The sky that morning was wrong.
Not stormy. Not violent.
Just… off.
The clouds drifted as always. Birds flew. Bells chimed in the distance.
But the air had a weight. A quiet anticipation.
Like the heavens had drawn a sharp breath… and were waiting to see if it would be their last.
Lian Qiao stood at the edge of the Mirror Moon Lake, her reflection flickering in the water.
She'd returned alone.
Even Master Bai hadn't followed this time.
The fifth flame — the seal that had reawakened beneath her collarbone — still pulsed like a second heartbeat.
She hadn't told Yujin.
She hadn't told anyone.
"Why did I burn for you?" she whispered to her reflection."Why do I still feel like something inside me is waiting… to break?"
The water shimmered.
And then — the reflection moved.
Not her. Not her hands, not her breath. Just the image — the Lian Qiao in the water.
She looked up with eyes redder than they should have been.
And smiled.
"Because love, when sealed with fire, feeds more than the soul.It feeds me."
Across the Realms — High Celestial Tower
The Council sat in still formation.
A scroll hovered between them — glowing violently.
"The Fifth Flame has reawakened," one intoned.
"Then the Devouring Spirit will awaken with it," said another.
"She must not remember the last seal," said a third.
But the eldest councilor, eyes like dying stars, spoke last:
"She already has.The only question left is whether she'll love him enough to survive it…or too much to resist becoming it."
Eastern Sky — Mo Yujin's Chamber
Yujin sat cross-legged, a diagram of constellations swirling before him.
Frostbane pulsed softly against his shoulder.
But he wasn't listening to it anymore.
He was feeling her.
For the first time in ten thousand years, the soul-thread that connected them wasn't pulsing with her heart…
…it was splitting.
Two beats.Two flames.One his. One hers.And the third… not her, but somehow inside her.
"She's not just waking up," he murmured.
He stood, fast.
"She's being rewritten."
Mirror Moon Lake — Now
Qiao fell back from the edge, panting.
The reflection was gone.
But something else was rising from beneath.
A mist — not cool like fog, but warm, like breath on the nape of her neck.
She drew the Flamebinder.
But it felt heavier now.
Like it didn't trust her.
The voice returned — not from the lake, not from the sky.
From within.
"You loved him enough to die.Would you love him enough to become what he fears most?"
She screamed—not out loud,but within.
And something inside her pulsed with glee.
Far away — in the wind
A whisper reached Xue Ran.
She stopped mid-stride in her palace corridor.
Turned toward the wind.
And listened.
For once… she did not smile.
"She's changing," she whispered.
And her reflection in the frost shimmered with a second face — one with golden eyes and flame-laced irises.