Mystic and Lufei searched the temple, their footsteps echoing in the hollow silence as they tried to find a way out.
The place was massive—so vast that Mystic could stretch into her full form without shrinking or relying on her cloud body.
And still, they felt small compared to its size.
Lufei's sharp eyes caught the markings first. Strange murals carved into the wooden walls, spiraling and weaving, stories etched into living bark.
At first, she thought nothing of them—until she looked up.
Her breath caught.
Dominating the far roof, above the place they hadn't crashed, was a whale.
A whale-like creature that looked of Mystic's kind.
Its painted eyes seemed to narrow on her.
Lufei froze mid-step, the hairs along her arms rising. A dark pressure spilled from the image, a malicious aura crawling over her skin. The longer she stared, the heavier it pressed against her chest.
Her instincts screamed: They must escape this place before it becomes their tomb.
Mystic swam lazily through the air ahead, unaware at first, until she realized her sister wasn't beside her.
"Lufei?!" Mystic turned back, eyes widening when she saw her deer sister locked in place.
"What are you doing, silly sister, my deer?" she tried to laugh, swimming closer.
But Lufei gave no reply. Her antlers burned with soul-light, stance dropping into rigid defense.
"Huh?!" Mystic's tone wavered. Training kicked in—she covered Lufei's flank instantly.
She darted to her side, standing over her protectively, snapping a barrier around them both.
"What is this presence? Where is the enemy?"
"That ominous being up there," Lufei muttered, never taking her eyes from the ceiling. She was ready to attack at any second.
Mystic followed her sister's gaze.
Her eyes locked on the whale etched into the ceiling—its gaze meeting her own red irises.
"Jgh—!" Mystic flinched back in terror. A kind of terror she didn't understand, though something inside of her did.
She had never seen this room, never walked this realm. Since the day she hatched she had only known the care of her master, Fan Yumei.
Yet when she looked at the mural, her mind throbbed.
A sound reverberated inside her skull—something close to a whale call, but wrong. A mimic.
She knew instantly it was not her kin. The language was false.
Hearing it violated her. It insulted her. It left a stain on her very being.
Anger burned inside her—certainty rising in her chest.
What she saw wasn't kin.
It was a demon. A pretender.
The thought ignited her soul like dry tinder.
It must perish. I must kill it. Destroy it before it destroys anything else.
Her agitation burst outward: runes on her back flared, lightning erupted across her skin, golden thunderclouds boiling around her.
Her body grew, twisting into a storm form no one had ever seen.
"It's okay, little one, calm down," Lufei tried, her voice low, desperate to soothe. But nothing worked.
Mystic's once-white skin and golden clouds turned murky gray, black thunderheads rolling over her body as the temple shook with violent thunder.
Lufei staggered back, startled by her little sister's sudden, violent reaction.
"Mystic—what's wrong, little one?"
Something wasn't right. She felt it in her bones.
Whatever that whale on the ceiling was, it had triggered something deep in Mystic—something dangerous.
The mural might have looked like Mystic's kind, but the longer Lufei stared, the clearer it became.
This wasn't kin. It wasn't prey.
It was a predator.
Fear coiled in her chest—not for herself, but for her sister. She wanted to leave this temple immediately, find their master, escape this place before the thing awakened.
Because whatever it was, it didn't belong here.
And it didn't welcome them.
An ear-piercing whale call split the air, shaking the temple as glass shattered and carvings tumbled from the walls.
But it wasn't the mural.
It was Mystic.
Her own whale-song, her skill Call of the Sea, tearing from her in raw fury as she charged forward with impossible speed.
Lufei moved to stop her—but she was too late.
Mystic's body blurred in a streak of stormlight as she surged upward, her whale-song shaking the rafters.
The barrier Lufei had placed cracked under the force of her acceleration.
The moment Mystic's attack struck the mural-whale, the temple reacted.
The wooden ceiling rippled like water. The painted whale's body shuddered, its lines glowing blood-red before peeling off the bark as though alive.
The mural descended, not as a picture, but as a shadow given flesh.
The air grew colder. The weight of the aura doubled, pressing Lufei to her knees as the demon's voice slithered across the chamber—a warped parody of Mystic's call, dragging nails across her soul.
Mystic roared back, thunder splitting the temple beams. Her storm form crackled with arcs of violet lightning as she rammed the spectral whale with all her fury.
The clash was deafening.
Lightning tore through the walls. Splinters of enchanted wood rained down like daggers.
The spectral whale's body coiled around Mystic, larger than she expected—too large, too ancient. Its form wasn't solid, yet its weight crushed her, dragging her storm clouds inward.
"Mystic!" Lufei's antlers flared. She charged, unleashing beams of pure soul-light that lanced into the creature's body. The light hissed against its shadow-flesh, burning holes that closed too quickly.
The demon turned its gaze toward Lufei. Its eyes were red voids, endless and cold.
Her heart stuttered. This thing… it's alive.
Mystic thrashed, snarling through her whale-song, forcing the thunderclouds around her to swell. "You are no kin of mine!" Her voice was distorted, thunder echoing through every word.
The pretender wailed back, its call a perfect mirror of hers—mocking, twisting, each note a desecration.
Mystic screamed, the runes on her back flaring brighter, lightning tearing free in wild arcs. She was unraveling, losing herself to the rage that consumed her.
Lufei's fear deepened. She recognized the signs—Mystic was not in control. This fight was pulling something out of her little sister that even Fan Yumei had not prepared her for.
The temple quaked, beams groaning as if the structure itself was being tested.
"Enough!" Lufei bellowed, antlers blazing brighter than before. She leapt, colliding with the creature's flank, her soul-light exploding in a burst that tore through half its shadow-body. The whale recoiled, screeching in distortion.
Mystic used the opening. She dove forward, jaws wide, biting into the demon's throat. Her lightning seared through its body, ripping it apart in a violent chain reaction.
The explosion rattled the temple to its foundation.
For a moment, silence followed—smoke, the crackle of residual lightning, the smell of charred wood.
Then the mural reformed.
The whale's shadow stitched itself back together, slower but deliberate, its red gaze burning hotter than before.
Lufei's breath caught. "It can't be killed…"
Mystic hovered, storm clouds roiling around her, eyes wild, voice trembling with fury and despair. "Then I'll tear it apart again… and again… until nothing is left!"
The demon's voice answered her in mimicry, repeating her words in her own voice, but twisted—laughter buried beneath the tone.
Lufei realized the truth then.
It's not just a predator… it's a parasite.
It feeds on her fury.
And Mystic was giving it exactly what it wanted.