay a circular pool of still water, reflecting the moonlit sky above. He knelt and peered in, seeing his own face and Narcis’s blended together in the water’s surface. Tendrils of mist curled around the images.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “You see now,” Narcis said behind him, voice tight. “The Reflection Pool links to the Liminal Mirror. It is our pathway but also our prison. If we stay too long we become part of the illusions.”

  Nathan swallowed fear and reached his hand into the water. It felt cool and solid, like glass. He felt a tug on his soul—a longing to merge with the dream. He wrenched his hand back, breaking the moment. The Forest shivered, and a low growl rolled through the trees.

  Meanwhile, shadows condensed among the silver trunks, coalescing into towering beasts wrought from dripping runes and shards of broken glass. They had the shape of jagged golems, elbows and knees jutting at sharp angles. Their eyes burned like molten light.

  Narcis stepped forward, his presence a silent challenge. He wove his hands in a graceful motion and a blade of pure moonlight sprang into being. It glowed with a pale blue aura and hummed softly. “You call them forth,” Narcis said, voice steady. “Now banish them.”

  Nathan drew a deep breath. He reached into his soul and drew out the chord of sunlight that had first awakened during his dream walk. He shaped it into a pillar of golden flame that coiled around his arm like a living serpent. Heat radiated from his skin, warming the undergrowth.

  Together they advanced. The first beast leapt at them with a roar like shattering glass. Nathan met it head?on, driving the pillar of flame into its chest. The beast exploded in a burst of white hot light, shards of rune raining down in motes of glitter. Yet the shards reformed instantly, knitting back together as though the realm refused to let them die.

  Narcis lunged at the second beast. He spun his moon blade in a whirlwind, sending crescents of lunar light slicing through its limbs. Each strike rang like a crystal bell, the echoes colliding and reshaping the dreamscape. The beast faltered, then reassembled more slowly, giving Narcis time to nick its core. A fissure ran through the creature’s chest, but it still stood.

  Nathan felt fear prick his mind. The beasts were more resilient than memory. He called upon Air to strengthen his flame, weaving currents of wind around the fire serpent. The pillar of flame grew taller and brighter, singing with sunfire. He thrust it into the largest beast’s throat, then roared in triumph as it shattered into a blinding nova.

  The forest trembled. Silver leaves fell like snow. Narcis saw Nathan’s distress and rushed to his side. “We are stronger together,” he called, raising his blade high. A wave of moonlight pulsed outward, freezing the remaining beasts in place long enough for Nathan to seize the moment.

  Nathan saw a vision of rune glittering in front of him, he drew the rune in the air with a slash of his free hand, a symbol for unity of Sun and Moon and traced it in glowing sunlight across the clearing. The symbol floated between them, shining with both solar gold and lunar silver. The beasts convulsed as the symbol’s magic ripped at their runic flesh. One by one they collapsed into pools of liquid light that seeped into the forest floor, nourishing the glowing mushrooms.

  When the last beast dissolved, the clearing fell silent. Nathan and Narcis stood panting, their magic spent. The forest around them seemed to sigh in relief. A shaft of moonlit mist coalesced into the form of a tall mirror framed in twisted silver branches. The glass glowed from within, reflecting a flickering image of the sky.

  “This is it,” Narcis whispered. He held out his hand. “Are you ready to look?”

  Nathan wiped sweat from his brow and stepped forward. He felt both dread and hope swirl in his chest. He raised a hand to the mirror’s surface. His reflection stared back—half his face illuminated by gold, the other half lost in a drifting void. He reached out as if to touch his reflection’s cheek.

  On the far side of the glass Narcis’s own reflection reached out too, silver eyes bright with longing. The mirror quivered and then cracked in a jagged line down the middle. Light and shadow spilled from the fissure like water from a broken vessel.

  Nathan recoiled as the cracks spread. He felt a pull at his core, as though the reflection wanted to draw him in. Fear lanced through him. He grasped Narcis’s arm. “We have to wake ourselves,” he said, voice harsh.

  Narcis nodded, his face drawn. “Hold on to me. Remember the ward.”

  They closed their eyes and centered on the memory of candlelight and chalk lines. Nathan pictured the runic circle glowing beneath him. Narcis echoed the thought across the dream bridge. Together they willed themselves free.

  The mirror splintered in a final flash of silver light. The shards dissolved into drifting motes, leaving only the forest and the echo of their joined magic. The ground settled and the sky healed, constellations returning to their original patterns.

  Nathan opened his eyes and found himself jolting awake in his dorm room. Sweat drenched his tunic and his heart hammered so violently he thought it would burst his ribs. The chalk ward at his feet glowed softly in the lantern’s light. He sat up and reached for the small mirror by his pillow.

  Its surface was laced with a single crack, faintly glowing in the dim room. He touched the crack and felt a delicate warmth, as though Narcis’s hand pressed back.

  He glanced at the tall mirror across the room. Its glass too bore a hairline fissure that shimmered with silver light. His reflection stared back, eerie and incomplete. A voice whispered his name in the hollow quiet.

  Nathan’s breath caught in his throat. He slipped out of bed and crossed the room, heart pounding. He stood before the tall mirror and reached out. The crack widened until a slender silver figure stepped through.

  Narcis emerged in the lantern glow, pale eyes bright. He looked as real as any living person, his linen tunic dusted with dream?forest moss.

  “Nathan,” Narcis said softly. Relief and wonder mingled in his voice. “You did it.”

  Nathan closed the distance in two strides and wrapped his arms around his brother. Heat and tears blurred his vision. “You’re here,” he whispered. “You’re really here.”

  Narcis clung to him, voice muffled against Nathan’s shoulder. “Your ward and the shared anchor made the bridge strong enough. I could slip through when you awakened.”

  Nathan pulled back and searched Narcis’s face. “We have to study this, learn how to hold the link open without the mirror cracking us apart.”

  Narcis nodded. “I know. We have only a slender moment before the mirror fades. But at least I am home for now.”

  They stepped away from the mirror and turned to face each other across the runic ward. The chalk glowed brighter, as though granting them a temporary sanctuary. Nathan closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

  “We have much to learn,” he said with quiet determination. “But we are together.”

  Narcis smiled, silver eyes gleaming with hope and wonder. “Together.”

  Below them the academy slept, innocent of the truth: two brothers had reunited across worlds, and their shared magic had fashioned a fragile bridge between realms. As Nathan and Narcis stood side by side, lantern light flickering on cracked glass, they both knew their journey had only just begun.