Chapter Three: Light Sent Seven Years Ago

She embraced Shen Yan. Her body was warm. She smelled of the soapberry soap he had searched for during seven empty years. As he tried to hold her tighter, she whispered, “I’m sorry. I need you to forget again.” Her hand pressed his neck. Li Wu slammed them apart. A masked figure seized Xingyao and dragged her toward the breach. Shen Yan caught only the red cord around his sister’s wrist. It snapped, and she fell into the inverted lights of Qiyao City. The dome sealed. When every anomaly vanished, dawn was rising over the river. Shen Yan sat among the ruins, holding the red cord and the disc. Sirens approached. A news broadcast announced that the global aurora had ended and experts did not expect another for a century.