Morning light filtered through the Spirit Pattern Tree's leaves, dappling the plaza with gold. Lin Ye sat on a weathered stone bench, his Reverse Scale Core glowing faintly beneath his shirt. The wound on his arm—where the Chronophage's black light had grazed him—throbbed dully, its edges marked by a faint, iridescent scar. Beside him, Xiao Tao knelt, her Shadow Crow Bells jingling softly as she dabbed at the injury with a cloth soaked in star-lavender balm.
"It's healing," she said, her voice soft but firm. "The Eternal Blossom's light is working. You'll be fine."
Lin Ye glanced at her, his dark eyes softening. "I know. But it's… different." He flexed his fingers, wincing as the scar pulsed. "This isn't just a physical wound. It's like… it's remembering something."
Xiao Tao paused, her hand hovering over his arm. The balm glowed silver under her touch, and for a moment, she thought she saw a flicker of shadow in the scar—a tiny, writhing vine, like the ones from the Lighthouse of Echoes. But it vanished as quickly as it appeared.
"Maybe it's just the residual pollution," she said, forcing a smile. "Yuehuan's seed is still protecting you."
But Lin Ye wasn't convinced. He'd felt it in the heat of battle: a cold, creeping doubt, as if the Chronophage's whisper had seeped into his bones. "You're not strong enough," it had hissed. "You'll break. Just like I did."
The plaza buzzed with activity as the guild members prepared for the day's training. Sakura and Zhao Yan sparred with modified spirit cores, their movements precise; Aiko sat cross-legged, analyzing data pads; and Grandma Chizuru hummed an old melody while polishing her lantern. But Lin Ye's gaze kept drifting to Xiao Tao, who was now arranging the Starlight Flower's petals into a delicate crown.
"Captain," Sakura called, jogging over with a tablet. "The Guild's temporal monitors just picked up something. A… signal. It's coming from the Eternal Blossom."
Lin Ye stood, his Reverse Scale Core flaring. "What kind of signal?"
"It's… familiar," Sakura said, her brow furrowed. "Like the whispers we heard in the Lighthouse. But clearer. Let me play it."
She tapped the tablet, and a voice echoed through the plaza—faint, but unmistakable. "Lin Ye. Xiao Tao. Come to the Blossom."
Xiao Tao's hand trembled. "That's… Yuehuan's voice."
The Eternal Blossom stood at the heart of the plaza, its petals now glowing with a steady, pulsing light. When they approached, the flower's center parted, revealing a small, glowing chamber. Inside floated a single object: a mirror, identical to the one they'd mended in Antarctica, but this time, its surface rippled with a vision of the past.
It showed Yuehuan, young and radiant, standing in a field of Starlight Flowers. Before her knelt a girl—no older than ten—with silver hair and eyes that mirrored Xiao Tao's.
"Mingyuan's daughter," Xiao Tao whispered. "The one Yuehuan promised to protect."
The vision shifted. Now, the girl—Yumi—stood before a mirror, her face streaked with tears. "Why did you leave me?" she cried. "Why couldn't you fight the darkness?"
Yuehuan's voice, soft but resolute, answered: "Because I didn't have to. You are the light now. You and the boy with the golden core. Together, you are unbreakable."
The vision dissolved, and the mirror's surface cleared. In its place lay a single seed—smaller than Yuehuan's, but glowing with the same intensity.
"That's… Yumi's seed," Xiao Tao said. "The one that was lost when the Lighthouse collapsed."
Lin Ye picked it up, his Reverse Scale Core resonating with a low hum. "It's calling to us. To her."
That night, beneath the Spirit Pattern Tree, Lin Ye and Xiao Tao sat with the seed between them. The Eternal Blossom bloomed brighter than ever, its petals weaving a canopy of light.
"So… what do we do?" Xiao Tao asked, her voice soft. "We can't just leave Yumi's seed here. She's still out there, right? Trapped in the past, just like Yuehuan was."
Lin Ye traced the seed's edge, his thumb brushing the spot where their fingerprints overlapped. "Yuehuan said we're the bridge. So we go back. Not to the past—we can't change that. But to show her. Show her that the light she carried didn't die. That it's alive in us."
Xiao Tao's Shadow Crow Bells jingled softly. "And how do we do that?"
He took her hand, their twin patterns flaring in unison. "We fight. Not for glory, not for the arena. For her. For every soul that's ever felt forgotten. Because that's what love is—remembering."
The Journey to Yesterday
The next morning, the group boarded a specially modified spirit chariot, its engines roaring as they ascended into the sky. The destination was a coordinates point in the mountains of Kyoto—a place where the temporal rifts were weakest, and the past felt closest.
As they descended, the air grew thick with the scent of cherry blossoms, though it was still winter. Below them lay a hidden valley, its entrance guarded by a stone archway etched with spirit patterns identical to the ones on their cores.
"That's it," Aiko said, pointing. "The Valley of Forgotten Light. Where Yumi's spirit is trapped."
The chariot shuddered, and black tendrils lashed out from the archway—same as the Chronophage's, but weaker, like a shadow of a shadow. Lin Ye activated his Reverse Scale Core, its golden aura engulfing the group, and they charged forward.
The Valley of Forgotten Light
Inside the valley, time stood still. Cherry blossoms hung mid-fall, and the air hummed with the sound of a child's laughter. At the center stood a young girl—Yumi—with silver hair and eyes that mirrored Xiao Tao's. She knelt before a broken mirror, her hands clutching a tattered photo of Yuehuan.
"Yumi!" Xiao Tao called, her voice breaking.
The girl looked up, her eyes wide with hope. "You… you're real? You're not just a memory?"
Xiao Tao ran to her, wrapping her in a hug. "I'm real. And I'm here to tell you—you're not forgotten. Yuehuan's light, our light… it's all because of you."
Yumi's tears fell onto Xiao Tao's shoulder. "But I couldn't save her. I couldn't stop the darkness."
"You don't have to," Lin Ye said, kneeling beside them. "You saved us. By carrying her light forward. By never giving up."
He placed Yumi's seed in her palm. "This is your legacy. It's not a burden—it's a promise. That the light will never fade, no matter how dark the night gets."
Yumi's fingers tightened around the seed. The mirror behind her began to glow, and Yuehuan's voice echoed: "Well done, little one. You've become the light I always knew you'd be."
Yumi looked up, her face radiant. "Is that… you, Aunt Yuehuan?"
"It is," Yuehuan said, her form materializing. "And I'm so proud of you. Of both of you." She turned to Lin Ye and Xiao Tao, her smile warm. "You've shown her that love isn't just a feeling. It's a force. One that bends time, breaks chains, and outshines even the stars."
Epilogue: The Light That Bends Time
Back in Tokyo, the Eternal Blossom bloomed with a new petal—one that shimmered with the colors of dawn. Yumi's seed, now planted at the tree's base, glowed softly, merging with the Starlight Flower's light.
That night, Lin Ye and Xiao Tao sat beneath it, their hands laced. Yumi and Yuehuan's forms flickered at the edge of their vision, smiling.
"Do you think we did it?" Xiao Tao asked, her voice soft.
Lin Ye nodded. "We started something. Something bigger than us. And whatever comes next… we'll face it together."
He leaned his head on hers, and she rested hers on his shoulder. The Reverse Scale Core and Shadow Crow Bells hummed in unison, a lullaby of light and trust.
Somewhere, in a place beyond time, Yuehuan smiled.
Now, she thought, is the most radiant part of all.
(Wind carried the scent of osmanthus. In the distance, the Spirit Pattern Arena's broadcast played: "Tonight's featured story? A love that doesn't just outshine the stars—it becomes them.")