Chapter 29: Stage Three—The Door With No Handle
The mirror refused to reflect him anymore.
Every time Lin Ma passed by its surface, he saw pieces—an eye that blinked too slowly, a hand that trembled when his own was steady, lips mouthing words he hadn't spoken.
The Sigil's second stage had come with a price: doubt.
And in doubt, demons thrive.
---
That morning, the bell no longer rang.
Even when he shook it.
Even when he screamed.
Yun Xue had disappeared without a trace—her dorm abandoned, her scent erased with cleansing talismans. All she left behind was a folded note under his pillow.
> "They're watching me now. I can't help you. Not yet."
"Stage Three will open when you ask the question you're most afraid of."
He burned the note the moment he read it.
Because he already knew the question.
But he didn't want the answer.
---
At breakfast, Instructor Wen made his move.
"Walk with me," he said, tone calm but eyes too direct.
Lin Ma had no choice. Saying no to Wen in front of the others would mark him as prey.
They walked the path behind the academy, where tall statues of forgotten sages loomed like silent judges.
"I hear you've been seeing things," Wen said. Not a question.
"Bad dreams," Lin Ma answered.
"Bad dreams... are often prophecies in disguise."
He stopped at one of the older statues—its face cracked, its body bound in rusty chains.
"You know what this statue was for?"
Lin Ma shook his head.
"This was one of the disciples who betrayed the great sage during the Rebellion of Shrouded Skies. He wanted to open the mirror scroll to everyone—not just the chosen seven."
Lin Ma's pulse quickened.
"He believed power should belong to all," Wen said, running a hand along the cold stone. "But power... has memory. And memory resents being shared."
Wen turned toward him. His smile was thin.
"Tell me, Lin Ma. If you could go back and rewrite your entire life... would you?"
Lin Ma opened his mouth.
Paused.
And said, "Maybe."
A flash of triumph passed through Wen's gaze—but it vanished too fast.
"Good," the instructor said. "Because soon, you'll be given a chance. And when that happens… I hope you choose to remember who offered it first."
---
That night, the third stage opened.
Not with light.
Not with a voice.
But with a door.
It appeared in his room—an old wooden door with no handle, no hinges, and no shadow beneath it.
Carved into the frame was a riddle:
> "One step forward, and the truth breaks you."
"One step back, and the lie binds you."
He knew the rule from Yun Xue's lectures.
> Third stage: The Trial of Doubt.
It fed on unasked questions. The kind you buried beneath fake smiles and forged strength.
Lin Ma stared at the door.
Then whispered:
"…Did my mother know?"
The door creaked.
> "Did she leave me because she was protecting me…"
It cracked open.
> "…or because she was ashamed of what I might become?"
The door swung wide.
Darkness waited inside.
---
He stepped through.
Instantly, his vision blurred.
And when it cleared—
He stood in a familiar hallway.
Clean tiles. White walls. A flickering overhead bulb.
It was his old high school.
The place where it all began.
But now, the walls bled.
Each locker door bore a version of his name—but spelled wrong, scratched out, crossed over.
And ahead of him, in the classroom at the end, a woman sat.
Hair pinned in the same style she always wore.
Back straight. Hands folded in her lap.
"Mother…?"
She didn't look up.
Just spoke in a low, tired voice:
"You never listened. Even as a child."
"I tried," Lin Ma whispered.
"I warned you about the teachers. I told you to stop trusting those boys."
She turned then.
But her face was missing.
In its place was a mirror.
And in the mirror, his own face stared back—but not his current one.
It was the face of the boy who had failed her. The one who had cried while watching her coffin descend. The one who had once prayed to the gods in exchange for revenge.
The boy who had made the deal.
"Wake up," she said.
The mirror shattered.
Lin Ma fell back—slammed into the floor, gasping.
The trial ended.
He woke up in his bed, the sigil burning like fire on his hand.
Stage Three… complete.
---
But something had followed him back.
On the floor near the bed was a footprint. Small. Damp.
The size of a little girl's.
She was real.
And she was watching.
---
End of Chapter 29