"Greetings Hui Lan, long time no see."
Hui Lan was at a loss for words. Despite being separated by her car, Hui Lan was still able to hear the lady's voice. Who in the world was this person?
The lady in the white dress did not wait any longer and made a small gesture in the air with her fingers. Right after the gestures were made, Hui Lan hovered above her car seat. Her skin began turning translucent. She could see through her arms, her hands, and her fingers.
...Did this lady pull me out from my body!? Am I dead? Just like that!?
But no matter where Hui Lan looked, she could not see another second lifeless body like in the movies.
She angrily glared at the lady. However, the more she looked at the other, the more eerie everything felt. Even the perfectly normal moon looked oddly gigantic behind the lady in white.
Just as Hui Lan thought that things were weird enough, her body was then pulled straight towards her car ceiling. She shut her eyes tightly ready for the impact, but there was none, only a gentle breeze gushed passed her face.
When Hui Lan opened her eyes, her body was now flying towards the strange lady. She shut her eyes again thinking that she would crash or worse, get eaten by the lady, but when nothing happened, she cautiously reopened her eyes.
She instantly regretted opening them.
Hui Lan was now hovering about two metres off the ground in the same manner as the strange lady in front of her. The lady continued to smile with her unusual pair of purple eyes.
...What kind of contact lens did this lady use to have such natural-looking purple eyes?
...Ugh, but what does this weird person even want from me?
The strange lady finally opened her smooth pink lips, "Come, we don't have much time." She then turned around in the middle of the air and flew away. The lady did not even care to check whether or not Hui Lan was following her.
"Wait!" Hui Lan cried in alarm.
Just then, the sounds of vehicles stopping could be heard from behind her. Hui Lan turned around to see who it was. One after the other, her pursuers got out of their SUVs.
However, none of them took any notice of her. Hui Lan stared at her hands and thought she was done for. She had completely turned into a ghost.
The men in black went to knock on her blackened side windows. They all looked at each other puzzledly, before one of the men took the initiative to break her window open.
"How dare you!?" Hui Lan roared.
However, the men in black did not react to Hui Lan's voice but to their colleague's words, "Damn it! She's not in here! That Xuan girl!" Their faces instantly turned sour.
Meanwhile, Hui Lan pushed her tongue against her cheek and glared at the man in black who was responsible for breaking her baby's window. He had the nerve to hurt her baby, "It looks like someone has never been taught any manners before."
Hui Lan cracked her knuckles and dove with full force towards the man, instantly flipping him over his back. Only after flipping him over, did she remember her entire body was still translucent. She looked at her hands with her eyes beaming, "At least, my body is not completely useless."
The group of pursuers instantly turned pale. They swiftly pulled their guns out and caused a ruckus among each other.
"What the heck just happened?" The guy, who had been humiliated in front of his friends, swiftly got back up and demanded.
One of the men in black shouted, "It must be that Xuan girl! She must have possessed some sort of black magic?"
Hui Lan burst out laughing. She did not think being transparent like a ghost would have its perks. But her laughter did not last long as she began lamenting over her baby's broken window, "My poor baby."
On the other hand, the strange lady turned around to look at the commotion behind her. Her ancient gaze looked from the group of men that were shouting and to the cause of it all, Hui Lan. She shook her head, and at the same time, her long white hair flowed slowly along with her movement. It was as if she was an ethereal being.
...Tut tut, what a hot-blooded young lady. I thought
...Well, I guess it's in our bloodline...this hot-blooded temper reminds me of someone hehe.
...Sigh, but there was not much time left.
The strange lady glanced at the large moon before looking back at Hui Lan, "That should be enough for now, Hui Lan."
But there was no response from Hui Lan who was prepared to launch another attack at the men in black.
...Sigh.
The strange lady then made a quick swirling gesture towards Hui Lan. Then, as if there was a rope tied around Hui Lan's body, she was pulled away from the commotion.
Despite how much Hui Lan tried to break free, nothing worked. All she could do was look at the group of her pursuers grow smaller and smaller.
"Where are you taking me!?" Hui Lan yelled at the lady behind her.
But there was no response.
Hui Lan tried again, "Why are you doing this?"
Still, no response.
Hui Lan tried again and again until she finally gave up. What a way to treat someone you've just met.
Time passed and Hui Lan could no longer see the familiar town that she lived in. The surroundings all began to slowly fade away just like how her body did. She was beginning to think that this would go on forever until she came to an abrupt stop.
Hui Lan was then gently placed onto the ground which she did not slide through this time. However, her surroundings began to change. The trees began to fade, and so did the night clouds in the sky, and the road beneath her. It was as if she was not Earth anymore.
Everything had lost its colour and was replaced with a neverending streaks of white, a white wall, a white sky, and a white floor.
Hui Lan's heart fell, "Did I perhaps...die?"
Just then, the strange lady finally turned around to face Hui Lan. Unlike how snowy white the lady in front had looked before, the little details grew clearer to Hui Lan's eyes. There were dark bruises and red claw scratches on the lady's skin. The lady's wrist and ankle had dark red stains around them.
...Since when did this lady get those injuries?
"What now?" Hui Lan asked again.
"I'm sorry Hui Lan, I did not think it would be you this time around. It is too soon." The lady in white showed deep concern towards Hui Lan.
"What do you mean?" Hui Lan became even more puzzled. They had just met.
"Do you remember the story your mother told you when you were little?"
Hui Lan took a brief moment to think back and could remember this one story her mother would tell her over and over again, "The snowy kingdom? That story?"
The lady in white nodded and introduced herself shortly, "I'm Yue Lin."
"No way," Hui Lan gasped.
"It might be hard to believe, but what your mother told you, they are all true." Looking at Hui Lan's blank reaction, Yue Lin tilted her head slightly, "It seems your memories have been sealed, you don't remember anything at all, like Yue and Hun?"
Hui Lan was speechless and puzzled at the same time. Was it not supposed to be just a fairytale and not something that actually happened? If this person was the Yue Lin, then she was the Ice Queen in the story.
Nevertheless, why was she meeting with the Ice Queen? Also, who were the names that the Ice Queen spoke of, Yue and Hun? "I hate to ask you this, but what does all of this have to do with me?"
The corner of Yue Lin's lips hooked up slightly with Hui Lan's question, and replied patiently, "It has everything to do with you moving forward."
"What?" Hui Lan still did not understand where this was going.
Suddenly, the ground that did not look like a ground began to shake like a terrible earthquake. Yue Lin swiftly cast a crystal-like ball covering Hui Lan and her.
Yue Lin's eyes became concerned and her lips were pursed tightly, "You must leave now."
Hui Lan agreed with that comment, "Yes, I really must leave. I'll have to tell my family about those men that tried to capture me and…"
Yue Lin shook her head sadly, "No, Hui Lan, not there."
"Huh?"
"You'll not be going there."
Hui Lan could not the other, "Pardon me?"
Yue Lin frowned as she was concentrating on talking to Hui Lan and at the same time protecting them from the earthquake, "Hui Lan, what you are about to experience will most likely determine the fall or the beginning of our bloodline."
"Our bloodline? Do you mean to say that we are related? But how?" The more Hui Lan knew, the more complicated things were.
"Yes, we are. My blood runs in your mother and in you. Because of my past mistake, the heavens have decreed a punishment passed along to the direct descendants of my bloodline. Hui Lan, it is your turn. You must take this mission and finish it. I wished we had more time..." Yue Lin paused before taking off her white moon jade bracelet and throwing it to Hui Lan, "Take this!"
When she saw Hui Lan catching her bracelet, she let out a small smile, but only briefly for the next moment her frown returned as she struggled to keep the protection barrier together, "I'll send you help Hui Lan, but our time ends here."
"Wait! What mission?"
Just then, Yue Lin's crystal-like ball was covered with cracks all over it, "Do not worry, the heavens will guide you. Try to survive so your life may be saved in both worlds. Farewell, Hui Lan."
CLANG!
The crystal ball broke into a million specks of dust and all of a sudden, Hui Lan's body began falling into a pitless hole that was not there before. Her eyes tried looking for somewhere to hold onto, but there was nothing. She looked to Yue Lin for help, but the Ice Queen could only watch with sad eyes. Only then, Hui Lan could see large metal shackles tied onto the Ice Queen's wrist and ankle like a prisoner.
Subsequently, a big gush of wind blew past Yue Lin and she began fading away as well as the surroundings.
"No!" Hui Lan cried out in worry. Despite not knowing Yue Lin, she had a sense of familiarity with the other. Was it because they were related?
The last of what she saw was Yue Lin smiling at her gently like a benevolent elder before the Ice Queen was no more. All that was left was the white sky.
Hui Lan was now completely alone, still plunging into the dark hole.
Before long, the darkness soon engulfed her. Helplessness began to grow in Hui Lan's heart. What was to happen from now onwards?
Nothing apart from the darkness was with her. The course of events must have taken a physical toll on her body and slowly, Hui Lan drifted off into slumber.
After some time had passed, her eyes flung open again. She earnestly gasped for air to breathe. Instead of fresh rejuvenating air, all she sucked in was the fine ashes and smoke, burning her nose and throat as they made their way into her body.
Hui Lan sprang up and looked around, only to see herself surrounded by a fury pit of fire.
Was this hell?