Chapter 111 | Human | Leah
"What did you say?"
I stared at the girl in front of me. She had no wings, no slit pupils, none of the familiar vibes of vampires or Light-Keepers. She just floated there, with the crack behind her still spilling out tiny specks of light, like snow falling upward.
"The human world." She said it again, her short black hair blown messy by the wind from the crack. "What you guys call 'below,' 'inferior race,' 'blood supply.' Surprised?"
"Why can you fly?"
"This isn't flying." She looked down at her feet and wiggled them. "This is gravity anchoring. See, I told you you wouldn't get it. Hey, can we go down first? That giant eyeball up there—"
She pointed at the Moon-Eater. The huge swirling void was pulling itself back together, its confusion fading, its hunger waking up again.
"—if it keeps staring at me for another ten seconds, I'm gonna throw up."
I didn't move. Kael was down below. The perfect "him" was holding him, standing at the edge of the platform. The Bloodbond told me Kael's heartbeat was getting slower and slower, almost stopping.
"I have to save him."
"Save who? The hot vampire who's about to fall apart, or the copy holding him?" Xiao Qi tilted her head, her round pupils showing no fear, just a weird kind of—sizing up. "That copy is stronger than you, stronger than your boyfriend too. If you rush down now, he'll crush you with one hand while crushing your boyfriend with the other. Worth it?"
"He's not a copy." I clenched my teeth. "He is—"
"The other half that got cut away three thousand years ago." Xiao Qi cut me off and shrugged. "I know. The crack showed me. Your memories are broadcasting straight into my brain like a radio. It's annoying as hell."
She held out her hand. The silver bells on her wrist made a clear ringing sound.
"Listen, Silver Moon. I'm not here to fight or play hero. I'm here to seal the door. Your two worlds' systems crashed into each other and created a crack. The Moon-Eater is the wreckage from that crash. If I don't seal the door, it's not just your two worlds that are screwed—my side gets hit too."
"Then seal it!"
"Sealing needs two people." She said, looking me in the eye. "One for light, one for dark. In that giant eyeball's view, you're extra light, the copy is extra dark, and your boyfriend is—"
She paused, the corner of her mouth turning down.
"—broken dark. Like a key that snapped in half and got stuck in the lock."
The Moon-Eater moved.
It wasn't coming down fast, but the pressure felt like a mountain tipping over. The platform started shaking, with chunks of stone falling off the edges. Down below, the Light-Eaters were regrouping, the black wave surging forward again.
"No time." Xiao Qi's face finally changed, that playful look dropping away. "Come with me or die here. Pick one."
"I can't leave him!"
"Then you all die." Xiao Qi said coldly. "Then both worlds go down with you. I go back and report mission failed, Earth destroyed, and maybe burn some paper money for you while I'm at it. Sound good?"
Her words hit me like ice water.
I looked down at the platform. The perfect "him" lifted his head, his ice-blue slit pupils meeting my eyes. He curved his mouth and silently mouthed two words. I could read them.
"Come."
He was waiting. Waiting for me to come down and die.
Kael was in his arms, his head hanging limp. His dark red wings draped to the ground like two torn flags. The Bloodbond thread was still there, but thin as a hair, ready to snap any second.
"He took him." I said, my voice shaking. "How am I supposed to catch up?"
"You can't fly faster than me." Xiao Qi said. "But I can fly you. The condition is you behave yourself."
She didn't wait for my answer. The bells on her wrist rang, and an invisible force wrapped around my waist. It wasn't like the suction of light tentacles, but something more mechanical, more cold—a pull.
"Let go!" I struggled.
"Save your energy." Xiao Qi gritted her teeth, tiny beads of sweat forming on her forehead. "I can't hold on much longer. Something's pushing through from the other side of the crack. Hang on tight!"
She yanked hard.
We dropped.
Wind slammed into my eyes. My silver-white wings pressed flat against my back from the force. Xiao Qi had no wings, but her speed was faster than mine, like a fired bullet, shooting straight at the platform.
The perfect "him" stood up. Wings spread, pressure released.
"Stop."
Those two words were like a solid wall. Xiao Qi's body froze mid-air, like she'd hit an invisible barrier. She grunted, two streams of blood flowing from her nose—bright red, human blood.
"Shit." She wiped her nose. "This pressure—stronger than the files said—"
The perfect "him" didn't look at Xiao Qi. He looked at me.
"Leah." He called my name, his voice identical to Kael's, but the tone was condescending. "You chose wrong. He should have merged with me. That was the only way to survive. And you—"
He raised his hand, palm up.
"—could have become the complete key. Not a connector. Not a sacrifice. A controller. If only—"
The Moon-Eater's shadow covered us. The light dimmed, the temperature dropped. Its hunger became real pressure, making my bones creak.
"If only what?" I shouted.
"If only you separate completely." He said. "Silver Moon and broken moon split apart, light and dark no longer overlap, the systems restore isolation. The Moon-Eater has no target, goes back to sleep. In exchange—"
He looked at Kael in his arms.
"He lives. I disappear. You go free."
"What's the cost?"
"The cost is," he smiled, and that smile had no warmth, "you never see each other again."
I froze.
Xiao Qi was panting next to me, her gravity anchor collapsing. The Moon-Eater descended. The Light-Eaters shrieked. The perfect "him" waited for my answer.
And Kael—
Through the Bloodbond, a faint pulse came through. Not words, but a feeling. Refusal. Anger. And—
trust in me.
He was letting me choose.
"I refuse." I said.
The perfect "him's" pupils shrank.
"What did you say?"
"I said I refuse." I spread my wings, silver-white light bursting out, forcing back his pressure. "I won't make deals with you. I won't accept 'never seeing each other again.' I want him—the whole him, my Kael—back at my side. Alive. Awake. Being a smartass."
I rushed at the platform.
Xiao Qi screamed behind me: "You're insane—!"
The perfect "him" raised his hand, about to release a second wave of pressure. But right then—
Kael moved.
His hand, weakly, lifted up and grabbed the perfect "him's" wrist.
Dark red blood poured from Kael's mouth, but his eyes opened. Ice-blue slit pupils, unfocused, but stubborn. He looked at that perfect version of himself and said three words:
"Fuck off."
Then—
He headbutted the other guy's nose with his forehead.
The perfect "him" stumbled backward. The pressure broke.
Xiao Qi seized the moment, gravity anchor at full power, dragging me and the lunging Kael—three bodies crashing together—skimming past the outer edge of the Spiral Spire.
The perfect "him" roared behind us. The Light-Eaters surged up.
But Xiao Qi opened a device on her wrist, silver light exploding like a huge mirror blocking behind us.
"Go!"
We crashed into a forest below the tower. The glowing grass caught us, like a soft bed.
I held Kael, feeling his faint heartbeat. Xiao Qi knelt beside us, gasping for air, her nosebleed dripping onto the glowing grass, staining it pale red.
"Insane." She said. "You're all insane."