Zhen Xue hurried after Li Wei, following him down the stairs leading to the main floor. Aelius, Sagittarius, and Themis followed from a short distance, playing rock, paper, scissors to decide who would haul out the pile of machine parts. “Li Wei,” Zhen Xue whispered. “Be honest. How much money do you really have?”

“Oh? You’re finally asking me for something?” Li Wei mused, flicking a piece of lent from the sleeve of his overcoat. The corner of his lips lifted faintly. “Do you want joint bank accounts? I can have that arranged—”

“Of course not. Wait a minute…” Zhen Xue would’ve sputtered out his drink if he had been sipping on one. He caught the flare of amusement that washed over Li Wei’s expression. He adverted his gaze, quick to change the subject. “Aren’t you going to ask?”

“About what, dear?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said with an airy tone as they turned right on the last step. “Anything different?”

Li Wei took his arm, guiding him away from walking into the wall. Then, to his mercy, continued under the archway to the kitchen like nothing happened.

Zhen Xue followed him and found the kitchen was beautiful, covered in pink roses matching the walls. There were white wooden counter tops and cupboards filled with china. Sunlight poured through the window over the sink, lighting the space in a warm glow. 

Li Wei took a seat at the small round table to the left and Zhen Xue followed suit, sitting across from him. Aelius walked to the stove, tending to the teapot while the other two stayed behind caught in some argument. “The woman you’re inhabiting,” Li Wei said with a more serious tone, crossing his legs. “Her name is Luna.” 

The blow he received to the chest was so sharp that even the two arguing quieted. 

No, surely the name was a coincidence. The hysterical laugh that bubbled in his chest deflated when he considered why he recalled a memory of her at the exact moment he possessed her like a common ghost.

Well, fuck. There goes any chance of denying it. 

He glanced between Aelius and Li Wei, taking in their overly calm nature, and raised an eyebrow at them. “Neither of you seem surprised about my circumstances.”

“That’s because we’re not,” Li Wei replied. “Long ago, there was another like you.”

Another like him? His hope slowly extinguished the longer he studied Li Wei. “What happened to them?” 

The monk arrived to his side, red eyes set aglow faintly, staring down at him. “My foolish student died.” 

Zhen Xue’s mouth fell open. “Wait, you mentored him? But your a monk.”

“And a full time exorcist,” Sagittarius added with a cool smile. 

Oh, shit. That’s right. The Unruly handled ghosts through exorcisms.

And what are ghosts at their core?

A wandering soul. Just like himself.

But he wasn’t dead, so what did that make him?

Sagittarius’ glowing red eyes flickered with an undercurrent of darkness. His anger didn’t seem directed at him, but for him. “Pass my test and I’ll not only tell you why he died but mentor you so that you don’t meet the same end.”

Zhen Xue blinked and for a moment, the two of them were standing somewhere else. 

He could smell the wind, feel the grass brush his bare feet, chimes gently ringing in the distance, and those red eyes that stared back at him held pride. He rushed forward with his wooden staff, hitting the steel of his blade. The resonating sound sharpened his senses. He blinked again and the scene was gone, fading into traces of the past.

After enjoying Aelius’ honey brewed tea, Zhen Xue followed Sagittarius back through the portal that Themis reopened. “Luna is a servant of the Han household,” Li Wei explained, walking alongside him as Sagittarius led the two of them through the beautiful interior of the church. 

There was so much detail that Zhen Xue found it hard to absorb everything he saw, much less remember the path they took from the entrance. He supposed the labyrinth structure was part of the design to combat intruders. “The Han Household?” Zhen Xue paused, trying to recall why the name was familiar. “You mean the aristocrat family that moved into one of the five great manors?” 

The story was a bit fuzzy but the point was that Lumaria wasn’t always divided. Cassanova was once the center of everything and housed the five ruling clans. But after the war, those clans dissolved and well, those manors became long forgotten. Anybody could buy them.

Li Wei pulled Zhen Xue by the sleeve into a quiet hallway. The sudden closeness made his ears heat. Li Wei appeared not to notice, holding his stare. “No one working at the Han household survives.”

“That’s awfully suspicious,” he narrowed his eyes, looking off into space. What were they hiding? Since Li Wei was interested, that could only mean there was something important about this household. Not that external factors mattered. Zhen Xue wouldn’t allow Luna to die, not when he finally found a thread to his past. 

Or at least a version of his past. He wondered which cycle that memory came from. Even though he was confused about what to feel, saving Luna was personal. Not only to uncover more of his past, but he wouldn’t allow another servant to suffer an unjustified death.

“You must be careful,” Li Wei warned, a hint of desperation in his voice. “Those creatures will come for you again.”

“Great. Chalk it up with everyone else that’s after me.” He rolled his sore shoulders, staring down Li Wei, wondering once again how much he should trust this man who always knew too much. “And I’m guessing you won’t say why they’re after me?” he tried, not hiding the bitterness in his tone.

Li Wei paused, his eyes widening slightly with a flash of vulnerability. “I—“

Zhen Xue forgot to breathe. He never seen Li Wei look so pained, or fearful as though afraid of losing him. His heart ached, pulling the wrong way. He reached out, wanting to cup that face with eyes that held such weight. He wanted to understand what burdens he carried. How to—

“Are you guys going to pretend I’m not here?”

The sudden intrusion made his hand fall away before he could touch him. 

Li Wei bristled, returning to usual snappy self and what Zhen Xue began to recognize more and more as his mask. “What are you doing here? I thought you were cleaning with Aelius.”

“Aelius lost the bet.” Themis shrugged, holding a sheet of paper with a glowing circular rune. “And I wanted to collect a few books on celestial creatures.” He moved the paper over the row of books and when the rune pulsed he stopped, retrieving the book. “Whatever you’ve done, Zhen Xue, I don’t think the gods are happy with you.”

Too bad he couldn’t tell them the feeling was mutual.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Three days passed since Sagittarius locked him inside the basement. He didn’t eat or drink once, which he supposed was part of the test. Brutal, but it did force him to become desperate to survive. 

He searched high and low for an exit, pressing against the mossy stones, dirt clinging to his nails as he sought for a hidden passage. There was a small window in the far back, not big enough to fit through in his current state, but an option if he could possess something smaller.

On the fourth day, when he couldn’t find a way out and didn’t hear from anyone, he stopped looking for an exit.

Did they leave him to die? He knew it was an irrational thought, but he was starving and miserable. His hands tightened into fists, rising to his feet. Surely there would be some food lying among this rubbish. There had to be something. 

His hands trembled, digging through the scattered books and objects with names he couldn’t recall.

Food. He needed to eat.

As he searched, the sun soon sank beyond the horizon marking the end of the fourth day.

There was nothing. Not an ounce of food, not a spark of hope he could make it out.

He was done. Anger churned in his stomach, hot like flames. 

They betrayed him.

Everyone always did in the end, he thought bitterly. He sunk to the floor by the window, wondering what death would feel like. Would he feel pain in his last moments or would the numbness take him over first?

A book tumbled open in front of him from the stack he towered too high earlier. The pages displayed symmetrical circles, overlapping squares, and upside down triangles. He reached out, hand gliding along the rough page. “Magic runes...” he mumbled, unable to read them, but a fragile hope began to rebuild.

He flipped through the book, using the moonlight to read from. He swore he couldn’t read the characters until a moment ago when the moonlight hit a certain angle, or maybe he was just tired and desperate for something to make sense. 

Jagged teeth and hollowed eyes stared back at him from the drawings of monsters. On other pages there were detailed exorcisms, spells to ward off ghosts, and the largest rune… He realized why it looked familiar. 

He set the book down, turning to the faded circle in the center of the room. The chalk nearby, which he thought nothing about until now, suddenly made sense.

He grabbed the book again, squinting to read the tiny text. “Trans… Transmigration,” he finally made out. Having memorized the pattern, he discarded the book and followed the instructions, replicating the rune.

The chalk scraped against the wood, pressing into his palm as he drew with trembling hands. With enough effort, he finished when the moon hit its peak above the window. 

He stared down at his work, reworking the edges that weren’t round enough. 

The trickiest part was still ahead. 

The image described there was a second part needed to activate the rune, but that page had been blurred with ink. 

That might have stopped him had he not already known the answer. There were two ways to cast a spell. 

The first was using your own gifted talents, or rather the mana running through your veins.

The second was a blood sacrifice.

Since he had never used magic before, the likelihood he had mana in his body was slim, but Luna might. Her mother had spiritual power, but when he tried, he found he couldn’t wield her power. 

With a stiffed jaw, he retrieved the knife on display, slicing his palm wide open. This time when he put his hand against the rune, the outer most circle ignited into rich green flames.

A sharp jolt of pain spread through his palm as the flames spread inward slowly turning red. His stomach plummeted into a bottomless pit at the sight.

Something was wrong. He needed to pull away. 

His hand wouldn’t move, locked in place against the floorboard.

He tried again, pulling with more strength.

“Someone so eager to survive also yearns for death?” a voice whispered with a gravely tone, yet smooth and slid across his skin, inviting and warm. It felt wrong. “Tell me, why do you seek me out?”

“I don’t,” he replied, grimacing as the pain in palm worsened. “I’m just trying to get out of this room.”

The voice was quiet. “Would you like my help?”