The spiritual realm was a vast, still sea. Above, the heavens rippled like broken glass, and beneath the surface, light twisted into spirals of red and blue. Polyfalls stood at the center, his body faintly shimmering as soul flames danced silently around him — the black-red spirals he had forged from the union of Yin and Yang fire.
The air trembled. Ripples spread outward as something stirred deep within.
From the depths, Ming emerged — no longer a colossal whale, but a woman wrapped in veils of mist. Her eyes shimmered with a liquid, oceanic blue, yet faint marks of scales traced the edges of her neck. Her presence was otherworldly, both human and not.
Polyfalls watched silently. For a moment, he couldn't breathe. The bond between them pulsed — faint yet warm — as though two souls were adjusting to a fragile balance.
"Ming," he said, his tone sharp yet uncertain. "You… took this form?"
Her voice came, soft like the tide. "It seems naming me changed more than my essence. I do not remember everything, but… I am different now."
The spiritual sea darkened slightly, reflecting her shifting emotions.
Polyfalls frowned. "You said you didn't know much about the talisman before. Has that changed?"
Ming looked up, her eyes catching the dim light. "Only fragments."
She raised her hand, and the air shimmered — an ancient talisman appeared in her palm, floating between them. The same one that had once nearly burned through Polyfalls' consciousness. Its faint golden patterns now flickered erratically, and for a second, a whisper echoed through the realm — not words, but emotions: sorrow, rage, and longing intertwined.
"This talisman," Ming said quietly, "was not forged by humans. It came from a place beyond the mortal plane — a fragment of something that once suppressed a god."
Her voice trembled.
"I do not know whose hands first shaped it, but it was never meant to exist in our world. The moment you touched it, your fate was intertwined with it."
Polyfalls' expression darkened. "Intertwined? You mean—"
"Bound," she whispered. "It is as if your soul has been branded by a force older than the Dao itself. I can sense it beneath your spiritual essence. It is sleeping — for now."
The flames around them flickered violently.
Polyfalls clenched his fists. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"I didn't know," Ming replied, her tone filled with both guilt and defiance. "Even now, I see only shadows. When you named me, something awakened — not just within me, but within the talisman itself. It responded to your will, but… it fears you."
He stared at her, unable to hide the confusion in his eyes. "A talisman that fears me?"
"Yes," she said softly. "And that is what confuses me most. I am a spirit born from your blood and soul, yet even I cannot see its true core. Something — or someone — has sealed its memories."
Her words hung heavy in the air.
For a moment, neither spoke. The realm itself seemed to grow colder.
Then Ming's eyes narrowed, her gaze shifting beyond Polyfalls — as if staring through time and space. "There is one more thing you must know."
Her voice deepened. "Someone else bears the same mark as you — faint, but identical. I saw a reflection in the realm of sleep. A shadow walking among humans… someone from the Academy."
Polyfalls' pulse quickened. "Who?"
"I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "Their qi was cloaked. Male or female, strong or weak — I cannot tell. But if they awaken their mark first…"
Her sentence trailed off as the spiritual sea trembled violently. The talisman in her hand flared — not golden anymore, but blood-red.
Ming's eyes widened. "It's reacting—"
The talisman pulsed once, and a wave of crimson energy burst through the air, slicing through their link. Polyfalls staggered, his body cracking with demonic qi as black chains momentarily appeared over his arms.
Ming reached forward, her hand trembling as she forced the energy back. "Polyfalls! Control your qi! Don't let it consume you!"
He gritted his teeth, forcing his consciousness to stabilize. Slowly, the flames settled. The sea calmed once more.
But Ming was now trembling. Half her form flickered, turning translucent.
"You must be careful," she whispered, fading. "Whatever sealed that talisman's core… it knows your name now."
Her body dissolved into mist, leaving only her voice echoing faintly:
"Beware the mark that answers your soul."
Polyfalls stood alone once again. His breathing was heavy, his soul flames wavering. He looked at his hands — faint red symbols glowed beneath his skin, then vanished.
In the silence of his spiritual realm, the talisman hovered quietly, its glow now dim. But in its depths, a faint whisper echoed — something only his soul could hear.
"Two marks. One fate."
Polyfalls' expression hardened. "So it begins…"
He turned away, but deep in his mind, confusion lingered — confusion not only for the talisman, but for Ming.
Was she telling the truth? Or was even she a fragment of its design?
The sea rippled once more, as though laughing in silence.