Kiaria and Fu Cai stepped through the water portal together.
For a brief moment, the passage behind them remained open–its surface still flowing, still alive. But as they began their descent down the frost-laced stairs, something changed.
The water froze.
Not from the edges, not from the outside–but from the center.
A sharp crystalline sound rang through the space as ice formed outward in branching veins, each crack singing softly like glass being born. The liquid portal shrank inward, retreating upon itself, condensing until all motion ceased.
What remained was a single blue-white snowflake, hovering silently in the air.
They had already descended halfway.
Fu Cai slowed her steps, her gaze drifting downward–past the steps, past the frozen silence–toward the Blood Moon Void below.
"Fairy Fu Cai," Kiaria said softly, looking beneath the mountain "is the one."
Kiaria turned slightly.
