---
*Chapter 25: The Weight of Secrets*
The rain had stopped, but the silence it left behind was worse.
Inside the temple, no one spoke for a long time. Only the occasional crackle from the last dying lantern filled the room. The events of the night—the whispers, the illusion of Taiwan, the failed ward—had shaken them all.
Mark sat with Jun beside him, their shoulders touching. Across the room, Dao leaned against a pillar, cleaning his blade with a rag soaked in spirit water. Lek crouched nearby, sharpening his own weapon with quiet intensity. But it wasn't the threat of spirits that weighed them down—it was each other.
And then, just as the silence began to feel unbearable, the door creaked open.
Taiwan stepped inside, soaked, eyes hollow, his shirt torn at the shoulder and stained with ash.
Dao rose immediately. "Where the hell were you?"
Taiwan didn't flinch. "Watching."
"Watching *what*?" Mark demanded, standing now. "We nearly died."
"I warned you something was coming," Taiwan said, his voice calm, too calm. "I didn't know it would come so soon. Or so strong."
Jun narrowed his eyes. "But you weren't surprised."
Taiwan met his gaze. "Because I've seen it before."
He crossed the room and pulled a folded cloth from his jacket. He dropped it on the altar. A spirit seal, half-burned and charred.
"They're not just hunting you," Taiwan said. "They're testing you."
Dao stepped forward, eyes locked on the seal. "Testing us?"
"For weaknesses," Taiwan replied. "For the cracks in your loyalty. In your love. In your control."
The group fell into silence again.
Jun's hand trembled slightly in Mark's, but he didn't let go.
---
Later, as the others rested, Mark stepped out into the courtyard alone. The moon hung heavy above the trees, bright but cold. He needed air—space to think.
Taiwan followed.
"I didn't lie to you," Taiwan said from behind him. "Not then. Not now."
Mark turned, eyes hard. "You disappeared. Left us. Let me think you were dead."
"I *was*," Taiwan said. "At least, who I used to be."
Mark swallowed. "You're different."
"So are you," Taiwan said. "You love someone else now."
The silence between them stretched like a wire ready to snap.
"I don't want to ruin what you have with Jun," Taiwan said softly. "But if this ends badly… I want you to know I never stopped caring."
Mark's voice came out hoarse. "Then help me keep him safe. Help me keep *all* of us safe."
Taiwan nodded. "Even if it means facing the part of me that didn't come back alone."
---
Inside, Jun sat by the window, watching the two figures in the moonlight. His chest ached—not from jealousy, but fear. He trusted Mark. But he didn't trust fate.
Beside him, Dao appeared, carrying tea.
"You think he'll choose Taiwan again?" Dao asked bluntly.
Jun shook his head. "No. But it's not about choosing. It's about surviving."
Dao sipped his tea. "I don't think this is about spirits anymore."
Jun glanced at him.
"I think we're being manipulated," Dao said. "Split apart."
Lek entered quietly, setting a new ward on the wall.
"I've felt it too," Lek murmured. "Something's pulling us by the strings."
Dao nodded. "A puppeteer. And I hate puppets."
Jun looked out the window again, eyes narrowing.
"If the villain is already among us," he said slowly, "then we're all already losing."
---
The next morning, an offering was found outside the temple gates.
A clay bowl of fresh blood. A lock of black hair. And a piece of paper with a single phrase:
*"He already chose wrong."*
Dao's hand clenched around the paper. "It's starting."
Mark stepped forward, expression unreadable. "Then we finish it."
And just became the start of something new making jun confused if Taiwan returns was for good
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*End of Chapter 25*
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