Chapter 155: Trio in the Past

  Ugh...

  A low, painful grunt vibrated in the back of Harrison’s throat.

  The very first thing that registered in his returning consciousness was the smell. It was thick and heavy—the suffocating scent of stale, stagnant water mixed with the acrid, biting smoke of cheap torch pitch.

  A dull, rhythmic drumbeat pounded furiously against the inside of his skull, localized right where the heavy, unseen object had cracked him in the alleyway. Slowly, agonizingly, he forced his heavy eyelids open.

  His vision was blurry for a moment, swimming with dark spots, before the environment finally came into focus. He wasn't in the pristine, sunlit courtyards of the university, nor the shadowy alley behind the library.

  He was in a cave.

  The rough, jagged stone walls were illuminated by the flickering, erratic orange glow of several iron lanterns and wall-mounted torches. Moisture glistened on the ceiling, occasionally dropping with a hollow plink into unseen puddles in the dark.

  Harrison instinctively tried to push himself up, to rub the back of his aching head.

  He couldn't.

  A sharp, burning friction stopped him instantly. He looked down and realized that his arms were wrenched forcefully behind his back, bound tightly with coarse, thick hemp rope. He shifted his legs and found his ankles suffered the exact same fate, tied securely to a heavy iron ring driven deep into the cavern floor.

  Where is Lady Lei? was the very first coherent thought that pierced through his panicked haze.

  He frantically scanned the dimly lit area. Weirdly, there were no guards. No burly men sharpening their blades or pacing the perimeter. But the cavern was clearly occupied. There were unmistakable signs of a makeshift base: freshly lit lanterns casting dancing shadows, a cluster of overturned wooden shipping crates repurposed as crude tables and chairs, and stacks of crinkled parchment weighted down by smooth river stones.

  Then, through the flickering shadows, his eyes found her.

  Tied to a thick wooden support pillar on the completely opposite side of the cavern was Lei.

  Harrison's breath hitched. She looked terrible. Her pristine academy gown was stained with dirt and cave moisture. Her beautiful midnight-blue hair was a tangled, messy curtain hiding her face. But what terrified him the most was her breathing. It was ragged, shallow, and uneven. Even from this distance, in the poor lighting, he could see that her skin was a terrifying, translucent shade of pale—even worse than when he had found her collapsed in the alleyway earlier.

  Wait... earlier? Harrison asked himself, his groggy brain struggling to assemble a timeline. How long ago was that? Minutes? Hours? Days?

  His internal sense of time was completely shattered. However, the sharp, fresh sting of the lump on the back of his head suggested it hadn't been that long. A few hours at most.

  Bandits? Mercenaries? A rival noble faction? His mind raced with terrifying questions. Who attacked us? Who kidnapped us?

  He needed answers, but first, he needed to know she was alive.

  "Psst. Psst. Lei," Harrison called out, suppressing his voice to a harsh, desperate whisper, terrified of alerting whoever was stationed outside the cavern.

  No response. Her head remained slumped against her chest.

  "Hey, Lei. Can you hear me?" he tried once more, pitching his voice just a fraction louder, his vocal cords dry and scratching.

  Across the room, the bound girl finally shuffled. A weak, pained groan escaped her lips. Slowly, her head lifted, the dark curtain of hair parting just enough for her to blink her heavy, unfocused eyes against the torchlight.

  "Where... am... I?" Lei asked, her voice an incredibly quiet, fragile thread of sound.

  "Hey, Lei. Wake up," Harrison called out, relief flooding his chest.

  "Harrison?" Lei blinked, fighting the disorientation until she finally found his gaze across the rocky floor. "Where are we?"

  "I don't know," Harrison whispered back, offering what he hoped was a reassuring smile despite the terror gnawing at his gut. "Don't raise your voice. But don't worry, we will figure this out. How are you holding up?"

  "I'm... fine," Lei said. She tried to return the smile, but the edges of her lips barely twitched. It was a completely unconvincing lie. "Worry about yourself first. This... this has to be my fault. It's probably just some desperate kidnappers trying to extort ransom money from the Amber Palace."

  "And why are you so incredibly calm about that?" Harrison asked, baffled by her nonchalance. "Does getting kidnapped and thrown into a damp cave happen often to you?"

  "More than you would think," Lei scoffed weakly. "Don't worry. The Royal Guards will notice I'm missing. They should find us soon. They always find—"

  Suddenly, she doubled over as much as the ropes would allow, her chest heaving. Huff... huff... Her breathing went dangerously short once more, a pained grimace washing over her pale face.

  "Hey, Lei! Something is clearly wrong!" Harrison panicked, pulling uselessly against his thick hemp restraints. "What is going on with your body? Tell me!"

  "No... it's... nothing," Lei gasped out, forcing her head back up. "I just... ate something bad at lunch."

  "You literally live in a fortified palace, surrounded by an army of servants who taste-test every single crumb that goes onto your plate!" Harrison pointed out, his exasperation overriding his panic. "Do you really think that incredibly flimsy excuse is going to buy me?!"

  Despite her obvious agony, a faint, genuine smirk ghosted across Lei's pale lips. "Heh. I guess you aren't quite as dumb as you look."

  "Is this really the time for insults?!" Harrison hissed, his eyes wide. "You look like you are literally dying over there!"

  "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not," Lei retorted, her stubborn noble pride acting as a shield against her vulnerability. "Why do you even care?"

  "Because I'm your friend, am I not?!" Harrison said, the earnest honesty ringing clear in the damp cavern.

  "Oh, absolutely not," Lei shot back, her sassy, untouchable diva persona slightly returning despite her terrible condition. "I just took pity on you. Did you honestly think I wanted to be true friends with some scrawny, uncoordinated brat who got swayed into taking martial arts just because he thought it would make flirting with girls easier? Absolutely not."

  Harrison stared at her. The sheer, unadulterated audacity of this girl.

  His concerned, panicked gaze instantly melted into a perfectly flat, unimpressed deadpan.

  "Okay, nevermind. I no longer care. Please continue dying quietly," Harrison said, leaning his head back against the cold stone wall.

  "Hey!" Lei protested, her voice gaining a fraction of its usual bright energy. "A beautiful princess is suffering here, and you just don't care?!"

  "A 'beautiful princess' who was running around the grand plaza with foul-smelling swamp mud caked all over her just a few months ago," Harrison countered evenly. "And who just explicitly told me I'm not her friend. So, no."

  "That was ages ago!" Lei argued, her cheeks flushing a faint pink. "And I am currently playing the role of a damsel in distress! Show some chivalry!"

  "With that kind of razor-sharp attitude, you do not look like any damsel I've ever read about!" Harrison said.

  "Why, you—!" Lei raised her voice, glaring daggers at him across the cave.

  "You wanna go?!" Harrison raised his voice right back, completely forgetting their hostage situation as he squirmed aggressively in his bindings.

  "Oh, be quiet already."

  A third voice instantly killed their argument.

  It wasn't a deep, menacing bandit's growl. It was a flat, highly irritated, and surprisingly high-pitched voice coming from the dark corner of the cavern.

  "Wha—?!" Harrison froze, the hairs on the back of his neck standing straight up. "What's that?! A ghost?!"

  Lei looked at him, her dark eyes entirely unimpressed. "Are you seriously scared of ghosts?"

  "N...no!" Harrison stammered, swallowing hard as he squinted into the gloom.

  "Pathetic," Lei teased mercilessly.

  "Once again. Be. Quiet," the third voice commanded, carrying an unnatural, heavy authority that completely betrayed its high pitch.

  Both Lei and Harrison stopped bickering and strained their eyes, tracking the source of the sound. In the far corner, nestled between two wooden crates, sat a coarse, brown burlap rice sack.

  Suddenly, the sack wiggled.

  "Wahhh!" Harrison jolted, his back slamming against the stone. "It's a sack ghost!"

  "I am no sack ghost," the burlap wiggled furiously.

  A moment later, the top of the tied sack was violently wriggled loose from the inside. The rough fabric parted, and a head popped out like a deeply annoyed gopher emerging from its hole.

  "Oh my god, it's even worse!" Harrison yelled, kicking his bound feet weakly. "It's a sack ghost with a decapitated head!"

  "I am not a ghost, you absolute idiot!" the voice angrily scolded, the head glaring at him with intense, fiery eyes.

  It was a kid. She looked to be around twelve to fourteen years old, with short, choppy red hair, a smudge of cave dirt across her cheek, and an expression that screamed she was entirely done with everything happening right now.

  "A kid?" Lei questioned, her noble composure returning as she analyzed the new arrival. "What are you doing here? Did they tie you up in that sack?"

  "They took me," the red-haired kid stated flatly, managing to wriggle her bound shoulders up through the opening of the burlap. "Those large men who took you two."

  "Why?" Harrison asked, his ghostly terror fading into genuine confusion. He gestured toward Lei with his chin. "Are you some kind of hidden noble, too? Like her?"

  "No," the kid answered, rolling her eyes. "I just happened to be at the exact wrong place at the exact wrong time. I was happily on my way to buy some dried fish snacks when I witnessed you two get knocked out and dragged away in that alleyway. And then, one of the thugs spotted me. They just grabbed me and threw me in this sack. 'No witnesses,' the big one said."

  "Well, that is terrible for you," Lei said, a hint of sympathy cutting through her pain. "But... kind of great for us."

  Lei leaned forward as much as the ropes allowed. "Did you see the faces of the men who took us? Any identifying marks? Guild tattoos? Maybe it can help us figure out what they want."

  The kid in the sack leveled a profoundly detached, uncaring stare at the Princess noble of Jinlun.

  "No," the kid answered bluntly. "Why should I care about the faces of some random mortals? I am just here to observe the city, exactly like I was told to do. But instead, I got violently dragged into your ridiculous, noisy business."

  "Mortals?" Harrison questioned, his brow furrowing as he looked at the scruffy child. "What's with the high-and-mighty attitude, kid? As far as I know, you are also tied up and sitting in a dirty cave with us."

  "No, you two got tied up. I'm just continuing to observe from a different vantage point," the kid corrected, her voice remaining perfectly, unnervingly flat. "Being dragged here is just a slight, temporary detour to my primary objective."

  "Please, ignore him," Lei interjected, putting on a gentle, motherly tone despite the exhaustion wracking her frame. "You must be so scared, little one. Don't worry, help is surely on the way. The Royal Guard won't rest until we are found. Just don't be scared."

  "I am not the little one," the kid snapped back angrily, her fiery eyes darting toward Harrison. "The brown one is the little one! And you two are making me feel different with your words. It feels... weird. And no, I am not scared. Why should I be scared of ants."

  Harrison leaned his head back against the stone wall, turning to Lei with a heavy, deeply concerned sigh.

  "Hey, hey... psst," Harrison whispered across the cave. "I think this kid has completely lost it."

  "I know," Lei whispered back, her eyes filled with genuine pity. "Poor kid. She must be so utterly terrified of being kidnapped that she's become completely delusional to cope. When we get out of here, I will ask my mother to help her in the best way we can."

  "Hey! I heard that!" the kid in the sack yelled, glaring daggers at both of them.

  "Boss! The prisoners finally woke up!"

  A new, gruff voice shattered the relative quiet of the cavern.

  Footsteps echoed down the dark tunnel leading into the chamber, heavy and uncoordinated. Suddenly, half a dozen large, muscle-bound men swaggered into the flickering torchlight. They wore mismatched leather armor, scarred and dirty, and carried heavy, rusted cutlasses that dragged along the stone floor.

  "Finally," a deeper, commanding voice said as the leader stepped forward. He was a mountain of a man with a thick, unkempt beard and a jagged scar running down his cheek.

  He didn't gloat immediately. Instead, he turned and delivered a vicious, open-handed smack to the back of his subordinate's head.

  Smack!

  "You absolute fool!" the Boss barked as the lackey stumbled forward. "You hit them way too hard! It's been almost an entire day! If she is dead, our heads will fly off our shoulders before the sun sets! We only want the ransom money, did you forget?!"

  "My bad, Boss! I swear!" the bandit whined, rubbing his stinging head.

  The Boss shook his head in disgust, then turned his attention back to the prisoners. He slowly approached the wooden pillar where Lei was bound, looking down at her with a greedy, triumphant grin.

  "Now... Lady Lei Meihua of the Amber Palace, I presume," the Boss mocked, offering a crude, exaggerated bow.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Lei didn't flinch. Despite her ragged breathing and pale skin, she lifted her chin, her dark eyes flashing with absolute, terrifying authority.

  "Did you not check my identification before you kidnapped someone off the street?" Lei spat, her voice dripping with aristocratic venom. "My previous kidnappers were significantly more professional than you gutter-rats."

  The Boss paused, wiping a stray drop of spit from his cheek. He let out a harsh, booming laugh.

  "Hahaha! As headstrong as the rumors say," the Boss chuckled, stepping closer. "But no matter. It's just an attitude. With that constitution of yours, you can't even lift a finger to defend yourself right now. Hell, breathing must be really hard for you at this exact moment, isn't it?"

  Harrison, who had been struggling against his ropes, froze.

  "What constitution?" Harrison asked, his eyes darting between the bandit and Lei.

  "Oh? You didn't tell your scrawny friend here about yourself?" the Boss sneered, looking over his shoulder at Harrison. "Poor him. Guess he doesn't know he's been hanging around a cracked vase."

  "We are not friends!" Lei snapped immediately, though her chest heaved with the effort. "He just happened to find me in the alley! And the kid too! They have nothing to do with the Amber Palace. Let them go."

  "Oh, I will. Oh, I certainly will," the Boss grinned, showing off a row of yellowing teeth. "But only after you write a letter to the Amber Palace. You are going to instruct them to pay the ransom money in full and provide us with a fast ship to run away to the eastern islands."

  "And what makes you think that I will agree to that?" Lei asked, her eyes narrowing into cold slits.

  "Because unlike the other fools who tried to nab you..." the Boss smirked, raising his scarred hand. "...I have insurance."

  He snapped his fingers.

  Instantly, two of the large bandits stepped forward. One grabbed a handful of Harrison's blonde hair, yanking his head back, and pressed the cold, rusted edge of a cutlass firmly against his throat. The other bandit stepped over to the burlap sack and mirrored the action, holding a blade mere inches from the red-haired kid's neck.

  Harrison gasped, the sharp steel biting just enough to draw a single, terrifying drop of blood.

  Tch.

  Lei clicked her tongue loudly, the sound echoing in the tense cavern. Her hands, bound behind the pillar, balled into tight fists. She closed her eyes for a split second, a look of profound, agonizing defeat crossing her pale features.

  "Fine," Lei said, her voice dropping into a hollow, defeated whisper. "Bring me the pencil and paper."

  "No! Lei, don't do it!" Harrison shouted, his voice straining against the blade at his throat. "It's okay! We just need to waste time until the Royal Guards find this place!"

  The subordinate holding Harrison immediately pressed the sword closer, silencing the boy with a cruel chuckle.

  "Id—" the Boss started to mock, fully intending to call Harrison an idiot.

  "Idiot!" Lei's voice violently cut through the cavern, echoing with startling force.

  She glared directly at Harrison, her dark eyes blazing with a mix of fury and desperation.

  "Why are you playing hero?! Why are you trying to play strong?!" Lei screamed, her composure entirely shattering. "It's just money! The Amber Palace has way more of those shiny coins than we could ever need! You are just a normal boy! You still have a long life ahead of you, Harrison! Don't throw it..."

  Her voice suddenly hitched.

  "Cough! Cough, cough...!"

  Lei doubled over as far as the ropes allowed, a violent, agonizing spasm wracking her entire body. When she looked up, a thick line of dark crimson blood dripped from her lips, staining the collar of her pristine gown.

  "Lei! Are you alright?! Lei!" Harrison shouted, raw panic tearing at his vocal cords as he thrashed helplessly against the bandit holding him.

  "Enough!" the Boss shouted angrily, the greedy smile vanishing from his face as panic set in. "She won't last long like this. We need to get her to write that letter immediately before she croaks!"

  The Boss pointed to his men. "We will take her to the other room to write it. Also, take the kid. Bring the brat along so that this noble princess can be constantly reminded of who holds the cards here."

  "Yes, Boss!" the bandit near the burlap sack grunted.

  He reached down to roughly grab the tied top of the rice sack. But as his thick fingers closed around the coarse fabric, he paused. He pulled upward, expecting the heavy weight of a struggling child.

  The sack flew up effortlessly, completely empty. And the burlap fabric was weirdly, unnaturally warm to the touch.

  "Uhhh..." the subordinate stammered, holding the empty sack up in the flickering torchlight. "The kid is not in here, Boss."

  "What?!" the Boss snapped, whipping his head around. "Find the kid! We can't let that little rat slip away and alert the guards!"

  "Interesting. You have something exceedingly rare inside you."

  The voice didn't come from the shadows or the tunnel entrance. It came from directly beside the Boss.

  The bandit leader flinched, his head jerking to the side. Standing there, casually examining Lei with her arms crossed, was the red-haired kid. She was completely unbound, without a single scratch on her.

  "How... how did you get out?!" the Boss demanded, his scarred face paling with sudden, instinctual shock.

  Both Harrison and Lei stopped struggling, their eyes wide as they just watched the impossible scene unfold.

  "I just broke free," the kid said, her tone as flat and unbothered as ever. She finally turned her intense, fiery eyes toward the towering bandit. "Simple as."

  "Okay... maybe we didn't tie the knot tight enough," the Boss growled, reaching for the hilt of his own cutlass. "So... will you be a good little girl and be willing to get back in the sack?"

  "No. I am going out," the kid answered bluntly, turning her back on the massive man. "I have played enough of this ridiculous charade. It is no longer efficient for observation."

  "Well, I'm not exactly asking!" the Boss roared, lunging forward. He reached out with his massive, calloused hand, intending to grab the child by the back of her neck and slam her into the stone.

  The kid didn't dodge. She didn't flinch. She simply stopped walking and slowly turned her head.

  She glared.

  It wasn't just an angry look. It was a projection of absolute, terrifying authority. The ambient temperature in the cavern didn't just rise; it spiked into an unbearable, localized inferno.

  FWOOSH.

  Before the bandit's hand even came within an inch of her shoulder, the Boss violently, spontaneously ignited.

  There was no spark, no source of fuel. He was simply engulfed in a roaring, blinding pillar of orange and yellow flames that shot straight up to the cavern ceiling.

  "AHHHHHHH! AAAAAHH!"

  The Boss screamed in absolute, unimaginable agony. He thrashed blindly, his hands tearing at his own face as the fire devoured his armor, his clothes, and his flesh in a matter of seconds. The blistering heat instantly evaporated the ambient moisture in the cave, making the air crackle and hiss.

  "Boss!" the subordinate holding Harrison shouted, letting go of the boy's hair as pure terror seized him.

  "Get that kid! Ahhhh!" the Boss shrieked, his voice bubbling into a wet gurgle as he abandoned all sense of combat and blindly ran toward a small pool of damp, stagnant water in the corner of the cavern.

  But the water did absolutely nothing. The flames weren't feeding on oxygen; they were feeding on the kid's direct will. The Boss collapsed into the puddle, his thrashing slowly weakening until he was nothing more than a blackened, smoking husk.

  The cavern fell deathly silent, save for the crackling of the fire.

  The remaining five bandits stood completely frozen, their rusty cutlasses shaking in their grips as they stared at the twelve-year-old girl who had just immolated their leader with a single glance.

  "M-monster!" one of them shrieked, finally breaking the paralysis. He raised his sword and charged at the kid with a desperate, terrified war cry.

  The kid slowly turned her fiery eyes toward him.

  FWOOSH.

  He ignited instantly, exactly like the Boss. He didn't even make it three steps before dropping to his knees, screaming as the blinding pillar of orange fire consumed him.

  The other four bandits didn't even try to attack. They dropped their weapons, turning on their heels in a desperate attempt to flee back down the tunnel.

  But the kid simply swept her gaze across the fleeing men.

  FWOOSH. FWOOSH. FWOOSH. FWOOSH.

  Four consecutive bursts of blinding light and intense heat washed over Harrison and Lei. In mere seconds, the remaining kidnappers were completely dead, combusting into pillars of agonizing flame before collapsing into smoldering piles of ash and scorched leather upon the cavern floor.

  The vision dissolved, returning Yukari to the gentle, sun-dappled shade of the Baobab tree on the outskirts of Kah-Kamun.

  "Imagine my absolute shock seeing that," Harrison said in the present, breaking the stunned silence. He leaned back in his wheelchair, shaking his head at the decades-old memory.

  "I mean, I knew of Core bearers even back then," Harrison explained, gesturing with his hands. "People with element creating items who could light a torch with a snap of their fingers, make a campfire burn a little brighter, or maybe cause a small, flashy explosion. But this?"

  Harrison turned his head, leveling an incredulous look at Zhu Lihua. "Making six fully grown men spontaneously combust from the inside out with just a stare? That is something else entirely! That is absolutely insane! You were insane back then!"

  Zhu, sitting cross-legged on the grass, had the decency to look slightly embarrassed. She uncrossed her arms and rubbed the back of her neck, coughing softly into her fist.

  "I was... very irritated back then," Zhu defended herself, refusing to meet Harrison's eye. "Let's just say that was well before I managed to unlock my full spectrum of human emotion. I was operating on fragmented feelings. Annoyance was the only thing I truly understood."

  "So..." Yukari spoke up, her silver eyes darting between her father and her adoptive mother. She was still struggling to process the sheer brutality of a twelve-year-old Zhu. "Did Mother... I mean, did you save them? Did you untie them after that?"

  Harrison and Zhu looked at each other. For a brief second, there was a profound silence.

  Then, they both burst into laughter.

  "No!" Harrison wheezed, slapping his knee. "Absolutely not!"

  "I most certainly did not," Zhu agreed, a smirk returning to her face. "I had successfully neutralized the annoyance hindering my observation mission. So, I simply left."

  "She just disappeared!" Harrison recounted, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "Like a flicker of a dying ember! She literally vanished into thin air, leaving Lei and me completely bound to the floor and the pillar, helplessly sitting right next to six actively smoking, immolated corpses!"

  "I had places to be," Zhu shrugged unapologetically.

  "It was the Jinlun Royal Guards that eventually found us, several hours later," Harrison continued, his laughter subsiding into a fond sigh. "You can only imagine how incredibly confused they were. They burst into the cavern, weapons drawn, expecting a hostage situation, only to find the Princess and a scrawny foreign kid tied up in a room that smelled like a horrific barbecue."

  Harrison's face softened, the memory of Lei's condition sobering him. "Since Lei was so incredibly weak and coughing up blood, they rushed her to the royal healers first. They said our official statements could come later."

  "And oh boy, did that story become a massive headline in Jinlun that week," Harrison chuckled. "It was a complete journalistic scoop. Since the guards couldn't find any trace of a high-level combatant, they concluded that a 'Mysterious, Noble Vigilante' had swooped in and saved the Princess from the vile bandits using legendary fire techniques."

  "Meanwhile," Harrison grumbled, a hint of ancient annoyance creeping in, "the Royal Guards detained me in an interrogation room for hours at a time. Obviously, I told them the absolute truth. I told the captain exactly what happened."

  Harrison mimicked his younger self, adopting a panicked, desperate tone. "I swear! A twelve-year-old girl in a burlap rice sack just glared at them, and they all exploded into fire!"

  He shook his head. "But who on Calvenoor would believe that? They thought I completely made up the story because I was terrified, or because I was trying to cover up for the actual vigilante. They nearly threw me in the city dungeon for obstructing justice."

  "But, since Lei eventually woke up and gave them the exact same, absurd statement..." Harrison smiled softly. "The authorities had no choice but to simply drop the entire investigation. It was labeled an unsolved mystery."

  Harrison looked out toward the horizon, the warm afternoon breeze ruffling his thin hair.

  "I was released... but the Amber Palace tightened their security tenfold. I didn't see Lei, or that terrifying sack-kid, for an entire month after that incident."

  "To make matters even worse," Harrison added with a heavy groan, leaning his head back into the wheelchair. "Because of the kidnapping, and the subsequent investigation bringing guards to my family's doorstep... my parents found out I was taking martial arts classes instead of business relations."

  He ruffled his thin hair, remembering the scolding. "They were furious. They immediately pulled me out of the university. My father gave me a strict ultimatum: if I wanted my freedom back, I had to help him directly with the family navigation business and study trade routes under his thumb. It was the absolute worst."

  Yukari, who had been sitting patiently on the grass, suddenly began tapping her foot. Her silver eyes narrowed as she looked between the two adults.

  "Okay... I get how you officially met Mama. And I get how you met Mother," Yukari said, holding up her hands. "But how long until we actually get to the part where you three became friends? And eventually, how you and Mama Lei fell in love? My patience is running incredibly thin."

  Harrison let out a hearty chuckle, waving a hand to soothe her. "Right after this, don't worry, Linlin. It all ties together."

  "I believe it was in the grand marketplace, exactly a month after the incident," Harrison began, the vision painting itself across their minds once more.

  The memory materialized. It was the bustling central plaza of Jinlun. The air was thick with the vibrant, chaotic noise of haggling merchants and the pungent aroma of exotic spices and roasting skewers.

  Young Harrison, dressed in practical, ink-stained working clothes, was carrying a heavy ledger book for his father. He rounded a corner near a silk stall and bumped directly into a young girl wearing a deep-hooded cloak.

  The hood slipped back.

  "Ah!" Harrison shouted, nearly dropping his heavy ledger.

  "Ah!" Lei shouted back, her dark eyes widening in pure surprise. She looked remarkably healthier, her skin retaining its natural, radiant glow.

  And standing just a few feet away from them, holding a wooden skewer of grilled river fish, was young Zhu. She was staring at the two of them, completely dumbfounded by the coincidence.

  "Where were you?!" Lei demanded immediately, grabbing Harrison by the collar of his working shirt. "You haven't been coming to class for a month!"

  "How is your body?!" Harrison countered, his concern immediately overriding his surprise. "The last time I remember seeing you, you were literally dying on a dirty cave floor coughing up blood!"

  Then, as if sharing a single brain cell, Harrison and Lei slowly turned their heads. They locked their eyes onto the scruffy, red-haired kid who was trying very hard to pretend she didn't know them by aggressively chewing her fish.

  "And you!" Harrison and Lei shouted in perfect unison, pointing their fingers at Zhu. "Who are you, kid?!"

  Before Zhu could answer, the heavy, rhythmic thumping of armored boots echoed through the marketplace.

  "Princess! Princess, where are you?!" the panicked voices of the Royal Guards called out from the distance, parting the crowds as they searched frantically.

  "Oops. Almost forgot," Lei muttered, quickly pulling her hood back up to hide her midnight-blue hair. "Let's change locations."

  Without another word, Lei shot out her hands. She grabbed Harrison by the wrist with her left hand, and snatched young Zhu's wrist with her right.

  "Unhand me, mortal," Zhu commanded, her voice entirely flat despite the fact she was already being yanked off her feet.

  "Too late!" Harrison yelled to Zhu as Lei practically dragged both of them through the crowded alleyways like two oversized ragdolls.

  They ran. They weaved through spice stalls, ducked under hanging silk banners, and completely lost the guards in the labyrinthine streets of Jinlun. Moments later, the frantic sounds of the city faded, replaced by the gentle rustle of wind through tall grass.

  They arrived at a vibrant, sunlit flower field on the absolute outskirts of the city—a place suspiciously similar to the spot where Harrison, Yukari, and Zhu currently sat forty years later.

  "We will be safe here," Lei said, letting go of their wrists and taking a deep breath of the fragrant, floral air. She smiled, looking genuinely happy.

  Harrison rubbed his aching wrist and glared at her. "Did you run away from the palace?" he asked flatly.

  "No," Lei immediately avoided his gaze, awkwardly rubbing the back of her head.

  Harrison sighed, a long, exasperated sound. "You absolutely did."

  "Well, it is not my fault!" Lei pouted, crossing her arms defensively. "That room is way too stuffy! The royal healers told me I had to rest in bed for another entire week! That is entirely too much! A free spirit like me feels much better being outside in the sun."

  "You are way too much of a handful," Harrison sighed again, shaking his head. He looked around the empty flower field. "And why exactly did you drag me all the way out here?"

  "No idea," Lei shrugged casually, offering a bright, unapologetic smile. "You were just kind of there. And I was panicking. So I grabbed you."

  "For someone who explicitly told me in a life-or-death situation that I am 'not considered a friend', you certainly drag me around a lot," Harrison noted dryly.

  "Aww, did my harsh words hurt your fragile little heart?" Lei teased, leaning forward with a wicked, playful glint in her eyes.

  "I am not fragile! Cut it out!" Harrison snapped, his cheeks flushing red.

  Cough.

  A loud, incredibly demanding cough interrupted their bickering.

  Harrison and Lei turned around simultaneously. Standing just a few paces behind them was young Zhu. Her small face was set in a deadly, unamused scowl, and resting perfectly in the palm of her raised hand was a concentrated, roaring fireball.

  The heat radiating from the sphere of flames instantly singed the tips of the nearby flowers.

  "You two have exactly five minutes to tell me why you dragged me here before I incinerate you both," Zhu stated, her voice as cold as the fire was hot.

  Harrison and Lei gulped loudly. They looked at the terrifying kid, then looked at each other. They nodded once, a silent agreement passing between them.

  "Curiosity," they both answered simply.

  "Wha—?" Zhu was so profoundly taken aback by the incredibly stupid, anti-climactic answer that her concentration completely broke. The roaring fireball in her palm extinguished instantly with a pathetic poof of grey smoke.

  "Curiosity?" Zhu asked, her flat expression cracking to reveal genuine bewilderment. "Just for that painfully mundane reason?"

  "Well, yeah," Harrison said, gesturing vaguely in her direction. "You turned six fully grown, armed men into literal charcoal with nothing but a dirty look. How could I not be curious?"

  "Like he said!" Lei chimed in, stepping closer to Zhu. Her dark eyes were sparkling with intense, absolute fascination. She began circling the red-haired kid like a predator examining a very interesting bug. "So, what exactly are you? A phenomenally powerful Core bearer? Some kind of disguised elemental beast? An ancient being from the myths?"

  Being completely overwhelmed by the intense, extroverted energy radiating from the noble girl, Zhu instinctively took a step back. She tried to turn and run away, but Lei was faster. Lei's hand shot out, grabbing Zhu's wrist once more and easily dragging the terrifying kid right back to the center of the conversation.

  "Come on, tell me!" Lei pleaded, her face inches from Zhu's. "I promise I won't tell anyone else! I'm just dying of curiosity!"

  "Uh... uh..." Zhu stammered, her tough facade crumbling. She looked frantically toward Harrison for help, but he was just watching with an amused grin. "No. I can't tell you," Zhu finally managed, her cheeks turning a bright, flustered red.

  "Ancient secrets... impossibly powerful fire... a mysterious presence..." Lei began muttering to herself, pacing back and forth as she pieced the clues together. Suddenly, she stopped, snapping her fingers. "Wait. Don't tell me. Wait!"

  "No, please, just let me go," Zhu begged, genuinely uncomfortable with the attention.

  Lei pointed a dramatic finger right at Zhu's nose. "Are you... one of the Lords?!"

  Harrison immediately burst into loud, wheezing laughter, clutching his stomach.

  "Lords?!" Harrison laughed. "Those are bedtime fairy tales, Lei! Myths created to scare children into eating their vegetables! You are way too old to even consider that as an actual possibility!"

  But Zhu didn't laugh.

  Instead, the flustered, twelve-year-old kid slowly, hesitantly nodded her head.

  "I still don't know why I nodded and confessed that day," the present Zhu sighed under the Baobab tree, covering her face with her hand. "She was just... very, very persuasive."

  "And my jaw," the present Harrison chuckled warmly, "literally dropped so hard it hit the dirt."

  In the memory, while Harrison stood completely frozen in world-shattering shock, Lei threw her hands into the air and did a joyful, victorious little spin in the flower field, absolutely celebrating her impossible, lucky guess.