Lin Yuru's Camp – Eastern Star Dou Forest
The fire crackled softly.
Lin Yuru sat cross-legged beneath the overhang of a wide rock, her journal resting on her lap. The others—her injured master, the two fellow disciples—were asleep or unconscious, nursing bruises and poison-flushed wounds from their failed hunt.
She couldn't sleep.
The silver scale in her palm was warm.
> It shouldn't be warm. It's just a scale.
But it pulsed gently—like a heartbeat. And when she touched it with her soul power, the reaction was immediate.
> Snap.
A vision tore through her mind.
She stood in a forest clearing, looking up at a giant serpent. Not monstrous—but regal. Its eyes shone with intelligence, its coils wrapped around a ruined altar. Silver mist swirled from its mouth as it whispered:
> "Fate is a wheel. Yours spins beside mine now."
And then she snapped back, gasping.
The others didn't stir.
> "That wasn't a dream…" she whispered.
Her fingers trembled. The scale fragment had absorbed a trace of the serpent's power. Somehow, it was still connected to him. But why her?
She opened her journal. Dozens of sketches filled the pages—spirals, wheels, scales, and stars. She had drawn them unconsciously every night since returning.
At the center of the newest sketch, she added a name:
> "Silver Serpent of the Spiral."
---
A New Ability Awakens
The next morning, Lin was tasked with gathering herbs alone. Her master believed she was useless in combat. Better to send her on chores than risk another spirit beast fight.
She walked through the underbrush, careful and quiet.
But soul beasts weren't the only danger in Star Dou.
Suddenly, a tremor in the ground. Then the snapping of trees. A Rockhorn Boar, mutated and maddened by hunger, burst from the trees, tusks glowing with spirit light.
> No! I can't outrun it!
The boar charged.
She reached for her spirit essence—her healing threads—but they were too slow, too soft.
Desperation took over.
She screamed and pressed the silver scale to her chest.
The world paused.
Her vision flashed with silvery glyphs—like she'd entered another dimension. A faint whisper echoed in her mind:
> [Borrowed Gift – Fate Thread Lv2 Activated]
"Thread Fragment: Disruption – Interfere with one soul connection for 3 seconds."
Her eyes snapped open. The boar's tusks glowed—soul power surging into them.
But for just three seconds… that power vanished.
The tusks dimmed mid-charge. The boar stumbled, its own weight throwing it off-balance. It crashed into a tree trunk and collapsed, stunned.
Lin dropped to her knees, heart pounding.
> That was… like what the serpent did to my master's hammer.
Her hands trembled, but her eyes lit up with something new—conviction.
> This power… it's not destructive. It's balance. Control. Disruption of harm.
She turned toward the forest, toward the place she had last seen the silver serpent.
> "I don't think you're just a beast," she whispered. "And I won't run from you next time."
---
Far Away – Elias Feels the Pull
The Mercury Serpent King stirred from meditation. The runes on his scales glowed softly.
The Wheel spun briefly, unbidden.
> [Fate Thread with Lin Yuru: Strengthened]
[Bond Level: 3 – Mutual Recognition]
[Ability Echo: Shared Thread Fragment]
> She used my power… Elias realized.
He looked toward the east. He couldn't see her—but the Wheel could. A silver thread now linked them faintly through space. Not control. Not ownership. Something else.
> Sympathy. Or perhaps… destiny.
The Wheel pulsed once more.
And then it whispered:
> "Two paths diverge. When they meet again… one will bleed."
Elias narrowed his eyes.
> "Then I'll be ready. And this time… I'll choose what fate becomes."
---