Lao Lee
Lao Lee was outside Tyler's front door, knocking it repeatedly. He was becoming impatient every passing second. He took another look at his wrist and the symbol had already started to fade away. As this caught his eyes, his patience ran out. He chanted a spell and opened the door. Everybody who was at home was gathered in Kris's room, so no one noticed the old man entering the house. It did not take much time for Lao Lee to figure out his master's room. He slowly walked into the room. Mike was crying, holding his brother's hand, while Leo stood beside him, holding his shoulders, tears streaming down his own cheeks. Wei was crying in Tyler's arms, while Ming was crying in Theo's arms. The newborn babies were crying their lungs out, as they felt their bond with their mother slowly fading away. Lao Lee softly knocked on the door, everyone momentarily froze as they looked at his direction.
The first one to come back to his senses was Mike, as soon as he understood that the man who was standing in the doorstep was the shaman that caused his brother this pain, he felt raged. He stood up and dashed to the old man, baring his fangs. Leo caught Mike just in time before he did something that he would later regret.
"Are you here to confirm whether my brother is dead?"
Mike shouted at the old man in a raged tone. Lao Lee understood Mike's rage, truthfully he deserved it, but at the moment the most important thing was saving his master. So he took a deep breath and spoke,
"Can you leave the room, please?"
As these words left Lao Lee's mouth, everyone looked amazed. Tyler was the one with the most logical sense, and he understood that if Kris had a chance of survival, it was with this old man. But before he could give permission, Mike shouted back,
"Leave you alone with him? Do you think we are idiots?"
Tyler understood that he had to interfere before the situation got out of control, so he asked the old man,
"Can you save him?"
Lao Lee slowly nodded his head. Tyler was satisfied with this reply so he turned to Mike and said,
"Mikey, if Krissy has a chance to survive, this old man is the one that could save him."
Mike stubbornly looked at the old man with a disapproving look, but when his eyes landed on his brother's motionless body, he knew that what Tyler said was true.
"You have ten minutes."
Mike said to the old man and dashed out of the room, dragging Leo with him. Tyler slowly nodded his head at Lao Lee and exited the room with all the others. After everyone was out of the room, Lao Lee slowly walked to the bed, where his master was lying motionlessly. His master looked thin and pale, but his beauty was still visible. He chanted a sleeping spell on the twins and put the two blaring horns into a deep sleep. Then Lao Lee took out the locket from his pocket. He did the same process with Kris and completed the enchantment on the locket. But Kris's wound did not heal and continued to bleed. Lao Lee took out the necklace that held Lan's ring and hung the locket on the same necklace and placed the locket above Kris's heart.
A light blue light emitted from the locket and was absorbed into Kris's heart. Lao Lee took a step back, as Kris's body slowly raised up from the bed. As Kris raised from his bed, the blue light engulfed him, totally covering him. Then his body slowly descended down to the bed and softly landed on the bed. His appearance looked better, he was less pale and there was a hint of pink on his cheeks and lips. He also looked more healthy, like he had gained some weight. Kris's appearance was as same as before his mate bond was broken. The blinding blue light had spread all across the house, and everybody came running in, afraid that the old man would hurt Kris again. When everyone entered the room they could not believe the scene in front of their eyes, Kris was lying on the bed, in a perfectly healthy appearance, instead of the pale and dread appearance of before. Tears flowed out of everyone's eyes, understanding that their friend was going to live.
Mike was the first one to react, he ran to his brother and kneeled beside him, taking his hand in his and stroked his beloved twin's cheek. Kris felt warm, compared to the last time that Mike touched his face, which was a few minutes ago. Tyler came to Lao Lee,
"Thank you."
Tyler hardly whispered, trying to stop his tears from falling. Lao Lee simply smiled and bowed his head,
"I want to meet him after he wakes up, I will stay in the family room."
He said and bowed again. Tyler nodded his head, giving the old man permission. Lao Lee turned around and went to the family room. He felt drained, but he was happy because he was finally able to take a step in making up for his mistakes. He knew that after some time, Kris would wake up. When that happened, his master would be expecting some answers from him, so he readied himself for these questions.
Kris Mackwood
When Kris closed his eyes, he expected to feel pain and loneliness. But what came after he closed his eyes was something totally unexpected. After Kris closed his eyes, darkness did not swallow him, he felt something warm, land on his eyelids. At the same time, someone stroking his cheeks. Kris did not need to open his eyes and see to know the owner of the hand that stroked his cheek and the lips that kissed his eyes. He always loved this sensation and had missed it greatly for the past few weeks. It was Lan's hand and lips, Kris knew every detail about those hands and lips precisely, the width, the length, the warmth, everything. He slowly opened his eyes, afraid that the man in front of him would disappear if he opened his eyes too fast. When Kris finally fully opened his eyes, a tear escaped his eye unconsciously. His Lan was in front of him, he was finally back.
"You're back."
Kris whispered and hugged the figure in front of him. But as he tightened his embrace he felt that something was off. So he broke the embrace and looked at his surroundings. They were in the living room of their old house, it was the same as Kris remembered, but the only difference was that the furniture looked a bit worn out, and the light in the living room was too bright to be natural.
"Where are we?"
Kris questioned Lan. Lan gave Kris a small and warm smile.
"This is your memory bank."
Lan said twirling around. As these words reached Kris's ears, the bright smile on his face faded away.
"Does that mean you are not real?"
Kris questioned Lan in a sad tone. Lan gave Kris an apologetic smile and replied.
"I am a fragment of your own memory."
Kris took a deep breath and sniffed. He looked up and let out a small laugh. He was disappointed, he thought that he had gotten a final chance to meet his Lan before leaving, but it turned out that his mind was playing tricks on him. For the first time in a while, he felt self-pity, but he smiled, at least he could see and feel his Lan for one last time, even if it was his imagination. He gathered up himself and looked at the illusion of his love,
"So, why am I here?"
Kris asked from the illusion of Lan. The illusion looked at him thoughtfully before replying,
"Your lifeline is leaving your physical body, but your time to leave is yet to come. So, until then, you are here with me. But, don't worry, the one that can save you is here."
Kris's face brightened up with those words. 'The one that can save you', these words definitely meant Lan, so it meant that Lan is here to save him. But his smile faded as soon as it came when he looked back at the illusion. The look on the illusion's face said that his guess was wrong. The illusionary Lan understood that he should explain more before Kris made any more dream castles.
"It's your quarternix guardian that's going to save you, not your mate."
Lan said in a matter of fact tone. Kris simply did not understand this.
"My quarternix guardian? Who is that?"
Kris questioned back Lan. But before these words could fully leave his mouth, the light in the living room grew into a blinding light.
"You will know once you wake up."
Lan said before he blended into that blinding light. The light was too bright, Kris instinctively closed his eyes, unable to keep them open any longer. As soon as he closed his eyes, the old feelings came back to him. The warmth and comfort-ability that he was feeling a few seconds ago were replaced with coldness and loneliness. Kris felt drained and weak. From far away he could hear someone crying, he slowly opened his eyes to see who was crying. When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was back. Mike was crying holding his hand. All his friends were there, with tears flowing out their eyes. His two newborn angels were fast asleep beside him. Something was different about his body, he felt more comfortable and healthy than before closing his eyes. Kris slowly lifted his hand and patted Mike's head.
"Stop crying now, I'm back."
Kris whispered to Mike with a bright smile on his face. He was back and he was not going to leave again, not until he got back his Lan.