✨----
The sanctuary shook again, harder this time. A裂—like glass splitting—ran through the outer barrier, and cold, disciplined auras poured in from the void beyond.
"They're here," Kezhong said quietly.
Li Yun's sunlight flared, filling the ancient hall with gold. He looked at Lian Yue, then at Lian Feng, still unconscious on the stone platform. "We leave. Now."
"Through where?" Lian Yue asked.
Kezhong lifted his hand and pointed toward the back of the chamber. "There's an old transit array beneath this temple. It predates the Council. It was used to send observers to the lower realms before the current order was established."
"Can it reach the Mortal Realm?" Li Yun asked.
Kezhong nodded once. "Yes. But it's unstable. And one-way."
Lian Yue didn't hesitate. "That's enough."
Another impact rocked the temple. Cracks spiderwebbed across the ceiling. Dust fell like pale snow.
Li Yun moved first. With a careful gesture, he lifted Lian Feng on a disk of light and followed Kezhong through a narrow corridor hidden behind a fallen mural. Lian Yue ran after them, her heart pounding—not only from fear, but from the weight of the decision she had just made.
They were about to leave the heavens.
Behind them.
Maybe forever.
The corridor ended in a round chamber carved with ancient, faded symbols. At its center lay a broken-looking array—concentric rings of stone etched with lines that barely glowed.
"This is it," Kezhong said. "It needs power to awaken. A lot of it."
Li Yun stepped forward without a word, sunlight pouring from his palms into the array. The lines brightened, slowly at first, then faster, humming with a deep, resonant sound that made Lian Yue's bones vibrate.
She felt something answer from inside her—an echo, distant and vast.
She pressed a hand to her chest, steadying herself.
"Hurry," Kezhong said sharply. "They're breaking through the inner wards."
As if summoned by his words, the sound of shattering stone echoed from the halls above.
Li Yun grimaced. "It's not enough. This array was built for multiple gods."
Lian Yue stepped beside him. "Then we'll be two."
She placed her hands over his, moonlight flowing into the array alongside his sunlight. The two forces didn't clash. They braided—warm and cool, bright and soft—like dawn meeting night.
The array flared.
Wind roared upward from the center, forming a spiraling column of light.
Kezhong stared at them for a brief, strange moment—two gods standing together, sharing power without resistance.
Then he looked away. "Go. I'll hold them as long as I can."
Lian Yue turned sharply. "You're not coming?"
Kezhong's mouth tightened. "If I disappear with you, the Council will know exactly where you went. I need to… mislead them."
Li Yun frowned. "They'll punish you."
"They already will," Kezhong said quietly. "But this way, you gain time."
Lian Yue stepped closer. "Why are you helping us?"
Kezhong looked at her for a long second.
"Because," he said, "for the first time, I think the heavens might be wrong."
A shockwave tore through the upper hall. The ceiling above the corridor collapsed in a distant thunder.
"Go," Kezhong repeated.
Li Yun nodded once. He guided Lian Feng into the center of the array. The light wrapped around him gently.
Lian Yue hesitated, then looked back at Kezhong. "Thank you."
Kezhong didn't answer. He only turned and walked back toward the coming storm.
Li Yun took Lian Yue's hand. "Ready?"
No, she thought.
But she said, "Yes."
They stepped into the light.
---
The world folded.
That was the only way Lian Yue could describe it.
Space bent. Sound vanished. Colors stretched into long, shimmering threads. For a moment, she felt like she was being pulled apart and woven back together at the same time.
She tightened her grip on Li Yun's hand.
"I'm here," he said, his voice distant but steady. "Don't let go."
She didn't.
Then—
They fell.
---
They woke to rain.
Cold, heavy drops drummed against Lian Yue's face. She gasped and sat up, coughing. The air felt… thick. Heavy. Different.
She looked around.
They were in a forest—dense, green, alive in a way the celestial realms never were. The sky above was gray, low with clouds. The ground was real dirt, not floating stone or starlight.
"This is…" she whispered.
"The Mortal Realm," Li Yun said, pushing himself up. His aura was subdued here, his light dimmer, as if the world itself was pressing down on him.
He looked around, frowning. "And it doesn't like us."
Lian Yue felt it too. The laws here were different. Tighter. Heavier. Her power felt… far away, like it had to travel a long distance to answer her call.
She rushed to Lian Feng, who lay nearby. He was still unconscious, but breathing.
"He's alive," she said, relief flooding her.
Li Yun nodded. "Good."
He paused, then added, "But there's a problem."
"What?"
"Our power," he said. "In this realm, it will be sealed. Not completely—but heavily suppressed."
Lian Yue swallowed. "So we're… weaker."
"Yes." He looked at her seriously. "A lot weaker."
She thought of the Council. Of enforcers like Kezhong—stronger, more numerous.
And of the thing inside her.
"Maybe," she said softly, "that's not such a bad thing."
Li Yun looked at her.
"If I'm weaker," she continued, "maybe it can't reach the surface so easily."
He considered that, then nodded slowly. "Maybe."
They stood in the rain for a moment, the reality of it settling in.
They were fugitives now.
Not just from the Council—
From the heavens themselves.
---
They found a small, abandoned wooden house at the edge of the forest before night fell. It was simple, half-collapsed, but dry.
Li Yun laid Lian Feng on a crude bed and checked his condition. "He'll survive. But he needs time."
Lian Yue sat beside her brother, exhausted. "We all do."
Li Yun leaned against the wall, arms crossed, eyes closed. For the first time since she had known him, he looked… tired.
Not wounded.
Not angry.
Just tired.
"I dragged you into this," she said quietly.
He opened his eyes. "No. Fate did. I just chose not to step aside."
She looked at him. "You could have stayed. You're the Sun God."
"And you're the Moon Goddess," he replied. "That didn't stop them from turning you into a cage."
Silence settled between them.
Then he said, more softly, "I'm here because I want to be."
Her heart tightened.
Outside, thunder rolled in the distance.
---
Far above, in the Celestial Realm, the Council chamber was cold and bright.
"They escaped," an elder said.
Kezhong stood in the center of the hall, blood on his armor, expression unreadable. "Yes. To the Mortal Realm."
A murmur spread.
"The seal is weakening," another said. "We cannot allow the vessel to remain unguarded."
A third voice spoke, calm and final.
"Prepare the Star Hunters."
Kezhong's eyes narrowed slightly.
"The hunt," the voice continued, "has begun."
---
In the small, fragile house in the rain, Lian Yue looked out the window at a sky with no stars.
For the first time in her life—
She was truly far from the heavens.
And somehow…
That frightened her.
And gave her hope at the same time.