Gray mist burned into his nose—cold, metallic, like iron rusted ten years in water.
Lin Yao hit the ground rolling—bone claws scraped his scalp, fingers curved like hooks, leaving five black streaks in the fog.
"Spread out!" he shouted, reaching for his waist—empty. Electromag gun gone. Dagger with Rhea.
Rhea's left arm veins bulged. She spun the dagger—not stabbing ghosts, but pinning the mist to the ground—
Shii!
Dagger hilt exploded with the grass pill Qing He had given. Green mist spread.
The ghosts staggered.
Half a second.
"Useless!" Rhea panted. "They… don't fear poison!"
Lin Yao gritted his teeth, pressing the compass on his chest—
"Resonate."
Hum—
First resonance.
Gray mist churned. A circle of teal light radiated outward, sweeping everything.
The ghosts retreated half a step, but didn't disperse.
Their empty sockets glimmered—left eye gold, right eye blue.
Exactly like Lin Yao.
"…Shit." Rhea's voice trembled. "They're not… others."
"They're us," Lin Yao rasped. "Failed us… of the Mirror Leap."
The nearest ghost lifted its hand—not to attack, but to touch its own face.
Rigid. Yet… familiar.
Lin Yao touched his left eye socket. It mimicked him.
He breathed. Its chest rose and fell.
"It's… copying me?"
"No." Qing He's voice blasted in his mind—through Bone Tower, through Mirror Abyss, her last strength, broken signal:
"…It's you."
"…The first generation… left memories… in the compass…"
"…Look… second resonance…"
Lin Yao understood.
He slammed his right hand on the compass—
"Resonate again!"
BZZZ—!!!
Second resonance!
Teal light exploded.
All ghosts froze. Gold-blue eyes flickered wildly, like short-circuited bulbs.
One ghost lifted its trembling finger, pointing toward the ancient city—
Then… slowly kneeled.
Not submission. A path.
Lin Yao didn't hesitate. He dragged Rhea forward. Ghosts parted automatically, gray mist curling like a funeral procession.
The city loomed.
Half-collapsed walls, bricks half Neuroth alloy, half Aethra jade. Rust and moss intertwined. Gate inscription split:
Left: "Tai"
Right: "Yi"
A sword-cut gash in the middle, bottomless.
The gate unlatched.
Inside, darkness.
Rhea's dagger crossed her chest:
"…Go in?"
"Go." Lin Yao gasped. "The first generation… is waiting."
Inside, silence.
Except the wind.
And voices.
Not wind. Crying.
A child's cry. Broken. From the city heart platform.
They approached.
The high platform was ruined. Center, a massive skeleton sat cross-legged—ten times bigger than the first-generation jade skeleton. Dragon bones for spine, human bones for limbs, cradling… a heart.
Gold-purple, pulsing.
The Taiyi Spirit Core.
But the crying… seeped through rib gaps.
Lin Yao crouched, pried a broken rib—
Inside, not empty.
A memory chip. Neuroth-made, edges scorched, interface… etched with Aethra runes.
"…Dual-world tech?" Rhea frowned.
Lin Yao didn't answer. Compass on his chest heated. Gray mist coiled, lifting the chip into his right hand.
Cold touch.
Then—
Explosion in his mind.
Not a vision. Memory.
A boy, seven or eight, left eye black-shielded, right eye silver data stream. In a Neuroth junkyard, piecing a broken mirror.
Mirror reflected Aethra mountains—A little girl barefoot, picking grass, looking up and smiling…
Qing He. Younger.
The boy touched his eye shield, whispered:
"…Sister, can you hear me in the mirror?"
Cut.
The black shield forcibly welded. Silver eye injected with Xihua. Screaming. "I'm not a vessel! I'm Kael!"
Last frame:
Seven Star Envoys circled him, cold iron voices:
"From today, you are Symbiont #07."
"Forget Kael. Forget the mirror."
"You are only… a key."
Memory severed.
Lin Yao fell to his knees, coughing blood—mixed with gold threads, blue flakes, and a single grass seed.
"…Kael…" he gasped. "Not a traitor."
"He was… the first made into a key."
Rhea's hand shook. "So in Bone Tower… he recognized you… because…"
"Because he tried too." Lin Yao wiped blood. "Touched the mirror. Looked for his sister. Believed in 'Unity'."
Spirit core in the platform pulsed faster!
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Each beat, gray mist surged like a tide.
Ghosts outside lifted their heads, gold-blue sockets blazing—
They… were resonating.
T-???
Red lights from Bone Tower completely extinguished.
Qing He… disconnected.
"She can't hold on," Rhea's voice cut. "We have to leave! Now!"
But Lin Yao didn't move. Eyes locked on the Spirit Core—its beats revealed tiny words:
[Third Resonance: Open the Core Gate]
[Cost: Bearer… three breaths of heart Qi]
Three breaths. Enough to die thrice.
Enough to live once?
Ghosts slowly circled the platform. Not attacking. Protecting.
Hands outstretched—each palm holding a spark:
Half a broken sensor ring, a grass pill remnant, a burnt vine tip.
All the failures, all the last things they didn't lose.
Lin Yao took a deep breath, pressed the compass—
"Third resonance."
"…Open the gate."
🪞 Author's Note
Hands shook as ghosts kneeled.
Kael calling "sister"—rewritten three times.
Some pain must be dug out by hand to be real.
Compass third resonance. Three heart breaths.
Qing He cut off. Bone Tower collapsed.
Yet the Spirit Core Gate… opened.
Next chapter: The Core Gate.
—KHChing
(Heart pounding, three breaths… enough to finish this chapter)