Bright light dispersed and strong sun rays shower over Chu Nuan's head. Squinting her eyes towards the blue sky, a strong scent of blood and smoke entered her nose.
"Hahahaha! Chu Nuan, you're finally here!" Arrogance evident in voice, a man with a single eye took a step forward away from the crowd. Addressing her with a provocative stare, the man grinned maliciously. "You don't know how long I waited for this day!"
Ignoring the challenging tone from the other side, Chu Nuan's gaze sweeps over the city instead. Grey smoke arises along the screams of innocent humans. Countless bodies lay on the ground in a pool of brownish liquid, fate unknown. The wail of grieving innocents overlap with the agonizing screams of people in pain as another vehicle crashes against thin air.
Demons invisible to mortal sight raise their arms to kill, slaughter, and destroy. Like children playing with new found toys, they flip, toss, and crush anything they could get their claws on. Mass panic continued to spread as civilians ran in multiple directions in order to flee from the barrage of invisible attacks.
Noticing the direction of her gaze, the commanding demon howl with another fit of laughter, "what do you think Your Honor? Isn't this a beautiful sight to see? Hahaha!"
Pulling her eyes away from the scene, Chu Nuan's line of sight flit across the crowd on the opposite side until landing on the figure a few feet away from the commanding demon. Trying to go unnoticed, Duanxian Yu hid among the crowd of demon soldiers with his head slightly bowing down. But even his attempt at blending in the crowd failed when Chu Nuan collided upon those purple pupils of his. Looking ahead without words or actions, she just stood there immobile and lacking an ounce of emotion. Firmly locking onto him the moment he was picked out from the crowd, but the light in her eyes as they directed at him is akin to a stranger who passed each other by. Apathetic.
Startled by her piercing gaze, Duanxian Yu maintains eye contact for a few seconds before moving away uneasily. The hands hidden inside his sleeves clenched tightly, allowing the pain of sunken nails to alleviate in the shaking of his heart.
"But Your Honor Chu Nuan, even if you are trying to stop us, isn't your army a bit too small?" The commanding demon snicker with disdain, "even though we have lost our former glory, we demons are not ones to suffer easily."
Finally capturing her attention, Chu Nuan glanced briefly at the commander before stretching her back with a soft yawn. Eyes drooping a little, she lifted her chin up at an angle in pretension as she snorted through her nose. "Trash."
__________
The musky smell of ancient documents accompanied their journey to the bottom of the archives. From the moment the duo, one dog and a human entered this sacred territory, countless eyes cast themselves onto them secretly. Although each member in the building did not blatantly stare, the uneasy feeling of being watched did not disperse.
Tightening the collar of his jacket, Fu Xi took a few steps closer to Blackie. Feeling the approaching presence, the black dog glanced backwards for a second before decreasing his speed by one beat. From walking in front to now traveling one step closer diagonally from Fu Xi's foot.
The tapping of padded footsteps echo around the seemingly endless stairways. Shadows of two, one long and one short stretch out on the grey walls and created an eerie overtone.
"Hey." Fu Xi said, his quiet voice enlarged by the emptiness of the pathway.
Blackie didn't bother to answer.
Not bothered by the neglect, he continued to speak. "We've met before?" Starting from the first conversation they had at the courtyard. Fu Xi had this strange conclusion about this black dog. That is, although it was their first meeting, he seemed to dislike him enough to avoid him whenever possible. But not to the point where he can't have a cup of tea when invited.
This mixture of actions did make him curious before, but not to the point where he will lose sleep over something so insignificant. However, after witnessing Duanxian Yu's strangeness and Blackie's silent appearance. He couldn't help wondering what connection this all had.
So he tried to pry further with little hope of an answer to come. And as expected, Blackie treated him like air.
"We are here." Coming to a stop, Blackie warned without looking back," don't do anything unnecessary if you want to live."
Approaching the large double doors, two large guardian snakes awoken to block Fu Xi's path.
"Who goes there?" A raspy ancient voice rang out and pierce through the silence in the air. Two pairs of slitted golden pupils open to scan the area below.
"It's me." Blackie's childish voice rang out in the large room and captured the attention of the two guardians.
Blinking their cold eyes, golden irises flashes with realization, ���why if it isn't Your Honor, Xiao Hei. It's been a long time." Lowering their heads to Blackie's level, their nimble bodies scrape against the stone pillars and cause dust from overhead the sprinkle down. As if the ceiling will give out the very next second.
"But I don't seem to remember you having an extra pair of legs?" One of the snakes pondered. "Maybe it's his new style?" The other snake answered, having forgotten the subject of their conversation is standing right in front of them.
"Let us in." Sighing tiredly, Blackie presented the entrance pass to the two guardians before entering the chamber with Fu Xi in tow. A bright light flashed momentarily before a room containing elegant undertones appeared before him. Rather than saying this is an archive, this chamber looks more like someone's personal study. Comfortable couches with intricate lanterns hung overhead accompanied by a small tea set placed on the surface of a round redwood table.
Rows of bookcases stood against the wall containing scrolls protected by a semi-transparent barrier. Among the many scrolls and ancient books, one scroll without an individual barrier stood out from the rest. "This is?" Pulled by a mysterious force, Fu Xi slowly reached out for the piece of document resting on the shelves. Unrolling its contents the information on the scroll records the story of a particular deity.
It reads:
"The third prince of the Dragon Tribe.
Wise, gentle, and brave, the Third Prince is the pride of all dragons and an object of worship for others.
Bearing a disposition akin to a lotus blooming amidst a sea of blood. One hand holds a sword while another holds a mirror. Banishing evil while reflecting the beauty of nature, the Third Prince travels between the Three Worlds to purify lost souls lead astray.
Leading a well content life filled with glory and light, this all changed one day. During a chase after an evil spirit, an ambush allowed the heavily injured Prince to fall down a cliff and into a dimensional rift. The rift transferred him to the Mortal World where a young human boy saved him from near death.
Thus, a bond was formed. Witnessing the harsh life his little savior is going through, in order to pay him back, the young Prince asked. "What can I do to repay you?"
Staring at the bright figure akin to light standing in front of him, the little boy, for the first time, reached out for something he desired. "I want to be someone like you."
And so, they participated in the Deity Succession Trials. Going through multiple worlds and completing an array of tasks, there were only a few more steps left to godhood. But it was then, that the boy, who then became a man realized. "It's not enough, this is not what I want. More so than what I have now, I desire something else."
Spurred on by such desire. That boy, in the end, became a demon.
Standing on opposite sides of the battlefield, the young man's eyes collided with his prince. Swords clash against one another within the battlefield where spiritual energy and explosions run amok. This is a war between demons and gods, the continuing eons of grudge and hate.
The Third Prince fought on the front lines against his old friend. But unable to hurt the one person he truly cares for, he took an attack to his heart.
The glorious Third Prince has fallen.
Following the Prince's death, boosted by the rage of watching their comrade fall. The deities overturned their weakening stance and overpowered the demons, winning the war. Over half of the demonic army was killed in the battle while the rest were able to run away.
Among them was the young man. Leaving only a promise before disappearing, "I will come back for him."
Following the aftermath of the war, a great funeral was held in honor of the Prince. But everyone knows, the Third Prince is not dead, his soul has left for reincarnation. And his body is kept safely in his Dragon Palace, waiting for the day he comes back after passing the tribulation.
After reincarnation, the Third Prince was born into the Mortal World without parents. A kind daoist picked him up and taught him the skills to purify evil spirits. He was given the same name he had before;
Fu Xi."
Staring at the two familiar characters written on the document, a sudden feeling of suffocation wrapped around Fu Xi's throat. Trembling hands clenched tightly onto the edge of the scroll as shaky eyes flicker with bouts of darkness. Unable to support himself, he fell powerlessly on the floor with uneven breaths. Thick hair cascaded down his shoulders from the abrupt action and caused the hairpin to fall a few feet away with a soft clink.
Covering his head with one hand as a wave of pain attacks his consciousness, blurry eyes open to reach for the pin ahead. Slender fingers stretch forward with apparent tremble as his thin figure twitch every so often with another surge of pain.
Grasping tightly onto the hairpin with a small sigh of relief, his awareness slowly fades away.