The creature's finger hovered in the air like a blade made of shadow, thin and trembling, its motion unnatural...too slow, too deliberate, like it savored every fraction of a second it took to extend toward me. Toward my face. Toward my mark.
For a heartbeat, I forgot how to breathe.
REN POV
My fingers were still fisted in Lian Zhen's shirt, nails digging through the fabric. I didn't realize how hard I was holding him until my knuckles ached. My breath had lodged itself somewhere between my ribs and throat, strangling me from the inside. I couldn't look away from that finger...long, jointed wrong, gray like wet stone. Every instinct I had screamed don't move, but my whole body was screaming run.
Except I didn't move.
I couldn't run.
Because Zhen was standing right in front of me, like a wall built out of midnight.
The creature's hand inched closer, a quiet crackling sound coming from its joints...as if bone were snapping gently inside its skin.
"Zhen…" My voice was tiny, barely there. "Zhen, what does it want?"
He didn't answer.
The silence wasn't comforting.
Zhen's silence meant calculation. It meant danger. It meant he was assessing how to kill something.
His hand slid behind me, gently pressing my waist, guiding me subtly back, making me stand in the shadow of his body. He didn't shove. He didn't yank. He moved me with the same softness he used when adjusting my blanket at night. But his body had changed...he wasn't quite the calm, poetic presence who made breakfast every morning. His breath, usually warm and steady, had gone still, as if even breathing too loudly would provoke the thing in front of us.
The creature's head tilted, the motion jerky, like someone had cut frames from reality. Its empty eyesockets...too deep, too hollow...fixed on my mark.
"ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏʏ ᴅʀᴀᴡꜱ ʏᴏᴜ," it whispered. "ʜᴇ ꜱᴇᴇꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʜʀᴇᴀᴅ."
Thread? What thread? My mind tried to make sense of the words but they slithered around, slippery and cold.
Zhen's fingers tightened just slightly on my hip.
LIAN ZHEN POV
It should not have been here.
This realm...prince liu's castle, with its soft lamp glow and faint smell of detergent...was not a place where creature-kind tread. Not the ancient ones. Not the watchers. Not the things who lived in the dark spaces carved between fate and death.
But Ren was glowing.
He didn't know it. Humans never do. They don't see the aura blooming from a mark that has begun to wake. They don't hear the hum...low, pulsing, rhythmic...that echoes through the threads of destiny when a soul recognizes the one tied to its origin.
Ren had reached for me.
He had touched me.
His hands had reached through the veil.
And with that single act of instinct...fear, protection, whatever it was...he had announced his presence to the things that hunt old magic.
The creature's finger trembled closer, hovering just inches from Ren's cheek.
"Enough," I said quietly.
Not loud.
Not a roar.
Just a word.
But it froze.
The air cracked faintly, like thin ice under pressure.
Its head snapped toward me, an unnatural, twitching tilt.
"ᴛʜɪꜱ ɪꜱ ɴᴏᴛ ʏᴏᴜʀ ꜱᴘʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀɴʏᴍᴏʀᴇ," it whispered. "ʏᴏᴜ ʟᴇꜰᴛ ɪᴛ ʟᴏɴɢ ᴀɢᴏ."
I felt Ren's breath catch at my back.
Of course he heard.
Of course it frightened him.
But none of this was his fault.
The fault was mine.
REN POV
I didn't understand what they were saying...not fully. But I caught enough.
Left it long ago.
Not your sphere.
The boy sees the thread.
"Zhen," I whispered, tugging at his shirt softly, "what is it talking about? What thread? What sphere? What does it mean you left something?"
His body stiffened almost imperceptibly.
But he didn't answer.
Instead, he shifted...one more step backward, placing himself fully between me and the creature. I was pushed gently until the back of my legs touched the bed. His hand stayed on me, grounding me, calming me, telling me wordlessly: I'm here. Don't panic. Don't break.
But my legs trembled anyway.
The creature didn't lower its finger. It merely redirected it...slowly, a new interest blooming...toward Zhen.
"You ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴀ ᴘʀᴏᴍɪꜱᴇ," it crooned. "ᴀ ᴘᴀᴄᴛ. ᴀɴ ᴏᴀᴛʜ. ᴀɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ʙʀᴏᴋᴇ ɪᴛ."
My nails dug into my palms.
Zhen… broke something?
Zhen, who made breakfast, who tucked me in when he thought I was asleep, who watched me study like I was the only thing in the world worth paying attention to?
I wanted to defend him.
Even from something like that.
But I stayed still.
I didn't dare interrupt.
LIAN ZHEN POV
"Leave," I said again.
This time, the air responded.
A sharp shift...like pressure dropping before a storm...cut through the room. The lamp flickered. The creature's shadow stretched across the wall, long and warped, until it swallowed the corner entirely.
"ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ɴᴏ ʟᴏɴɢᴇʀ ʙᴇʏᴏɴᴅ ᴜꜱ," it hissed, voice scraping like glass shards grinding together. "ʏᴏᴜ ᴛᴏᴜᴄʜ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏʏ. ʏᴏᴜ ʟᴇᴛ ʜɪᴍ ꜱᴇᴇ. ʏᴏᴜ ʟᴇᴛ ʜɪᴍ ꜰᴇᴇʟ."
"Don't speak of him."
"ᴡʜʏ ɴᴏᴛ?"
It leaned closer, its head lowering, lowering, until its face hovered inches from Zhen's shoulder.
"ᴘʀᴏᴛᴇᴄᴛɪᴠᴇ? …ᴏʀ ᴀꜰʀᴀɪᴅ?"
Ren's breath hitched behind me.
I didn't turn. I didn't dare break formation. But my hand slid back, closing around his wrist...squeezing once, gently, a silent reassurance.
I could feel the creature's breath...if it could be called breath...brushing my neck, cold enough to numb skin.
"You do not belong here," it repeated. "ᴀɴᴅ ʏᴇᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴛᴀʏ."
Ren's fingers curled around the back of my shirt again.
I felt his fear.
His confusion.
His heartbeat thudding against my spine.
He shouldn't be pulled into this.
He shouldn't hear these words.
He shouldn't be seen by the watchers.
But it was already too late.
REN POV
I didn't know what changed first.
Maybe it was the creature's posture...the way it suddenly straightened, as if sensing something distant.
Maybe it was Zhen's grip tightening on my wrist.
Maybe it was the faint ringing in my ears, like something inside me had been plucked, a string vibrating under the creature's attention.
But something shifted in the room.
The creature slowly...slowly...turned its head toward me again.
This time, when its eyesockets faced me, I felt a tug.
Not on my body.
Not on my clothes.
Inside.
Somewhere deep.
Somewhere old.
A faint warmth flared under my skin, right where my birthmark was.
The creature inhaled sharply.
A long, delighted, broken inhale.
"ᴀʜ… ɪᴛ ᴡᴀᴋᴇꜱ."
My chest tightened.
Zhen immediately stepped in front of me...arms spreading slightly, shielding me entirely, his body tense like he was ready to tear reality apart if needed.
The creature's smile stretched wider, too wide.
"ʜᴇ ᴅᴏᴇꜱɴ'ᴛ ᴋɴᴏᴡ… ᴅᴏᴇꜱ ʜᴇ?"
Zhen didn't answer.
Because I didn't know.
I didn't know anything.
I didn't know what my birthmark meant.
I didn't know why he was protecting me.
I didn't know why I could touch him now, when I never could before.
I didn't know why he looked at me sometimes like he recognized me from before I was even born.
And the creature...
It saw that.
It saw everything.
It leaned forward.
"A ʀᴇᴄᴏɴᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ," it whispered. "ᴀɴ ᴀᴄᴄɪᴅᴇɴᴛ… ᴏʀ ꜰᴀᴛᴇ?"
Then...
It stopped.
Its body jerked sharply, like someone had yanked invisible strings.
Its head snapped toward the window...toward the outside darkness.
And then...
Slowly...
Slowly...
It began to smile.
Not at Zhen.
At me.
"ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴀᴛᴇ ᴏᴘᴇɴꜱ…"
My heart dropped.
Before either of us could react...
Before Zhen could move...
Before I could even scream...
The creature lunged forward.
Not toward Zhen.
Toward me.
And its hand...
Those long fingers...
Closed directly around my birthmark.
The world shattered.
LIAN ZHEN POV
"No-!"
But the scream never finished forming.
The room went white...
so violently, so blindingly...
that for a moment I couldn't see Ren, couldn't see the creature, couldn't see anything but brilliance.
A brilliant flare of awakened mark-light, ancient and furious.
The creature let out a shriek, high and fracturing, pieces of its form breaking apart like cracked clay.
The smell of burning thread filled the air.
And Ren..
Ren's knees buckled.
I caught him before his body hit the floor.
His eyes were open...
but he wasn't seeing me.
Not the room.
Not the creature.
He was seeing something else.
Something only someone with an awakened mark could see.
And his lips formed a single word...
hoarse, trembling, terrified...
"Zhen…? W-what… what is this…?"
I pulled him against me, one arm around his waist, cradling him against my chest.
But the creature... half-disintegrated, half-screaming... lifted its head and hissed:
"ʜᴇ ᴅᴏᴇꜱɴ'ᴛ ʀᴇᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀ… ʙᴜᴛ ʜᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ."
Its body collapsed inward, folding like shadows being sucked into a crack in the floor.
And then...
It was gone.
The white light faded.
Ren sagged in my arms.
And the last thing he whispered, right before he passed out against my chest, made my blood freeze:
"I… saw you…
but not here.
Not now.
Somewhere else."
His fingers curled weakly into my shirt.
"You… were calling my name."
END OF THE CHAPTER.