The glowing mark on Qingsai's back burned with celestial heat.
At the Ember Lord's shrine to Lucentia and Umbraeus—a place forbidden to most mortals—Qingsai and his new wife Sandora were led into the inner sanctum. Surrounded by chanting flame monks and ancestral relics, the Soulkindled sigil activated as they stood at the edge of the altar of Riftfire.
A burst of radiant flame and shadow energy twisted around them like twin serpents.
> "You must learn balance," the Emberlord intoned. "Enter the Veil as one soul in two bodies."
With a searing pulse of light, Qingsai and Sandora were torn from their bodies and hurled into the Veil—the Spirit World of Myria.
They awoke in a pale sky that shimmered like fractured glass, floating above an endless sea of shifting dreams and tangled memories. Trees shimmered with lantern-like eyes. Whispering spirits swirled in flocks, some playful, others hungry.
> "This… is what lies beyond the flesh?" Sandora asked, clutching Qingsai's hand. "It's beautiful… but wrong."
A voice from the mist answered them.
> "Every Soulkindled must face the truths hidden behind their flames. The Veil watches."
They were not alone.