What he realized first that he was falling. The next thing was the loud ringing in his ears, the sound sharp and penetrated his eardrums. His mind had already turned into an incoherent mess. Pieces of his memories were scattered around, most of them were lost. It felt as though someone hit his head repeatedly, breaking his skull to reveal his brain. The pain distracted him from noticing that he was going to crash hard onto the ground far below him. All the deity could see a blurry image of clouded sky, beyond his reach.
When his mind eventually cleared, it was too late, the hard pavement was only mere feet away from him. The deity squeezed his eyes close tightly, expecting the wave of pain that never came. A few moments passed, yet he didn't feel any pain. Worried, he cracked an eye open to the vast darkness, empty and silent. His breath was loud in comparison, reverberating in the dark place. He immediately panicked.
"Wait—Don't tell me Heavens punished me into solitary confinement..." His lips trembled lightly, his heart hammered inside his chest.
Truthfully, he despised being constrained more than anything, to the point that the hatred was already embedded deep in his bones. He would rather a decade or more straying in the world, begging and collecting scraps, being homeless than a day of solitary confinement.
Something felt off...
He brought his hand to his temple, trying to think what's missing... Until it dawned on him.
Why did the Heavens punish him, though? Had he done something wrong?
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find the answer or even a piece of memory that perhaps could answer his questions nor anything that might have connection to the incident. Nothing at all. The only thing left to him was his identity and memories from long, long ago.
He was a god, a water deity, to be exact.
And his name was...
"Oww!" A voice rang out, interrupting his train of thought. The voice owner seemed not older than fourteen, an adolescent, a boy, youthful and energetic.
That one word brought relief to him, at least he wasn't in the confinement chamber. No one is insane enough to come to the heavily guarded chamber only to exclaim in pain.
His body acted on its own, the words "Are you okay?" Slipped out from his lips subconsciously.
The boy, hearing the words, quickly said, "I'm fine! Don't worry!" As he sat up and began gathering his belongings. He raised his head to find no one standing before him, and turned his sight to his surrounding; no one was there except for him. The boy dropped his half-gathered belongings again, mouth slightly open in confusion.
The boy glanced around in a dazed manner, as if he tried to find the one who spoke to him just now. After several seconds of vain, he sighed and thought, "Did I really hit my head so hard that I began hallucinating?"
The boy had the tendency to trip over rock or slip and fall. It occurred at least twice a day, to the point that the boy was getting number with each fall. But hearing voices was new to the clumsy boy.
Unable to bear it anymore, the deity cleared his doubts. "No, your head is just fine."
And being scared as he already had been, the boy reflexively responded with a scream. The scream wasn't that loud, no one could hear him, but he brought his hands to cover his mouth in an attempt to silence his own scream.
"All right. Stop screaming, my ears hurt." The distasteful tone in the other's voice put a halt on the boy's reflex.
The boy glanced at his surrounding nervously, he asked in a hushed voice. "Who are you?"
Yuan Ji, upon hearing this question, considered whether to tell the youngling his real name or not. He didn't give it, instead returned the question to the boy, "What's your name, boy?"
"Yue... YueChen. My surname is Yang..." YueChen replied with an air of uncertainty, as if talking to bodiless voice wasn't on his plans today.
"Okay then. My name is..."
Should he tell him his real name? He could just lie, but that will bring no good. So, following his conscience, the deity continued. "Yuan Ji. I'm known as the water deity of the eastern—Dong Shi Shui Shen."
The boy crouched down to pick up all his fallen belongings as he listened to the other.
"Dong Shi Shui Shen? Seriously? That name sounded like a joke... You aren't kidding me, are you?"
"Got a word to it?" Yuan Ji threatened the boy. He'd smite YueChen if the latter began to laugh—powerless or not. It might also be a great chance to test his abilities. His powers were going to be sorely needed.
YueChen didn't give any comment, but took a brief glance at the darkening sky and started to hurry back home.
"Nice to meet you, Yuan Ji. I hope we can actually be friends." YueChen smiled.
"I hope too." Yuan Ji said, grinning a little at the thought.
Little did they know, their days were going to change. No, the deity's fall changed everything. And their meeting was only the starting point of the incoming chaos.
[2]
Once YueChen was already home, their bond had grown, as well as Yuan Ji's suspicion.
A normal human isn't supposed to be able to be possessed. From all the special-born people, there's only one out of ten who could be possessed or worthy enough to be a vessel of a god. And from the number, only a few were strong enough to withstand being a vessel for a long time being. Often, human whose body wasn't strong enough harmed or worse, died. That's a reason why possessing living human was banned, especially if it was a long-time possession. The boy might be lucky and strong enough to act as a vessel, maybe the fact that more than half of Yuan Ji's powers were sealed in his sword, leaving the water deity nearly powerless, reduced to the point he was almost normal human, was the reason YueChen could serve as a vessel for a long period of time.
That would be nice, if YueChen could actually withstand him at least until he ascended back to heavens. That way, Yuan Ji wouldn't have to worry about being homeless or straying about in this world. Although he'd be restricted to use his powers and having to trample down all things that could harm his host. On addition to that, he had his chance to his missions and freedom limited, but still much more preferable than a month of confinement.
Not only his unique ability disturbed the deity, but the way people treated him as if he was invisible made Yuan Ji felt uneasy. A living being's spiritual aura and life energy was tenfold than the surnamed Yang's.
As though Yang YueChen had been proved to be no living human...
Yuan Ji had never seen a living corpse in his lifetime, but if he were to describe his current host, maybe the words 'Living Corpse' or 'Living Dead' were the first thing that came into his mind. The boy nearly resembled a ghost that took hold of a dead body, except for the constant rise and fall of his chest or the beating of his heart. Everything was on the right place, but the result was simply too unbecoming.
Having a Yang YueChen as a host resembled having a ghost to share a body with.
His tendencies to forget breathing only added to the deity's suspicion.
Maybe his mission is to observe the boy? Searching all things that's wrong with him? Determine what he actually is?
If that's the case, Yuan Ji could never leave the boy, even if the latter appeared frightening and off.
He had to stay with him.
For now, all Yuan Ji had to do was to...
Yuan Ji, "How old are you?"
YueChen, "Thirteen."
Yuan Ji, "Date of birth?"
YueChen, "October, the third."
Yuan Ji, "How many siblings?"
YueChen, "A sister. I'm the first born."
Yuan Ji, "Favorite color?"
YueChen answered this one question rather ecstatically, "I like all colors; red, blue, yellow, green, orange—"
Yuan Ji raised his hands in a stopping gesture before the boy could continue rambling about all colors, "Okay, stop. Enough."
"—But I don't like pink." YueChen ignored him and continued nonetheless.
"Enough now..."
Interrogating YueChen was incomparably easy. He simply cooperated and spoke honestly, answering all questions without a second thought. The boy didn't even think about asking anything to Yuan Ji. Not even the slightest intention to lie.
One word: Naive
Or maybe a dummy.
And also a big crybaby as his part-time. Scapegoat as full-time. Suicidal coward at most of the time.
Anyway, forget about interrogating that kid. He should be thinking about how to find the real mission—in case Yang YueChen wasn't—and ascend.
There's simply no way that heavens wanted him to babysit the kid, is there?
....
Maybe, but just maybe. Who knows the person banished him probably got fed up from all his pranks?
If it really was the case, they did a great job punishing him. Like, seriously.
Yang YueChen was slightly anxious, waiting for next questions that might not ever come, but still patiently waited for the other to open his mouth and ask something.
He was ecstatic, finally having a friend (?) after twelve years or so. Although he actually had friends, they weren't that close to be a proper friend. And he never actually wanted to be close to anyone. Yet, everytime he met a new person, he put a lot of hope into said person. Wishing that they could stay.
And it won't ever happen. People came into his life, only to leave once they knew him better. They never stay. As though people were just paper cranes, fleeting randomly without destination.
Since a long time ago, his social circle was extremely limited. People often acted as if he didn't exist. That's why he accepted Yuan Ji, regardless of his true intentions.
That was one thing that he never found the answer to.
And three days later, he got the answer.
"I'm guessing that you're a ghost!" Yuan Ji declared rather confidently. After the accidental possession, he observed him for three days and racked his brain for the information. Now that he finally got it, he simply exclaimed subconsciously.
A ghost, in this term at least, was something that suited perfectly to the description. They're people with irregular spiritual energy circulation, sometimes not being able to produce the energy at all. A mutation in their genetic often was the main reason responsible for this sort of abnormalities.
"What?" YueChen murmured, cracking an eye open. He was about to sleep, only a step away from being actually asleep, yet a voice shook him awake.
"You lack spiritual energy, often being treated as if you were invisible, oh, are you hearing voices too?"
"Does yours count?" YueChen fought the urge to roll his eyes at the god. These few days were like a hell, Yuan Ji kept rambling about things.
"Maybe, who knows?" The god shrugged. "And you're actually able to be possessed by spiritual beings. Heck, you're a great host, vessel, for any god."
The boy frowned, "What does that mean? You weren't supposed to possess me?"
The deity clicked his tongue, "That was an accident, a fortunate one."
Those words made YueChen couldn't suppress the urge. "Do you mean unfortunate incident?"
"Hey!"
YueChen's mind consisted all abnormal, complicated, weird ideas—sometimes also brilliant at the same time—that were cramped into the same place Yuan Ji stayed in. Since the other didn't comment much about his thoughts, YueChen assumed that the deity couldn't hear thoughts. Yet the latter proved him wrong by the second day.
From then, YueChen tried to school his thoughts and his acts. When he confronted Yuan Ji, the deity only said, "I had assumed that you knew by the moment I stepped into your head. I never expected that you are this dense."
His reply was full of nonchalantness, yet his tone seemed to accuse YueChen of not noticing.
Deciding that fighting wasn't a good way to pass the night, he turned and asked, "How old are you?"
Yuan Ji, "1600 years old, roughly."
YueChen, "You sure lived a long life..."
"Yeah. Call me Gege, will you?"
"No, A-Ji would do."
"How rude, I'm a god, not another petty mortal."
"You can call me YueChen or something. Like A-Chen or A-Yue." YueChen offered.
"No, Dimwit is what I'm going to call you."
"...."
"Say, you lived for a really long time. There's something worth telling, no?"
Yuan Ji suddenly became quiet, as if he had disappeared.
A pause before he opened his mouth, "It's the problem. I only remember pieces of my earliest memories. I can't recall any of recent memories before the banishment."
"You... You don't know why you were casted out?"
"Yeah. There's a big possibility that they banished me for my character."
"Wow.. I'm truly sorry for them, having you around."
If that really was the reason, then Yuan Ji could sigh in relief.
But if it was something else... Much bigger problem than now... He wonder, could he fix it somehow?