"...."
It was dark all around. The space filled up with heavy air.
Lying inside the petrifying fog of darkness, Li Fei was alone. It felt like being buried beneath the ground and the soil continuously poured downwards, drowning her whole.
It was a little bit cold, a little bit frightening.
She tried to move, she tried to speak up. But, the words didn't seem to come out.
Then, she heard it, echoing between her memories, the crying of someone. The voice which set her brain in motion again.
"Why did you do this?"
It was a woman's voice dyed with endless sorrow and boiling madness. Such foreign presence, yet familiar at the same time. Ah... was that her? But what did she mean by that?
"We're sorry, Sister. But, we have to do this."
A different voice rang out as a reply.
"But why?"
"To keep the world in peace."
Afterwards, a blinding white light blasted down, swallowing the curtain of darkness into oblivion. The light enveloped her into a warm embrace.
Suddenly, she felt something wet falling onto her skin. Then, followed with a buzzing sound in her head like a broken TV displaying meaningless gibberish and the drumming in her ears intensified.
"I'm sorry.... this is the last-"
....
Inside a house
The sound of fire burning could be heard inside a small house made out of woods from crystal tree. Two shadows lingered on the floor as they lied there asleep on a mattress.
It was quiet and serene at the present. A young girl around 13 years old opened her eyes weakly. Her long eyelashes trembled at the action.
As soon as she was awake, she was greeted by a wooden ceiling and the smell of herbs brushing her nose. It was a mild and gentle scent.
Li Fei blinked her eyes a couple of times trying to make sense of the situation she was in right now. Although she was still feeling slightly light-headed, she could remember little by little the accident in the forest.
The big white wolf, the colorful lights, the dark mist, and a little bit of people's shouting.
And... the crimson red blood.
The metallic taste inside her mouth, the foul stench of a dying wolf.
She knitted her eyebrows. Her memories were a little disoriented at the moment. But, she tried to piece the puzzles with patience.
"You're awake?"
A familiar voice entered her ears. But this time, she didn't hear it from within her. It was from beneath her.
Li Fei glanced down at the direction of her feet in reflex. There, she saw a man reclining lazily on a chair near the bed. An insanely good-looking face was looking back at her. His clear-cut expression showed traces of worry.
Li Fei blinked her eyes in bewilderment before sitting up from her lying position. She scouted the man from head to toe then back to the head again.
"It's me, My Dear," A low and magnetic voice escaped from his mouth. It was a little bit husky as well, but not in an unpleasant way. It sounded like an alluring whisper.
"How?" Li Fei asked with a shock expression.
The man let out a faint smile before he raised his right hand. When it entered Li Fei line of vision, his hand disintegrated all of the sudden into a familiar thick dark mist.
"When you were asleep, I managed to gather a little bit of spiritual power from my meditation. So, I utilized it to gain control over half of my original power and managed to build a body of my own by fusing with the dark energy," he explained it with a low voice in order not to disturb the couple.
The demon returned his gaze to Li Fei. It was then, he saw Li Fei's hostile eyes towards the dark mist which was coiling around in the air. Her expression was extremely solemn and the wrinkle on her forehead appeared vividly.
The demon chuckled. He gathered the dark mist again and the shape of his white-jade hand returned. But, Li Fei only moved her gaze to him. She was still wary like a hedgehog that would prick anyone who come near it.
The demon sighed. "First of all, although it was a part of me, I couldn't control it completely after resurrecting you in this world. In fact, with the merging of our soul, my power was divided between us."
"You called upon it yourself when you tried to battle the beast. I was surprised too actually, you could drag out almost 80 percent of my power. Despite being a half-demon now, you are a complete novice and well, you're still half a human too on top of that," he continued.
"Then, what happened there if you said I could use your power? Why did I do that? I wasn't even conscious of my action," Li Fei blurted out.
"Well, My Dear, like all the things in this life. There's always a price."