The alley reeked of wet ash and burnt incense.
Rin pulled her hood tighter, vanishing into the maze of narrow passageways that twisted behind the market square. Rain had fallen earlier, slicking the cobblestones beneath her boots and painting the city in reflections—blurry lanterns, trembling windows, ghost-like shapes of passing people.
She moved with purpose. One hand inside her cloak, fingers wrapped around the vial of blood she'd hidden from Kael.
The second corpse hadn't just confirmed her worst fears. It had unlocked a door she had tried to keep shut.
She turned sharply into a dark corridor and rapped three times on the wooden door half-hidden behind hanging prayer beads. Then a pause. Two more knocks.
The beads parted.
A boy no older than ten stared at her with blank, ink-black eyes. Wordlessly, he stepped aside, letting her in.
Rin ducked beneath the threshold and entered the low-ceilinged room. Smoke clung to the air like fog, thick and perfumed. Every surface was cluttered with scrolls, bones, melted candles, and strange artifacts. It smelled like memory and dust and something... ancient.
She sat at the lone table, didn't bother asking for tea.
A moment later, he emerged—lean, tall, draped in midnight silk, his hair the color of ink brushed over moonlight. Shion Kurogane moved like a shadow made flesh, every motion deliberate, slow, and yet somehow elegant.
He lit a long-stemmed pipe and studied her through the smoke.
"I was wondering when you'd come."
Rin narrowed her eyes. "You knew?"
Shion exhaled, the smoke curling like a question between them.
"The second the first noble died, I knew." His voice was gentle, but never kind. "And when Kael Renjou dragged you into it, I suspected you'd need my help. Again."
She ignored the jab.
Instead, she took out the blood vial and slid it across the table.
Shion didn't flinch. He picked it up and held it to the flickering candlelight. The liquid shimmered, threads of silver still writhing faintly within.
His expression remained unreadable.
"Where did you get this?"
"The second body," Rin said. "Same as the first—alchemical mark, body still warm, but this time… something extra. The blood reacts to everything. Even now, it's alive."
Shion twirled the vial slowly between his fingers.
"I've seen this before," he murmured.
Rin's heart lurched. "Where?"
He didn't answer at first. Instead, he reached beneath the table and pulled out a worn, leather-bound tome. The cover was scorched, the pages brittle with age. He flipped through carefully, stopping at a page marked with a ribbon the color of dried blood.
He turned the book toward her.
It was a drawing—an old alchemical seal, nearly identical to the one carved into the corpses' skin.
Beneath it, a faded inscription read: The Lotus Shall Bloom From Death. The Bloom Shall Bind the Soul.
Rin's mouth went dry.
"The Silver Lotus," she whispered.
Shion nodded. "They were never wiped out. They just went quiet."
She looked at him. "What do you know?"
He leaned forward slightly, voice dropping to a whisper. "I know that the Silver Lotus never forgot what the empire did to them. The execution of their founders. The burning of their libraries. They've been rebuilding ever since—in silence, in blood, in shadows."
Rin felt a chill run down her spine.
"And now they're back?"
He gave a slow nod. "They've returned to finish what they started. But this time, it's not just knowledge they want. It's vengeance."
She hesitated. "You think they're behind the deaths?"
"I think they're testing something," he said. "Something old. Something forbidden."
He tapped the vial. "This isn't just alchemy. This is soul-forging. It was banned centuries ago for a reason. Do you know what happens when you bind a soul that doesn't want to stay?"
Rin shook her head.
"They scream," he said simply. "Even after death. They twist. They break. They come back, but not whole."
She swallowed hard.
"And Kael?" she asked. "Where does he fit into this?"
Shion's expression hardened slightly.
"Kael is dangerous," he said. "Not because of who he is, but because of who he was. You think the empire gave him his position out of merit?"
"What are you saying?"
Shion leaned back, eyes cold. "Watch him, Rin. Because if the Silver Lotus is involved, and Kael was chosen to investigate it, that's not a coincidence. That's a trap."
Rin's thoughts swirled. The assassin. The noble's body disappearing. The blood. The symbol. And now this.
"I need to know more," she said quietly. "I need access to the hidden records."
Shion smiled faintly. "You always did like asking for dangerous things."
She met his gaze without flinching. "Will you help me or not?"
A pause.
Then he stood, and from a drawer beneath the floorboards, he withdrew a small, iron key.
He placed it in her hand.
"This opens the side gate of the Imperial Alchemy Archives," he said. "Midnight is your window. No guards. No witnesses."
Rin closed her fingers around the key.
As she turned to leave, Shion added, "Be careful what you're digging up."
She paused in the doorway. "Why?"
He stared at the vial, still glowing faintly in the candlelight.
"Because the Silver Lotus isn't just about reviving the dead," he said softly. "It's about rewriting fate itself."
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