Signs of movement made Snow instinctively hide behind a tree, and then the same little girl from before appeared at the entrance of the cave, her dark eyes searching the shadowy woods in front of her.
"Snow?! You're out here, aren't you?" she asked, looking left and right with a worried expression on her doll-like face, and Snow sighed, stepping out of his hiding place into view.
This was a risk he had decided to take. What was the use of hesitating now that he'd come this far? Going back was out of the question! So he could only move forward.
RimJan greeted him with a bright smile and signaled him to get closer.
"Here! We're in here! Come inside. It's cold out here."
Crossing the space between them, Snow followed her, the warm air coming from inside the small cave caressing his face, making him feel a bit less edgy.
"Oh! So you're really here!" RyuXin declared, jumping to his feet, and RimJan crossed her arms, raising her head with a look of superiority.
"I told you he was on his way!"
"Yes, yes you did," RyuXin confirmed with a gentle smile, patting the little girl's head, but Snow's suspicious gaze was immediately on the third element of the group, who was now getting up from where he'd been sitting next to one those magical fires.
"Oh, this is our older brother, YunZen. He's a bit quiet, so don't expect him to talk too much. And, of course, he's just like us."
YunZen simply nodded in a silent greeting, his face completely expressionless. Much older than the other two, probably even older than ZaiWin, he looked more MenTar's age. And, like RyuXin and RimJan, he too had black eyes and black hair. Tall and lean, his arms and legs looking a bit longer than they should be, his hair was braided in one single long braid, that started at the top of his head and slid down his back. And he wore the same kind of casual, common clothes as the other two.
"But it's so good that you managed to meet us!" RyuXin was saying, that smile that didn't quite reach his eyes back on his face. "We were just discussing how to get you away from your jailers. But here you are!"
As if he'd just been reminded of something, Snow turned towards the cave's entrance.
"I did manage to escape. But I don't know how long I have, before he finds me again," he whispered and the little girl pulled his cloak, smiling up at him.
"Are you here because you want to be free? Or just to talk with us some more?"
Snow looked down at her, at those pitch black eyes, and suddenly she didn't look as little as she seemed.
"I … want to be free …" he honestly replied. "But I also want to hear more about what you have to say," he quickly added, fearing the others might think that he'd gone there just to serve his own purposes, and RyuXin nodded approvingly.
"You're absolutely right. Since you've already made up your mind, setting you free comes first. We'll have all the time in the world to talk about all the things you want to know after that."
Snow relaxed a bit at his open agreement.
"Do you really know how …?"
"Of course. You're not the first one, you know? So, are you really sure?"
Snow nodded without hesitation.
"Very well. YunZen will open a doorway for you. You know? Like the one we used yesterday?"
Snow nodded again.
"The doorway will lead you to a big cavern. There lives an old man. He actually used to be a Jundai of the Temple, but he left their Order years ago, after he learned the truth about us, and how we were being used and murdered both by the nobles and the Temple. Since then he has dedicated his life to studying ways to help us, and he has successfully developed a way to free Tien'Elhar like you. Just answer all his questions honestly, and I'm sure he'll be able to help you."
"You're … not coming?"
"We can't. The place where he lives is a bit far from here, and YunZen can only let one person through, when he opens doors to such a long distances. He'll have to rest for two days after the doorway closes. I'll meet you then. Besides, I'm sure you'll need time to rest and recover. Like I said, as far as I know, it's not an easy procedure," he added with a pained expression and Snow nodded again. He was ready for it, no matter what might happen.
A pull on his cloak made him look down again, and RimJan gave him a bright smile.
"Good luck."
Returning her smile, he nodded and, when he raised his head again, a dark fracture was already opening in front of him, as if the air itself had been torn open. Like before, he couldn't help shivering. There was something fundamentally wrong with that … doorway. But then again there was something fundamentally wrong with him as well, the same way there was something wrong with ZaiWin's dark energy.
Nodding in appreciation towards the older man, Snow took a deep breath and stepped through the open gap.
He had feared he might get dizzy, or feel sick, or something like that. But he didn't feel anything. It was exactly as RyuXin had put it, as if he'd simply stepped through a door. So much so that he couldn't help look back, just in time to see the fracture close, as if it had never been there in the first place.
If it had been cold in Woodbridge, there, wherever there was, it was freezing cold, as if he'd skipped time straight to the dead of winter. Like RyuXin had told him, he was in a cavern, but this one was very different from the one he'd just left. Thousands of times bigger, the ceiling at least four times higher, it was all made of dark, glistening stone.
The sound of the wind blowing and whistling coming from his back told him that that was probably the way to the entrance, and so he took the opposite direction, diving deeper into the cavern.
He feared he would soon be unable to see where he was going, since he didn't carry any source of light with him, but the instant he turned around a huge dark boulder, a warm light at the end of a wide tunnel showed him the way.
Rubbing his arms and hugging his cloak as close to his body as possible, Snow walked towards the orange glow. But, once he reached it, all he could see was another woodless fire, some blankets and pelts spread over the stone floor, and an old, long wooden table covered with strange glassy objects and piles of books.
Someone was clearly living in that place, he concluded, noticing the sacks of potatoes, radishes and other vegetables piled in a corner. But whoever lived there lived without any comfort whatsoever.
"Are you the new kid?" a low rough voice asked and Snow instinctively spun around, to see an old, bent man, covered in layers of old clothes and blankets.
His hair was completely white and was tied up at the top of his head into a perfectly round bun. And a long, equally white, bristly beard hung from his chin and covered his chest. With surprisingly sharp blue eyes, his face carrying more wrinkles than Snow had ever seen in anyone's face, the man looked at him from head to toe and back up again. And then made his way to the fire, dragging his tired feet across the dark floor, until he finally sat on a lower rock that had clearly been placed there specifically for that purpose.
"Come. Sit. Warm yourself."
Snow obeyed, sitting opposite of him, and turned his ice-cold hands towards the flames, thankful for the pleasant warmth.
"That Xin brat sent you, right?"
Snow looked at the old man, still watching him attentively, and nodded.
"So? How long have you been bound?" he asked curtly and Snow averted his gaze, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"About two months, I think …" he whispered and the man frowned.
"You think?!"
"I … can't remember any of it. It's what others tell me."
"Hmm …"
The man scratched his white beard with a pensive expression.
"Take off your hood."
Snow obeyed but, to his surprise, the man didn't look surprised by the unnatural color of his hair at all.
"Silver hair. Silver eyes. This is new," he simply declared, sounding more tired than anything else, and went back to studying him with those sharp, intimidating blue eyes. "So? How did you get tied up to some Human?"
"I … knelt in front of him," Snow replied, and he couldn't help feeling as if he'd just confessed a terrible crime.
"And?"
Snow's eyes widened in surprise at that question. No one had ever asked that before. They had all assumed that kneeling was more than enough.
"And … nothing. That's all that happened."
The old man frowned.
"Are you sure?"
"I think so, yes."
"Were you given a new name?"
Snow shook his head.
"Did you make and kind of oath?"
He shook his head again.
"Did the other person make any kind of oath?"
"No." Of that at least he was certain. "They told me that our bond wasn't complete. That I had … chosen him, but that he hadn't accepted it. And so every one was looking for a way to … undo this."
The old man's frown deepened even more.
"Those noble bastards! Only caring for how good or how bad they'll look! I'm sure that if you were a golden-haired girl he'd be ecstatic to welcome you!" he grunted and Snow lowered his gaze. Maybe … But, after what he'd learned about ZaiWin's situation, not even that was guaranteed.
"Still … There's something weird about that story of yours," the old man declared, winning back his attention. "Can he order you around? Do you have to obey him?"
Snow looked at the crystal bracelet around his wrist and shook his head.
"No … But, in the beginning, it was very hard no to," he admitted. "Some times I would find myself doing as I was told, even though I hadn't consciously decided to do so."
"In the beginning?"
"Yes. Then I was given this bracelet, and it became easier to ignore him," he replied, raising his hand to show it to the old man, and he leaned forward to take a better look at it.
"Oh, I see. That will, in fact, protect you from his interference. A Jundai gave it to you, right?" Snow nodded and the man scratched his beard again. "He must have felt rally sorry for you. That's what Tien'Elhar children use, before they are deemed ready to choose their Chosen Ones. It blocks their sight and their senses to the power and vibration of other people's daitai. What about this noble of yours? Did he feel different or strange in any way?"
Snow pondered for a while and ended up nodding.
"He said that … he would die if I died. And he could always tell where I was, and find me in a heartbeat."
The old man nodded pensively.
"Well, there's no doubt that the bond between the two of you is incomplete, which makes things a lot easier," he finally declared, to Snow's relief. "However, it's hard to believe that you've been bound to him only for two months. Even though your bond is incomplete, even though you're wearing that bracelet, I can still clearly feel his energy through you. And that only happens a few years after a bond has been established."
"Years …? But that's impossible! I have never met any of them before! And a few years ago I was …" locked in a bedroom, tied to a bed, being tortured and bled on a daily basis, he thought to himself, unable to utter those words. A little whore that had spent ten years of his life serving whoever paid highest, he recalled harsh ZaiWin's words, a sharp pain he definitely didn't want to feel stabbing his chest.
"Well, there's no denying that you are different from all the Tien'Elhar that I've seen so far. Maybe the link between you just formed faster than normal. Whatever the case, that makes things a little harder."
"What do you mean …?"
"A Tien'Elhar is bound by their daitai to their Chosen One's daitai. In other words, your life force is linked to his, and his life force is linked to yours. Two become one. And so, when one dies, normally the other will die as well. That's also why, when a Chosen One becomes corrupt and amoral, the Tien'Elhar, who are very sensitive to these kinds of disturbances, get sick. There's only one way to break a bond like this. And that is to completely change the nature of your daitai."
Snow's eyes widened in fear at those words. It went against everything ZaiWin had taught him. Keeping his daitai clean and making sure they remained true to their nature was his most important task and duty, as a daitai bearer. He had told him so more times than he could count.
"You can see it like this," the old man went on. "When you first establish a bond with your Chosen One, one thread of energy connects your daitai to his, very much like an energetic bridge. As time goes by, more threads are naturally established, the bridge becomes sturdier and the link between the two of you becomes stronger. Since those threads cannot be cut, or you will both die, the only way to demolish this bridge is by changing the nature of the place where it originated from in the first place, the daitai themselves. It's like a vow. If the person who made the vow isn't himself anymore, but something entirely different, then the vow will be automatically invalid.
"When there's only one thread, you only need to change that small portion. But when there's more threads, the change has to be equally more radical. In your case, there are so many threads connecting the two of you that I can already sense him through you, even though he's not here. To undo all these threads we would have to practically change everything about you, energetically speaking. If you become a different person, then the one who established the bond will be no more, which means that there can't be a bond to begin with. Don't know if I made myself clear."
Snow lowered his head, squeezing his hands together, and nodded.
"I understand …"
"Now, this isn't an easy procedure to begin with. It is both painful and exhausting. And, in your case, I can't promise you'll be able to survive it."
Snow nodded again, his heart finally sinking into the undeniable truth.
He was about to die, he knew. He had told so himself those same exact words several times, since the moment he had made his choice, the night before. Still, a part of him had still held on to that small hope that he might just make it. Now he could clearly see that there has never been any hope to begin with.
"It doesn't matter. I can't go on, the way things are right now. So I can only try another path, even if it might lead to my death."
The old man nodded and stood up again, grimacing in pain as he stretched his bent back.
"Very well, then. Follow me," he told him and Snow took his time standing up.
Even though that had been his choice, his decision, he still couldn't help feeling anxious and afraid. With a second thought he reached for the small blue hairpin he'd tucked away in his pants' pocket and looked down at it, holding it firmly in one hand. If the worst were to happen, he would only be going to meet Sand, nothing else, he told himself and followed the old man deeper into the cavern.
"Here, sit here."
Snow looked at the large, stone slab, smooth as if someone had spent years sanding it, and sat down. When he looked up the man was already holding a small, round vial, filled with a thick, black substance.
"Drink this. Don't taste it. Just pour it down your throat and be done with it," the old man instructed, unbottling it for him, and Snow held the vial with a shaky hand.
Before he could even get it closer to his face, its foul smell had him already cringing away from it, his nose twisting, his stomach rebelling against the idea that he might swallow whatever was inside it. Swallowing dry, he closed his eyes and did as the old man had told him, pouring the thick substance down his throat. It tasted so bad that he immediately gagged, everything he'd just swallowed coming back up, filling his mouth. But then a cold, bonny hand was pushing him back and pressing him down onto the stone slab, covering his lips and preventing him from throwing up. Chocking, trying to breathe, clawing at the old man's hand, he had no other choice but to swallow it again, and it burned like live fire all the way to his stomach.
"Hold it in!" the man demanded, his sharp blue eyes looking terrifying, and Snow tried to obey, tears flooding his eyes, the man's hand almost smothering him to death. And then not only his stomach, but his entire back was burning, as if someone was cutting him open with an incandescent iron, and he couldn't help but want to scream in pain. But he couldn't scream either, with that hand pressing his mouth shut, and the pain was so unbearable that he just couldn't take it anymore, his mind going completely blank, his eyes unable to see, his ears unable to hear.
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So, I know, another long chapter. I could have cut in half but I just felt bad, leaving you guys hanging until tomorrow 😉 Hope you've enjoyed it, and please, don't cry too much 😅