Ae Qing entered the Forest of Yuanlin without a tremor in her step.
The night pressed around her like a living thing, thick and unwelcoming, but she did not slow. Branches scraped against each other above her head, whispering warnings she had no intention of obeying. Her cloak sliced through the undergrowth as she marched deeper, toward the one place mortals had no right to approach.
She had made her decision before she left the palace.
There was no turning back and no fear to reconsider.
Her jaw was tight, her eyes sharp.
She was not here as a frightened heir.
She was here as Ae Qing, ruler of Shengxin.
The Seer's words from earlier still burned in the back of her mind:
"Seven will fall. That is the law."
Ae Qing had responded with silence then, but the silence had been full of fury.
Tonight, that fury steadied her.
Fuelled her.
Pushed her forward.
"If fate expects obedience," she muttered, pushing aside a heavy curtain of vines, "then fate can negotiate with someone else. Not me."
Leaves cracked under her boots, the air colder with each step.
She did not tremble.
Her voice did not waver.
"I am a ruler. My kingdom expects strength, not surrender."
A breath.
"And as a friend, I refuse to watch them die. All six of them will live. Even if I don't."
There was no softness in her tone.
No desperation.
Just decision.
The forest opened suddenly—an ancient clearing where the moon refused to shine. At its center rose a massive arch of pale bone, smooth like polished stone yet shaped by something far older than time.
The sleeping place of a Fallen Ancient God.
Ae Qing stepped into the clearing like she owned it.
"Ancient One," she called, her voice respectful, controlled, but not submissive. "I request your presence."
The bone arch shuddered.
The air twisted, cold and metallic.
A shadow loomed, growing until it seemed taller than the trees themselves.
Then a voice—deep, vast, older than wind—rolled through the clearing.
"A mortal child walks into my domain."
Ae Qing bowed her head immediately.
Her knees almost buckled, but she held.
"I come with purpose," she said quietly.
"Purpose?" the Ancient mused. "Or desperation?"
"Both," she admitted.
A sound like shifting mountains echoed—perhaps amusement, perhaps warning.
"Speak."
Ae Qing lifted her gaze, though fear made her throat tight.
"Shengxin needs two hundred years of protection," she said. "And the six who share my fate must live."
The shadows narrowed around her.
"And your offer?"
"My life."
Her voice didn't tremble, though her hands did.
The Ancient leaned closer—she felt the pressure of his presence, heavy enough to crush bones.
"You fear me," he said.
"Yes," Ae Qing answered truthfully. "But fear does not change my decision."
For a moment, the forest froze.
The shadows listened.
Even the wind dared not move.
"Your life in exchange for their safety," the Ancient murmured. "A clean trade."
Ae Qing nodded once. "That is all I seek."
"Then step forward, mortal queen."
Her heart hammered so hard it hurt, but she obeyed.
The moment her foot crossed the boundary of the bone arch, darkness closed around her. It felt like icy hands dragging her under water. Her lungs tightened. Her vision blurred. Pain lanced through her ribs, sharp and unrelenting.
Ae Qing clenched her jaw—
not to scream,
not to beg,
but to hold onto herself for as long as she could.
Her knees hit the ground.
Her fingers clawed at the soil.
A second wave of agony struck, tearing through her chest, pulling at something deep within her—her soul.
Her breath broke.
Her sight dimmed.
Fear surged, raw and sharp, but she didn't speak.
She didn't plead.
She simply endured.
And then—
A piercing cry tore down from the sky.
A golden-brown streak of light plunged through the clearing with impossible speed, glowing like a falling star.
Ae Qing forced her head up, panic cutting through the pain.
"No…" her voice cracked. "Don't come here… Listen—no!"
But the Listen Bird—the small guardian spirit who had watched her since childhood—ignored her.
He dove straight toward her chest.
Light exploded.
The bone arch shook.
The Fallen Ancient roared in fury.
Ae Qing felt the spirit collide with her heart—
felt it merge,
felt it fuse,
felt power ignite inside her like a second heartbeat.
The pain turned blinding.
The world turned gold.
She arched upward, eyes wide and glowing—
Then everything fell silent.
Her body collapsed onto the cold ground, faintly shimmering with the new spirit bound inside her.
The bargain shattered.
The Ancient's price stolen.
Ae Qing's life no longer hers alone.
And the Forest of Yuanlin knew:
a new fate had begun.