The tunnel behind them was gone.
Not "dark." Not "hard to see." Gone like it had never existed. Smooth stone sat where the entrance should have been, cold and clean, like a lid pressed onto a coffin. Lin Xue was still wrapped around Wei Chen, her mouth on his, her breath trembling against his lips like she was holding him in place with the only anchor she trusted.
Wei Chen broke the kiss just enough to breathe. "Okay," he muttered, trying to sound calm. "That's new."
Lin Xue's eyes were bright with fear and anger. "It sealed," she whispered. "Like it heard us."
"Yeah," Wei Chen said softly. His black sun brand throbbed under his robe, like something inside it was listening too.
Ahead, the copy of Lin Xue stood in the pale blue light, still smiling sweetly. It raised one hand, and a thin black thread reached toward Wei Chen like a finger.
"I don't need the door behind you," the copy said, voice warm and false. "I only need your name."
Then it spoke, clear as a bell and cold as a command. "Chen Wei."
Wei Chen's body jerked forward. His chest tightened like a rope pulled inside his ribs. His feet moved without asking.
Lin Xue grabbed him hard. "Chen Wei," she snapped, fierce. "Say my name. Stay real."
Wei Chen swallowed through the pull. "Lin Xue," he said.
"Again," Lin Xue demanded, like she could order the world to obey.
"Lin Xue," Wei Chen said louder. The gold-and-silver bond rope flared warm in his mind. The pull weakened for one breath.
Wei Chen used that breath to pull Lin Xue into his arms and press her against the wall. He didn't do it gently, but he did it carefully. Heat rushed from him into her cold skin, and her frost stopped shaking for a second. He leaned close to her ear and whispered, shameless even now, "Hold me like that again and I'm going to start thinking you like owning me."
Lin Xue's cheeks flushed. "Idiot," she hissed, but she didn't push away. Her hands stayed on his chest.
Wei Chen looked at her eyes. "Rules," he said, low. "Stop means stop. You choose."
Lin Xue's throat moved. "Stop means stop," she whispered. "And I choose you. Stay."
Wei Chen's mouth softened. "Good," he murmured. "Do you want a kiss? For anchor."
Lin Xue nodded once, small and fast. "Yes."
Wei Chen kissed her, slow and deep, like a vow pressed into breath. Lin Xue clutched his collar and pulled him closer, not forced—chosen. Their heat and frost met and hummed tight, and the bond rope flared warm enough to sting the dark thread back for a heartbeat.
The copy's smile twitched.
In Wei Chen's arms, Su Mei stirred. Her eyes were still black. She lifted her head and watched the copy like she was watching a reflection.
"This tunnel is a throat," Su Mei whispered. "It closes when it tastes vows."
Lin Xue snapped her gaze at Su Mei. "What are you?"
Su Mei's black eyes didn't blink. "A door," she said softly. "And doors need a hinge."
Wei Chen felt cold crawl up his spine. "Speak clear," he said, voice firm. "Stop means stop. No riddles."
Su Mei's lips curved in a small, wrong smile. "To open an exit," she said, "the tunnel wants a seal. A living lock. One person stays. The tunnel wears them like a plug."
Lin Xue's face went pale. "No."
Wei Chen's jaw tightened. "Not happening," he said. "I don't leave anyone behind."
The copy laughed softly. "How noble," it purred. "How easy to break."
It lifted its hand again. The black thread shot forward and touched the bond rope between Wei Chen and Lin Xue. The rope flickered like a candle in wind.
Lin Xue gasped. "It's biting it!"
Wei Chen's brand pulsed cold. The pull returned, stronger. His knees wanted to step.
Lin Xue grabbed his face with both hands and pressed her forehead to his. "Chen Wei," she whispered, shaking. "Stay with me."
Wei Chen's voice went low and real. "I choose you," he whispered back. Then, because he refused to let fear win, he added in a rough little tease, "And when we live, I'm kissing you until you forget how to glare."
Lin Xue's breath hitched. "Later," she whispered, then surprised him by kissing him first—short, fierce, chosen. The bond rope flared bright. The thread hissed back.
Su Mei watched that kiss with black eyes, then spoke again, quiet and sharp. "There is a way to cheat the tunnel."
Wei Chen looked at her. "How?"
Su Mei's black gaze slid to the copy. "Give it the wrong person," she whispered. "Seal the copy inside."
Lin Xue's eyes narrowed. "How do we make it count?"
Su Mei leaned close, voice like silk over a blade. "A seal needs a kiss," she said. "And a name. The tunnel will only accept what it thinks is real."
Wei Chen's stomach tightened. "So we trick it into thinking the copy is Lin Xue."
Lin Xue's jaw clenched. "It already looks like me."
Su Mei's smile turned cruel. "Looks aren't enough," she said. "Make it speak the anchor. Make it say your true name with hunger. Then freeze that word in the air. Trap it in the moment it tries to steal."
The copy stepped closer, eyes shining. "Chen Wei," it said again, sweet and pulling. "Come."
Wei Chen's body leaned forward.
Lin Xue grabbed his wrist. "Chen Wei," she said sharp. "Say my name. Stay real."
Wei Chen forced it out. "Lin Xue."
Lin Xue's gaze locked on his. "Do you want me to stop holding you?" she asked, voice tight.
"No," Wei Chen said at once. "Don't stop."
Lin Xue nodded once, then pulled him into her side, keeping him close. She lifted her chin at the copy, cold elder pride back in her eyes. "If you are me," she said, voice hard, "prove it."
The copy smiled wider. "Gladly."
Lin Xue stepped forward, and the air around her turned sharp with frost. "Say his true name," Lin Xue ordered. "Like you own it."
Wei Chen's breath caught. The copy's eyes glittered. It leaned forward like it was about to kiss the name itself.
"Chen Wei," it purred.
The instant the word left its mouth, Lin Xue struck. Frost shot from her palm like a needle and pinned the sound in the air. The word hung there for one heartbeat as a glittering ice-script.
Wei Chen's fan snapped open, and he slashed at the black thread feeding the copy. The fan edge didn't cut it, but it knocked it aside long enough.
Su Mei raised her palm. Violet qi flickered, weak but sharp. "Now," she whispered.
The tunnel walls brightened. A thin line appeared in the stone—an exit forming like a seam. The air tasted like winter and blood.
But the copy screamed, and its sweet face cracked for the first time. It lunged toward Wei Chen, hands out like claws.
Lin Xue grabbed Wei Chen's collar and yanked him back, then pressed her mouth to his—deep and desperate, not for play, but to keep his body from obeying the stolen name. "Chen Wei," she breathed against his lips. "Anchor to me."
Wei Chen's chest tightened. "I'm here," he rasped. "I choose you."
The exit seam widened.
And Su Mei's black eyes turned to Wei Chen, calm and wrong.
"The tunnel will still demand a seal," she whispered. "If the copy slips free… it will take one of us."
The exit opened like a mouth.
The copy's fingers almost touched Wei Chen's chest.
And Wei Chen felt his black sun brand throb, like a lock about to turn the wrong way.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2025
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