"Well then, let me have it." He said, looking greedily at the orb. Haochen nodded, then knelt down to the Gatekeepers level. With a satisfied expression, the Gatekeeper reached out and snatched the orb, pulling it towards himself.
Haochen instantly felt strange the moment the orb left his fingertips. He felt even colder than before. The Gatekeeper rolled the orb in his hands. "It's been a while since I've gotten a piece this powerful, I can definitely pull him up with this." He raised a hand and wafted the top of the orb towards his nose. His eyes rolled back. "Goodness, this is what I've been missing for the last few years." He smacked his lips, swallowed the saliva in his mouth, then brought it to his mouth and took a bite.
Haochen gasped as he felt a searing pain in his abdomen. It was nothing like he'd ever felt before. It was as if the Gatekeeper had taken a wholesome bite out of his body. All he could do was clutch his stomach, biting back a yelp of pain.
The Gatekeeper chewed; his expression painted with pure ecstasy. "I really wish Calibri could taste this. Damnation, the flavor, so crisp, so mature. So intricate." Suddenly he took another bite and Haochen doubled over, feeling as if he needed to vomit his intestines out.
"I mean, it's divine. The perfect consistency. UGH! The creaminess! The sheer complexity! I need to savor this!" The Gatekeeper exclaimed, fanning his reddening face with one hand and grasping the remaining bits of the orb with the other.
Haochen gritted his teeth. After another hum, the Gatekeeper tossed the remaining bits into his mouth. Haochen let out a long, raw, drawn-out scream. Never had he been thrown into a fire before, but if he was, he imagined that the pain of having a piece of your soul chewed on, would be a very similar experience. His sanity felt like it was on the verge of implosion, and every fiber of his being burned in a repeated sequence of seemingly never-ending agony. It was as if there were needles within his lungs, poking and prodding till the organs were a non-functional mess, his breaths could only come out in short labored wisps.
And then, it was over.
He opened his eyes to see the Gatekeeper standing next to him, licking his small fingers. "Sorry about that, but you did deserve it after all." He said. Haochen panted as he pushed himself back onto his knees.
"Step back a bit, he needs somewhere to pop out of. Over there, by that wall. Stand there." The Gatekeeper said waving his hand. Haochen nodded, forcing himself to his feet and stumbling away from the array.
"Again, you may be shocked at what you see. Prepare yourself." The Gatekeeper said. Haochen stayed silent.
The Gatekeeper rotated his shoulders, extended his right hand, and twisted his wrist; his palm faced downward. With his left hand, he made a horizontal swipe against the air causing all the offerings to spiral upward. He dropped his left hand and then and clicked the fingers of his right hand in a clear, concise snap. The room became much darker, even darker than before. The floor began to glow a golden color. Then a large black hole appeared next to all the offerings.
For a moment, the opening remained there, with nobody appearing. Haochen stared at it, waiting with uncharacteristically wide eyes. When nothing happened, he glanced at the Gatekeeper who was grinning contentedly. Suddenly, a hand with long, delicate fingers could be seen at the rim of the opening. Haochen's eyes narrowed as he watched another hand appear. The fingertips were pitch black, but the color became lighter and lighter until it was a porcelain white at the base of the fingers. The fingers spread as if the owner was pulling themselves out, and soon, a head of silvery-white hair appeared along with a pair of lean arms. Before long, their entire upper region was through and their hair seemed to reach their waist, cascading down their body as if it were water. The person looked at the Gatekeeper who was standing in front of him. He was half out of the hole, but his silky hair fell away from his face when he looked up. From where Haochen stood, he could only see a side profile, but there was no mistaking the doll-like features and the long dark lashes that was a stark contrast to his hair. It was Li Jun, Young Master Calibri.
Calibri tilted his head, lifting a knee and pushing himself out of the hole. Haochen stared at him, his mouth slightly agape.
"Your Majesty, who exactly did you eat to bring me here? And why is so bright?" Calibri asked, his voice tinged with worry, raising his hand to cover his eyes, even though the room was already dark.
His voice was exactly as Haochen remembered it. The perfect mix between smooth and delicately musical, if you listened long enough you wouldn't be able to stop yourself from being drawn in, even if you desperately wanted to ignore it, no matter how hard you tried.
He stood up, his lean legs stepping away from the hole, his feet looked similar to his hands, black at the tips of his toes, and fading into the same porcelain shade as the rest of the body. The hole in the marble floor closed. Haochen couldn't stop himself from staring at him. It had been seven years since he'd seen him. He was much thinner, he noted with a frown. Calibri was always eating when he knew him, and while he was not unfit, his body was fleshy enough to create a soft look about him.
His eyes traveled from his face to his neck, to his chest, to his abdomen, and as he was about to continue, he realized that Calibri was naked.
His face burned and he hurriedly looked away. How did it take him so long to realize something like that? He shot a cold glare towards the Gatekeeper, not even surprised. The pervert must have been enjoying the view, getting off at it. Sensing his glare, the Gatekeeper's red eyes glanced in his direction. Calibri tilted his head again and followed his gaze, till it landed on Haochen.
It was the first time since his arrival that Haochen had seen Calibri's eyes, but it was not anything like he remembered. The once bright violet eyes were now frighteningly different. The iris was larger, extending to the corners of his eyes, without an inkling of white sclera visible. The pupil was dilated to such an extent that aside from the violet at the edges, his eyes were almost completely black.
His lips were painted a dark puce, a stark contrast from the natural-looking, rosy pink that he used to wear. Calibri was part of a truly distinguishable sect, with cultivators who could physically not hide anything. Not opinions, not feelings, and not lies either. Their emotions could be told by a sudden change of lip color, and the veins along their forearms and the tips of their hair matched that color. For that reason, their sect always had an opaque lip paint and arm-coverings on, and their hair was always covered or dyed at the ends with strong pigment.
Calibri's eyes widened and his hand shot up to his mouth. Remembering that his lips were covered, but he was still in fact naked, he let out a surprised sound and drew his arms to himself, hiding them beneath his hair, and dropped into a squat. Then, remembering that his hair most definitely had no pigment concealing the ends, he flung his hair over his shoulder and brought his forearms to his abdomen, moving into a kneeling position, covering up his nether regions with splayed fingers.
Haochen bit back a laugh at the innocent modesty. He was definitely the same Li Jun as before.
Calibri's face burned as Haochen stared at him for a while before looking away, taking pity on him. He snapped his head back towards the sheepish looking gatekeeping King of the Underworld with wide eyes. "Your Majesty, you did *not*." He said.
The Gatekeeper shrugged. "Well, what did you expect me to do? He drove a hard bargain. And he was delicious."
Calibri furrowed his brows, his nose and cheeks turning pink. "You need to give it back right now your Majesty, I won't stay here. I refuse."
"He's already paid, and I already ate." The Gatekeeper said. Calibri blinked rapidly opening and closing his mouth. "How could you eat it! He's-He's *him*!" He said, clearly very exasperated.
The Gatekeeper crossed his arms. "It's because it *him*. He deserves it. I'm not giving it back. I won't."
"Your Majesty, how is he supposed to handle the darkness? He's already dealt with much loss. His brother…" Calibri said, trying his best not to talk loudly.
The Gatekeeper's nose twitched, and he looked at Calibri sternly. This man was still more concerned about that traitor? Did he not understand what that man had done to him?
"He. Deserves. It. He deserves it and I *won't* give it back." He said.
Calibri glanced at Haochen with a worried expression, then back at the Gatekeeper and opened his mouth to speak.
'His canines are longer too.' Haochen noted, intrigued. He wasn't worried about what the Gatekeeper had said in the slightest. After all, he agreed to have a piece of his soul eaten.
The Gatekeeper spoke before Calibri. "I'll be dropping by to note the progress. And there *should* be progress. I brought out 16 parts of his soul at once, I'll need the 15 other ones you promised in exchange for it. Otherwise, he'll be sucked back into Underworld, and there will be nothing that I can do to stop it." He glanced at Calibri. "Also, give him a blindfold, it's dark in the Underworld, the light here makes for one bastard of a headache."
"Wait, your Majesty, where are you going? Are you leaving me here? With *him*?" Calibri asked, glancing at the Gatekeeper incredulously, his voice indignant.
The Gatekeeper seemed to contemplate something. For a second he looked as if he didn't want to give Calibri back anymore, but after a while, he concluded his decision. "Yes, Calibri... but I will be back. In the meantime, I suggest you find yourself some robes. Zhang Haochen has the eyes of a pervert."
Haochen narrowed his eyes at the comment but said nothing. The Gatekeeper swirled his wrist, looking away from Calibri, almost as if leaving him there pained him. He then clicked his fingers and was gone, leaving behind a very irritated, very much naked man, alone with the person who had betrayed him seven years prior.