Beibei opened the door and stepped onto the black soil of the graveyard. Tontsei and Menji were waiting to see off the three of them. Nanate and Kunwa were both packed and ready. Moreover, a black hairless pig sat on Nanate's shoulder, while a pink hairless pig was being held in Kunwa's arms.
Tontsei was the old man Beibei had saved along with Menji. Lunaeri had given both of them to Beibei, to take care of her daily needs, meals and were the general caretakers of the Graveyard and the building. Through five years of better meals and lesser stress of torturous workload, both had gained a healthy body, and a glowing sheen covered their filled up faces.
Beibei grinned impishly, as she pinched Menji's cheeks, then swiftly moved back before Menji could smack her hands. The old woman pouted, rubbing her cheeks. Tontsei was grinning from ear to ear. His eyes turned upwards into crescents, the wrinkles on his face deepening. He loved these small moments of mischief and fun and care. All of his earlier life memories were of the mining camp. No families, hardly any friends, starving daily, working tirelessly...there was hardly anything of worth in all those decades of his memories.
To him, moments like these were precious. Moments he still couldn't believe he was actually enjoying, was actually a part of! A sheen of water covered his sight, as he looked on, wanting to etch every face and emotion into the deepest part of his mind.
"Don't wait here too long. The air here is not too good for the body. Stay in the lower chambers, or go over to Lunaeri's side. Peretie said she will give you both something to do over there for the time being. Don't know how long this trip will last. I'll fetch you both back once we return."
Beibei now had a gentle breeze-like smile, as she pulled out various small jade and stone bottles, and shoved them into the two old person's hands. She cocked her head and blinked at them.
"Better make sure to have your medicines regularly. I will count once I return. If I find any discrepancy....I still have a lot of Mottal Parsie potion left. Every pill you miss, I'll make you drink a small glass of the potion. Nutrients need to be supplemented in the correct proportion....right?"
Both Menji and Tontsei shuddered at her words, their happy smiles frozen stuck on their pitiful faces. Mottal Parsie was an ancient prescription, and was exceptionally good for the body. Very nutritional, had healing properties, and even helped in regeneration of the body.
But.....it was made from Baramate roots and Sorbeti plants, both found only in the Crater of Virage on the far southern side of the Claws of the Raven. And they were exceptionally bitter! They would have thought it was poison if Beibei herself had not drunk a glassful of it before handing it over to them. Moreover, she also forced a glassful down each of her partners throat. Peretie, who had been unfortunate enough to visit on that day, was also not left out. She chocked on the liquid and her own tears.....and decisively stopped coming over from that un-fateful day!
Both of them quickly put away the bottles inside their outer clothes, nodding ferociously to state they would pay heed to all her instructions. Beibei smiled widely, then walked out of the graveyard gates, followed by Nanate and Kunwa.
Palatun, the Horned Desert Bull was waiting for them outside the graveyard gates, looking rather morose. Nothing grew here....neither plants nor beasts. Moreover, no matter where he looked, all was black. Black soil, black stones, black rocks, black mountains. Staying here made him feel rather depressed, which was distressing for a young bull as him! If his master had not called for him, he would have preferred being in the far away in the Binti Highlands. Though that was also a desert highland, with sandy soil and rocky mountains all around, at least it was also thriving with desert vegetation and beasts. There was plentiful to eat.
Palatun looked up and saw the smirking face of his master. Yes.....five years ago, when he had been finally rescued and brought to the Main Sect, he had refused to settle down in the Harmony Space of the Sect, where all the beasts living in the Sect were kept, and insisted on following the little girl who had saved him from the storm.
Lunaeri felt it was unsafe to have a wild beasts roaming around the Main City. So she persuaded both girl and beast to form an equal pact. And thus these two creatures of different species came to form a bond. Beibei was much too laid back to take all the hassles of caring for a beast. Moreover, in the initial days she was rather stressed out with all the pressures of different courses, and would often go about her days feeling muddled.
So she did the next best thing. She searched for an appropriate pasture, and then set him lose. The highlands being in the vicinity of the Graveyard, was equally unreachable for normal cultivators. So there was little to fear even if Palatun was left alone. She could always know how he was through their bond.
Palatun perked up at her sight, and nuzzled close to her shoulders, looking more like a large dog wanting to be petted. Her smirk deepened as she slowly dragged her fingers through the thick fur on Palatun's body. It was luscious and silky and soft. It felt especially good when she lay against the sleeping bull, burying her face in the soft cushiony body.
Nanate and Kunwa had both made contracts with a Sarang Hound and Ghost Lizard respectively, and both jumped on to the back of their mounts. They were unable to make a contract with either of the two hairless pigs, which was very surprising. Even Lunaeri was unable to dissolve the prior contracts these two pigs had, but seeing that both of them were very obedient and harmless, she allowed the two beasts to stay with the two boys.
And thus the procession of five demonic beasts of varying sizes, and three humans swaggered through the scenic blackness of the Graveyard's surroundings, making their way through the Sodomone Mines on the north Virage Highlands and head towards Outreach Point.
Beibei sat steadily on the very soft and comfortable back of Palatun, but what was feeling right now was far from comfortable. In front of everyone else, she tried to keep up her nonchalant attitude. But now, riding in front, and facing away from others, she couldn't stop her mind from floating away.
Yesterday she had another dream. But unlike all the other times, she didn't forget what she had seen this time. Moreover, she had a nagging feeling that this dream was quintessentially different from all the other dreams.
As her mind wandered, and Palatun walked steadily through the black rocky passes, Beibei closed her eyes, and immediately her mind was transported to the forest of her dream. It was a strange sight. For there were no forests in these desert lands.
Yet, not only did she know this was a forest, she also sensed an extreme familiarity with the surroundings, as she got up and walked off through the forests, like she had been here many, many times before. The green light bounced off the dark shadows crisscrossing over the entire space, looking like an ethereal forest frozen in time.
Past the trees and creepers, past the line of shiny stones and grass and tiny yellow flowers bordering the forest, on to the soft, grainy white sands of the banks, walking on, closer and closer to the dark, shimmering waters of the large lake opening up before her eyes.
The sky was a hazy gray, with soft white light pouring out through the seams of the dark, smoky clouds. The white light and blacks clouds reflected on the surface of the lake, chasing each other over the glowing ripples.
And tiny fist sized yellowish-red creatures, with very long, frail tentacles fluttering on the wind, floated on the air. The tentacles acted like wings, pushing them up, down, forward and backward. The closer she came to the lake, more and more of these strange creatures broke through the water top and shot out into the air, slowly surrounding her.
Why was she not scared? Why did she feel such a yearning to look at them a little longer. Why did she want to reach out with her fingers and touch these little, strange creatures? As she looked around, lost in wonderment, a few of those creatures tilted their head to the side, as if looking at her in return. Then a tiny one, the one which looked the most unreliable and mischievous, broke through the crowding creatures, and rushed into her arms.
Beibei was startled, but her body reacted, and before she could think, the creature had already nestled itself into her arms. Soft chuckling-like sounds came from the invisible mouth of the creature, like low humming. But she could feel the excitement and anxiety in those soft, rolling sounds. Like...it had missed her!
Who knows how long she stayed in that dreamland, playing with those strange creatures. She had lost the essence of time.....till she heard it. The notes of a distant flute, which seemed to be playing right beside her ears at the same time! Soft and subtle, flowing like endless waves over the breeze, reaching out their fine, moonbeam like fingers and caressing her soul, enveloping her in their tranquility.
So calming. So refreshing. So....familiar.
Like an old eternal love.
Like she had lost her way.....and only now did she realize that she had come back home again!
Beibei opened her eyes, her mind still trembling at the memory of the dream. When she woke up today, unlike the other times, she had no leftover anxiety or depression. Instead she felt very calm and refreshed.
But now she felt depressed. She raised her face to glance at the bright sky above them. So much more brighter than the sky of her dreams.
Yet in the past five years, not once had she felt any attachment with this world. She always felt she was just a passerby, and one day this world, at least for her, would come to an end.
All the more she yearned to go back to the forest....to feel that familiar bonding with that strange space. To play with those creatures who missed her being. And.....and to seek out the one who was playing that once known tune on a flute. She really, really wanted to know what had been erased from her past memories!