FOUR YEARS LATER
Four years passed by so quickly and the girls breathed heavily from the Qi training they just had. As they lay on the floor, they heard a sound that seemed distant but also near at the same time. "It sounded like a drum, a big drum" Ari muttered.
The gong's deep resonance shivered through the training grounds, its vibrations traveling up the girls' spines like an electric current. Lexi's stomach growled loudly enough to make the stone lion statues flanking the dining hall seem to smirk.
*"Finally,"* Ari muttered, shaking out her aching wrists. Thin red lines crisscrossed her palms where Master Zara's poisoned needles had drawn blood during their afternoon session.
Luna sniffed the air, her senses heightened from hours of blindfolded sword drills. The complex aroma of braised meats and exotic spices made her mouth water. *"Smells like… star anise? And something else—"*
*"—like someone set a library on fire,"* Chloe finished, wrinkling her nose.
Mr. Qi materialized between two flickering torches, his shadow stretching unnaturally long across the courtyard stones. *"The Temple's Feast of Eight Treasures,"* he intoned. *"Every ingredient carries meaning. Every spice tells a story."* His eyes gleamed in the torchlight as he added, *"And tonight, you become part of that story."*
" How? Do we turn into vegetables for stewing or something?" Ari said with an exaggerated sigh and shivered.
Mr Qi said nothing more as the girls laughed while he left them to the dining hall with a gleam in his calm eyes. Soon as they got to the door, Mr Qi pushed the wooden doors open and the girls stood there with eyes wide, it's different.
The dining hall took their breath away.
Thirty-foot tapestries depicting legendary battles lined the walls, their threads shimmering with gold despite centuries of age. But it was the ceiling that made Chloe gasp—a massive mosaic of the night sky, with constellations formed from thousands of embedded crystals that glowed with their own inner light.
*"That's no ordinary map,"* Chloe whispered, her hacker's mind already dissecting the patterns. *"The stars are arranged in—"*
*"—the exact positions on the winter solstice twelve years ago,"* Mr. Qi finished smoothly, guiding her toward the table with a firm hand between her shoulder blades. *"The night our temple's destiny became entangled with yours."*
The stew steamed in black lacquer bowls so polished they reflected the girls' wide eyes. Chunks of tender pork swam with lotus root, goji berries, and at least five other ingredients none of them recognized.
*"Eat slowly,"* Master Wong advised from his seat at the masters' table. *"The* hóngshāo ròu *has been simmering since yesterday's new moon."*
Ari hesitated, her spoon hovering over the reddish broth. A memory flashed—her mother's lovely laughter as she'd dumped a pot of boiling soup on their dinning table, that's before she became homeless. *"Eat up, poison girl. Let's see if you burn from the inside out this time."*
Luna's foot nudged hers under the table when she noticed her staring at the bowl without anything. Without a word, they swapped bowls and started eating.
"Master Chen made me balance on a bamboo pole today,"* Lexi said around a mouthful of pickled vegetables with a quiet shrug when she noticed no one talking. *"While juggling three eggs. And reciting the* Art of War *backwards."*
Chloe nearly choked on her tea. *"No way."*
*" Yes Way,"* Lexi groaned, rolling her shoulders. *"I've got eggshells in places eggshells shouldn't be."*
Luna stared glumly at her bandaged fingers. *"At least you didn't have to catch falling knives with your eyelids."* She said before she could even think about it.
*"Wait, what?"* Ari's chopsticks froze mid-air.
*"Metaphorically speaking,"* Luna backtracked quickly, but not before Mr. Qi's knowing smirk told her he'd caught the slip. Master Wong's "eyelid training" was supposed to be secret.
Chloe leaned in, her voice dropping to a whisper. *"Kaito had me hack into a 1980s Soviet mainframe today. Using nothing but* this." She pulled a frayed punch card from her sleeve.
*"No freaking way,"* Ari breathed.
*"Way,"* Chloe grinned. *"Turns out Cold War tech makes perfect practice for—"* She broke off as Master Kaito's shadow fell across their table.
"—for appreciating modern conveniences,"* she finished lamely, shoveling rice into her mouth while the others laughed at the sudden change.
As dessert arrived—sticky rice balls dusted with gold leaf—Lexi suddenly gripped Luna's wrist. This caught Luna by surprise since Lexi wasn't the type to do physical touches or show emotions.
"Remember that night behind the 7-Eleven?"* she murmured, so low the others had to lean in. *"When you said we'd either be dead or family by morning?"*
Luna's chest tightened. Two winters ago, they'd broken into a pharmacy to steal antibiotics for Lexi's cough since they had no money and Mr Dave and Master Qi weren't around. Freezing rain had soaked through their clothes as they huddled under a dumpster, sharing a single candy bar and waiting for dawn.
*"We chose family,"* Luna whispered back.
Across the table, Mr. Qi studied them over the rim of his teacup. His gaze lingered on Luna's crescent pendant, which had begun to throb faintly against her collarbone.
Morning came too soon.
The girls stumbled into the training yard to find Master Wong waiting with an array of weapons laid out on a bloodstained mat.
"Today," he said, flipping a dagger into the air where it embedded itself in the wooden post between Chloe's fingers, *"you earn your scars."*
Luna reached for her sword—just as her pendant flared white-hot. She didn't notice that but she found herself setting back and being pulled into a dark smile. "No!! I can't be having these dreams in the day and this hasn't happen before so, everyone will know" Luna cried in her head as the force pulls her.
The world dissolved into fractured images:
- **A woman with Luna's eyes** screaming behind glass
- **Mr. Qi younger, weeping over a body in a crescent-marked shroud**
- **The temple in flames, its star-map ceiling crashing down**
*"Luna?"* Lexi's voice sounded miles away.
She came back to herself gripping Master Wong's wrist, his knife a hair's breadth from her throat. Around them, the masters had gone unnaturally still. They all turned to look at Mr Qi who had his eyes widened, he needs to send a message to his younger brother, the other person shouldn't also black out at this!
*"The pendant awakes,"* Master Zara murmured.
Mr. Qi's face was ashen. *"We're almost out of time."*