The world had become fire, ice, pain and oblivion.

Xiaomei’s entire life must have been a lie, the memories that shaped her a fabrication to avoid the real world. The real world was desolation and acid. She felt as though her legs, if she had ever truly had legs, were covered in jellyfish tendrils. In one of her fake memories, she had been touched by one of the burning tentacles. Maybe that was just another lie.

Somewhere in the inferno, there was noise. It didn’t seem to make much difference if she listened or not, so she chose not to. Xiaomei was trying her best to shut down every sense she had, hoping to find a way to snuff out the screaming agony coursing through her with abandon. Frustratingly, she could feel a small part of her fighting, every tiny flash of power within her core felt like a lightning bolt, threatening to tear her core right from her body.

If that were even possible, the pain seemed to intensify. From inferno to absolute pandemonium. There was a churning of earth, the loudest sound that Xiaomei had perceived in this evil conflagration. Rocks were colliding, rolling off of each other and smashing into pieces as they did. Burning, red rivers exploded from the cracks in the rocks. It only lasted a short while, which felt strange. If there was time in this agony, then there must have been a before. Maybe, she hoped, there would be an after.

Before the pain? A time of jellyfish stings and ribbons. Yes, that seemed correct. There was definitely a ribbon involved somewhere. A crimson ribbon that had been proven right. A flash of red. Different from the ribbon. A soul badge? She searched through the haze of pain and found that she knew what a soul badge was. A red soul badge was important. As important as the ribbon.

As though this thought had been the key, Xiaomei felt the pain recede suddenly. The jolt of mana within her core disappeared for a moment, and for a blissful, elongated second, she felt complete peace.

Then the storm came.

Cooling the heat, wave after wave of force blew through Xiaomei’s scattered thoughts. A hurricane, pure energy in chaos, began to spread through her core and outwards. There was still discomfort, but it was no longer the omnipresent torture which she had just been forced to endure. The swell seemed to bloom in her chest, in her core, before seeking out every avenue it could, looking for more space in which to rage its tempest.

The soothing energy met resistances along the way. It battered through them, turning the crushed rock and mortar of her broken body back to their natural state. Her ribs reformed. Her shoulders realigned. As each part wove back into pattern, she began to be more and more aware of herself. More aware of what was real and what was imagined.

More certain of her own memories.

Guan Po Daiyu. She had done something. Vicious, venomous viper woman. What was it though? The answers were slipping away from her, like words on the tip of your tongue that you can’t quite articulate. It was a thread, though, and it felt important. Xiaomei could not unravel it right now, the storm had reached her pelvis.

The rockslide and red rivers.

Finally, she screamed. Floating in the abyss of pain, that had been impossible. Now, she was awake. She could feel her hips shudder into place, her thighbones slotted back to their natural position. She continued screaming, her eyes still shut tight.

“I’m sorry.” That must have been Dan, but he sounded different. Distant, maybe? He didn’t need to apologise, it was Po Daiyu who was going to be the one with regrets. A small piece of the demolishing inferno from before was lodged in Xiaomei. More intrinsic inside her than even her core.

“I’ll kill her.” Xiaomei tried to say. She only managed to choke out, screaming, one word. “Kill.”

Seeing no reason to explain herself, Xiaomei just continued trying to weather the storm. Her teeth might have broken with the force of her clenched jaw, but with the healing waves of itchy mana still powering their ways through her, they would likely have been mended right after. Her fingers and feet had a strange rubbery feeling in them which reacted the most violently to Dan’s mana.

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“Sorry,” he apologised weakly. Like a whisper.

Xiaomei couldn’t answer, couldn’t think about Dan’s weak apology. The sensation in her foot was unlike anything that she had ever experienced and it demanded all attention. Perhaps the exact opposite of the pain she had felt only moments ago, this was such as jarring, just as uncomfortable. It was the feeling of her bones being remade, renewed and replaced where they were meant to be. Like the inside of her skin had been covered in ticklish feathers, all she wanted to do was escape the feeling.

Something kept her still. Even through the agony, the reforming, the strange tickling healing, Xiaomei had been motionless. Even as she screamed, her neck and head were the only things to move. Like a law had been passed within herself, she had obeyed the command of her instincts and stayed immobile.

With a snap, the hold of that law broke. A door burst open and a part of the spell was broken. Xiaomei’s body tensed like an injured spider, all of her limbs locking and seizing. There was pain again, but nothing like before. Closer to the tickle, she thought. Her arms and legs curled above her torso, shaking violently.

They moved, though. She had enough sense to know that itself was a miracle. When Xiaomei finally opened her eyes, she saw an incredibly strange room. Her attention first fell upon Hyun Soon, a look of red-eyed amazement on his face. He had been crying, clearly, but now he was beaming like he had seen the sun for the first time. He was also out of breath. Dozens of white ribbons were scattered around, like cobwebs of silk. Some interaction between her mana and Dan’s?

“Dan!” Once her eyes fell on him, her blood froze. He looked sheet white, almost the same colour as the ribbons that she could now see were literally coming from Dan’s wrists as though someone had pulled them from his arms, spinning them into fine threads as they did. Dan did not respond, he was caught on the threads that he had made, that had exploded from him, and was suspended slightly in the air. They were the only thing keeping him standing, actually. “Hyun, we have to help him.”

The world swam as Xiaomei stood. The floor beneath her feet disappeared, rolled over and flipped upside down all at once. She crumpled, a soft moan escaping her, annoyance more than anything else. She might have been fixed, however Dan had done it, but she was still clearly feeling the effects of the damage she had sustained.

“Well… I was trying to say… but Dan shouted.” Hyun Soon’s panting explanation was cut short as an elder pushed past him. It was the ancient woman who had claimed Dan as her student, those few weeks ago on the field outside the Sasin forest. So much had changed since then. The main family, the branch family, Xiaomei knew that all this chaos, all this pain, it started with them. Every time.

“What do you want?” Xiaomei snapped, her molten fury at Guan Po Daiyu extending to any member of Guan blood. Xiaomei had always lived with a chip on her shoulder about them but now it had become outright hostility.

“You’re Byun Dao’s girl, aren’t you?” Guan Shi Ai did not react back in anger, but hearing her mother’s name was like being slapped in the face. Her look of pity somehow did not stoke the fire in Xiaomei, but tempered it. She looked away, but nodded, suddenly ashamed. “I thought that was you. Now I see the ribbons and it all falls into place.” As though that was enough explanation, or maybe just knowing that Xiaomei had nothing to tell her that she didn’t already know, she pushed past.

The old woman looked at Dan, as she might look at a painting. She inspected him casually, with none of the worry that his state seemed to beg for. With a calm finger, she poked one of the ribbons, nodding pensively as it twanged with a taut note. She hummed and tutted, the sounds serving only to make Xiaomei more and more anxious.

“I’m sorry.” Hyun Soon was sullen, Xiaomei saw, turning her attention from the tangled mess that was Dan. The initial smile of joy had been quickly replaced with shock when he had seen Dan, but now the boy was on the verge of tears again. “Is this my fault? Dan said not to open the door.” The final word was a moan, cracked, and Hyun Soon turned away, facing the wall. Xiaomei couldn’t help Dan right now, but she might be able to help another friend.

She stood, her feet still felt as though they had fallen asleep and it made her wobble, but she managed to reach the tall Hyun Soon’s spot in the corner. Tapping him on the shoulder, she said quietly, “Did you bring me here?” It was obvious that he had, but she wanted a chance to thank him. Dan may have used his strange technique, but Hyun must have been the one who had carried her here. “You saved me.” She added, still quiet.

He turned back to face her at that. “I heard a loud noise… I don’t know. I knew somehow that-” He blinked hard, sudden emotion washing over him. “I knew you were in trouble. I’m so happy you’re okay, Mei.”

Wasting no more time, Xiaomei leapt at Hyun, catching him slightly off guard. She could have been attacking him and he wouldn’t have budged, but he still rocked a little as he caught her. “Thank you, Hyun.”

A cackle from Guan Shi Ai separated the two instantly. The old woman was no longer facing Dan, looking with keen interest at the two other teenagers in the room.

“What?” Hyun asked, defensive.

“Strong bond. All three of you? Maybe not as strong for little Ah Dan, but fierce. Good. That is good.” The old woman sat on Dan’s bed, gesturing to his still hanging form. “He is on a journey, bonds will be important. You, daughter of Byun Dao.” Xiaomei snapped her attention at the sound of her mother’s name again. “Yes,” the old woman crooned, “you’re important. And you, outsider.” This time Hyun Soon was the focus. “A drop of outer chaos. Who knows?”

“What are you talking about?” Xiaomei barked, finally.

“We’re getting there, young one. Indulge this mad, old songbird, would you?” Guan Shi Ai looked at Xiaomei and Hyun Soon with eyes that held the weight of the world. “Can you carry a message from me, to this one?”

Neither Xiaomei or Hyun Soon could deny her request.