Years later another crimson moon is going to take place, the mountain god sees the village chief is making her way to the offering table, she sets down a bowl of lovely fruit and asks, "Any sign of the Soul Drinker?"
"None my dear. However, it is still early yet, the eclipse is only just starting."
"You're right," replies the young lady, covering her mouth as she begins to yawn.
Both of them watch the right side of the bright full moon begin to change colour and then they hear the sound of faint thunder and they both turn their attention to the line of trees.
The next thing they see is the Soul Drinker, this time he is dressed in a golden half coat and all of his long fringe has been fastened back with a long light blue ribbon.
"It is so good to see you," says the chief, walking over to greet him.
The Soul Drinker smiles and asks, "May I?"
The young lady looks down at her sleeping son cradled in her arms and replies, "Yes, of course."
The god gently takes the baby into his arms and says, "My he is a heathy boy. Got some weight on him."
The chief is astounded how did he know that when she had not even mentioned the sex of her baby and begins to wonder, was he reading her mind?
"When did you have him?"
"A month ago."
The Soul Drinker's eyebrows rise and he repeats, "A month ago you say?"
The young lady giggles and replies, "Yes, I know he is as you said a healthy boy."
"My dear, you must have known you were carrying him?"
The chief nods and replies, "Oh yes towards the end my poor back ached a lot."
"I bet. My goodness, sure you are not an Annihilation in disguise?"
The young lady looks at him all baffled and asks, "A what?"
The Soul Drinker shakes his head and replies, "Forgive me. They are another form of god who are incredibly heavy. Well, not when they are infants like this little one. They only become heavy when they produce their fire... If I remember correctly it is when they reach puberty, it happens to them. Saying that their babies are like this a good weight, you must have good milk."
The chief's cheeks flush and she replies, "I think so too."
"It is good to see you again," says the mountain god, making his way over to them.
"Ah it is good to see you are still free."
"I sure am thanks to you. Now you have returned Kāihuā[1], and I can thank you properly." [1] Blossom
"Huh?" the Soul Drinker gasps, his eyes growing slightly wider. Then he shakes his head and replies, "There is no need to thank me, I am just undoing what my people did centuries ago."
The young lady takes hold of his hand; she looks into his stunning blue eyes and says, "Please stay for some tea and biscuits."
The god takes a deep breath; he gently hands the sleeping baby back to his mother and replies, "Well when you put it like that, all right I will stay until the crimson moon is over. However, my dear you do not have to remain that long."
The chief nods, she goes on to pour both the gods a cup of tea and they all sit back to watch the moon turn red.
The Soul Drinker starts to cough, he tasks a deep breath and says, "No need to look so worried both of you. I am fine this is just normal for me when there is damp air coming down from the mountains."
"Of course anything like that is bound to set you off," replies the mountain god, pouring him another cup of tea.
"Exactly. And beside if I get all wheezy, I've got plenty of herb bundles to use."
"Pardon me for saying I never thought a god could have breathing problems," says the young lady, bowing her head.
This makes him place a hand to his broad chest and reply, "I'm a Soul Drinker, we all suffer with breathing problems. It all starts when we turn a year old, we suffer a terrible fever; which can very easily send us in to the next realm. If we manage to survive it, then we have to go through it all again when we become immortal at the age of eighteen. Survive that, and we are left with damaged lungs and airway for the rest of lives."
Kāihuā is all shocked she finds herself giving him a hug, they both look into each others eyes and smile.
"You are a kind young lady," says the Soul Drinker, gently stroking the side of her face. "Now if you were not already taken and I was interested in women I would have some fun with you."
The chief and the mountain god look at him all shocked and he goes on to ask, "Perhaps I should not have said that."
The mountain god shakes his head and replies, "I think we were both shocked to hear you were not into women. I mean there is nothing wrong with it. I was just thinking you are unable to have children of your own."
"You are correct the only way for me to have one is to be with a woman. It is terrible I just do not see anything in a woman. A strapping young man and I cannot wait to take him to bed. The reason I held your baby is because I would like one of my own... well that is never going to happen."
"What you need is a woman who acts and dresses like a man."
The Soul Drinker laughs, but it soon turns into a cough and the young lady gives him a soft pat on the back.
The stunning god slightly raises his left hand and says, "Bless you, I'm all right. I was just thinking, tried that, didn't work. Mainly because women smell different to men and my nose is very sensitive, the moment it got a good sniff my body was like no, no, it's not happening."
They all laugh and the mountain god says, "Poor you."
Kāihuā moves closer to the Soul Drinker so she can whisper, "Then you have not found the woman who knows what to do to get a man like you in the mood."
"Kind of you to offer my dear, but we are not compatible and besides it is too soon for you to have another child."
"I did not mean me," gasps the young lady, looking up at the moon to see it has nearly all turned red. "I meant, in general you need a woman who knows."
"She has a point."
"Yes, and a damn fine one too. I'll do that next time."
They all carry on watching the moon turn to lovely shade of red, then their eyes are drawn to the ground when the strange hidden symbols begin to glow.
The Soul Drinker gets to his feet and mutters, "Just as I thought. You are not out of the woods yet my friend."
The mountain god quickly stands up and asks with a voice full of panic, "Why? What did he do?"
The book by the stunning god's right thigh rises up, the cover opens and the pages are flicked through until he comes to what he was looking for and says, "Just a little curse."
Even though there is no change to the Soul Drinker's emotionless handsome voice the mountain god says, "Oh I like the way you said that with such calm. My dear, I think it is time for you to leave.
The chief is helped to her feet by both gods and she replies, "Yes, you're right. I hope it all goes well."
"It will, he will be fine."
"There he goes again as calm as anything when I'm worried sick what is going to happen to me," says the mountain god, patting his heaving chest.
The Soul Drinker emits a soft cough and replies, "Nothing is going to happen to you, for you are safe with me."
"See you are in safe hands, and I could tell he meant it," says the young lady, before she trots away clutching her son to her chest.
"Right, stand right there on the altar and hold this," says the Soul Drinker, placing a crystal in his hand.
The mountain god sees it is a lovely shard as red as the crimson moon. He continues to watch the god do exactly the same pose he did when he used the Qīng jiàn to release him from the barrier. Only this time the shard is not to be seen, instead a strange looking rock comes floating out of the Soul Drinker's bag and begins to orbit around him.
Suddenly the odd looking stone rushes towards the mountain god, it seems to hover in front of his chest for a moment before rising into the air above his head.
It is soon joined by another which orbits in the opposite direction around him. He can hear a strange humming sound as they pass his ears.
"What is happening?"
The Soul Drinker does not reply, he is too focused on what he is doing.
The mountain god continues to watch the stones move faster and faster until they become nothing but a blur whizzing around him. He turns his attention to the young man to see beads of sweat are forming upon his brow, and it is clear it is getting hard for him to breathe. A small bundle rises out of the bag to hover near the Soul Drinker's mouth and nose, he looks to the fellow god to see his face is full of worry. He gives him a smile to tell him he is all right and carries on lifting the curse.
There is a flash and the spinning stones come to a stop on either side of the mountain god's head and the young man says, "I'll be right back. Just do not move."
The mountain god realises the young man is needing some private time and quickly says, "There is a stream in the forest on the side you appear in."
"Ah thank you," replies the Soul Drinker and trots off.
A strange mist begins to rise from the symbols; the wind seems to change direction and the mountain god becomes aware he is being watched from the shadows of the tree on the other side of the clearing. What could be lurking there? All he can do is hope the young man is back soon.
All of a sudden something comes shooting past him, and he hears him say, "Remain where you are you dark fiend."
This is when he hears a growl and a black mist creature comes running towards them.
"Yè jiàn," calls the Soul Drinker.
Something cuts the creature in half which instantly turns into a black cloud that gets carried away on the wind.
"I should have known Yǐngzi gǒu would come," he says, looking to the line of trees. "All right let's finish this. Yè jiàn, go after any Yǐngzi gǒu that appear."
This is when the mountain god gets to see Yè jiàn is a beautiful sword, all of the handle is inlaid with crystals and there is a long red tassel dangling from the hilt. It seems to have a will of its own and it bows to the young man before moving on to hover in front of the line of trees.
The Soul Drinker strikes the same pose as before, the stones once again begin to spin and soon become nothing but a blur.
The beautiful sword carries on killing shadow dogs every time they emerge from the forest and the mist from the symbols begins to intensify to the point they can barely see each other.
From out of nowhere there is a gust of strong wind and the mountain god sees the Soul Drinker has both of his slender hands together above his head and there seems to be a strange light blue almost white light emanating from the tips of the first two fingers.
"Kin'da unsa ka," he says in quite a bold voice for him.
Drawing his hands down the light from his fingers shoots out to surround the mountain god and each symbol upon the ground begins to flicker.
The Soul Drinker takes a deep breath, his hands part so the palms are facing the other god and he says, "Min daaa."
The mountain god is surrounded by a white sterling mist, every so often he can see the symbols on the ground, they seem to change colour and the two stones orbiting around him change direction.
"Un ta ka, lin da unmin san ka. Us'si ka hinda," chats the Soul Drinker, going on to take another deep breath.
There is a small rumble of thunder, the swirling mist begins to dissipate and the odd symbols start to crumble into a glittering dust.
This is when the mountain god sees the Soul Drinker is swaying; his eyes are heavy and just as he begins to collapse he rushes over to catch him in his arms.
The young god's left hand grips his arm as he struggles to draw breath, making him ask, "What can I do to help you?"
The Soul Drinker opens his bag, feels around inside to bring out a slightly larger bundle. He gives it a squeeze before placing it under his nose.
The mountain god gently picks him up and says, "I'll take you to my hut so you can rest."
All the young god can manage is a nod.
The hut lies on the mountainside, the whole structure is being kept in place with long poles, which only adds the precarious nature of the place.
The door opens all on its own, they continue in to a large room, where the mountain god goes on to sit the Soul Drinker down on a raised double bed. He gently removes the shoulder bag, setting it down on the floor. Then he goes on to remove the ribbon and pins from the bun which is keeping his long fringe back, making sure to place them all on the table, then wraps a thick blanket around him, and lies him down.
The young god begins to stir making him whisper, "It's all right you go back to sleep."
The Soul Drinker soon settles down and the mountain god leaves him to sleep.
Crimson moon, the unexpected god is © by Barabara Boot 2020 Published by DR21 Publishing. All right reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means without prior permission in writing from the publisher.