Shi Mu woke up gasping.
The room was dark. Still.
But her heart beat like she'd just sprinted through a storm.
She sat upright, hand over her chest, sweat cooling along the back of her neck.
The dream had been too real.
Not chaotic. Not abstract.
Clear.
Structured.
Like memory.
She stood in a corridor lined with lanterns—each one flickering with a dim, ghost-blue flame. Their light cast symbols across the stone walls: names she didn't recognize. Words she didn't think she knew… but her body responded to them like old songs.
And then she saw herself.
Not the girl in the mirror.
Not a reflection.
But another version of her.
Dressed in ceremonial black.
Hands glowing gold.
Eyes glowing brighter.
A voice echoed—hers and not hers, layered and ancient:
"One body.""One name.""One life."
And then she reached out—
And Shi Mu jolted awake.
Fu Yunshen was already at her door.
He didn't knock.
He didn't ask.
He just opened it quietly and stepped in.
"I felt it," he said.
She looked at him, chest still heaving.
"So did I."
They sat at her desk in silence for a few minutes, letting the stillness steady them.
Then Shi Mu whispered, "I think that was the moment I made the oath."
Fu Yunshen glanced at her. "You remember it?"
"Not completely," she replied. "But enough to know… it wasn't just made to protect someone."
"It was to preserve someone."
She nodded slowly.
"Her."
The system chimed.
[Memory Fragment Verified – Anchor Moment Recovered]
Oath Progress: 92%
Vessel Stability: Holding – Shared Core Detected
Brotherhood Value +180 (True Dream Recalled + Emotional Grounding Received)
Current Total: 5,615 / 1,000,000
Fu Yunshen leaned forward, his voice low.
"She's not fighting you."
"No," Shi Mu said. "She's waiting."
"For what?"
Shi Mu looked down at her glowing wrist.
"For me to give her permission."
And in that moment, she realized—
It had never been about possession.
It was about return.
Not of something lost…
But of someone left behind.