Chapter 28: The Scent Beneath the Bell
Morning light bled through the temple's stained-glass windows, casting fractured colors across the old wood floor. Lin Ma sat in silence.
The Mirror Sigil still pulsed faintly in his palm—slow, rhythmic, like a heartbeat that didn't belong to him.
He hadn't slept. Not really.
The whispers had returned just before dawn. They no longer screamed or wept. They had grown quieter, more intimate.
More cunning.
> "We can help you."
"She didn't die for nothing, Lin Ma."
"Just one memory… let us show you."
And beneath it all, a scent had begun to fill the air each time the sigil activated—faint, metallic, and sweet.
Blood and incense.
---
At breakfast, the academy buzzed with unease. Rumors of the shattered stone formation had already mutated into tales of ancient power, forbidden arts, and Lin Ma's glowing eyes.
He didn't deny any of it.
Let the rumors spread.
Fear was protection.
But one gaze unnerved him more than gossip: Instructor Wen.
The tall, grim teacher who had once accused him of cheating now stared with unreadable interest.
Not suspicion.
Recognition.
Lin Ma looked away first.
---
In the library, he met Yun Xue again—this time between the shelves of the restricted wing.
"You activated Stage Two," she whispered. "Did you feel the scent?"
He nodded.
"That's the scent of memory decay," she explained. "The more you listen to the voices, the more your real memories begin to rot. Once the smell becomes strong enough, it means someone else's thoughts are replacing your own."
She handed him a small bell carved from spirit jade.
"What's this?"
"A memory anchor. As long as it rings, your own thoughts are still louder than the others."
Lin Ma raised a brow. "And if it doesn't ring?"
Yun Xue didn't answer.
She simply walked away.
---
That night, Lin Ma sat with the bell in front of him.
He meditated.
The Mirror Sigil lit.
And the scent returned—richer now, laced with something old and damp, like the rot beneath a shrine.
The whispers didn't come all at once this time.
Just one.
A little girl's voice.
> "You were supposed to save us."
Lin Ma's eyes snapped open.
Across the room, his reflection in the window was gone.
In its place stood a girl no older than ten. Her robes were bloodstained, her face pale. Her eyes were too large, too knowing.
> "We waited in the tower. We prayed. You never came."
He clutched the bell.
It didn't ring.
Panic crawled up his spine.
"Who are you?"
She tilted her head.
> "Don't you remember? You were one of us. The Seventh Disciple. The one who ran when they came."
"I… I've never seen you before."
She took a step closer.
> "That's what the scroll does. It eats the shame first."
The shadows around the room twisted.
The walls pulsed like a heartbeat.
The bell cracked.
Lin Ma screamed and forced qi into the sigil, shutting it off.
The world snapped back.
But the damage was done.
He staggered to the mirror and stared at himself.
For a moment, he saw something behind his own eyes—a glimpse of someone else's grief.
The scroll was merging timelines.
Souls.
Identities.
And if he didn't finish all seven stages quickly, his story would no longer be his to tell.
---
Elsewhere…
Instructor Wen kneeled before a shrine hidden beneath the academy's foundations.
He placed a strand of Lin Ma's hair into the brazier.
Black flames licked the air.
> "He has opened Stage Two," a voice echoed from the smoke. "The Mirror Path is awakening again."
Instructor Wen bowed.
"He's stronger than we expected."
> "Good. Let him ripen. When he reaches Stage Four, bring him to the altar."
Wen hesitated. "And if he resists?"
> "He won't. By then… he'll no longer know which side he's on."
---
End of Chapter 28