A single candle burned inside an ancient, weathered chamber, its pale flame barely flickering.
Around a heavy stone table stood several cloaked figures, their faces completely buried in shadow.
“…Is the summoning taking place today?” a voice broke the stillness.
“Yes,” another answered softly.
“That was the report from our informants inside the Cathedral.” The chamber fell quiet again before a third voice, heavy with frustration, spoke up.
“My Lady…
we should act now.
We cannot stand by and watch another group of innocent lives be sacrificed by the Shepherd Elders.” Several heartbeats passed in total silence.
“Have you forgotten?” A woman’s calm, commanding voice echoed from the dark head of the table.
“Our own powers have yet to fully recover.
We are still no match for the Elders of Shepherds in open conflict.” A heavy sigh escaped one of the figures.
“Then…
what do we do?” The woman closed her eyes beneath her hood.
“We wait.” She paused, her voice dropping into a lingering whisper.
“If the one our former leader entrusted us to find…
is truly among those summoned…
he will reveal himself.
And if he truly returned, even the Shepherds will realize their mistake.” The candle flickered once, died, and darkness swallowed the chamber.
The blinding blue light of the Summoning Rite didn’t fade—it shattered.
When Ayomide opened his eyes, the heavy marble arches of Karl’s cathedral were gone.
In their place stood a realm of terrifying, breathtaking beauty.
Crystal floors stretched infinitely underfoot, gleaming like polished glass.
Towering crystalline pillars reached toward a sky that looked like a calm, endless ocean of blue light.
Every surface—the ground, the pillars, the soaring walls—reflected the students in vivid, razor-sharp detail.
For a few seconds, the suffocating fear in the air softened into awe.
“Omo…” someone near the back whispered, looking around.
“This place fine pass anything wey I don see…” “Is this a dream?” another student laughed nervously.
“Abeg, if na dream, make somebody wake me up.” Beside Ayomide, Tunde let out a breath he had been holding.
“Guy…
you see this place?
E be like say we enter giant palace.” Even Miss Grace let her shoulders drop slightly, her eyes scanning the radiant architecture.
“Everyone stay together.
Don’t wander off.” For a brief moment, hope returned to the room.
People smiled.
People breathed.
Then— “Guy…” A voice came from near a massive pillar.
It was low, trembling, and stripped of all humor.
A student was standing a few feet from the crystal wall, staring directly at his image in the polished stone.
His body was stiff, his jaw slightly open.
“Why…” the boy whispered, his voice cracking.
“Why my reflection dey smile?” The laughter in the hall died instantly.
Dozens of eyes slowly turned toward the pillar.
The reflection in the crystal looked identical to the boy—same clothes, same hair, same posture.
Except the real boy was pale and terrified.
His reflection was grinning wide.
A cold chill swept through the room.
One student forced a light chuckle.
“Abeg…
this one no funny again, bro.
Stop playing.” The real boy didn’t move.
He didn’t blink.
The reflection in the wall did.
It gave a slow, deliberate blink, its smile stretching just a fraction wider.
Tunde grabbed Ayomide’s sleeve tightly, his knuckles turning white.
“Guy…
tell me say na my eye dey pain me.” Ayomide’s chest tightened.
“No.
I see am too.” “Everyone!” Miss Grace’s voice cut sharply through the sudden silence.
She stepped between the students and the walls, her eyes darting across the room.
“Move away from every reflective surface!
Do not touch the pillars, do not touch the walls, and stay in the center!” The students scrambled backward into a tight, defensive knot in the middle of the hall.
Shoes scraped against the crystal floor as a hundred and nine people tried desperately to avoid looking down at their feet.
For several agonizing seconds, nothing happened.
No reflection moved.
No glass cracked.
The sudden silence stretched so long that a few students almost allowed themselves to believe the strange trick of light had passed.
Then— “My reflection…” A girl near the edge choked back a sob, staring at the floor beneath her boots.
“It…
it didn’t move.” Several students instinctively looked down.
The girl had taken three paces back into the crowd.
Her reflection remained exactly where she had been standing seconds ago, staring up at her with a completely blank, lifeless face.
Panic hit like a physical wave.
“Look at mine!” another student screamed, pointing frantically at a pillar.
He raised his right hand.
His reflection kept both arms limp at its sides.
“This isn’t possible…” Daniel muttered from the front, frantically pushing his glasses up his nose, his voice shaking.
“…reflections don’t move on their own.” “At this point, boss,” Godwin muttered beside him with a dry, terrified laugh, “I no think say anything here dey follow textbook.” In the back, Maxwell stood frozen.
John noticed his silence first.
“Maxwell, wetin you dey look?” Maxwell didn’t answer.
His eyes were locked onto a nearby pillar.
The reflection staring back at him wasn’t a scared university student in a crumpled shirt.
The figure in the glass wore heavy, tailored robes lined with gold rings.
He stood with effortless, untouchable power—and behind him, shadowy figures stood with bowed heads, waiting silently for his orders.
Respect.
Authority.
Dominance.
Maxwell clicked his tongue and forced his eyes away, his heart hammering against his ribs.
“Mind your business, John.” A few yards away, Success caught her own reflection in the floor and flinched.
But the girl in the glass didn’t flinch.
She stood tall, her chest out, her eyes shining with an absolute, quiet confidence.
Behind her stood hundreds of silent, respectful silhouettes.
Success hugged her notebook tighter against her chest, her fingers trembling, terrified by how badly she wanted that reflection to be real.
Ayomide slowly lowered his gaze to the crystal floor beneath his own boots.
Around him, other reflections were smiling, moving, or transforming into subtle desires.
His reflection did none of those things.
It wasn’t showing him power.
It wasn’t showing him success.
It wasn’t even smiling.
It simply stood there in the glass, staring directly up into Ayomide’s eyes, empty and completely motionless.
It was just waiting.
*Why is mine doing nothing?* Ayomide thought, a cold sweat breaking out on the back of his neck.
Crack.
The sound was sharp, brittle, and impossibly loud in the dead silence.
Every student froze.
A spiderweb fracture was spreading across the crystal wall right where the first smiling reflection stood.
The smiling figure slowly raised its hand and pressed its palm against the cracking glass.
CRACK.
Another fracture splintered across the floor.
Then another on a pillar behind them.
“Everyone…” Miss Grace backed up into the center of the group, her voice dropping to an urgent whisper.
“…get ready.” All at once…
every single reflection across the endless crystal hall turned toward the students and smiled.
The sound of shattering glass began to echo from every direction.