There was a greenhouse behind Mira Hale's apartment complex it was more like her sanctuary, a humid cocoon of glass, soil and living things that didn't do anything like any performance reviews. It smelled mostly like damp earth and fertilizer. It's the kind of place where everything was peaceful and quiet a good spot to be alone and think to herself.
The morning started like any other morning a mug of coffee. A podcast murmuring in the background about random stuff. Notes that were scribbled about her last eat experiments in plant resilience but when she reached to grave another specimen she didn't recognize or doesn't remember planting it, a stalk of translucent leaves that shimmered like water reflecting from the window eventually everything became to unravel.
She noticed that the plant pulsed faintly like it had a heartbeat in its roots. Mira frowned, brushing her gloved fingers on its stem "You're weren't on my plant list" she muttered leaning closer to the plant to get a better look, that's when the air around it shimmered like heat on an asphalt.
Then the floor disappeared under her feet "What in the-" before she could finish she started falling.
"Just what's going on!?" She screamed.
Mira hit the ground hard, Soft grass. Damp, cold yet alive she gasped rolling over and blinking against an unusual sky it was painted in a violet and silver. She even saw two moons above the night sky, one full, the other one crescent and there were too many stars to even count. It was also too bright, the air was sharp with mountain chill.
"What the-" she said very confused, she sat up slowly, dirt was clinging to her lab coat she was wearing but the greenhouse disappeared, no lights, no buildings, Not even cars just open fields stretching to misty peaks far and wide.
Panic started to claw up her ribs to almost her whole body she slapped herself to see if this was a dream or Hallucinating? Her breath started to pick up heavy, uneven.
That's when she heard a terrifying sound it was a low growl. She turned very slowly, heart beating in the shadows of the tree lines. It was a big creature which she had seen before it stepped forward and it was a wolf, its fur rippling between gray and deep shade the wolf's eyes were burning like lanterns. It was taller than any normal wolf she had seen, regal yet terrifyingly calm.
Mira froze her every survival instinct scream like telling her to run but couldn't but she didn't move.
She saw the wolf tilt its head, studying her like it was trying to figure something out but then impossibly a soft voice and echoing filled into her mind.
She stumbled back eyes wide open "W-what in the world-"
The wolf then spoke "You carry no Qi. Not even a single resonance and yet…" the wolf muttered under its voice, thoughtful. "Something odd yet almost ancient stirs inside you, very interesting." The wolf told her that she was very confused.
Her throat went dry "I don't know what you're talking about" she gave the wolf a confused look "I just- I just want to go home. She whispered.
The wolf took a slow step forward its gaze pierced through her and the air thrummed with power which made Mira's skin crawl, prickled and electric warmth developed her flooding them like her body was some kind of vessel but she suddenly remembered something it had forgotten a symbol foreign and luminous flicker across her hand before fading back.
"What is this and what's happening to me" she gasped.
Then a gust of wind swept across the grass carrying with whispers that didn't sound quite like a wind the wolf's eyes softened seeing this.
"You have crossed the threshold now mortal now the barrier between both worlds. There is no returning… not yet atleast" the wolf muttered very quietly under its voice.
Before she could say anything back a figure descended from the hill it was a woman in a flowing blue robes, silver embroidery catching the moonlight, her back hair trailed smoothly and her expression was carved with serenity and danger basically both. In her hand a blade shimmered faintly yet it was sheathed.
The woman stopped in her tracks a few paces away but regarding Mira like a strange flower flowing on the ground.
"You somehow survived" the woman said quietly. Her voice was low and Melodic but her voice carried authority like what a mighty warrior she saw on TV about historical stuff "though there are a few mortals that do."
"I-I didn't mean to" Mira said but her voice faltered. 'Wait, did she call me a mortal?' She thought to herself confused.
The woman moved her gaze towards the fading symbols that Mira had in her skin "the wolf has chosen you" the woman told her.
"The…wolf?" Mira asked confused.
The wolf sat now beside her tail curling around her shadow "she will guid you" the wolf said through her thoughts which startled her "if you listen."
The woman's eyes softened only briefly but then hardened again "You have no Qi channels. Not even Cultivation foundation you shouldn't be able to exist here at all" the woman told her she took a slow breath "Yet your presence stirs the ley lines somehow this realm will notice you soon" The woman looked at Mira.
"Ley lines? What's that?" Mira asked, still dazed "also is this some kind of hallucination?" Mira looked at her surroundings.
The woman almost smiled sadly "No, outsider this is not a hallucination it is very real and so are the dangers ahead" the woman told her.
Before Mira could even answer the place started trembling. In the distance, pillars of golden light erupted from the mountain ridges lines of energy stretching far up into the clouds the woman's expression turned grim when she saw it.
"Not good the bloom is unstable" she said quickly "If you remain untrained it will consume you."
"I don't want to be here! Nor did I ask to be here either!" Mira snapped but fear and frustration broke through her voice.
"No ever does but we can choose what we become" the woman murmured.
The wolf rose and brushed against Mira's hand trying to comfort her. Warmth went into her sling and a pulse of understanding like a shared instinct for a moment she felt the world breathing like it was alive full of threads of energy connecting everything together, she felt her own heartbeat resonating with it.
"Who are you?" Mira asked the woman.
"My name is Lan Yue disciple of the Azure Moon Sect" the woman told her while Mira was looking at her.
She turned her head slightly gesturing towards the glowing light beyond the hills "Come mortal learn to harness what has awakened within you or let it destroy you" Lan Yue looked at Mira holding her hand out for her to grab.
Mira took a deep breath then garbed Lan Yue's hand.
"Let's do this" Mira said.
Lan Yue's eyes caught the moonlight and just for a second Mira thought she saw a flicker of approval and a little bit of warmth.
'At Least she will teach me' Mira Thought a small smile formed on her face.
"Good, from this moment on you're no longer just a mortal you are now a seedling upon the path of immortality" Lan Yue said.
'It almost sounds like she's calling me a baby' Mira sweat dropped.
Wind rose once again carrying the scent of pine and rain in the air.
Far above them two moons silently watched Mira Hale, a modern mortal take her first step into this world where science bowed to spirits and a single choice could shape eternity.
'Let's see what this world has in store for me if I can't return home' she thought while looking up at the two moons.