"…Looks like drowning… Strange…"
"…No visible signs of trauma. Breathing seems… normal."
"Heart rate… should be fast… I think—"
"—!!?"
A soft gasp rippled through the air as a pair of eyes fluttered open. The owner found herself lying with her head pillowed on the lap of a fair maiden — a serene figure with long black hair whose feather-like ends framed her face in delicate wisps.
The maiden, draped in a gown of black and midnight blue, noticed the mysterious figure's awakening and murmured gently, "…You're awake."
Before the words could settle, another voice burst in — bright, loud, and brimming with anxious energy. "Let me see! Let me see!"
A second girl came into view, her short red hair flaring upward in an untamed sweep. She wore a bold, half-tactical getup that matched her fiery spirit.
"Thank goodness you're awake! Or I'll have to try my last-ditch move—Emergency Skills for Junior Patrollers, Lesson One: CPR!" she proclaimed, miming a chest compressions motion in the air.
The woman on the maiden's lap pushed themselves up slowly, wavering as dizziness rolled through them.
Both women watched closely, unsure of what to say, until the red-haired girl finally spoke up, awkwardness creeping in her voice, "…Erm, never actually tried it on a living person, though."
"…Chixia," the dark-haired woman chided her, tone soft but with enough steel.
"Sorry, sorry. You just woke up, and here I am, chattin' up a storm..." Chixia said, scratching her cheek apologetically.
The black-haired stranger blinked at them both, confusion clouding her mind as she wondered, 'Where… is this? And who are these two?'
Despite her confusion, the two women before her felt inexplicably trustworthy as they introduced themselves.
The maiden in the blue-black dress gave her name first — Yangyang. The fiery red-haired girl followed with a bright grin, calling herself Chixia.
But when they gently asked the mysterious woman for her own name, she found herself unable to recall anything at all.
Both women exchanged a glance, their concern obvious. Yangyang tilted her head thoughtfully before suggesting, "How about we call you Rover for now?"
The nameless woman hesitated, before nodding. "Alright."
With that tentative identity, the three of them began their journey out of the Gorge of Spirits, where their strange encounter had taken place.
As they exited the gorge, Chixia pointed at the X-shape mark on Rover's arm — a Tacet Mark.
"Hey, you've got a Tacet Mark just like us!" she exclaimed. "You might be a Resonator too."
Before Rover could make sense of that claim, danger found them. Tacet Discords crawled out from the shadows between the stones, their forms a dissonance of frequency.
Yangyang stepped forward calmly, Chixia with fiery eagerness — both ready to shield the amnesiac stranger.
But what followed overturned their expectations.
Rover didn't retreat. She advanced.
Her movements were fluid, instinctive — the kind of honed mastery that should have required decades of discipline. With each strike, each motion, she moved as though the battlefield itself breathed with her.
Chixia's jaw dropped. Then, with a sparkle in her eyes, she cheered, "Bravo! So you do remember how to fight even if you forgot everything else! Wow!"
Having dealt with the danger, the trio pressed on.
They continued deeper toward the exit of the Gorge of Spirits, where the path opened onto a stone terrace dominated by a colossus — a mighty Loong carved in sweeping, ancient lines. Rover blinked.
And suddenly, she was no longer standing before a statue, her vision blurred, and now, she stood before the real Loong in her vision.
"Rover?" Yangyang's voice snapped her back. Concern softened her features. "What's wrong? Were you injured in the battle?"
Rover shook her head and recounted what she had just seen.
Yangyang's eyes widened, her breath catching. "You saw our Sentinel… in your memories?"
"Sentinel?" Rover repeated, confusion knitting her brow.
Yangyang nodded, before explaining patiently. "Yes. The one this statue was built to honor — Jinzhou's Sentinel."
She gestured toward the stone Loong. "Huanglong has one capital and six cities. Each city has its own Sentinel. Some look similar, but each has differences."
Her fingers traced the air, outlining the dragon's shape. "Jinzhou's Sentinel is known as "Jué", manifesting in the form of a Loong Dragon, like the statue you just saw."
Rover, slowly piecing together her thoughts, murmured, almost absently, that she had stood very close to it.
Yangyang inhaled sharply. "Only an appointed Resonator of the Sentinel can approach that closely… and that is our current Magistrate."
Doubt flickered across her face, but Chixia's distant shout broke the tension.
"Woah! Darn… That must be an Elite Class!" Chixia's voice echoed from ahead, filled with alarm and awe.
Yangyang immediately grew tense. "Chixia might be in danger."
She turned to Rover, eyes pleading. "Rover, please…!"
Rover nodded as they hurried forward.
After regrouping with Chixia and taking down the Elite-Class Tacet Discord together, the trio finally pushed toward the end of the gorge.
The narrow stone paths opened at last into a high cliffside ledge, and before them stretched the breathtaking sprawl of Jinzhou — stone rooftops beneath the afternoon light, pagoda towers, and a dome surround the entire city.
But they did not had much time to admire it.
Chixia scanned the area, her earlier excitement fading into worry. "Where's Baizhi? She said she'd meet us right here…"
She looked around a bit more, searching for any sign of her friend.
Before anyone could answer, the light dimmed. Clouds folded over themselves, darkening in unnatural swirls. The sky warped, its colors shifting and roiling into an inverted sea overhead.
Yangyang's eyes tightened in alarm. "This is the center of the Aetheric Sea."
The cliff trembled with a sharp jolt. Dust shook loose around their feet.
Then, right below the ledge where they stood, the ground split open with a flash — forming an X-shaped mark fracturing into existence.
"Someone's there," Rover said, her voice steady despite the tremor underfoot.
"Isn't that Baizhi?!" Chixia cried. She rushed to the cliff's edge and yelled with all the strength she could muster. "BAIZHI!"
But the distance was too great. Their friend stood far below, a small figure in the storming haze, unable to hear a thing.
"We're too far away. She probably can't hear us…" Yangyang said, pointing toward the distant figure. Rover was still tense, worried about the Tacet Field forming beneath them, but Yangyang offered gentle reassurance — albeit, with a hint of salt.
"Freshly formed Tacet Fields have a dormant period. During that time, they're relatively safe."
"Relatively?" Rover raised a brow.
Yangyang gave a small, helpless smile. "The faster a Tacet Field forms, the longer its dormant phase. For now, this one should be safe."
Danger was almost a given by now. Rover simply nodded. As the three prepared to descend, Yangyang paused.
"Rover, your Terminal," she said, gesturing toward the device strapped to Rover's lower back.
Rover handed it to her. Yangyang tapped a few commands, sending several packages into the system before returning it.
"Now you can use the Glider module," she explained, demonstrating a practiced motion. "Rover, do as I do."
Rover copied her movements quickly. Moments later, the three of them glided down toward Baizhi's location.
But halfway down, a wave of dizziness struck Rover again — a deep tremor of frequency that made her vision warp.
Baizhi, noticing Rover's condition, stepped forward with her usual calm, clinical composure.
A strange creature shimmered into existence beside her — something like a fusion of a snail and a peacock, its shell spiraled and its feather-like fins glinting with soft iridescence.
It circled Rover once, studying her with uncanny intelligence, before giving a small, deliberate nod in Baizhi's direction.
"You seem stable," Baizhi said coolly, folding her arms.
Before Rover could respond, Chixia jumped in energetically. "Oh, Baizhi, you should've seen her! She was super energetic! Took down this huge TD! Way more spirited than me!"
"I've been monitoring her condition through the Stream," Yangyang added, raising her hands as if to show the invisible channels she'd been watching.
They barely had a moment to speak before Baizhi's expression tightened. Her gaze flicked around the warped terrain.
"…This isn't the place to talk. Let's move—"
She wasn't able to finish.
A sharp, mind-piercing Resonance shirked in the ambient air, causing Baizhi, Chixia, and Yangyang clutched their heads in pain. Rover remained unbothered, but she suddenly felt a presence behind and spun.
A skeletal figure materialized from the distortion, purple flames licking its hollow frame. Rover narrowed her eyes and drew her sword just as the creature lunged.
Steel met hardened exoskeleton with a high, ringing clink — the sound of two Resonances colliding. Rover halted its left strike, but the creature's other arm snapped forward, aiming a brutal punch.
Rover twisted, slashed, and sent the blow off course, resulting in both combatants sliding back across the ground, kicking up dust.
In that instant, she scanned her surroundings.
She, Yangyang, and the Tacet Discord were sealed inside a shimmering dome, just then, Chixia's voice echoed faintly from outside. "Yangyang! Rover! Where are you?!"
Chixia slammed her fists on the barrier, her voice coming in a muffled echo. "We're blocked out! We can't get in! Are you two alright?"
Yangyang, assisted Rover to fend off the TD as she answering through the haze. "Rover's with me. And… that strange Tacet Discord is here too."
"It's the Tacet Discord's ability," Baizhi warned sharply from outside. "Be careful."
To be continued...