Tianmu: Eyes of Illusion

"To pass the Third Gate, you must leave behind everything you know."

— 祖父的遗训

The door had no handle.

No lock.

No hinges.

Just the Eye — 目 — glowing faintly at its center, as if watching them both.

Lucas stood before it, heart pounding in rhythm with a silence that felt… deliberate.

Nora whispered beside him, "This isn't like the other gates. This isn't a place."

Lucas nodded.

"It's a filter."

"Only one of me gets through."

A voice spoke. But not aloud.

"To see beyond illusion, you must become unknowable."

The world blurred.

Nora faded.

The mirror hall folded.

And Lucas found himself standing in a white field of nothingness.

No sky. No floor. No sound.

Just a presence.

A shape began to form before him — mist gathering into a faceless figure.

It wore a robe stitched from calligraphy. Each fold inscribed with forgotten mantras.

And in its hand, it held a pen made of shadow.

"Name yourself," it said.

Lucas opened his mouth—

But he couldn't speak.

His name wouldn't come.

His memories began to slide.

His grandfather's face blurred.Nora's voice became static.The city of Haleford... fractured like a broken map.

I'm forgetting who I am.

The Gate wasn't asking him to answer.

It was removing the question.

Then came the voices.

Hundreds. Thousands.

All versions of Lucas.

Angry.Fearful.Arrogant.Broken.Joyful.

Each one stepping from the mist, overlapping, arguing, whispering:

"He's the one who ran."

"No, he stayed too long."

"He opened the Eye too early."

"I saw the Architect and didn't flinch."

"I walked away. That's strength."

"I sacrificed her."

"I refused to forget her."

"I became the mirror."

Lucas dropped to his knees.

Too many selves.

Too much noise.

Is this the price of vision?

Then he felt a touch on his shoulder.

But no one was there.

Just… a memory.

A voice, soft and real:

"Don't hold onto identity like it's armor."

"Let it pass. Let what's left be truth."

It wasn't Nora.

It wasn't his grandfather.

It was him — not a version, not an echo.

Just the part of him that watched.

He stood.

Faceless now. Nameless.

But clear.

He stepped forward—

And passed through the Third Gate.

The world returned.

A desert of mirrors, stretching endlessly under a purple sky.

Nora was gone.

Time didn't exist here.

But something did.

At the center of the mirrored dunes stood a figure, identical to Lucas — except its eyes were hollow, swirling with ink and wind.

It turned.

Smiled.

"Welcome."

"Now we begin."

Lucas whispered, "Who are you?"

The echo of the Architect's voice replied:

"I'm the one who made it through."

🔍 下一章预告（Chapter 17 – Nameless Eyes）:

Lucas confronts his nameless double in the Mirror Desert. To escape, he must choose: reclaim his memories… or leave them behind forever. Meanwhile, back in the waking world, Nora finds the Hunters converging—and they're not coming to talk.