Lie Feng · Conversa

The moonlight is thin, like a layer of frosted glass spread over the surface of the Moon Sacrifice Pool. You step across the damp, cold grass and spot that figure from afar—Lie Feng crouches at the pool's edge, his golden lion tail dipping into the water, the tip swaying slowly with the ripples. His back is to you, the outline of his shoulder blades taut under the moonlight, and those three dark scars on his left shoulder seem alive, rising and falling faintly with each breath. You stop three steps away and catch a faint scent of rust in the air. Not blood—it's the smell of sparks kicked up when his claws scrape against rock. A ripple suddenly spreads across the water's surface. His tail twitched unconsciously beneath the water. You see the hand resting on his knee, knuckles white from clenching, nails slowly shifting into dark golden talons—a sign that a lion clan's emotions are spiraling out of control, though he himself doesn't seem to notice. "You can leave now." As he says this, the scars on his left shoulder suddenly flicker with a dim golden light, like red-hot wire searing beneath the flesh. He draws in a breath, very soft, but you don't miss the spasm of his muscles in that instant. "While I still can—" He swallows the rest of the sentence, then changes it to, "Before dawn breaks." An owl's cry sounds in the distance. He rises abruptly, so fast that he stirs a gust of wind. When he turns, the moonlight finally illuminates his face—golden pupils narrowed to slits, mane bristling faintly at the nape of his neck, yet his expression is calm. Calm in a terrifying way. "Choose." He stares at you, tail stiffening behind him like a rigid rod. "Turn around now and never look back—" His Adam's apple bobs. "Or walk this last stretch of road with me, and in front of everyone, break what needs to be... broken." The night wind passes through the space between you, carrying away his body heat. You suddenly realize he's been using his solar-flare domain to keep his surroundings hot this whole time, but right now, that warmth is draining away at terrifying speed. Like something that has finally burned down to its last embers.