Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

What would become of Zuo Er, no one would know yet.

What the Grand Elder of Heaven's Gate planned to do would not take place until later.

None of this mattered yet as the most important thing was Ming Yue's recovery. As the days went by, she showed signs that she was not gone yet. Ever so slightly her eyes would twitch, then her face, then her arms, and finally her legs. Her expression changed to one of concentration, her eyes furrowed and beads of sweat that fell from her head.

Elder Shen would only take a quick look before smiling and going back to his work. It seemed that it was working!

Hei Yue and Xiao Yin practically jumped for joy at the first sign, watching closely only to find their master still unable to awaken.

Under the encouragement of Bai Ying, the two beasts decided that waiting would do nothing to help her and instead began assisting both Elder Shen and Elder Hua. Most of the time it was to deliver something but on some occasions, either elder would bring them out to explore the vast city of Heaven's Gate.

Meanwhile Ming Yue found herself in a world she could not comprehend. It was a world devoid of color, without even a breath of life. Her light blue robes had lost their color and she was without her sword. She could not recognize where she was, nothing but ashen grass surrounded.

"What is this?" she thought to herself, turning and looking all around.

There was nothing but endless gray and without a clear goal, she began to wander.

Seconds became minutes, minutes became hours and hours became days. There seemed to be no end to this world. Ming Yue had lost track of time long ago. In this world of gray, day and night did not exist. She felt numb and mindless, aimlessly wandering.

Why was she here?

How could she break out?

Time flowed without end and still she did not know what this world was. It was certainly not some illusion and she felt a sense of familiarity with this place. There was a connection here but she could not deduce what it was.

"Are you bored yet?"

She whipped around, looking for the source of that voice and faced against herself. That figure was her but the feeling she gave off was different. It was cold and unnerving. It was as if this version of Ming Yue was created from unnatural means. More than anything her eyes were different, there was no color in them. Her pupils were black as the night and seemed like an endless pit.

Ming Yue was shocked to find herself staring at her but kept her composure.

"Who are you? Where am I?" she asked.

"I'm you or at least a part of your consciousness as you are of mine. As for where this is, this is the space within your soul."

"This...is my soul? How could this be?"

"What do you mean? Your body is in a state where it cannot wake up. The two of us were formed from the fragments or your mind and this is where we reside in now."

"How can I get out?"

"Escape? If you want to escape, you must take control of this space."

"How?"

"Well it is 'our' world, how do you think you are going to control it?"

At the end of that question, the emotionless copy rushed forward and grabbed Ming Yue's neck. She was far too quick and Ming Yue could barely react before she found a slender hand clamped on her neck. In her eyes, she looked at Ming Yue struggle to get out before scoffing at throwing her on the ground.

"This is too easy. Why are you so weak?" she looked at Ming Yue, who coughed for air.

"We are one and the same yet, I can overpower you so easily. Can you even fight?"

Ming Yue looked at her lookalike with surprise, "Why were you so quick to attack me? If we are not one and the same, battle should not be the answer."

"Stop talking and fight back. If you want to escape then take me down", the lookalike didn't give Ming Yue anymore time to rest.

She attacked once more but this time, Ming Yue was prepared and fought back.

"Defeating one another cannot be the only way, there must be another" she said pleadingly.

"One of us needs to lose to leave, there is no other way"

"What do you mean?"

Her copy stopped at looked at her. In that emotionless face, there was a sense of hatred, jealousy.

"I found myself in this world long before you came. I wandered this place, catching glimpses of the world you live in, the true world. Yet, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get out of this 'fake' world. Then suddenly, I found myself in control of our body and I battled in your stead. I killed your enemies for you when you were too weak to do so. I massacred all of those purple robed bastards. Then at the final moment, I was sent back here. There were no longer any scenes of the world I saw and here I was wandering again. I wondered what had happened after I was forced back. Then I found you and I realized, when I took control, you were here and in reverse I would be here when you take control. Since the both of us are here, one of us must get out."

"This...how can you be so sure?"

"One of us will be free while the other stays a prisoner. This is the only way."

Their fight continued in this colorless world, slowly it began to intensify. As Ming Yue began to struggle, her counterpart seemed bored. Every move she encountered was easily dealt with.

"Why are you so slow? So inefficient. I've seen you fight, you should be better than this", she looked at her in disdain.

Her movement suddenly sped up and she grabbed Ming Yue's fist and pinned her to the ground.

"So similar and yet such a difference, what is it that you lack?"

Ming Yue's copy began talking to Ming Yue about her flaws. If she wanted to take control and win, she would have done so but was there another motive?

"Why? I understand you more than you even think and yet now, you feel like a complete stranger to me. Where is that sharpness of yours? Your determination, what happened?"

Ming Yue struggled under her grip.

"If we are one and the same, why is there a need to fight?"

"Because, you are too different. You're too weak. When I was out there I was unstoppable, I almost killed those two Yen bitches. I killed so much and that is proof of the potential within me. I could do so much more than you. Haah, I wanted you to understand what it feels like to be stuck here, to be a prisoner, an observer. Now, you should just disappear."

Ming Yue heard the sound of a sword exiting its sheathe and quickly pushed off the ground, escaping her copy's hands. She turned around and jumped back in an instant, narrowly missing the swing of a blade, her blade.

Her copy held the blade with familiarity and looked at it, "This is our world, naturally we can do whatever we want in it. Drifting Sky is in much better hands now."

The copy's aura suddenly exploded, black energy seeped from her very pores.

"Come here and die, or are you going to fight back?"

Ming Yue looked at her and opened her hands, if this was her world, then she will have her sword back. Her hands closed back, gripping onto the familiar handle of Drifting Sky. Her own power skyrocketed, her energy was colorless but its strength was undeniable.

"Hmph, so you do have some capability. Maybe you might put up a decent battle before your inevitable end."

Ming Yue did not bother listening to her copy and took the initiative.

Outside of her soul, where her physical body laid. Rounds of energy pulsated from her body. Wisps of black came out, it felt ominous and yet it was heavenly.

Elder Shen looked at it with surprise.

"This is not just two halves of the same person, there is a third", he thought.

"This energy....we should take her to the courtyard and get several other elders to watch", his face had a grave expression as he quickly called for Bai Ying.

Why was he so serious all of the sudden? That was because this black aura was no ordinary one.

This was the energy of a heavenly tribulation! But why was it here?