Lunus was high in the sky. I jumped around the trees, grabbing onto the branches and reaching for the Luni fruits. Their gentle blue glow in the moonlight made them easy to spot. I grabbed whatever I could, dropping them into the basket my sister was carrying down below.

“Okay Yue! That’s enough! We’ve got plenty for dinner and tomorrow!”

“I’m coming down then!” I jumped branch to branch until I reached the ground. Luka sat nearby, inspecting the fruits for bad spots or bugs.

“This bunch looks pretty good. Let’s head back home. Dad said he’d teach me about using chi to create illusions today.” She hopped up.

“Hmph, chi manipulation is boring. I don’t understand why you sit through all those lessons.”

“It’s not boring! It’s fun! One day, I’ll be as strong as Dad is, and I’ll be able to use chi to do anything.”

I shrugged. “I already know how to use chi for important things. Why would I need to know more? I want to move to Lunaris, and live in the big city. I’ll get fancy job, and live like a queen!”

“Hmph, and you’ll find a prince who’ll sweep you off your feet huh?”

“Yeah! It’ll be the romance of the eon. Just like in my books!”

She snorted. “You’re such a little kid. Everyone knows romance isn’t like in stories. You should grow up.”

“I am grown up! And what’s wrong with wanting love? I want a man who’s handsome, strong, kind, and he’ll always listen to what I say. And you’ll end up all alone pursuing your ‘strength’.”

“If you find a man like that, I’ll eat my own tail. C’mon, race you back home!” She took off.

Gah, she was so much faster than me, even with a basket full of fruit.

“Hey, no fair! Come back!”

She disappeared through the trees, running along the path, as I fell further behind.

I broke through the trees into the clearing around our home. And froze.

It was covered in thin white fibers. White particles floated through the air. My hand flew to my necklace, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The air purifier was on. I wasn’t infected.

I had to work to push open the door. The white fiber snapped easily individually, but together they were hard to push through.

Inside wasn’t much better. Everything was coated in white. The kitchen looked like it hadn’t been used in months.

Where was Dad and Luka? Were their air purifiers on? I pushed deeper into the house.

More and more white fibers. Luka’s room was next to mine. I had a hard time pushing it open, but she wasn’t inside.

What about Dad’s room?

I reached the end of the hallway, and pushed open his door.

Dad was on his bed, covered in the fibers.

“Dad!” I rushed forward, but someone suddenly grabbed me from behind.

“Yue, No!” Luka struggled to hold me. “Stop! It’s too late for Dad! We need to leave!”

“No! He’s right there! He’s still breathing!”

“Yue! Yue, look at me, look at me Yue. That is how the Chi Devourer works. It leaves you just alive enough to produce chi. But Dad will never wake up again. We need to leave, before it gets us too.”

“But Dad…”

“We can’t do anything for him Yue. He would want us to escape while we still can. We need to go somewhere the Chi Devourer won’t reach us.”

“But it’s everywhere! There’s nowhere on Pluas to go.”

“That’s why we have to go to through the portal. To the in-between.”

My breath caught in my throat. “But we’ve never been there before. Dad said we weren’t ready.”

“We have to be ready. Come on.”

She pulled me out of the house, and down the path in the backyard. It wound through the trees, and Luka dispelled several of Dad’s traps and illusions meant to stop people from finding the anchor point.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

We reached our destination, a place where the branches of the trees formed a knot in the middle of the clearing.

Luka finally let go of me. “Pay attention Yue. You might need to know this someday. First, activate your chi sight.”

I nodded shakily and activated it. The world lit up into blues and yellows, yellow for active chi and blue for inactive chi.

My sister was churning with active chi, showing me how much stronger she’d gotten by training with Dad. “Okay Yue. Now I’m going to move my chi to the anchor point, and swirl it to the left. Remember, you need to go slowly, or it won’t take.”

Her chi moved out of her, and entered the knot. She swirled it left, slowly, easily, like stirring a pot.

“Once you feel it activate, swirl it faster. Keep up the momentum. You’ll feel it once the portal forms, and that’s when you can stop.”

More chi poured out of her as the swirl picked up speed. Eventually, it reached a point where it began picking up chi from the surroundings, and Luka pulled her chi away. It continued to pick up speed, until a large crack rang through the air. The swirl split open, shining a brilliant white in my spirit sight.

“Okay, you can stop using chi sight now.”

I blinked and the world became normal again. The portal in the center of the clearing looked black now, hanging just below the anchor point.

Luka nodded. “You packed your necklace right? You have everything you need?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I packed all the clothes I own, and all my treasures from Dad.”

Luka nodded. “Here, I want you to carry my clothes too. I’ll transfer them to your storage space.”

“But why?”

“I’m close to being full, and I want more space for when we head through.”

“But Luka-“

“Please, just take my clothes.”

I nodded wordlessly. Something about her desperate tone made me shiver.

Once I had them in my necklace she walked me over to the portal. “Okay Yue, once you get to the other side, find Dad’s friend. Her name is Lady Ethereal. She should be looking out for you. And remember what I just taught you about anchor points. It might be important one day.”

“Luka, why do I have to remember? You’re coming with me right?”

Her eyes were shining. “I’m sorry Yue. I lied to you. I know you always hated taking my hand-me downs.”

“Luka, you’re coming too, you have to. I can’t do this on my own. I barely know anything about chi. You’re the strong one.”

“I know. But you’re strong in your own way too Yue. I know you’ll find your own way forward. Take care of yourself.”

“What no, I’m not leaving, you can’t-“ Luka pushed me into the portal.

And everything turned black.

“Luka!” I jolted up, reaching for a sister who was long gone. I breathed heavy for a few moments, trying to reorient myself.

Light. Birdsong. A familiar bastard’s face looking worried. I wasn’t on Pluas. I was on this new world I really needed to learn the name of.

I took another couple of deep breaths and Wukong’s words finally reached me.

“Yue? Yue, are you okay? Can you hear me?”

“Yes, I can hear you, and no, I’m not okay.”

“Did you have a nightmare? You suddenly woke up screaming.”

“Something like that.” I licked my dry lips. “Water?”

“Uh, here, I brought it in a little while ago. Drink slowly.”

He handed over a small cup, which I greedily sucked down. I coughed after I finished it off.

“Whoa, I told you to drink it slowly.” Wukong rubbed my back until I finished coughing.

I was still naked, and he was touching my bare back, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I didn’t even care my chest was exposed.

I couldn’t bring myself to care about anything.

I slumped back into bed after finishing my coughing fit. The dreams were back. Perhaps I should’ve seen this coming. Lady Ethereal wasn’t around anymore to give me my medications.

I turned away from Wukong. “I’m tired. Please leave.”

“Uh, that’s it? Weren’t you going to try and kill me for the whole drug fiasco last night?”

I didn’t respond.

“Hey, Yue. I’m serious. Are you okay? Are you still under the effects of the drug?”

“Wukong.” I spoke softly, still turned away. “I’m fine. Please leave.”

I listened as he didn’t move for a couple of minutes. When he finally spoke his voice was thick with emotion. “Fine. But I’ll be back tomorrow. We need to talk.”

He stomped out the door, slamming it shut.

Knocking. “Yue? I’m back. Are you in there?”

I didn’t bother answering.

“I’m coming in.” Wukong pushed open the door and came inside. I heard him take a few steps into the room before coming to my bedside.

“Yue, why are you still in bed? It’s morning.”

“I’m just tired.”

“Well, I’m back because you said some things while you were drugged. I thought I kidnapped you from your family, but you said they all died because of some ‘Chi Devourer.’”

“They did.”

“Well, then why didn’t you tell me! The guilt was eating me alive you know.”

“Then you don’t have to feel guilty. I forgive you for kidnapping me.”

Silence. For a moment I thought he left.

Until he finally whispered. “What?”

“I’m tired. Please leave.”

Silence again. Footsteps and the door closed.

The door opened. “Yue, I’m back. I have some medicine from an immortal here. He said it would definitely cure you of whatever drug is in your system.”

“I’m not drugged anymore.”

“Yue, will you please just sit up and take it?”

I sat up. Wukong was standing beside my bed again, holding a cup of water and a small piece of paper with grounded medicine inside. I took the paper, and poured the medicine into my mouth. Then I took the cup and washed it down with water.

I gave the cup and paper back to Wukong and turned back to face the wall in bed.

“Yue, I asked around the palace. No one’s seen you eat in the past few days. When’s the last time you ate something?”

“At the banquet.”

“That was three days ago! Aren’t you hungry?”

“No.”

Silence again. And a sigh. “If I bring up some fruit will you at least try to eat some?”

“Wukong, I’m t-“

“If you say you’re tired again, I swear I will drag you out of that bed down to the kitchen and force-feed you.”

“Fine. I’ll eat some fruit.”

He walked back to the door and came back a few minutes later.

He set a small plate with a peach, a mango, and a banana on the bed. I sat up and swallowed a couple of bites of each.

Once I couldn’t stomach any more, I set the fruit back down on the platter and laid back down.

“Let me guess. You’re tired and you want me to leave.”

I didn’t respond.

“I’ll be back tomorrow. And I won’t take the same answer again.”

He walked to the door and left.