"Beauty is a blade, and the sharpest daggers wear a smile."
— From the Diary of Goddess Moria (Tian)
—
They traveled north.
The wind grew colder. The trees turned to skeletal things, their branches cracking like bones in the breeze. Li Yuan kept close to Jiang Wuhen, who walked slower now but with more strength each day. Tian led them with a strange calmness, always knowing which path to take, even when there wasn't one.
"How do you know the way?" Jiang asked one night.
Tian smiled under her veil. "I listen to the ground."
Li Yuan blinked. "The ground talks?"
"Everything talks," she said. "The wind. The trees. The bones of the dead. You just don't know how to listen yet."
Jiang frowned but didn't argue. There was something unsettling about how this woman seemed to know everything without ever explaining how.
—
Seven Days Later
The forest thinned, replaced by jagged cliffs and frozen waterfalls. The temperature dropped drastically. Snow fell without clouds. The air shimmered unnaturally.
"This is it," Tian said, halting. "We've entered the border of the Frozen Whispers."
Li Yuan pulled his thin cloak tighter. "It's so cold…"
"Beastkin blood runs warmer than most," Tian said. "But this land doesn't care about blood. Only silence."
They climbed for hours. The higher they went, the quieter everything became. Even Jiang's labored breathing seemed swallowed by the snow.
Then, they saw it — a monastery carved into a mountain face, glowing with faint blue light. Spires like spears jutted out of the ice, surrounding the palace like a crown of thorns.
"The Sect of Frozen Whispers," Tian announced.
"The ones who train with ice spirits?" Jiang asked.
"No," she replied. "The ones who steal memories and bury truth beneath silence."
Li Yuan's steps slowed. "Is this… safe?"
"Nothing is safe," Tian replied. "But they hold a shard of the Flames of Water. We need it."
"A shard?" Jiang repeated. "I thought it was a flower."
"All legends start as seeds," Tian said cryptically. "Now hush. From here on, speak only when spoken to. Or you may lose your tongue."
—
The gates opened before them without a sound.
No guards. No chains. Just silence.
They entered.
The air inside was colder than outside. The halls were made of crystal, and every step echoed like a heartbeat in a crypt. Statues of winged beings lined the walls — all blindfolded, all silent.
A woman waited in the center chamber.
She wore white silks laced with silver thread. Her skin shimmered like frost, and her eyes were closed.
"Welcome, strangers," she said, voice soft and melodic. "You may call me Lady Bai. I am the Keeper of Forgotten Names."
Tian bowed slightly. "Greetings, Lady Bai. We seek the shard."
Bai's smile did not reach her eyes. "Many seek what we guard. Few understand the price."
Jiang stepped forward. "We'll pay."
"Will you pay with memories?" she asked.
Jiang flinched.
"Or perhaps… with truth?"
The room seemed to grow colder.
Tian's voice was calm. "One of us will take the trial. No more."
Lady Bai nodded. "Very well. But beware — the shard reveals more than it hides. Choose your trial-bearer."
Li Yuan spoke up before either could stop him.
"I'll do it."
Jiang turned. "No—!"
Tian placed a hand on Jiang's arm. "Let him."
Lady Bai gestured, and a circle of ice formed beneath Li Yuan's feet.
"Then come, child of beast and blood," she whispered. "Let us see what you hide… from even yourself."
—
Inside the Trial
Darkness.
Then—heat. Flames. Screaming.
Li Yuan stood in a village on fire. His mother's voice echoed.
"Run, Yuan! Don't stop!"
He was six again.
The shadow-beasts came. His father's sword fell. His mother's scream pierced the sky.
"No!"
He tried to run, but the ground melted. The fire turned blue.
And a woman stepped from it.
Golden eyes. Pale skin. A dress made of flame and frost.
She looked like a goddess.
"You are the seed," she said. "The key to breaking the chains."
Li Yuan trembled. "Who are you?"
"Not yet," she replied. "But when the flames bloom, remember this—"
She leaned close, her voice a whisper.
"Trust the one who hides behind smiles."
Then the world cracked open—
—
Li Yuan gasped, collapsing.
Jiang caught him.
Lady Bai stood silently, her hands clasped.
"He passed," she said. "The shard is yours."
A glass-like flower bloomed in her palm. It glowed faintly — blue fire dancing on its petals.
Jiang reached for it, but Tian stepped in first.
"Let me hold it," she said. "For now."
Jiang narrowed his eyes. "Why?"
"Because I'm the only one not haunted by it."
She took the shard. Its glow dimmed in her palm, as if it feared her.
Lady Bai turned. "Leave, before the memories unravel."
They did.
—
Outside, the wind howled. But Li Yuan felt warmer now.
"What did you see in there?" Jiang asked him later, once they'd set up camp.
Li Yuan hesitated.
"A woman. She… she said I'm a key. That someone is hiding behind smiles."
Jiang frowned. "A goddess?"
Tian looked amused. "Perhaps."
But inside, her system chimed.
[System Notification:
— First Artifact Acquired: Shard of the Flameflower.
— Hidden Timeline Shifted.
— Unlocked Fate Thread: The Red Moon Will Rise.]
Moria — once a human, once a wanderer — smiled.
The world had just taken its first breath of chaos.
And she would make sure it never exhaled.
—
End of Chapter 4