By midday, the sunlight was already sharp, a heat that pressed against the city streets.
Ren kept close to Li Wei, the crimson silk at their wrists glinting whenever it caught the light. Every movement tugged faintly at him, a quiet reminder that their hearts beat together now.
They tried to walk as if nothing had changed. Students moved through the courtyard, teachers' voices echoed from open windows, and yet there was no escaping the line of energy that pulsed between them. Li Wei's gaze swept constantly, searching the corners of the campus as if he could feel danger beneath the noise of ordinary life.
Ren stopped near the old library steps, his skin prickling. "You feel that?"
Li Wei nodded once. "Sacred ground. It shouldn't be here."
He turned, pulling Ren slightly forward by the cord. The pulse between them quickened. Around the back of the library, the air shimmered—a faint ring of white sigils glowing faintly on the ground. A trap.
The instant they crossed the invisible threshold, the world seemed to fold. The air thickened, heavy with the scent of ozone and burning incense. Li Wei hissed, grabbing Ren by the shoulders. "Stay behind me."
"Li Wei—"
A voice cut through the charged silence. "So the fallen guardian finally binds himself to his mortal."
The hunter stepped out from the light, cloak rippling like smoke, blade already drawn. The sigils on the ground flared brighter, their glow feeding off Li Wei's energy. He staggered slightly; the sacred symbols drained him, drinking the serpent's power like water from stone.
Ren moved without thinking, catching Li Wei's arm. The cord snapped taut between them, and he felt the drain too—the magic pulling at his lungs, his blood.
"Don't," Li Wei said hoarsely. "This place is meant to bleed me dry."
Ren's pulse thundered. "Then let me share it."
He took a step forward into the circle, ignoring the sharp sting that crawled over his skin. The symbols cracked beneath his feet, light bleeding into his veins. The glow from his serpent mark intensified until it cast shadows across the walls.
The hunter's eyes widened. "You fool. You'll burn yourself alive!"
Ren's answer was a whisper. "If he falls, I fall."
With that, the circle broke. The sigils shattered into a storm of golden sparks. Li Wei caught Ren before he collapsed completely, his power rushing back in a violent wave that threw the hunter backward.
When the light cleared, the ground was scorched, and Ren's body glowed faintly with the same celestial light that had once marked him in another life.
Li Wei held him close, trembling with relief and fear. "You're starting to remember who you were," he murmured.
Ren's eyelids fluttered. "Then maybe that's why I can't let you go."
The cord between them pulsed once—bright, alive—and faded to a steady glow.