PARASITES

The ground where Yueying had stood still smoldered. Charred vines crackled into ash, cracks ran through the platform forming ancient patterns no one remembered carving or seeing earlier. Li Anya had fled, she was weakened. The parasites in her veins had calm down, for now.

Yueying sat on the edge of the station, fingers trembling as she ran her hands over the shattered remains of her pendant — its core now exposed, pulsing with a golden glow.

She could still hear her mother's voice echoing faintly:

"When fire chooses you, you don't get to extinguish it. You become its vessel. You have to retain it."

Yueying clenched the fragment to her chest.

Gu Ni limped toward her, her coat torn and blood staining her left sleeve.

"You okay?" she asked gently wincing in pain.

Yueying didn't answer. Her gaze remained on the dark horizon.

"She won't stop," Gu Ni continued. "She's tasted power now. And you gave her more reason to come back."

Yueying turned sharply. "I didn't give it. I was used."

"I know."

They were quiet for a while, the wind brushing past them like the memory of a battle not yet over or won.

Gu Ni sat beside her. "Lu Quing's going mad looking for you. You left again without telling anyone."

Yueying looked down at her hands. The fire marks still hadn't faded. "He left me first. Just didn't realize it until now."

EARLY MORNING

Lu Quing had not slept.

He stood before a marble sink in his bathroom, water dripping down his arms. He'd scrubbed his hands raw.

Li Anya's blood had always felt cols. But Yueying's— it wasn't about the temperature but he really felt bad when he saw her vulnerable.

He looked into the mirror. His reflection stared back with silver eyes and a guilt he couldn't name.

Lu Wulin entered without knocking.

"She's alive," she said. "But she's not coming back with me."

He didn't speak.

"She lit up the station," Wulin continued, her voice hushed. "Her pendant broke — released something old, her powers felt stronger this time".

Lu Quing finally turned. "Did she say anything?"

Wulin hesitated. "Just one thing. 'He doesn't trust me.'"

He closed his eyes. He didn't know how he could fix this damage.

IN A SHADOWED COURTYARD

Li Anya knelt before a basin of black water.

The silver-eyed man stood a few feet behind her. "You look pale."

"I'm feel strange inside," she whispered. "That blood… it's changing something in me."

"And yet you're smiling."

She looked up. Her irises were no longer blue. They had become iridescent — like oil spilled across ice.

"She unlocked something– a memory. I felt it when the fire broker out . Her blood… carries not just power. It carries remembrance."

He tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"She doesn't just inherit flame. She inherits will. Memory. And I intend to twist it."

She reached into the basin. A map appeared in the black water — lines glowing red. A name floated to the surface.

"Han Liuhua."

The silver-eyed man narrowed his eyes. "Her mother?"

"She's not as dead as they think, maybe hidden" .Li Anya said.

The silver eyed man eyes flickered.

LU CORPORATION — LATER THAT DAY

Yueying stood in the office again.

Everything felt smaller and colder.

Her desk hadn't changed. Aaron Li stood near the window, a file in hand. When he saw her, he smiled. "You came back."

"Just for today," she said quietly, walking past him.

"Lu Quing is in a meeting," he said. "But I'm glad you're here."

She didn't respond.

She wasn't really concentrated.

At the conference room, Lu Quing ended the meeting quickly, dismissing the board members with barely a nod. The moment the door shut, he leaned against the wall, fingers pressed to his forehead.

"She is here," Wulin's voice came from behind him.

He turned.

"She came to work?"

"Yes she did ."

He stood still for a moment, before whispering, "Tell Aaron to stay away from her."

Wulin raised an eyebrow. "Why? You're the one who pushed her away."

"She's not his," he said sharply, eyes narrowed.

Wulin smiled. "Then go remind her whose she is. If it's not already too late."

Yueying stood before the vending machine during lunchtime when Lu Quing entered.

He didn't speak immediately. Just walked up to her.

She didn't look at him.

He offered a small, wrapped bun. Her favorite.

She looked down at it.

"I don't want anything from you," she said calmly but her heart was beating fast. He was still devilishly handsome.

"Then don't eat it. Just… talk to me."

"I did. That night. When I thought we were finally beginning something real."

Lu Quing's jaw tensed. "And we were. I— Yueying, I didn't tell you about Anya because I was afraid. Afraid you would leave. That I would lose you."

"You lost me the moment you chose to protect her over telling me the truth."

He stepped forward, voice low. "I didn't choose her."

"But you lied to me."

There was silence.

"Do you know what it feels like?" she whispered, "to spill your blood for someone who once tried to kill you… and then find out the person you trusted handed you over without telling you who you were saving?"

He reached out — slowly this time.

Her hand trembled. But she didn't take his.

"I can't forgive you yet."

"I'm not asking for forgiveness immediately" he said. "I'm asking for time."

*******************

The silver-eyed man stood with another presence now — a woman cloaked in pale blue coat with deep blue eyes.

"She's awakening too quickly," the woman said.

The man nodded. "Her blood was meant to slumber another year."

"She is Han Liuhua's daughter after all".

"And yet," the silver-eyed man said, watching the city lights below, "it is the devil's son who holds her heart. That… could destroy everything ."

" Hmmm"

YUEYING'S ROOM — LU VILLA

She lay in bed that night, eyes opened.

The moonlight cladding her silhouette

Then— a flicker of flame appeared before her.

Not hers.

Her mother's.

A memory.

"You will love someone who wasn't yours entirely, Yueying. But you must decide — love that endures, or power that burn. I will tell you as a mother to choose the path you know it's right. "

Tears slipped down her cheek.

She didn't know what to choose anymore.

But one thing was certain:

Li Anya would come again.

*******************

Li Anya leaned heavily against the stone wall of a ruined buily. Her breath came in sharp, short pulls, her shirt soaked with cold sweat.

She clutched her wrist—the spot where Yueying's blood had been injected—now glowing with faint blue pulses. But the glow wasn't clean. It flickered, like flame struggling against damp wood and wind.

She hissed as pain shot through her spine, her knees giving out.

The parasites inside her moved again.

Not just a tremor this time—but a ripple under her skin, like creatures shifting in search of a way out.

The silver-eyed man stepped from the darkness.

"You're losing control."

"I'm adjusting," she snapped, but her voice cracked.

"You look like hell."

She turned slowly, forcing herself upright. " I won't give it up."

The man didn't move. But his eyes shifted, as if searching deeper. "It's eating you alive."

Li Anya smirked bitterly. "And yet I'm still standing."

But even as she said the words, blood trickled from her nose. Dark. Thicker than it should have been.

She wiped it away with a trembling hand.

"If you don't get another drop," he said calmly, "you'll be dead in a week."

"Then I'll take it from her again."

"She won't be so generous this time. And Lu Quing wouldn't mind."

Li Anya's smile faltered.

For the first time—true fear glinted in her eyes.

LU VILLA

Yueying hadn't slept soundly that night.

She sat on the veranda, dressed in a pale blue robe, hair undone, legs folded as sunlight broke through the trees. A cup of untouched tea sat before her.

Her pendant now sat in a velvet box—shattered, but alive. The flame core pulsed gently, whispering fragments of memory only she could hear.

She touched it and heard her mother's voice:

"The fire knows betrayal. And it never forgets."

Lu Wulin appeared, barefoot, holding a steaming cup of something stronger.

"You look like you've been through five heartbreaks and the end of the world," she said gently as she chuckled.

Yueying smiled weakly. "Close enough."

Wulin sat beside her. "You didn't sleep."

"I kept seeing her face. Not Anya's. My mother's. When I burned those chains…" she paused. "It was like she was inside me."

"She probably was," Wulin said softly. "The First Flame isn't just a weapon. It's a memory that chooses flesh. It's part of you."

Yueying turned to her. "Is she really dead?"

Wulin didn't answer immediately.

"Dead in body. But not in blood. And maybe not in soul."

Yueying looked down at her hands. "Li Anya isn't done."

"Neither are you," Wulin said.

Back at the Lu Corporation, Lu Quing sat behind his desk, staring at a sealed envelope.

It had arrived on his window sill—carried not by messenger or mail, but by wind. The seal bore a mark only he recognized:

A crescent blade wrapped in a serpent of starlight.

His mother's mark.

Witches' Covenant.

He didn't open it. Not yet. Because he already knew what it meant.

They wanted him back.

And they knew Yueying's blood had been stirred.

A knock came at the door.

"Come in," he said.

It was Aaron Li.

"Sir. About Yueying." He bowed as he came in.

Lu Quing looked up sharply. "What about her?"

"She seems… distant. Distracted. If I may say, she shouldn't be working right now."

Lu Quing's jaw clenched.

Aaron continued. "I know I'm just an associate, but—"

"You're not just anything," Lu Quing cut in. "You're a shadow assigned by the board to watch me. And now, you're watching her."

Aaron didn't deny it.

"I'm watching her because someone has to," he said quietly.

Lu Quing rose slowly, towering. "Step carefully, Aaron. You're playing with fire." He said as his eyes darkened.

Aaron felt his terror but tried his best to hide his nervousness.

Li Anya stood over a black basin again at an abandoned greenhouse at night.

But this time, something was wrong.

The water didn't reflect her.

It reflected Yueying.

Yueying with wings. With flame wrapped around her like clothing. With eyes glowing like molten gold.

The vision shimmered. And the parasite in her arm surged. Her veins blackened momentarily, forcing her to her knees.

"Ahrghhhh " she screamed.

Many tiny creatures moved beneath her skin — long shaped-like silhouettes tracing her arms.

The silver-eyed man appeared but didn't move to help.

"She's outgrowing you," he said. "And the parasite is catching up."

"I need more of her blood," Li Anya gasped, "or I will die."

"She's not a fountain."

"Then I'll cut her open and make her one."

The silver-eyed man stepped forward at last. "If you try that, you'll awaken the Gate. And you know what lies beyond it."

Li Anya's lips curled, though her eyes were rimmed with tears.

"Then let it open."

---

Yueying stared at the envelope Lu Quing left for her.

He'd gone to a meeting.

But he'd written seven words on the cover:

"Don't follow me. Please. Stay safe."

She knew immediately what it meant.

He was going back to the Witches' Covenant.

Her grip on the letter tightened.

You left once to protect me for mother's sake. Are you doing it again to abandon me?" She thought.

Outside her window, the moon rose—red-tinted.

The same color her mother once called "Blood Moon of Vengeance."

The pendant core pulsed in its velvet box.

And Yueying whispered, "I'm not waiting behind anymore."