"I'll check it out."This appalls Xiao Chen, leaving him with no choice but to follow him around."Hey, wait up!"The shadow runs away in a hurry, its footsteps making no sound. Its silhouette seems to be a young female with long hair.
Feng tails her around, into the empty shops and disheveled dojos. She finally halts in front of a two-storey home near the outskirts of the city, looking rather old and run down...but it felt familiar, even as if never having seen it before.
She starts to cry, and the two try to approach her. However, before she could even turn to look at them, she turns to dust...Feng looks up to the family home.
He doesn't realize his eyesight had begun to dislimn; he faints shortly after. Xiao Chen catches him, and he spends a good few minutes unconscious."FENGFENG!Feng, wake up! Feng..!—..."
"..."
The sound of children's laughter rings in Feng's ears. He couldn't comprehend this at first, but his consciousness was long gone. He soon found himself in the girl's memories; the blur signified these memories had already faded.
"Fanfan, catch!"A young boy threw the ball to her. She fails to catch it, and she stumbles onto the ground. The boy hurriedly runs to her, and she tears up."Xie Fan, are you okay?"
Feng then ascertains it's his mother in her youngest years. But, who is the boy?"I'm fine, Ge Cao...I'm just easily thrown back."Its...his father. He doesn't speak up, as these were but his mother's memories. He knew for himself they can't see him; they'd bitten the dust long ago.
"I think it's better we stop playing, for now, it's' getting late. You should go home, too."Xie Fan walks back inside her house, as Ge Cao stands there, looking upset. She looks at him through the second floor window. She just wasn't feeling it today.
That same afternoon, Ge Cao runs back home to his home hits a tree rather hard as he was lost in thought. He grabs a nearby branch out of spite, and he hits the tree as hard as he can. The branch then turns to ice, taking the whole tree with it. It soon shatters, and all that was left of it now was a pile of ice. Feng watched in horror, as he was still watching Ge Cao."Father...you—"
"..."
"FENG, OI!WHAT THE HELL, YOU SCARED ME! WHAT HAPPENED??"Feng is still half-asleep, but he manages to get up."...A dream. That insignia wasn't so wrong. Do you still have it?"Xiao Chen hands him the insignia, and it seems to be noticeably arguable that they still have a long way to go before they get to the bottom of this."It only broke off a tiny part of itself. Perhaps that was only a fragment..."
"What fragment?"Xiao Chen questions him."Father...he had known it since childhood. Frozen Forlorn.
He and mother originated from here."
"WHAT?! YOUR PARENTS GREW UP HERE?!BUT...THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE. IF THEY GREW UP HERE,
THEN ALL THESE PEOPLE WERE REAL ALL ALONG."Feng shakes his head, trying to make sense of all that's going on."Months before they disappeared...are we in the past?"
"We're already in another world, and then we proceed to go back to the past? That's absurd. Plus, we're still in a coma back in ours. We'd better hurry, time doesn't wait for anybody. We could die there at any moment and be stuck here forever."
"Should we report to the emperor about this?"Feng stands up with Xiao Chen, dusting off his robes.
"Better tell him a few lies to contradict the story. If we say too much, we might just find ourselves in a
far worse situation."
"Whether or not he believes us is up to him, but it's not like I could care less. I only see him as an old bag of bones; never will be my father."Feng looks at him obnoxiously but doesn't take it too far.
"Speaking of your parents, where are they. You're always avoiding the topic, you'd better speak up now."
Xiao Chen completely ignores the question, but he does make a promise to Feng."I'll tell you when all of this has settled. If I forget, make sure to punch me directly on the face."
"Isn't that just too diabolical for any kind of a circumstance?"Feng responded."Meh, it's just me anyway. Would it cause any harm to you too?"
Feng just brushes it off as a joke, but he does answer back at him."If you punch me back, I'll break your legs."Xiao Chen seems angered and surprised but what Feng had just blurted out."Wait,
Do you still remember that? Seriously?!"
"What, are you taking me for someone who easily forgets? It could be a decade from now, and I'd still remember it!"Xiao Chen sighs of nervousness as they leave Qin city on their horses."Our next stop will depend on where the insignia points. That way we'll be able to make sense of what happened before all of this."
"We'd better hurry then, before the sun sets. That thing's a real severity lure in and out."They prance through the solemn pathways exiting Qin city, entering Wu city's jurisdiction. Almost 30 minutes have passed, and Xiao Chen begins to speak again."Hey Feng, do you think those reverities are bound to appear now?"
"They only seem to appear at night. Swarm or not, they don't dare come out during the morning.
Perhaps the sunlight burns them, who knows."Xiao Chen looks around the empty forest, and he could see several of them hiding between the trees."Yep, you seem just about right. It's already afternoon though, if we'd left any later we would've been in real danger."
"We are literally at risk right now, Xiao Chen. If we don't get back to the east post within an hour, we're doomed. I may know frozen forlorn, but that doesn't mean I can protect us from at least a thousand of them attacking us from different directions."
"True, but don't worry about me. You tell me not to take you for being forgetful, don't mistake for being defenseless as well."
"At least remind me. I may have seen it with my own eyes, but running around in the dark isn't going to be enough to convince me. Spar with Zai shan all you want, but if you can't spar with me then you remain hopeless in my eyes."
"Oh? Is that a challenge, General Feng? I'm fully aware of your talent with words but don't disregard my ability to wield it just as well as you. Hopeless, huh..."
As they're chattering, a reverity stalks them from the trees. It seems to be following them swiftly whilst hiding from the sunlight just beneath the trees' prolifically dense leaves.
"Xiao Chen.Look."Xiao Chen sneaks a peek of the fleeting monster, somehow amused by its increased agility compared to the others of its kind."Feng, this one seems a lot faster. If you watch them carefully enough, you'll be able to determine their speed. An averagely healthy one shouldn't be able to catch up to a horse."
"But they're part wolves? Strange. They look like them, and yet they don't seem to be any faster. A lot smaller, too...they should be way faster."
"Hey, it's's getting faster by the minute.Look."Feng observes it for a while, and it really is getting faster...well, they're also increasing by the minute."!...XIAO CHEN, MOVE!QUICK, THEY'RE GETTING FASTER, AND MORE OF THEM JUST KEEP COMING BY THE MINUTE!"
Xiao Chen goes faster, his horse seemingly slowing down as the reveries increase even more."I WAS WRONG, THAT'S ONLY IN THE MORNING—THEIR SPEED IS JUST ABOUT COMPARABLE TO A RACING CAR ONCE THE SUN IS ABOUT TO SET—"
"XIAO CHEN, ARE YOU SERIOUS?"They spot the gate not too far away, as the sun had more than enough time to lower itself. The soldiers were outside the gate, preparing for combat. They rush past them, galloping over the traps they had set."YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS, GENERAL FENG!QUICKLY, INSIDE!"General Jin takes them inside impulsively, while the other soldiers hold off the reverities.
They sigh in relief, as the situation begins to calm itself. General Jin seats them near a campfire, while he lights the maple wood. The temperature had begun to drop, and they needed a source of warmth as quickly as possible.
"Please help yourselves to some water, you must be drained. I've already asked the maids to prepare some dishes for you in advance, know it's afternoon and you should be returning shortly."
"We are truly indebted to you, General Jin. Please, keep cautious of these things."Feng then chugged the container, seemingly still desperate for more.
"General Feng...are you that thirsty? If so, please still leave some for me..."General Jin tries not to chuckle, as he tosses another jug towards him."Despite being exhausted, his royal highness is still as deferential as so."
"Oh? Why thank you, General Jin! Now the reason why I have thy utmost respect for you has finally shown itself."His grin looked just as fiendish as his previous smirks, but this one was especially acting up.
"With all due respect your royal highness, General Jin has more than enough to spare you. Why ask a poor man for coins when he's clearly at a loss?"Xiao Chen's giggle as a response seemed to stagger due to this, but Feng's expression remained just as austere...
[To be continued in the next chapter, please be patient for the next one. Thank you for reading.]