🌙 ----
Morning in the Mortal Realm did not arrive with trumpets or light spilling from the heavens.
It came quietly.
A thin, gray light filtered through the cracked window of the wooden house, touching the dusty floor and the rough walls. Lian Yue woke first. For a moment, she forgot where she was—and then the weight of the air, the heaviness in her chest, reminded her.
She was not in the Celestial Realm anymore.
She sat up slowly and looked at her brother.
Lian Feng was still asleep, his breathing steady but shallow. His face looked paler than it should, and there was a faint crease between his brows, as if even in sleep he was struggling against something.
She reached out and gently brushed his hair back. "You have to wake up," she whispered. "You can't leave me alone here."
Behind her, Li Yun was already awake.
He stood near the broken door, looking outside, his presence quiet and watchful. In the Mortal Realm, he no longer shone like a second sun. His aura was subdued, almost human—yet there was still something about him that made the small room feel safer.
"Someone passed nearby at dawn," he said without turning. "A hunter, I think. Or a woodcutter."
Lian Yue's heart tightened. "Did they see us?"
"No," he said. "But we can't stay here long."
She nodded. That much was obvious.
This house was a temporary shelter. Nothing more.
She stood and stretched, feeling the unfamiliar ache of a body that was no longer supported by divine energy. Every movement felt heavier. Slower.
"So this is what it's like," she muttered.
Li Yun glanced at her. "To be mortal?"
"To be… limited," she said.
He was silent for a moment. Then, "You'll get used to it."
She wasn't sure if that was comforting.
---
Lian Feng woke near midday.
It started with a soft groan, then a weak cough. Lian Yue was at his side instantly.
"Feng!" she said, helping him sit up. "Easy. Don't move too fast."
He blinked, confused, his eyes struggling to focus. "Sister…? Where… are we?"
She hesitated. "Somewhere safe. For now."
Li Yun brought him a cup of water from a cracked clay jar they had found in the house. "Drink slowly."
Lian Feng looked at him, then at the cup, then drank.
After a while, his mind seemed to clear. "The temple… the light… we were—"
"We left," Lian Yue said softly. "The heavens."
He stared at her.
Then he laughed weakly. "You're joking."
She didn't answer.
His smile faded.
"You're serious."
"Yes."
He looked around the small, shabby room, at the wooden walls and the dirt floor. "So this is the Mortal Realm?"
"Yes."
Silence.
Then: "Did we… fall?"
"More or less," Li Yun said.
Lian Feng rubbed his face with both hands. "This is insane."
Lian Yue sat beside him. "You're alive. That's what matters."
He looked at her, really looked at her, as if seeing her properly for the first time. "You look… different."
She smiled faintly. "So do you. You're not glowing anymore."
He snorted, then winced. "My whole body hurts."
"That," Li Yun said, "is called being human."
---
They left the house before sunset.
Li Yun said it was safer to keep moving, to blend in. He had already changed his clothes to something simpler—dark fabric, plain and unremarkable. Lian Yue and Lian Feng did the same using clothes they found in the house.
For the first time, Lian Yue walked without robes of moonlight or silver threads.
Just cloth.
It felt strange.
They followed a narrow forest path that eventually widened into a dirt road. In the distance, they saw smoke rising.
"A village," Lian Yue said.
Li Yun nodded. "That's both good and bad."
"Bad because people might report us?" Lian Feng guessed.
"Good because," Li Yun replied, "we need food, information, and a place to hide."
They approached cautiously.
The village was small—simple houses, a few shops, children running around, people carrying baskets and tools. Life went on here, completely unaware of celestial wars and sealed horrors.
Lian Yue watched them with a strange feeling in her chest.
"They don't know," she whispered.
"No," Li Yun said. "And we should try to keep it that way."
---
They found an inn near the edge of the village.
It was cheap, noisy, and smelled of soup and smoke—but it was warm.
The innkeeper barely looked at them as long as they paid.
They took one small room.
That night, as Lian Feng slept, Lian Yue and Li Yun sat near the window.
"You're thinking too loudly," Li Yun said.
She looked at him. "Can you still hear thoughts?"
"Not like before," he said. "But you're not subtle."
She sighed. "I keep thinking about the Council. And Kezhong. And the Star Hunters."
Li Yun's expression darkened slightly. "They will come."
"When?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "Days. Weeks. Maybe months."
"And when they do?"
He looked at her. "Then we run. Or we fight. Or both."
She hugged her knees. "I don't want to keep running forever."
"Neither do I."
They sat in silence.
Then she asked, quietly, "What is the thing inside me?"
He didn't answer immediately.
"I don't know exactly," he said finally. "But I know it's old. Older than the current heavens. And I know the Council is afraid of it."
"Afraid enough to use me as a cage," she said bitterly.
"Yes."
She closed her eyes. "Sometimes I can feel it. Like it's… waiting."
Li Yun's voice was firm. "Then we make sure it keeps waiting."
---
High above, beyond mortal sight, space rippled.
A group of figures stood in a circle of cold starlight, their armor marked with ancient symbols.
"The trail is faint," one said.
"But it exists," another replied.
"The Sun God interferes."
"He always does."
A third figure spoke, their voice calm and merciless. "It doesn't matter. The vessel is in the Mortal Realm."
"Then we descend."
Blades of light ignited in their hands.
"The hunt continues."
---
In the small village, Lian Yue lay awake, staring at the ceiling.
For the first time, she was not a goddess in a palace.
She was a fugitive in a borrowed world.
And somewhere, she knew—
This fragile peace would not last.