Chapter 101 | Beyond the Barrier | Leah
Passing through the barrier felt like being stuffed into a mother's womb by an invisible hand.
Not a metaphor. Really—that feeling of being wrapped in liquid, weightless, panicking at returning to some original state. The silver-white wings got compressed, folded, like paper being forcibly crumpled. The moonstone necklace at my neck beat wildly, not throbbing, but convulsing, like a heart being squeezed.
Then, the pressure disappeared.
I fell to the ground.
Not stone. It was some kind of soft, warm, slightly rippling surface—like grass, but every blade was glowing. Silver-white light, seeping up from the ground, lighting up everything around. I lifted my head and saw the sky—
That wasn't the sky.
It was two moons. One silver-white, one dark red, hanging in a purple sky, intertwined like a pair of embracing lovers. Their light wasn't cold, but warm, like the temperature of blood, like—
Like Kael's breath.
"Leah."
His voice came from behind, hoarse, tight, carrying something I'd never heard before—fear.
I turned around.
Kael was half-kneeling on the ground, dark red wings fully spread, but not in a flying position. It was defensive. Like a cornered beast, feathers bristling, every one trembling. His ice-blue vertical pupils had contracted into two thin lines, not looking around, but looking at—the ground.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
He didn't answer. His fingers dug into the glowing grass, knuckles white, like clutching the last rock on a cliff's edge.
I felt his emotions through the blood bond—not ordinary alertness, but something deeper. Like a high wall built over three thousand years, being knocked down from the inside out by some invisible force.
"Kael?"
"Power—" he finally spoke, his voice like sandpaper scraping stone, "my power is draining away."
I froze.
Draining away?
I checked myself. The Progenitor's blood flowed in my body, silver energy surging through my veins, the moonstone necklace glowing brighter than ever. I wasn't draining. I was filling up. This environment was like a huge amplifier, pushing my bloodline to heights it had never reached.
But Kael—
He was weakening.
I crawled to his side and grabbed his hand. His fingers were ice-cold, colder than usual, like a piece of melting ice. Under his skin, dark red veins were pulsing, but that pulse was getting weaker, like a lamp about to go out.
"Why?" I asked, "Why am I getting stronger while you're getting weaker?"
"Because—" he raised his head, looking at the two moons in the sky. Silver-white and dark red. He stared at that dark red moon, a flicker of complicated emotion in his pupils.
"Because the rules here are different. Our bloodline system... is foreign here. But yours—"
He looked at me. In those ice-blue vertical pupils, for the first time I saw something unfamiliar.
Not protection. Not possessiveness.
It was reverence.
"Your bloodline," he said, "is the native language here."
I didn't understand. But I didn't push it. Because right then, the light around us changed.
The glowing grass suddenly went dark.
Not dimming, but instantly snuffed out, like a blown candle. Darkness swallowed us whole, so thick I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. I instinctively spread my wings, silver-white light spilling from between the feathers, lighting up—
A group of eyes.
They surrounded us. No, not people. They were some kind of beings made of light and shadow—translucent bodies flowing with golden and silver liquid, no fixed faces, just blurred light. Their "eyes" were two brighter spots of light, staring straight at me.
Not hostile.
Something more terrifying.
Worship.
"The Silver Moon Returns." One of them spoke. The voice didn't come from a mouth, but echoed from within their body, like bells, like waves, "The silver-winged one from the prophecy, who brings both connection and destruction."
Their bodies all leaned forward at once, like kneeling, like bowing.
"We welcome your arrival."
I froze.
Kael's hand in mine tightened slightly. His power was draining, but his instincts remained. His body moved in front of me, wings spread, even while weakening, taking a protective stance.
"Who are you?" he asked. His voice held none of the prince's authority, only a man's hoarseness.
"We are the Light-Keepers." The being said, "People of the Spiral Spire. And you—"
The light spots turned to Kael.
"You are the Companion Moon. The other half of the prophecy. The dark red waning moon."
Kael's pupils shrank.
"But the waning moon has been eclipsed." The Light-Keeper continued, voice emotionless, simply stating facts, "When the silver moon fills the sky, the waning moon must fall. This is the ancient balance."
I felt it.
The emotion Kael sent through the blood bond—not fear, but anger. Not directed outward, but at himself. He was angry at his own weakening, angry at being unable to protect me, angry at—
Angry at the prophecy.
"We won't let that happen." I said. My voice louder than I expected, echoing in the darkness.
The Light-Keepers went silent. Their light bodies flickered slightly, as if exchanging some signal I couldn't understand.
Then—
"Then follow us." One of them said, "The Light Source Priestess awaits you. Silver Moon Returned."
They didn't wait for Kael. They only looked at me.
This was the first time in three thousand years someone had ignored Kael de Noct.
And I held his ice-cold hand, feeling his power slowly draining beside me, my heart surging with a feeling I'd never experienced before—not the security of being protected, but the urgency of wanting to protect.
I stood up and helped him to his feet.
"Together." I said.
Kael looked at me. The corner of his mouth moved, as if wanting to smile, but couldn't manage it.
"Okay." He said, his voice soft like telling a secret, "Together."
We followed the Light-Keeper toward the Spiral Spire.
But the instant I turned—
I felt an unusual ripple from the other end of the blood bond. Not from Kael. It was something more distant, more cold—a gaze.
From the highest point of the Spiral Spire. From where the two moons intertwined.
Something was watching us.
And it had been waiting for a very, very long time.