Morning found the mountains washed in silver. Mist coiled low over the stone paths, veiling the world in a hush that felt both sacred and fragile, as if a single loud breath could break it.
Sol stood at the temple's edge, watching the mist shift over the valleys below. The rain from the night before had gathered in the hollows, filling them with shallow pools that caught the rising light. Every pool held a reflection of the same sky, but none quite matched the real one above.
Ji Ming approached quietly, his steps soft on the wet stone. "You didn't sleep."
Sol shook her head. "The monastery dreams too loudly."
He looked at her, then at the horizon. "You're hearing it again?"
"Not words," she said. "Memories. Ones that don't belong to anyone anymore."
He didn't question it. Instead, he stepped beside her and studied the world below; the winding trails, the fragments of old walls jutting through the fog. "The Empire will be here within a day."
"I know."
"You sound calm."
She turned slightly, her eyes meeting his. "Calm doesn't mean unafraid. It means ready to face the inevitable."
Ji Ming's gaze softened. "And what are we ready for?"
"Whatever remembers us," she said.
A faint chime echoed from within the hall, one of the cracked bells swinging on its own. Ya Zhen emerged soon after, hair still damp, fan tucked against her sleeve.
"I found an old route through the cliffs," she said. "It leads east toward the ley lines. If the Mirror Division is marching from the valley, it's our only way out."
"Do they know about this place?" Ji Ming asked.
Ya Zhen's mouth curved faintly. "If they did, it would be dust by now."
Sol turned back toward the hall. The reflections on the water had changed, no longer showing sky or ruins, but faint patterns of light that shimmered like breath.
Ya Zhen noticed. "It's different."
"It's listening," Sol said softly. "But not to me this time."
A sound like a sigh rippled through the air. The water stilled… then brightened. Lines of light spread across the floor, weaving together into a circle of symbols. At the center, a single reflection lingered: the face of a woman neither living nor dead.
Her features were blurred by light, but her voice was clear, calm as a mountain spring.
"You carry what we could not. Do not waste it on fear."
Sol froze. "The first Lotus Master."
The reflection inclined its head.
"No. What remains of her. The world keeps fragments of what it cannot bear to lose."
Ji Ming's hand hovered near his sword. "What do you want from us?"
"To finish what was left undone. To teach the Mirror to breathe."
Ya Zhen frowned. "Breathe?"
"To see and not consume. To feel and not destroy."
The light flickered. The reflection's outline wavered.
"You have little time. The Echoes will not stay silent once the Empire enters the mountain. They will remember war."
The vision broke apart, the water returning to its stillness.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Then Ya Zhen exhaled slowly. "So the mountain itself is a weapon waiting to remember."
Sol touched the surface of the nearest pool. "Maybe not a weapon. Maybe a warning."
Ji Ming studied her face. "And you believe you can teach it?"
She looked up at him, her eyes clear, steady. "If the Mirror learned destruction from grief, it can learn creation from mercy."
Ya Zhen made a sound somewhere between disbelief and admiration. "You really think you can teach the world feelings?"
Sol smiled faintly. "It's been feeling all along. It just forgot what to do with it."
A low rumble rolled through the distance… thunder that wasn't thunder. The air trembled. Ji Ming's expression hardened. "They're here."
"Already?" Ya Zhen muttered. "The Mirror Division moves faster than rumor."
Ji Ming turned toward Sol. "We have to move."
But Sol didn't look away from the reflection. The faint light still shimmered beneath the water, like a heartbeat. "It's awake now. If we leave without listening, it'll remember what it feared most."
Ya Zhen's fan snapped open. "And if we stay, it'll remember blood."
The wind changed direction, carrying the scent of steel, and the faint hum of synchronized qi.
Ji Ming's tone was decisive, but not harsh. "Sol. Decide."
She hesitated. Her fingers brushed the surface once more. The light rippled, answering her touch. Then she rose. "We go east. But before we leave, it needs to know we'll come back."
Ya Zhen's brow arched. "You're promising a mountain?"
Sol glanced back at her, a small smile in her voice. "Wouldn't be the first thing I've made a promise to."
Ya Zhen shook her head, half-laughing. "You're all too much alike, you know that?"
Ji Ming met her gaze briefly. "We were all made by the same war."
They gathered their things quickly. The wind thickened, carrying the metallic tang of approaching soldiers. When they stepped outside, the fog was already thinning, revealing distant flashes of silver along the valley floor.
The Mirror Division had reached the foothills.
As they descended the eastern path, Sol looked back one last time. The Hall of Still Echoes glowed faintly through the mist, every pool of water shining like an open eye.
"Do you think it can really remember differently this time?" she asked.
Ji Ming's answer came quietly. "If you're the one teaching it, yes."
Ya Zhen adjusted her cloak, glancing toward the clouds. "Then let's make sure we live long enough to see if you're right."
The mist parted as they walked, revealing the first glimpse of sunlight breaking through the clouds… a single golden beam cutting across the mountainside.
The reflection followed them in silence.
And somewhere behind the veil of water and stone, the Mirror drew its first true breath.