The sky cleared too quickly.
The storm clouds thinned and vanished, leaving behind a calm so unnatural it felt staged. No wind stirred the grass. No birds returned to the trees. The Borderlands held its breath.
Liuxue remained on her knees for a long moment, palms pressed to the ground. The warmth beneath her fingers slowly faded as the fracture settled into uneasy stillness.
The Starborn man crouched beside her. "Do not move yet."
She nodded, breathing through the lingering tremor in her body. Her seal no longer burned. It felt watchful. Alert.
Yining paced a few steps away, rubbing her arms. "I hate it when divine entities retreat politely. It means they are planning something horrifying."
"Yes," the Starborn man agreed. "They do not strike immediately when uncertain."
Liuxue pushed herself upright. Her legs wobbled but held. "Then we should not stay here."
"No," he said. "But we also cannot run blindly."
She met his gaze. "Where do we go?"
He hesitated.
"Somewhere the heavens cannot intervene directly," he said. "Somewhere their authority weakens."
Yining stopped pacing. "Such as?"
"The Lower Veins," he replied.
Liuxue frowned. "That sounds ominous."
"It is," he said. "They are ancient passageways beneath the world, where discarded laws and forgotten beings drift."
Yining groaned. "Of course it is underground again."
Liuxue almost smiled.
Almost.
As they prepared to move, Liuxue felt something shift inside her. Not the echo. Something new.
A tug.
She paused mid step.
"What is it?" the Starborn man asked.
"There is… a pull," she said slowly. "Like a thread being tightened."
His expression darkened. "Toward what?"
"I do not know," she admitted. "But it feels intentional."
Yining frowned. "Please tell me it is not another echo."
"No," Liuxue said. "This feels… curious. Not hostile."
"That is worse," Yining muttered.
The pull strengthened, guiding Liuxue's attention eastward, toward a cluster of jagged hills barely visible on the horizon.
"There," Liuxue said quietly. "Something there knows my name. But it is not calling me back."
The Starborn man considered this. "The Lower Veins intersect that region."
"Convenient," Yining said flatly.
As they moved, the land subtly reacted to Liuxue's presence. Small fractures smoothed beneath her steps. The air felt lighter, less strained.
"You are altering the terrain just by walking," Yining whispered.
Liuxue looked down at her feet. "I am not trying to."
"I know," the Starborn man said. "That is what worries them."
They reached the hills by late afternoon. A narrow fissure split the stone at the base of the largest ridge, descending into darkness.
The air pouring from it was cold and old, carrying the faint scent of dust and something metallic.
"This is one of the entrances," the Starborn man said. "Once we enter, turning back will not be simple."
Liuxue stared into the darkness. Her seal pulsed once in acknowledgment.
"What waits below?" she asked.
"Truth," he replied. "And consequences."
Yining sighed. "Those always travel together."
As they stepped closer, a voice echoed softly from within the fissure.
Not Liuxue's.
Not divine.
Warm. Ancient. Curious.
"So," it said, amused. "The broken crown finally walks again."
Liuxue froze.
Her seal flared sharply, not in pain, but recognition.
The Starborn man swore. "That voice should not be awake."
Yining whispered, "I am going to regret asking, but… who is that?"
Liuxue took a slow breath.
"I do not know," she said.
"But I think," she added quietly, "it remembers me before the throne."
The darkness breathed.
"Come in, child," the voice said. "Let us see what you have become."