Salt Fell Proper narrowed around them like a throat.
The broken courier route twisted through the inner wards in jagged, uneven turns, alleys so tight Ji Ming's blades brushed the walls, stairwells that descended into places once meant for flood runoff, and shattered balconies that leaned like bone fragments waiting to snap.
The Mirrorborn carried Ya Zhen as carefully as if she were something fragile, though she weighed very little against the strength of its new limbs. She clung to its shoulder with her uninjured hand, teeth grit, eyes sharp despite the pain.
Ji Ming led.
Sol stayed between him and the Mirrorborn.
The city watched.
It always watched.
Behind them, that faint, metallic hum began again, qi vibrating in the air like a blade being tuned.
The Inquisitor had entered the courier path.
But the alley did not welcome him.
Every time he stepped forward, Salt Fell shifted: crystals loosened from walls to obscure angles, narrow corners bent slightly inward, dust swirled into pockets of visual distortion, the ground thickened in spots where resonance wanted to travel
He felt the interference, but he did not stop.
His voice carried down the alleys like a law being read aloud:
"Tracking signatures."
A pause.
"Obstruction noted."
Another pause.
"Proceeding."
Sol tightened her pace.
"He's mapping the route as he walks."
"Yes," Ji Ming said. "But the city isn't letting him finish the map."
Ya Zhen groaned against the Mirrorborn's shoulder. "Salt Fell always hated outsiders. But this…" Her breath hitched. "This is personal."
The Mirrorborn quickened its steps.
"…protect…" it whispered.
Ji Ming glanced back at it. "Keep your center low. The ground is uneven here."
It adjusted, copying him perfectly.
Sol almost smiled, despite the burn in her lungs. "You're teaching it footwork in the middle of a chase."
"I'm teaching it survival," Ji Ming said.
"Same thing, with you," Ya Zhen muttered.
The path opened briefly into a small courtyard drowned in salt, a square where a mural once hung on one wall. Only fragments remained: flaking paint, the faint glimmer of mirrored tile outlines.
Sol slowed.
Something about the courtyard felt wrong.
The air was too still.
Too expectant.
Too quiet.
"Ji Ming," she whispered. "The city doesn't want us here."
Before Ji Ming could respond—
The ground rippled.
A line of salt cracked open under Sol's boots, then under Ji Ming's, then in a widening arc behind them.
A fracture pattern.
A warning.
"Move!" Ji Ming barked.
They sprinted across the courtyard just as the mural, what remained of it, shattered inward. Shards of tile and mirror shot across the air like thrown knives, catching light that wasn't there.
Sol ducked.
Ji Ming shielded her with his arm.
The Mirrorborn turned its back, covering Ya Zhen as fragments pinged off its cloak.
Ya Zhen hissed sharply. "That wasn't the Inquisitor."
"No," Sol whispered. "That was the city pushing us out."
"Then why bring us in at all?" Ji Ming muttered.
They didn't have time to answer.
A voice drifted through the collapsing courtyard:
"…cornered anomalies attempt evasion…"
Sol went cold.
He was close.
She grabbed the Mirrorborn's sleeve. "We need to keep going. The city doesn't want us here because this space remembers too much reflection residue. He can use it."
Ji Ming nodded and sprinted toward the next alley opening.
But the city didn't open.
Not immediately.
It held them for a heartbeat—just one—long enough for something important to be seen.
Sol turned back toward the shattered mural.
Amid the broken tiles, one small piece reflected her face.
Not mirrored.
Not distorted.
But older.
Eyes tired.
Hair longer.
Expression resolute.
A future she shouldn't be able to glimpse.
The fragment fell, hitting the ground with a soft crack.
Sol's heart clenched.
Ji Ming touched her shoulder. "Sol… come."
She tore her gaze away and followed.
The next alley descended sharply, curling into a narrow underpass where pipes and half-flooded stone channels from the old lake system cut beneath the city like forgotten veins.
The air grew damp here, not truly water, but the memory of it. The salt crust softened under their boots, turning into a mineral fog.
Sol wiped her cheek. Her fingers came away wet.
"Condensation," she murmured. "This place was part of the river-heart."
"The city wanted water back," Ya Zhen said. "Every wall here is angry."
Ji Ming helped steady Sol when the floor wobbled.
The Mirrorborn paused, lowering Ya Zhen gently as if sensing distress. Its glow brightened, scattering faint flecks of light onto the walls.
And the walls answered.
A low hum vibrated along the underpass.
Sol felt it resonate against her sternum, like an echo of her divine root.
"It's guiding us," she whispered. "But to what?"
Ji Ming studied the branching tunnels. "There. See the brighter patches? They're pointing to stable ground."
The Mirrorborn nodded once, an eerily human gesture, and lifted Ya Zhen again.
Sol squeezed its arm. "Thank you."
It looked at her with its almost-face.
"…warm…" it murmured. "…stay warm…"
Her breath caught.
Ji Ming's eyes softened. "It's learning comfort."
Ya Zhen groaned. "Wonderful. Our tiny reflection child is emotionally attached while an Inquisitor is ten steps behind trying to vivisect us."
Far behind them, but not far enough… a new sound broke the underpass.
A crack of resonance.
Followed by something like glass settling.
He had reached the courtyard.
A moment later:
"…anomaly left fragmentary imprint…"
A pause.
"…unacceptable."
Sol's skin went cold.
"That mural, he saw what I saw."
Ji Ming's hand hovered near her back. "You don't know that."
"Yes," Sol whispered. "I do."
The Mirrorborn pressed itself closer to her, trembling again.
"…bad…" it said. "…bad man…"
Ya Zhen laughed breathlessly. "That he is, child. That he is."
Another pulse of resonance traveled down the tunnel.
Stronger this time.
Sol staggered.
Ji Ming caught her.
The Mirrorborn braced its new legs, absorbing the vibration.
Ya Zhen hissed between her teeth. "He's using a sweeper technique. Mapping moving target signatures through the stone."
Sol's voice trembled. "The city can't hide us forever."
"Then," Ji Ming said, eyes sharpening, "we outrun the sweep."
The twisting underpass abruptly sloped upward.
Salt Fell's air returned, heavy, dry, and metallic.
They emerged into a strange chamber hidden between buildings: a wide space with a cracked stone platform at the center and several broken statues arranged in a circle around it.
A courtyard, but secret.
A ritual space.
Something private.
Sol stepped inside and felt it immediately—
A quiet.
Not the oppressive quiet of Salt Fell Basin.
Not the brittle quiet of the inner city.
A soft quiet.
Like the mountain.
Her breath caught. "This place…"
Ji Ming scanned the perimeter. "The ground is reinforced. No collapse risk."
Ya Zhen lifted her head from the Mirrorborn's shoulder and squinted.
"This," she murmured, "was once a cleansing chamber. A heart-rest station. Traders used it to settle their qi before entering the glassmaker tier."
Sol ran her fingers along the nearest statue, smooth stone, layers of old salt.
And beneath that—
A faint pattern.
Lotus petals.
She stepped back, stunned.
"A Lotus technique was practiced here."
Ji Ming frowned. "In Salt Fell Proper?"
Ya Zhen smirked faintly. "Traders cross-trained all the time. The city didn't care where you came from as long as you respected the lake's rules."
Sol's breath softened.
Here, her qi didn't sting.
Didn't ache.
Didn't fight the air.
It flowed.
For the first time since leaving the Echo Monastery, she felt her channels open without scraping pain.
Ji Ming noticed. "Your shoulders lowered."
"It's… peaceful," Sol whispered. "Like the stones are remembering how to be still."
Ya Zhen muttered, "Then use it fast. Because peace won't stay."
As if answering her—
A faint metallic tap echoed down the corridor behind them.
The Inquisitor had found the underpass.
Ji Ming's blades rose.
The Mirrorborn placed Ya Zhen down gently, light brightening with urgency.
Sol inhaled.
"What do we do?" she asked.
Ji Ming's voice was quiet, but sure.
"We make our stand here."
"But we can't defeat an Inquisitor—"
"No," he said. "But this place is aligned with your qi. With the Lotus arts. We fight through the city. Not against him."
Sol felt the truth in that.
Ya Zhen pushed herself upright. "And I'll make sure he can't use the entrance easily. Give me a moment to lay a sigil net."
The Mirrorborn stepped toward Sol.
"…help… you…" it whispered.
She touched its shoulder gently. "Yes. Together."
Footsteps approached in that chilling, measured cadence.
The Inquisitor's voice carried into the chamber, calm, unhurried, precise:
"…termination sequence resuming."
Sol exhaled once, steady.
Ji Ming's stance sharpened.
Ya Zhen's sigils flared.
The Mirrorborn's chest-light burned.
The city's quiet deepened.
And the chamber, the forgotten Lotus sanctuary hidden inside Salt Fell…
prepared to choose a side.