The turned vampires and witches stood in long, silent rows outside the palace gates, cloaked in black and ash-colored robes. The evening wind moved through them, yet none of them stirred. Their eyes were dull, lifeless, fixed forward like puppets waiting for a command.
Then the palace doors opened.
Ji Woo stepped out first, her dark robes flowing behind her like living shadows. Fang Leng followed closely at her side, his presence cold and oppressive. The army immediately knelt as one.
Ji Woo moved to the front. As her voice rose, sharp and merciless.
"I want you, my creations, to ride with me in search of the Dragon Egg."
She pause a little, "know that there is no return without the egg," she continued slowly, her gaze sweeping across their empty faces. "This journey is not about survival. It is about victory. Your lives mean nothing next to what I seek. The Dragon Egg is more important than every soul standing here."
The witches trembled where they knelt, fear slipping through their control. Some of them swallowed hard, their hands shaking beneath their sleeves.
Because they knew what Ji woo can do. But the vampires did not react at all. Their eyes remained dead, as though her words had no weight upon them.
When Ji Woo finished, Fang Leng stepped forward.
"My men will follow me around the capital," he said coldly. "We feed before the journey."
With that, he turned and strode away. The vampires rose immediately and followed him into the night like a moving shadow tide. Ji Woo led the witches in the opposite direction, smiling faintly as she disappeared down the dark road.
---
The capital was still awake when Fang Leng arrived.
Lanterns glowed in warm lines across the streets. Traders were packing up their final goods. Laughter drifted out from wine houses while people walked freely, unaware that death had already found them.
Fang Leng stood at the edge of a rooftop, his red eyes surveying the streets below.
"Feed," he said quietly.
The night exploded.
Vampires poured into the city like falling darkness. Screams ripped through the air. A man running with his son was dragged backward so fast his feet left the ground. Another vampire tore into a woman before she could even turn to see what had touched her. Blood splashed across stone walls. Doors slammed shut only to be shattered a second later.
An old woman tried to crawl under a broken stall. A vampire tore her out by her ankle and drained her dry without a word.
Fang Leng walked through the chaos slowly, unstained by panic, unstirred by mercy. A young girl fell to her knees before him, shaking violently, her lips moving in silent prayer.
He tilted his head, studying her for a brief moment.
Then he bent down and drank her dry, throwing the lifeless body to the ground.
The soldiers arrived too late. By the time they rushed in, the streets were already filled with bodies. Blood covered the ground, and people lay where they had fallen, both old and young, it didn't matter. Some were still twitching, others were already gone. The air was heavy with the smell of death and fear.
Fang Leng finally lifted his hand, and at once the vampires stopped, like trained beasts waiting for their next command.
The vampires vanished into the night.
The capital was left in silence, heavy and soaked in death.
They regrouped before dawn and marched once more toward Ji Woo and the witches.
---
Meanwhile…
Leng Yue walked into his chamber and stopped short.
Mei was seated on the bed, gently feeding a small baby. The sight struck him like thunder.
"Whose child is this?" he asked, confused.
Mei looked at him and smiled softly. "Our child, Leng Yue. What are you saying?"
Unease cold crept into his chest. They had lived together for so long, there had never been a child. Not once.
"Where did this baby suddenly come from?" he asked slowly, totally confused.
Mei paused. "Leng Yue are you okay at all, how can you forget we have a child?."
Then, Leng Yue took a step back, as he felt shivers run down his spine. His reactions only make Mei laugh.
Not her soft laughter. Not her gentle laugh that always makes him want to have her. This was sharp and unnatural, echoing through the room. The longer she laughed, the more his blood turned cold.
"You are not Mei," he whispered in terror.
Her laughter only grew louder. Her face twisted. The woman before him changed.
Leng Yue stumbled back and ran out of the chamber, his breath ragged. The palace around him warped and shifted strangely.
"This isn't real," he gasped. "None of this is real… Where am I?" he murmured as he ran outside.
Suddenly, Mei ran out from another corridor, her face pale with panic.
"Leng Yue!" she cried. "I've been looking for you! Where have you been?"
He stared at her, torn between hope and fear, she looks real. Too real.
He hesitated before grabbed her hand. "Mei, this place is fake. Everything is fake. We must leave now!"
As they were running, he felt something was strange. Then suddenly....
Her hand slipped from his.
He stopped looking around in confusion, Mei was gone.
The next thing, her laughter echoed through the empty space, circling him from every direction.
---
Yuyan and Tian Yu rushed into Leng Yue's chamber just as Mei collapsed beside the bed, sobbing.
"He has been sleeping since yesterday," she cried. "we have tried to wake him in several ways, nothing is waking him."
Yuyan's face darkened, as she said "For Ji Woo to trap a seer, she must have used the weakest part of him. Something he loves more."
"Can you help him?" Tian Yu asked urgently.
Staring at her hopefully.
"I will try," Yuyan replied, already beginning to cast her spell.
She raised her hand slowly and began to chant under her breath, her voice steady but tight with worry.
Light gathered in her palm and drifted toward Leng Yue, sinking gently into his chest. "Leng Yue," she called, her brows drawn together, "come back". The light pulsed once, twice, yet he did not stir.
A shadow passed through her eyes, as she said "He has been pulled too deep into the dream."