Chapter 6 Echoes Beneath the Lanterns
The village paths were nearly empty at this hour.
Lanterns swayed in the night breeze, casting trembling halos of gold on the ground as Lian Hua hurried beside Shen Wei. The young villager kept stumbling ahead of them, breath ragged, glancing back as though afraid something might follow.
But Lian Hua felt a different tension.
The air itself seemed… disturbed.
Like ripples spreading from an invisible stone.
Shen Wei noticed it too she could tell by the way his gaze scanned the shadows, by the stiffness in his shoulders, by the faint silver glow threading through his irises.
Not human,not fully, at least.
She’d sensed it from the moment he collapsed at the Moon Gate.
Now… it pulsed from him like a quiet heartbeat.
“Elder Qiu was fine this afternoon,” Lian Hua said breathlessly. “What changed so suddenly?”
The villager choked out, “He started muttering talking to someone who wasn’t there then he fell, and now he won’t wake!”
Shen Wei exchanged a look with Lian Hua, his expression tightening.
“Voices,” he murmured under his breath. “It’s starting sooner than I thought.”
Her pulse spiked. “What do you mean?”
But he didn’t answer.
Not yet.
The Unseen Marks
They reached Elder Qiu’s home a small wooden house nestled beneath a crooked old plum tree. Its blossoms were white tonight, but Lian Hua felt as if she were walking into a room painted red.
Inside, the air was thick and heavy.
Elder Qiu lay on the floor, breathing shallowly, his hands clenched around nothing. Lian Hua dropped to her knees and checked his pulse, her healer’s instincts steadying her even as anxiety twisted inside her.
“It’s irregular,” she whispered. “Like something frightened him deeply.”
Shen Wei came closer.
“Lift his sleeve.”
She hesitated, then gently rolled up Elder Qiu’s arm.
Her breath caught.
Branded into the skin faint, as if made of moonlight was a tiny red thread mark looping around his wrist.
Just like the silk.
Lian Hua looked up, shaken. “What is this?”
Shen Wei’s jaw tightened. “A remnant from the boundary. It leaves its mark when someone comes too close.”
“Too close to what?”
He met her eyes, and for the first time, she saw true fear beneath his calm.
“To the place where lives overlap.”
A shiver ran down her spine.
This wasn’t just about him.
It wasn’t just about his past.
Something in the village was waking up.
When the Elder Stirred, suddenly Elder Qiu jerked, gasping.
His eyes flew open but they were unfocused, clouded with terror.
“Don’t let it through” he rasped. “Don’t open it don’t let the red path break”
Lian Hua grabbed his trembling hand. “Elder Qiu, it’s all right. You’re safe. What path? What did you see?”
His voice shook violently.
“A man… with your face.”
The words struck the room like thunder.
Lian Hua froze.
Shen Wei stiffened beside her.
“My… face?” she whispered.
The old man nodded frantically, tears welling. “He stood beneath the moon gate, calling you by another name. Begging you not to cross the red bridge. Begging you”
He convulsed, coughing.
“not to die again.”
A cold silence ripped through the room.
Shen Wei’s Reaction
Lian Hua felt her heartbeat stutter.
Shen Wei’s face darkened not with anger, but with a grief so deep it hollowed his expression. He crouched beside Elder Qiu, his voice low, nearly breaking.
“What else did you see?”
The elder blinked rapidly, struggling to focus.
“A woman’s shadow… crying… waiting on the other side of the moon gate…”
His voice faltered.
“…and a man who carried guilt like a second soul.”
Shen Wei shut his eyes as if struck.
Lian Hua felt her throat tighten painfully. “Shen Wei… was he talking about you?”
He opened his eyes slowly.
“Yes.”
The admission was soft.
But devastating.
A Quiet Terror
Elder Qiu’s breathing steadied, though he remained frightened. Lian Hua prepared herbs and set them to steep, trying to ground herself.
Shen Wei stood near the window, his silhouette framed by drifting lantern light shoulders rigid, hands clenched at his sides.
“Lian Hua,” he said without turning. “There is something I should have told you earlier.”
She looked up, heart pounding.
He finally faced her, moonlight glinting off his dark lashes.
“Someone in this village knows who I used to be.”
Her breath hitched. “In your past life?”
He nodded once.
“And if they left that red silk… they may be trying to force that past to reopen.”
A chill swept over her.
“Why?” she whispered.
Shen Wei stepped closer, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Because the person I failed”
He looked straight into her eyes, and the world seemed to narrow to that moment.“was you.”
The lantern flame flickered violently behind them.
And beyond the plum tree, something unseen stirred.