Misty Crossroads

Deep in the Thousand Ruins, morning light pierces the mist, casting mottled shadows across the valley floor. Baion, carrying a bamboo basket, squats by the stream to gather Frost Leaf glistening with morning dew.

A rustling sound echoes from above, followed by a nimble figure landing lightly on a rock beside her.

Baion doesn't even look up; her movements remain slow and careful.

Taisei scratches her head and sits down cross-legged.

She finally stills her hands, her gaze drifting toward the mist-shrouded ridge, the exact direction where the blizzard raged yesterday.

Baion's voice is very soft, as if speaking only to herself.

She seems to see that frail figure again, no matter how fierce the blizzard, mother always tightened her cloak and shoulders her herbal basket. She trudged through the deep snow, vanishing into the vast white trail. Back then, the storm seemed only to highlight her resolve, rather than to obstruct her.

Taisei sighs, her gaze drifting toward the outside of the mountain.

Baion remains silent, carefully placing the herbs into her basket. The ''warning'' from the Mountain God and the memory of her mother's back against the storm are like two stones cast into the silent lake of her heart, rippling in opposing directions.

The mountain hut. The stove fire dispels last night's chill, but it cannot lift the stagnant atmosphere in the air.

Kokopelli sidles up, her face full of 'admiration'.

Phoebe's tone is gentle, yet she subtly averts her gaze from Kokopelli's overly eager eyes.

She lowers her head, her voice tinged with a hint of regret.

Shu inspects her scabbard, her tone indifferent.

Awakener distributes the prepared supplies to the group.

She nods vigorously, her smile radiant. But as she turns to grab her pack, the smile fades. A calculating glint flashes in her eyes. Phoebe's abilities are more troublesome than she anticipated, but... also far more interesting.

Ready at last, they push open the wooden door. The midday sun pierces the clouds, gleaming off the damp mountain path.

They follow the smooth path guided by Phoebe; it is winding but stable. After a long trekking, an ancient temple emerges from the shadows of the dense forest ahead.

A woman with a long blade strapped to her waist sits quietly on the stone steps of the shrine, appearing as though she has been expecting Awakener and the others.

Kyubey, the path-guardian, slightly raises her eyes, her gaze sweeping across the group.

She stands up, her tail swaying gently.

Kyubey repeats this word, her eyes becoming sharp.

Kyubey lets out a faint scoff.

Without another word, she turns and retreats into the shadowed corridor of the shrine, leaving the group in the gathering mist to digest the weight of her words.

Many years ago, the same Thousand Ruins Mountain. A warm wooden cabin tucked deeper away. The fire crackled, and the scent of medicine filled the air.

Mother fastened her heavy cloak and shouldered her basket. She patted Baion on the head.

The door opened and shut. The sound of the wind and snow rushed in for a moment and was cut off again. Young Baion leaned against the windowsill, watching the dark silhouette gradually dissolve into the boundless white until it vanishes.

Time and again, Dr. Bai ventured out in such weather, returning home cloaked in a chill and utter exhaustion. Sometimes she saved a life, her eyes gleaming with hope; other times, she simply shook her head, silently wiping down her medicine chest. Regardless, there was always her gentle storytelling by the fire, about the villages beyond the mountains, and the tenacity of life.

Until that day...

Mother returned exceptionally early, her hand tightly clutching a Heartless Orchid. Its petals were an eerie blue, shimmering as if the color itself were flowing.

From that day on, everything has changed.

My mother no longer went out to see patients. She locked herself in the garden for hours, tending to those blue orchids as they grow increasingly lush. More and more people arrived, drawn by the rumors of the ''Miracle Painkiller'', only to be turned away by my mother's icy rejection.

The voices outside shifted from pleas to whispers, eventually curdling into vicious curses.

Young Baion hid behind the door, watching her mother's hunched silhouette in the garden. Mother no longer told her stories of the outside world. She only muttered repeatedly.

The fire still crackled, yet the room held no more warmth. The light in Mother's eyes was replaced by a frenzied obsession and a deep concern. The mountain cabin, along with the girl's entire world, sank into the cold, silent mists.

The memory fades; the perspective returns to reality.

In front of her thatched hut, Baion's fingers absently brush against the remains of a withered plant. Its silhouette vaguely echoes the blue from her memories.

She withdraws her hand, gazing toward the cabin. There, the 'troubles' from the world beyond are drawing near.

The mountain path grows increasingly rugged, the cliffs on either side rising like jagged blades. A sliver of sunlight pierces the sky, only to be swallowed moments later by leaden clouds surging from nowhere.

Phoebe stops in her tracks, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply. Her brow furrows tighter.

Kokopelli sidles up, pointing to the erratic curves jumping across her terminal screen.

Before she can finish, a biting gale shrieks from a narrow crevice, lashing the team with a sudden barrage of snow.

Shu swings her blade, cutting through the snow to shield Awakener. Snowflakes lash against their faces; the cold is bone-chilling.

She clutches her terminal, her voice trembling in the wind, not knowing whether it's from the cold or something else.

Phoebe's voice carries clearly. She has moved to a large boulder ahead, resting her palm against its frozen surface.

She turns her head, her calm gaze sweeping over Kokopelli.

She sticks out her tongue, trying to lighten the mood, but the mirth never reaches her eyes.

Ahun interrupts, her voice hard as flint.

The team trudges on in silence through a snowstorm that grows increasingly erratic and sinister. Kokopelli's ''Mountain God'' theory is like a seed, taking root quietly in the hearts of some. Meanwhile, the unspoken understanding between Phoebe and Shu, coupled with the scrutinizing glances they occasionally cast at Kokopelli, forms a different kind of silent undercurrent.

Passing through a narrow rock crevice, the view opens up to an unsettling depression. A faint, sickly sweet yet decaying floral scent fills the air, where blue-purple plants sway vaguely in the rock fissures. In the center of the hollow, the mist takes on an unnatural pale blue hue.

Almost at the same moment she shouts her warning, a deafening roar explodes from the depths of the blue mist! A massive beast, bear-like but covered in irregular crystal clusters, charges out with glowing red eyes!

The moment the command is given, Shu unsheathes her blade. Cold light flashes as she strikes the beast head-on. Awakener also quickly unleashes resonance abilities, attempting to interfere with its movements.

She shouts in ''anxiety'' and waves to send several small bolts of lightning to strike precisely at the beast's feet, not to hit it, but to shatter the fragile ice crust on the ground, triggering a small avalanche that temporarily cuts Awakener off from Phoebe.

Driven into a frenzy, the beast seizes the chance to maul the isolated Shu. Despite her bravery, Shu is restricted by the terrain and distracted by her comrades, leaving her on the edge of disaster.

Just as the beast's massive paw is about to strike Shu...

A dark shadow falls from the sky like a meteor! A staff, carrying the weight of a mountain, strikes the most vulnerable crystal cluster on the beast's head with a heavy thud!

The beast lets out a pained wail, its massive body swaying. It actually staggers back by the blow.

Taisei drops between the beast and Shu, effortlessly twirling her staff. She glances back at Shu with a cheeky grin.

The beast shakes its head, seemingly sensing the newcomer is trouble. It lets out a low growl and begins to slink back into the blue mist.

Kokopelli stares at the suddenly appearing Taisei, her face a mask of surprise, but her heart sinks like a stone.

Taisei saunters before the group, her staff resting on her shoulders, as her gaze sweeps over the chaotic battlefield.

She picks at her ear with a faint smirk.

Her gaze, seemingly casual yet deliberate, sweeps over Kokopelli's face as she struggles to maintain her look of 'relief'.

Led by Taisei, the group treks through a dense, pathless forest, until several simple wooden huts appear, nestled against the cliffside and nearly seamless with the rock. A fence encloses a carefully tended garden in the front, with the bitter scent of herbs.

The wooden door creaks open and Baion stands within. She gazes at Taisei, then at the bedraggled group behind her, her face expressionless.

She steps aside, her voice flat and emotionless.

The thatched cottage is simply furnished but exceptionally tidy. Baion silently boils water, fetches medicine, treats Shu's arm scratches, and eases Phoebe's fatigue from overusing her perceptual abilities. Her movements are neither fast nor slow, almost deliberate, yet every step lands exactly where it should. Warm tea is handed to everyone, dispelling the chill from their bones.

Once everything is settled, Baion sits on an old wooden stool by the window, cradling a cup of tea.

Silence falls over the room, broken only by the faint hissing of the teapot on the stove. Baion lowers her gaze to the cup and watches the steam curl upward.

She finally speaks, her voice as faint as the drifting snow outside.

She looks up, her eyes crystal clear yet so vacant they reflect no one's shadow.

The moment her voice fades...

Outside, the relentless howling of the wind, the pitter-patter of snow against the windowpanes, abruptly vanishes.

An absolute, suffocating silence descends upon the hut, and even the entire valley.

It is as if even the storms of Thousand Ruins understand her refusal and have fallen into a solemn silence.

Silence spreads. Kokopelli gently rubs the warm teacup with her fingers, a faint shimmer of satisfaction flashing in her eyes. Shu's brows knit tightly, Phoebe watches Awakener with worry, and Taisei scratches her cheek while looking out the window.

Baion's fingertips tremble almost imperceptibly. She lowers her head and looks into the reflection in her teacup, as if a sealed past lies beneath the surface.

Her words come slowly, one by one, as if dredged from the bottom of a frozen lake.

Her voice tightens, followed by a long silence.

Baion raises her hand and points to the edge of the medicinal field, where the soil is slightly darker than elsewhere.

At last, she looks at Awakener, her eyes filled with fatigue and alienation.

The cottage falls into deathly silence. Even the fire seems to dim. Awakener opens her mouth, but every attempt at comfort or persuasion feels pale and powerless before the weight of the truth. A deep confusion and helplessness grips her. Faced with wounds this deep and such desperate self-protection, she wonders if their so-called righteousness and requests are themselves another form of cruelty.

Just then, a hand pats her shoulder.

At some point, Taisei stands beside Awakener. Her voice is low, but it breaks the suffocating stillness.

Awakener looks as instructed. Outside, heavy clouds gather and roll over the mountain peak again, thicker and lower than before. Another blizzard is forming, trapping them in the hut like an isolated island in the mountains.

She gently taps the ground with her staff and points toward Baion's quiet silhouette.

Taisei grins, but rare clarity shines in her eyes.

Taisei's words strike like a faint spark, cutting through the fog in Awakener's heart. She looks again at Baion's stubborn, lonely figure, thinks of Kala's sleeping face, and remembers the countless lives taken by Blissbite.

At this moment, the path ahead becomes clear, and daunting.