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"Those who chase gods often forget—they are not light to be touched, but fire to be feared."
— Old Market Saying
The trio arrived at the Wind-Bone Market just as the twin moons crept over the jagged hills like silent watchers. The wind here didn't howl—it whispered. Soft, uncanny murmurs slithered across the air, twisting around merchant stalls shaped from petrified roots and floating stones.
Li Yuan stopped short, eyes wide. "This… This isn't a market. It's a haunted graveyard."
Moria—still in her Tian form, her fox ears hidden beneath a traveler's hood—grinned with a shade too much sharpness. "Good. Haunted places always have the best deals."
Jiang Yan grunted, adjusting his robes, sharp eyes flicking over the shifting shadows. "Be on guard. The stalls here don't sell with coin—they trade in truths, memories, or blood."
Li Yuan inched closer to Tian. "I vote memories. I don't have many good ones anyway."
The Wind-Bone Market was more than a place—it was a boundary. Only accessible once every six months, it straddled the realm between spirit and reality. Time rippled oddly here. A merchant might offer a pearl that shows your future—or eat your name in return.
Just as they stepped between the gates, a masked girl with a cracked mirror over one eye slithered from the shadows.
"You seek Flame… or Water?" she asked in a sing-song voice, her robes tattered and dyed in ashes.
Jiang Yan's hand subtly went to the dagger tucked beneath his sleeve. "Neither," he said. "We're here to browse."
"Liar," the girl whispered. Her eyes locked onto Li Yuan's.
Something in her gaze chilled him.
"Hey, Tian?" he said quietly. "Why is she… reflecting me backwards?"
Moria's smile faded. "Don't stare too long. She's touched by Mirror Witch magic."
Just as she stepped forward to push Li Yuan back, a flash of silver dropped from above. A man in bard's robes, his smile wolfish, landed on a crooked pole like a swaying leaf.
"Beautiful lady," he said with a dramatic bow to Moria, "allow me to distract you from ghosts and lies. For only a song, I'll sing of your beauty—unless you prefer a kiss instead?"
Li Yuan gagged. Jiang Yan turned stiff, eyes narrowing.
Moria blinked. "Do all bards flirt with strangers at haunted markets?"
The man grinned. "Only the breathtaking ones."
She raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "Then sing, little bird. Maybe you'll distract the shadows gnawing at your boots."
He looked down—and yelped. Mist had started coiling up his legs like greedy fingers. With a panicked bow, he fled, shrieking a verse behind him:
"Beware the fox with a smile too sweet,
She's sugar and venom in every beat!"
Moria chuckled.
Behind them, Jiang Yan muttered, "Idiot."
Li Yuan leaned close. "Do you think he liked you?"
"I think he'll be coughing up nightmare snakes for a week," Moria replied casually.
They continued deeper into the market. The scent of incense mixed with burnt copper filled the air. Odd vendors whispered from beneath veils—offering bones that sang, maps made of flesh, and tears sealed in crystal.
At one corner, an old woman tugged on Jiang Yan's sleeve. Her skin was paper-thin, eyes blind.
"Fox fire," she rasped. "I smell it on you. You were once royalty, weren't you, little cinder?"
He froze. Moria watched with interest as his jaw clenched.
"Wrong fox," he said coldly, walking away.
But the woman's voice followed: "Your mother burned. Your father screamed. All for a crown that crumbled. That child you guard—he will bring it back. Or burn it again."
Li Yuan paused. "What… crown?"
Jiang Yan ignored him. "Move."
They found a safe-looking stall selling talismans that glowed faintly blue. The merchant was a turtle beastman who didn't ask questions. Moria chose a few for warding and passed a single golden scale—one she had conjured from thin air.
"Fake but beautiful," she murmured. "Much like this market."
Suddenly, the ground trembled. Not violently—but like a pulse. Everything stilled.
And then… a mirror hanging from a high pole exploded.
Glass scattered like shrapnel. In its place stood a woman—no, a reflection. She floated without touching the ground, her face cracked down the middle, as if a mirror had birthed her.
"Who speaks of the Flame of Water?" she hissed, voice like a choir of glass breaking.
Li Yuan staggered back. "That's—!"
"The Mirror Witch," Jiang Yan said grimly. "Meimei Xue."
Moria's smile returned—but this time, it held ice. "I've been wanting to meet her again."
Meimei's eyes locked onto Moria. "You… you still wear flesh, goddess. Hiding among mortals like a coward."
"Or like an artist," Moria replied calmly. "Have you come to entertain me?"
Meimei shrieked. Shadows burst outward. One mirror formed behind every stall—showing each person's worst memory.
Li Yuan cried out, staring at a reflection of his mother being dragged away.
"No," Moria said simply.
She raised one hand. The mirrors cracked—then shattered into dust.
The Wind-Bone Market screamed. Every ghost, merchant, and wanderer scrambled as Meimei shrieked and fled into the cracks of space itself.
Silence returned.
Li Yuan sat shaking. Jiang Yan watched Moria with new wariness.
"…Who are you really?" the fox demon asked softly.
Moria turned. Her eyes gleamed gold in the darkness.
"Just a traveler," she said. "Looking for flowers. And amusement."
As they walked away, unseen in the deepest shadow of the market, a masked man with white bone armor watched them.
"Mixed blood," Lord Qian Ye whispered. "The Goddess has chosen a pet."
He turned to vanish—but not before dropping a charm carved with Li Yuan's name.
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