Yet Yan Zhi felt the short blade tremble in her hand. The light it gave off remained steady and warm, like the last thing holding her life together.
"Yan Zhi!" Jiu Jia Yi's voice turned urgent. "We have to make a choice! We can't wait any longer."
Yan Zhi paused. Calm returned to her eyes in an instant. She took a deep breath, and her gaze sharpened. "I know."
She raised the short blade and aimed its tip at the approaching light. Every inch of air brimmed with energy on the verge of eruption. The temperature throughout the space climbed rapidly, as though even time were freezing in place.
"I have to find that 'core,'" she murmured, her gaze growing clearer. She knew the light before her was more than a physical presence. It was a power deep within her that she had never faced. It was the core of who she was, the fear she had once fled, and the part of herself she had cast away.
"I'll go find it," she said softly. Her eyes drifted shut, and the short blade in her hand began to pulse faintly in time with her heartbeat.
Jiu Jia Yi saw the look in her eyes and finally understood her decision. His gaze softened, a trace of relief beneath the tension that still held him taut. Even with endless darkness before them and an unknowable future ahead, he chose to keep walking beside her.
"I know you won't turn back." His voice was gentle, a promise to her and to himself. "I'll be right behind you."
His words were like a fine thread, anchoring her deep within her heart.
Yan Zhi's breathing steadied, and calm gradually returned to her. She knew the bond between her and Jiu Jia Yi had grown stronger than every fear, every unknown, every impossibility before them.
The short blade blazed brighter. Shardlike points of light gathered at her heart, gradually joining into a chain of light that wound around her body and finally formed a protective barrier. Her connection to the blade had never run so deep. She could sense the power from the "core" closing in, and she was ready to meet it.
"We'll go together," she murmured. The short blade in her hand gave off one final burst of light.
A pillar of light spread before her. As if answering her call, the darkness began to recede. The "door" was still there, but it no longer stood for fear. It was a passage into an unknown future. She knew countless choices and mysteries lay beyond the radiance, but she was no longer the timid person she had been.
"You'll stay by my side, won't you?" she asked Jiu Jia Yi, turning toward him. There was no doubt in her eyes now, only complete trust.
He smiled faintly, his eyes full of unwavering resolve and tenderness. "Of course. Wherever you go, I'll be with you."
In that moment, Yan Zhi finally understood. No matter how unfamiliar the road ahead or how unpredictable the future, her heart was already bound to this path. Walking beside him was where she truly belonged.
As they stepped into the radiance, their figures gradually vanished into the light. It illuminated the path ahead, and the entire space seemed to settle into a kind of calm.
But no one could know what awaited them.
Before you continue