Darkness.
Eyes full of fear and defeat.
Despair.
Death.
As Zhou plummeted to the ground, his hand outstretched in a useless attempt at stopping Brother Feng from the floor that came closer.
Tears streamed down Brother Feng's face as his hand came up, trying to grab Zhou's hand. Was it out of fear? Did he truly want to keep on living?
"AMOS!" Ye shouted, his arm wrapping around Zhou's waist. Amos wrapped his arms around the two children, his entire body glowing a dark blue and enveloping the trio.
Crash!
Ye groaned as he got up, rubbing his back.
'At least it was a soft landing,' Ye thought. He looked around, trying to find Amos, but he was nowhere to be seen.
'To catch both of us in this type of area must have exhausted him,' Ye's eyes landed on a slumped body in front of them. His eyes darkened as he saw Zhou also looking at it, frozen. He pulled Zhou into his chest, holding the back of his head.
"Don't look," Ye said, caressing the back of Zhou's head. Zhou didn't respond, too shocked at the sight of a dead body. Ye slowly got up, taking off his robes and covering the body.
"Let's go. We have to find someplace to rest first. We'll deal with the body later," Ye said. Zhou slowly got up and gripped Ye's arm, his steps cautious and deliberate.
"Brother Feng... He looked like he was in so much pain," Zhou whispered, burying his head into Ye's arm to stop himself from turning and staring at the body.
'I'm sorry,' Zhou shivered as an unwanted memory of Brother Feng resurfaced in his mind. Brother Feng had mouthed those last two words to him right before the three had hit the bottom of the ravine.
Ye sat Zhou down, taking out the blanket and covering his shoulders with it. Ye walked around the small cave that they had taken temporary refuge in, making sure the place was clear of beasts and traps.
"Zhou, check your things in your spatial sack. It's not as strong as a ring so some stuff might have gotten damaged," Zhou did as Ye instructed, emptying his spatial sack. His weapon had some dents in it and his extra clothes had become unfolded.
"Oh, the box's lock broke," Zhou said. Ye looked over and indeed, the lock that had kept the box shut was now swinging below, the lid separating from the bottom portion.
"Woah!" the box shook aggressively in Zhou's hands, struggling to get out of his grip. Ye also held the box, trying to get the box to settle down. The box finally pried itself from their grips and flew deeper into the cave. Ye and Zhou looked at each other, staring at each other.
"Should we go get it?" Zhou asked after a moment of silence. Ye stared at him in disbelief.
"You really want to go after that box that we know nothing about, may or may not be sentient, and see what's going on?" Ye asked.
"I mean, what's the worse that can happen?" Zhou asked, getting up and walking deeper into the cave.
"Oh, I don't know, dying could be the worse that can happen?" Ye ridiculed, his tongue dipped in sarcasm.
"Stop being so dramatic old man, we're not gonna die. If we sense we're in danger, then we'll run," Zhou grabbed Ye's hand and dragged him along.
"What are you, the main character of a fantasy novel?" Ye muttered, allowing himself to be dragged along against his will.
After what felt like hours of walking, according to Zhou complaining every 20 meters they walked, they came to a small crack in the wall, the box at a standstill in front of it.
"I think the crack is too small for the little guy to fit through," Zhou said, peeking through the crack.
"Can you not refer to the strange box like it's a person?" Ye asked, picking the box back up.
"AHHH!" Zhou screamed, falling back as an eye appeared on the other side of the crack.
"Zhou!" Ye exclaimed, coming over to kneel next to him.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Zhou reassured, getting up and dusting himself off.
"Who are you?" a young but raspy voice asked.
"We should be the ones asking you that. Who are you?" Ye asked, his body moving into a defensive position. The eye darted and stared at Ye before noticing the box in his hands.
"That box, where did you get it?" the voice asked, staring at it. Ye hid the box from the voice's view.
"We'll hand over the box when you answer some questions," Ye said. The eye glared at Ye before closing, disappearing from the crack.
"Hello?" Zhou asked, taking a step closer to the crack. The wall shivered before being retracted, opening up a hidden part of the cave.
"Light a fire, it's dark in here," Ye followed the voice's orders, his hand lighting on fire. The dark space instantly became illuminated, showing who they were talking to.
"Huh?" Ye and Zhou echoed out. In front of them was a young girl, barely older than them, maybe even the same age as them. She had chains wrapped around her neck, her wrists, and her ankles. Her umber brown skin lacked any type of shine, the dirt that covered her skin not helping the situation. Her eyes had dark eye bags, her hair was tangled and oily. She looked like she hadn't eaten or even seen the sun in years.
"Stop staring and ask your questions," the girl said. Ye and Zhou nodded, coming closer to the girl.
"Who are you?" Ye asked first, earning a small eye roll from the girl.
"So formal. The name I was given when I arrived here is Ju,"
"Arrived here?" Zhou echoed.
"That's not important right now Zhou. Why are you chained up here?"
"My presence was sensed here the moment I came to this world. Unlike most summoned people, I kept my form from the other world. My spirit is off the charts and I was chained here to supply power to something," Ju explained.
"Something?" Ye pressed.
"Yes, something. If I knew what it was I wouldn't say 'something.' Although, I'm probably chained up because of an incident from years ago," Ye raised an eyebrow but set that aside for now.
"Why do you need this box?" Ye asked, taking out the box from his hiding place. Ju's eyes instantly locked onto the box, her eye twitching.
"That box holds my spirit. Since the lock is broken, the chains have been weakened, but without my spirit, I can't break them completely," Ju said, forcing her eyes away from the box.
"And why should we trust you?" Zhou asked, feeling a bit left out of the conversation. Ju glanced over at him before her eyes widened, her limbs moving from the curled-up ball she was into sitting cross-legged.
"You're a spiritless. I didn't think that I'd be able to meet another one like me," Ju said in awe.
"'Another one like me?' But you just said that your spirit is trapped in this box," Ye said.
"I also said I arrived in this world through a summon. The spirit is my body's, but I myself don't have spirit," Ju explained. She rolled her eyes at the clueless looks of Ye and Zhou.
"My real age is over 700,00 years old, add in 14 years if you count my life in the other world," Ju summed up.
"Hold on, 'other world'?" Ye asked.
"It seems I've been away from this world for too long. Even the concept of frequent summoning people from other worlds has ceased to be common knowledge," Ju said.
"So, you're saying that you are super old, you've been here before, you went to a different world, then got summoned here again?" Zhou summed up. Ju nodded.
"How do we believe you?" Ye asked.
"What are you, a broken record?" Ju muttered. She was finding Ye to be insufferable.
"Oh, the war between the spiritless and the humans! Have you read about it?" Ju asked. Zhou shook his head.
"The emperor released the records of the war about a month ago, so I've read through it a bit," Ye replied. Ju sighed in relief.
"Dang, what a stingy old man. Anyway, have you read about Xia Fang?" Ju asked.
"Yes, he was the one who lead the spiritless into their rebellion during the war," Ye answered.
"During that time, I was the one who opposed him and his ideology to hurt the humans. I was Xia Song," Ju said. Ye stared at her, dumbfounded.
"Xia Song? As in, Xia Fang's sister? As in, the one who was killed in cold blood by their own brother?" Ye questioned. Ju smiled bitterly.
"Damn, you didn't have to remind me,"
"Xia Song as in the one who although tried to help the humans at first was shunned by them for being a spiritless?"
"Okay, now you're going too-"
"Xia Song, as in the one who was the first blood in the huge war and betrayed by everyone she knew and loved, including her best friend who her brother was dating at the time?" Ju finally snapped, grabbing Ye's collar and glaring at him. Ye shivered at the deathly glare in her eyes, his entire being shaken at the sorrow, anger, and hopelessness in her eyes.
"Deadass, I will break these chains out of pure will to strangle you if you continue reminding me of my past,"