Chapter Text
The first thing Blade feels when he wakes up is the ache running all along his body. His arms are heavy like lead and somewhere on his left thigh he can feel tight bandaging while the pain burns all throughout his leg.
“Don’t move,” a voice says to his left, soft and smooth in his ears like water flowing in a river. It’s unique and familiar, it’s the first thing Blade hears. “The injuries you’ve sustained are great, moving might bring forth more pain.”
Blade cracks open his eyes and sees a wooden roof above him. He’s about to move his head to see who had spoken to him before a hand presses softly on his forehead, brushing back some hair that shifted and covered his eye.
“There are no wounds on your face,” the voice mutters, “but multiple shallow ones along the right arm, a broken leg, and a stab right below the ribs.”
There’s a pause and Blade can’t do anything but wait.
There’s a huff. “You’re lucky to have survived long enough for me to find you.”
A face peers down at him and the first thing Blade notices is his eyes. They shine like the moon, with a steady unyielding glow that challenges the dark which plagues the night, and Blade wants nothing more than to drown in the light he provides.
His savior has long black hair with tall blue horns that peak out from his head. His skin is pale and a singular golden earring adorns his left ear. And though Blade swears he would have remembered the face of a man so captivating, he cannot help but to feel like there is something oddly familiar about this stranger in front of him.
Blade stares up, his eyes wide. He tries to open his mouth to ask who the man is but all that comes out is a crackling noise. His fingers twitch but his arm cannot move.
The man’s eyes narrow and he turns to grab something before a cup comes into view. “Be mindful of your leg and ribs, I’m going to help you sit up and drink. If it hurts too much, let me know and I will find some numbing cream that will help ease the pain.”
Blade nods and sees the cup being put down before feeling the man’s hand’s grab onto his body. Slowly, the two work together to have Blade sit up, with much grunting and a clenched jaw from Blade as he moves.
The pain below his ribs is sharp but not bad enough that it’s completely unbearable to sit up. The man places a cushion behind Blade as he leans back against a sturdy wall. The man doesn’t speak until Blade is securely sat and he brings the water cup to Blade’s lips.
“Lean your head back slowly, I will pour.” The man offers.
Blade slowly drinks the entire cup and takes his time observing the room around him. He’s on a white cot with a long wooden table filled with all sorts of plants, bottles, and other mixtures on the top while the window to his right shows a forest outside. Small white labels are plastered on each of the items on the table and he wonders if he managed to stumble into an infirmary.
The cup is taken away from him once he finishes and the man puts it behind him on the table side. He turns and picks up some of the items on the table with narrow eyes as he reads from the labels.
“Who are you?” Blade asks, his voice still scratchy when it comes out.
The man turns, with a bowl in his hands, and hesitates before he speaks. “My name is Dan Heng. I’m a healer who lives in these woods and I found you injured on the outskirts of my territory so I brought you back with me.”
Blade swallows thickly and tries to sit up a little more before a sharp pain bursts under his ribs. He gasps and curls onto his side. He hears Dan Heng curse before hands are on him and gently lay him back down.
“I told you to be careful with your wounds,” Dan Heng scolds, his eyes trailing down Blade to look at the area where the pain is flaring on his torso. “Now I am going to lift up your shirt and put some numbing cream on. It should help ease the pain you feel there.”
Blade feels his shirt be lifted up and a gentle hand unwind the bandaging around his side. Dan Heng’s hands were slender and strong in appearance but in that moment there is nothing but gentleness as the other man spreads the cream around the wound.
Slowly the pain ebbs away into nothing but a dull ache and the feeling of Dan Heng’s nails lightly scratching the surface of his skin leaves goosebumps. The lids of his eyes are heavy and the feeling of wind cools his warm skin while soothing his mind.
Dan Heng pulls his shirt back down and looks back at Blade, his eyes making contact with Blade’s own. His hand pressed on Blade’s wrist, reassuring and steady.
“Rest,” he tells him.
Blade doesn’t want to rest, in fact he wants nothing more than to stay awake and to ask the man all sorts of questions, some about what happened, some completely unrelated to the situation, and a majority being about Dan Heng himself.
But his eyes are already closing and the image of Dan Heng is blurry in his vision. Blade’s arm aches but he still manages to reach out for the hand on his wrist. His other hand fumbles to connect with Dan Heng’s own, desperate and slow for the steadiness that Dan Heng seems to exude.
And before Blade passes out, he feels fingers gently locking between his own and he sees moonbright eyes staring into his own from above.
—
The second time Blade wakes up, Dan Heng is not there and the pain from before has massively subsided. The pain in his right arm has even disappeared and neither of his arms feel heavy like before.
He grunts and sits up again -- thankfully with the task being much easier this time around. He stares out the window for some time.
Blade isn’t his name but it’s what he goes by now. He doesn’t remember how he ended up in the forest, nor where all his injuries came from, but he has the faint feeling of bitterness anytime he tries to think about what occurred.
The last thing he could remember was running through a forest away from… someone? Something? There had definitely been someone there, but who? And why?
“You’re up.”
Blade snaps his head to the door and finds Dan Heng standing right outside the room. His eyes are once again the first thing Blade notices but the second thing, which Blade had somehow missed, is the sharp spear that’s strapped to his back. It’s long, sturdy, and sharp with the color matching the owner’s eyes and blue of his outfit.
Blade’s throat is scratchy. “How long have I been out?”
Dan Heng enters the room, his sleeves flowing behind him with every step. “It’s been a couple days since you last woke up. I’m not even how you had woken up with your injuries still being severe and the sleeping agent being fed to you.”
Blade stares at him. “You put me to sleep?”
“Only to ensure that you were not awake to deal with the pain of your injuries,” Dan Heng answers. He moves right back to the side of Blade and takes his arm before pressing his fingers to his wrist. His eyes flutter close as he presses. “Thankfully you’re healing better than expected.”
They fall into silence once more and Blade is quiet as he looks at Dan Heng, who’s hand does not move from his wrist. He admires the way the sunlight from the window rests against the elegant lines of Dan Heng’s face. How they curve angles into a shape that makes the other seem soft, almost touchable.
After a minute, Dan Heng opens his eyes and glares at Blade. “Stop that.”
“Stop what?” Blade blinks – oddly feeling a little pleased at Dan Heng's reaction.
“Staring,” Dan Heng responds. He shakes his head with a sigh and pulls his hand back from Blade’s wrist. “It’s distracting me from checking your injuries. If you want to stare at something then stare out the window.”
“You can do that just by touching my wrist?” Blade asks.
Dan Heng takes a step back, his hands letting go of Blade’s wrist. The touch is sorely missed. “Not exactly, but that’s not important right now. Do you know how you ended up with these injuries?”
Blade opens his mouth but finds that there’s nothing to answer with. The few images that pop into mind are scattered and laced with uncertainty. Were they even memories? Had the people and scene actually existed or were they simply something he conjured out of desperation?
“...I was running,” Blade answers, his skull pounding. He clenches his jaw and continues on. “There was something I was running away from… then I woke up here.”
It’s not a good answer – but... it’s the only thing that Blade can be sure of at this moment.
The wind from the window is gentle against his skin as it brushes against him. The fresh air is a nice distraction against the burning frustration and pounding in his skull. His memories are nothing but wet paper, the more Blade tries to grab at them the more they dissolve.
Blade isn’t expecting a hand, cool and steady, to fall on his shoulder.
“Your memories are either purposefully blocked by someone or are a result of a non-visible head injury.” Dan Heng’s eyebrows furrow in thought. “If it’s the former then there’s little you can do but wait for the effect to go away, which might take weeks to even years to break away from depending on how they were blocked. And if it’s the latter, I’ll need to look into remedies which can help heal head injuries.”
Blade’s mouth feels dry and he swallows roughly before speaking. “Which do you think it is?”
Dan Heng shakes his head and pulls away. The cool feeling of his hand against Blade’s burning skin is sorely missed. “It is too early to tell. If I’m regularly checking in on you then I may be able to tell within a couple days to a week's time. However if I can’t detect an injury after a week then I’ll have to assume it’s likely that your memories were blocked by someone.”
“...How can you tell all of that?” Blade tilts his head.
Dan Heng gives him a look. “You were… being serious?”
Before Blade can speak again, Dan Heng stands up and moves out of the room. For a second he can’t help but to wonder if he’s offended Dan Heng somehow before the other man returns with a thick, brown book in hand.
“This book has some information on the local nations, species, and flora,” Dan Heng says. He places the book beside Blade’s hip and grabs a chair before sitting down next to Blade. “I’m one of the long-life species in Xianzhou. I’m a Vidyadhara, meaning that I am a descendant of Yaoshi, an infamous being known for cursing many different species with long-life in Xianzhou while disguising it as a gift.”
“You are immortal?”
Dan Heng’s eye twitches and his lips turn down. “In a way, yes. My body will self-reincarnate when it is time for me to die and I will form a new body. That body will also be a Vidyadhara and – by all means me. But that body will hold none of my memories or experiences. It is simply a product of my past self.”
“Can you even truly say that he would be you then?” Blade snorts. He straightens up and turns to look at Dan Heng better, admiring the blue color and gold shimmer of his horns. “Are your horns a result of you being a Vidyadhara?”
Dan Heng narrows his eyes and gives Blade a cautious glance, almost like he expects him to reach out and touch his horns. “Yes, but I don’t see how that’s relevant.”
“I don’t have horns.” Blade points out with a smirk, resisting the urge to laugh at the look on Dan Heng’s face. Maybe he should try touching his horns sometime – just to see how Dan Heng will react. “So it’s probably unlikely I’m a self-reincarnated Vidyadhara, we can cross that off the list.”
“Some Vidyadhara’s can disguise themselves as a normal human, but if you were one then I would have sensed it the moment I touched your wrist.” Dan Heng informs. “You are a short-life human, judging by the way your energy flows and that you are healing.”
Blade tilts his head, thinking about the frown Dan Heng had before, and he's consumed by the desire to push even more. “Do Vidyadhara’s have a tail?”
Dan Heng’s eye twitches. “No. Now when I was holding my fingers to your wrist I was checking the flow of the energy in your body. When one is injured the flow becomes messed up in the location of the injury and I can sense that, although-”
“Do you have a tail?” Blade interrupts, his lips twitching in amusement as he glances back to see no tail – oh that was disappointing.
“No,” Dan Heng huffs, his eyebrows furrowing even harder and a frown on his face. “Now, it will take a while for me to do a proper assessment for your head but I haven’t caught anything there so far. I’ll look into remedies to help aid in head injuries and-”
Blade can’t help the twitching of his lips as he glances down near Dan Heng’s lower back. “Are you secretly hiding it in your clothes?” He asks.
“I don’t have a tail of any kind!” Dan Heng snaps. His eyes shine brightly as he downright glares at Blade with a small flush on his cheeks. He stares at him for a second before his face goes lax as he sighs, his cheeks puffing a little. “You’re teasing me, aren’t you?”
“It’s the first time I’ve met anyone.” Blade smiles, feeling pleased with the reaction he had been rewarded with. “I’m afraid I’m not very accustomed to what’s normal for a person to have, much less a Vidyadhara. You can blame my lack of memories and my thirst for knowledge.”
Dan Heng gives him a long look before he shakes his head with a sigh. “Then I’ll make sure to offer you my library so that you can learn. Now, with your current situation I’m afraid it’ll be some time before you’ll be able to heal enough to even manage walking. I doubt with the way your leg broke that you’ll be able to stand at all right now, or even in a month.”
At the mention of his legs, Blade involuntarily flexes them and hisses at the sharp pain that comes from his right leg. He curls up into himself and feels hands around his arms, pushing him into sitting up.
“Or move them, for that matter,” Dan Heng finishes, exasperated. His hand falls away and he reaches over the table to grab a bowl.
In the bowl there’s a green liquid, thick, and smelling like the dirt of the forest. Blade wrinkles his nose when it’s passed to him and Dan Heng gives him a waiting look. Blade takes another whiff and nearly gags at the pungent scent.
Blade grits his teeth, the phantom shocks of the pain mocking him now. “You want me to drink this?” He stares at Dan Heng with disbelief.
“It’ll numb your leg so you won’t be in pain,” Dan Heng offers.
Blade’s hand shakes so hard when he raises the bowl to his lips that some of the liquid falls onto his lap below. Dan Heng’s hand, reliable and secure, covers his own and helps him drink the bitter juice.
Once done, Blade pulls back and coughs. The bitter tinge of the mixture lingering uncomfortably on his tongue as he sits there, waiting for the effect to kick in. However, not even a minute later, the sharp pain begins to ebb away into a dull ache and then a soft nothingness.
“Do you…” Dan Heng begins before clearing his throat. “Do you remember your name?”
Blade opens his mouth to answer before he finds himself stopping in his tracks.
Blade… is that even really a name? It doesn’t feel like one, rather it feels like a nickname or code name more than anything. But, he doesn’t really have anything else now, does he? He may not know his name but he also doesn’t know his age, his heritage, or even his species.
“I was called Blade,” he answers.
Dan Heng is silent for a second, the wind brushing against the two of them, before he speaks. “Would you be fine if I called you Ren?”
“Ren?” Blade questions.
Dan Heng nods. “It’s a common name in Xianzhou that also happens to mean blade. You don’t have to go by it, but if you can’t recall your name then you might be more comfortable going by this for a while rather than just Blade.”
Blade thinks for a second, letting the name Ren run through his head a couple times before he nods. “Ren works.”
“Then, Ren, I’m afraid that due to the damage in your right leg you will have to spend your recovery here to ensure that you heal properly.” Dan Heng reaches to take the empty bowl away from his lap so he can put it back on the table. “I’ll give you some medicine every day to help your recovery and I’ll regularly check on the energy in your body, but it’ll take some time before you will be able to stand, much less walk.”
Blade takes in the information and finds himself not opposed to the idea of staying with Dan Heng, though the other man spoke like it was a second choice for Blade. With the injuries on his body and the lack of memories he has, was there really any other good option?
He nearly snorts at the idea of crawling in the forest and imagines himself dying pathetically next to a tree. “I suppose I’ll be in your care then, Dan Heng.”
Then a loud rumble comes from Blade’s stomach and he finds himself noticing his hunger over his pain.
“There’s some stew I made for lunch earlier,” Dan Heng offers. Blade swears he can see his lips twitch upwards at the noise .
Blade nods tentatively, feeling a little embarrassed at the loudness of the noise. “That would be good.”
Dan Heng leaves without a word and the room falls into a calming quiet for a minute. In that minute there is nothing but the sound of birds outside and the wind rustling the leaves and branches of all sorts of plants. If he listens hard enough, Blade can even swear he hears a fire crackling from somewhere.
There’s a knock on the door and Dan Heng enters with a bigger bowl in his hand. He sits down and offers the stew to Blade. Then he moves to shuffle through some more of the bottles and bowls on the table – he’s paying little attention to Blade as he eats.
The meal goes by quietly with few words between the two. Blade spoons the food into his mouth carefully – noting how the food happens to be a tad bit cold and flavorless – but he still eats without complaint. His arm can’t help but to shake heavily with each motion and eventually pain begins to bloom in his arm. Despite it, Blade continues to eat without trying to alert Dan Heng.
He sets the bowl on the table with gritted teeth as the pain aches all over. Dan Heng’s eyes flash towards him, glancing down at his arm, before he pulls a disappointed face.
“You should have stopped eating the second it hurt,” Dan Heng informs, grabbing at a bowl with a greenish salve on the table. He sits down and holds his hand out expectedly. “May I have your right arm, Ren?”
It sounds more like a demand – but it’s one Blade is more than happy to comply with.
Blade quietly offers it and feels his sleeve pushed up. It’s then that he can properly see his arm for the first time – and oh, that doesn’t look so good.
The skin from below his wrist to shoulder is tightly bandaged with brown and red stains marking the faded white throughout. Dan Heng’s touch is gentle when he unravels the wrap but Blade still can’t help but to hiss as it’s pulled off.
Blade doesn’t remember what his arm looked like before but he has a feeling that the various slices, stabs, and bruises painting his skin aren’t supposed to be there. He isn’t sure how he didn’t feel them all before, or even notice the pain, unless Dan Heng had been regularly applying a pain killer. He grits his teeth and studies the injuries as Dan Heng’s hands move carefully, rubbing the salve onto the edges of each of the wounds.
Dan Heng must truly be a skilled healer – as the worst of the pain begins to fade away after only a minute later the salve is applied.
He’s rebandaging Blade’s arm when he finally speaks again. “This mixture isn’t as strong or specialized as the drink I gave you earlier, but it’s better at closing up skin wounds, especially shallow ones like yours. I’ll need to go into town later to restock it since I’ve burned through most of it while trying to heal your arm.”
“It looks bad,” Blade remarks. He pauses and looks back down at his forearm. “These are the least worrisome injuries?”
Dan Heng ties the bandage a little too tightly on the end of his wrist but Blade doesn’t mind. “If your leg doesn’t heal properly you may never walk properly on it again, and if the stab had been slightly angled to your right then you would have died. It is nothing but a miracle that you are alive.”
Blade looks up at Dan Heng, his eyes lingering on the other man who doesn’t seem to notice his gaze, before he nods. “I suppose so.”
“I’ll let you read the book in peace for now but please use your left hand so your right one can heal.” Dan Heng stands up and grabs both of the empty bowls and the bottle. “I need to clean the dishes and do some work around the house. If you need me, try calling for me and I should be able to hear you unless if I happen to be out in the garden. Your pain should be minor for tonight but if it worsens, let me know immediately.”
Blade watches quietly as Dan Heng leaves and the door closes with a soft click. He debates on calling for Dan Heng right there, wondering if he would be annoyed like earlier if Blade called him so soon, before he shakes the idea away.
Blade looks down at the book and picks it up with his left hand. He deposits it on his lap and begins to read.
The first thing he learns is that Xianzhou is a nation, specifically the one they must be residing in. It’s the largest out of the nearby nations and has multiple territories and species residing in it.
There are two types of humans in Xianzhou, the long-life humans and the short-life. The long-life are rare and seem exclusively native to the Xianzhou Luofu, the largest and central territory of Xianzhou. They had been cursed by Yaoshi, a near mythical being who aimed to bless the citizens of the Luofu with immortality. However, the gifted immortality turned out to be some sort of half-assed type that often led to people becoming stricken by something called Mara.
The book – much to Blade’s disappointment – lacks a good description on the symptoms of Mara other than a vague description of madness.
He can’t help but to contemplate for a bit on the possibility that he was Mara-struck before he remembers that Dan Heng said he was a short living human. If that was true then it was unlikely he was Mara-struck – besides, wouldn’t Dan Heng have been able to sense it?
Blade huffs and flips the pages – skipping the boring sections about the politics, history, animals, and plants in Xianzhou. He’s about three-quarters through the book when he finally finds it.
The section about Vidyadhara’s is undeniably the most fascinating part of the book, which really is a bore. Most of this hadn’t felt like new information to him, it was more so like he was just recalling facts he didn’t quite have down in his head yet. Sure it was helpful Blade supposes – but really it was all so boring.
Blade has reread the section about three times when there’s a knock at the door. He raises his head and watches as Dan Heng enters the room. His hair has changed and is now pinned back in a neat style with a light blue and silver lotus flower pin.
“I was about to start dinner,” Dan Heng begins, he walks forward and continues,” but then I realized you may have remembered if there were certain food preferences you… have….” he trails off, looking down at the book as it’s opened widely to the section on Vidyadhara’s.
Blade looks up at him, his eyes full of amusement. “So, were you lying about not having a tail before? It says that most Vidyadhara begin their life with a tail and high-ranking ones are capable of vanishing theirs completely on will.”
Dan Heng’s cheeks flush a soft pink as he looks to the side before giving Blade a glare. His eyes are a cool blue – and, really, it might have been intimidating at another time if his blush wasn’t so visible. “Did you read that section purely to mess with me even more? Ren, I had given you that book to help remember.”
“The other sections were boring and old news,” Blade shrugs, though for all his nonchalance he can’t help but to curl his fists a little out of frustration, “or at least they felt like it. It jogged my recollection of a couple things but it was nothing about myself, or any of my memories. It just felt more like I was remembering facts about everything else.”
But there was nothing about himself.
His memories… would they ever even come back?
There is no more pain in his head when he tries to think back on his life – and somehow this was worse than when there had been an ache. At least then he had known that there was something that stopped him but now he has nothing, nothing but emptiness where it all should have been.
How was it that the dull ache of nothingness hurt more than the sharp ache of pain?
Blade hasn’t even noticed the silence in the room until he hears the floorboards creak and remembers that Dan Heng is in the room too. His head snaps to see Dan Heng, less than a foot away, taking the book gently from his lap to put it over on the table. His eyes shine brighter than the sunlight that hits them.
“There is no need to worry or rush.”
The room falls into silence for a second more as the two stare at each other. Blade watches as Dan Heng’s eyes roam around Blade’s face in contemplation before he turns to look out the window, the sunlight reflecting off of the pin in his hair as he opens his mouth.
“I was once told by a dear friend that there are things in this world that will always return to us because they belong to us.” Dan Heng pauses, continuing to stare out the window as his voice grows heavy with an emotion that Blade can’t identify. “Your memories are undeniably yours, so they will find their way to you. Perhaps this is not always the case but I’ve heard that with patience and time, all that is meant for us will find its way back to us.”
A bird chirps and the sun begins to set outside. The sky takes on a beautiful shade of orange and it’s truly a shame that the sun is setting so soon.
Blade hums, breaking the quiet that’s become too much. “I believe I don’t like tomatoes.”
“I’ll make sure not to add it into the food then.” Dan Heng nods. He pauses for a moment before turning to face Blade. “Would you like to eat here, or at the table?”
Blade looks at him then down at his leg – watching as the numb flesh lays limp. “I can’t walk.” He points out.
Dan Heng raises an eyebrow slightly. “I have two arms. I could carry you and set you down to the table if you wish.”
Blade blinks and looks the other man up and down, carefully noting the slender look of his body and the elegance in his form compared to Blade’s own body. And oh – he can’t help but to snort a little at Dan Heng’s offer.
“Will that be possible?” He muses, watching as the other huffs and gives him a blank stare. He can’t help but to grin at the idea of seeing Dan Heng’s flustered face once more. “I mean no offense, of course, but it appears that I’m much taller and bigger than you in more ways than one.”
Dan Heng shakes his head, a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. “Oh. I’m afraid you must have not read the book properly then.”
Blade’s eyes go wide. “Wait-“
Arms are wrapping around him before Blade knows it and he feels himself being lifted off of the bed. He doesn’t gasp – Blade swears he doesn’t – but he will admit that he does freeze in place as he’s being picked up.
There’s a soft noise that almost feels like a laugh and Blade’s heart stutters. He snaps his head up to find Dan Heng with a small smile curling on his lips. There’s the smallest flush of pink on his cheeks and barely any visible effort being used to pick up Blade, despite Dan Heng being so much smaller.
Blade can only stare at him in awe as they walk out of the room, which causes Dan Heng’s amusement to fade away into something more shy. His flush is still there and Blade wishes he could poke at his pink cheeks without the threat of pain in his right arm and being dropped.
The room they enter must be the main area, which seems to be a loosely separated living room, dining room, and kitchen all at once. In the living room section there’s a table, couch, bookshelf, and a fireplace, which must have been where the crackling was coming from.
Dan Heng walks over to the couch, white and well cushioned with all sorts of colorful pillows, and sets Blade down. His hands move with a gentle care so he does not jostle Blade’s legs or arm, which Blade can’t help but to feel thankful for. He sets up a small mound of pillows so Blade can rest his legs on them and then lets Blade fall back comfortably on them.
“The fire will not go out but, if you’re cold, I can grab a blanket,” Dan Heng offers. He stands up from Blade’s side and looks over at a table where a lantern sits.
Blade shakes his head, trying to ignore the warmth on his own cheeks as he looks out the window. The forest really is lovely and he can even see a small fenced off area outside. “No, I’m fine. Do you have any books I could read?”
“Was the last book really not interesting?” Dan Heng frowns a little. It seems like he had found the information about Xianzhou interesting, maybe Blade had finally found a flaw within him.
“I’m not interested in politics,” Blade continues idly, his eyes scanning around the room and finding a large spear hung on the wall. He straightens up a little and nods in the direction of the spear. “Is that yours?”
Dan Heng turns and looks at the spear before nodding. “Yes. Cloud Piercer has been with me for as long as I can remember. Most of the time I bring it with me whenever I leave the house, both for the safety of myself and others.”
Blade examines the elegant and slender spear. It was long, easily towering over Dan Heng if it were to stand straight, and a half-white half-black ball was settled near the top half, right before the spear sharpened into a deadly weapon. There was a piece of red fabric, long and thick, that was tied near the bottom half. The craftsman of it surely had to be a skilled artisan, who had managed to create a spear that had to be with Dan Heng in mind. There was no way this was a creation meant for someone else.
“It’s beautiful.” Blade whispers while staring. He doubts he could look away now if he even wanted to.
“Do you like weapons?” Dan Heng asks. He turns and walks over to a bookshelf before pulling a thin but tall book. He pauses for a second before pulling a couple more books off the shelf until he finally places a small pile next to Blade. “I have numerous books on weapons in my library, some about the history of them and others about the craft. Feel free to read some of them.”
Blade takes the book on top and reads the cover before opening to the first page. It’s about the history of swords and the different types of swords in Xianzhou. He puts the book down on his lap, still being mindful of the way his legs had ached and grateful for the drink Dan Heng had given him earlier.
“I’ll head out to the garden and get some vegetables for our dinner,” Dan Heng says, already turning to leave. He reaches over and grabs a hand held lantern from one of the hooks on the wall before he produces a match from his sleeve.
Blade looks up from the book and glances at the pile before calling out. “There’s a garden here?”
Dan Heng stops midway through striking the match before he strikes it and lights the lantern up. He blows the match out and picks up the lantern. “Yes. I do go to the nearby village to buy most of my supplies but I find it easier to grow some of the vegetables and plants myself. It’s a…” he pauses, looking a little embarrassed, “relaxing activity, while also helping save some money. You can see the garden from the window.”
Blade glances out the window and finds himself noticing the fenced area a little more. It’s a bit too far for him to see any of the ground but he imagines that he would be able to see Dan Heng in the garden without much of an issue, so long as he sits up a bit straighter.
“Don’t tear the stitching I did on your side,” Dan Heng stammers out when Blade tries to sit up even more. He puts the lantern to the side and his hands are pushing Blade down onto the pillows once more. “You do realize that you nearly died, right?”
Blade shrugs idly. “I was just trying to see the plants,” he explains.
“You’ll see them when you’ve healed a little more, Ren,” Dan Heng sighs. He grabs the lantern once more and moves back towards the door, which Blade assumes is the only door out of this cabin. He stops near the door, his free hand on the handle, and gives Blade a serious look. “Make sure to refrain from doing any strenuous activity that could reopen or worsen your wounds. Even if you’re healing a lot faster than expected it’s still very possible that you could reinjure yourself and risk permanent damage.”
Then Dan Heng walks through the door without another word, leaving Blade on the couch with the books and fire as his only companions. Blade’s eyes trail across the room and catch sight of Cloud Piercer on the wall – a spear that suited every bit of its owner.
Blade turns his attention towards the book in his lap and begins to read. The book is, honestly, far more interesting this time around. The author is, tragically, not a sword maker but simply a scholar who had been interested in the history of sword making after his son took interest in the craftsmanship.
The image of a dark colored blade with a red tip comes to mind while he reads. It’s a vivid image that he can’t help but to faintly wonder if it’s actually a memory from his past. If so, then where was the blade now?
Blade is about halfway through the book and the sun has nearly set when he hears a muffled noise from outside. He pauses midway through turning a page and straightens up carefully, as Dan Heng’s warning of permanent injury plays in his mind.
His eyes look out the window and Blade finds the sight of Dan Heng crouched in the garden with his back to Blade. He quietly watches for a bit as Dan Heng moves throughout the garden, admiring the way the lantern light plays with his glittering horns and the wind messes with his hair. The stars begin to become clearer in the sky now and Blade finds that there is something fitting about seeing Dan Heng amongst the stars.
Dan Heng saved his life.
Dan Heng – the man who stood out there gardening – was the man who had found Blade bloodied and broken in the forest. He had taken Blade in without knowing him and had healed him. He offered a name for him, then he gave him food and a roof over his head without a single mention of repayment for his actions.
There is an ache that blooms within Blade’s chest as he stares out at Dan Heng, and this ache is unnervingly different from the other aches he has felt since waking up. It is warm, pleasant, and undeniably filling to the point of spilling from his chest to all the corners of his body. There is a comfort found in it – unlike all the other aches he’s felt – and he finds it fitting that it would go to him when he looks at Dan Heng.
Perhaps Dan Heng would understand what the ache was if he told him, but something deep within him holds Blade back from entertaining the idea further.
Blade continues to watch as Dan Heng finishes up gardening and grabs at a rather full looking sack. He pulls the sack over his shoulder with ease and grabs at the lantern to raise it high. The stars and moon are finally out together – and oh, it appears that it’s time for Dan Heng to return back inside to Blade.
Blade shifts his gaze back to his book and picks up where he left off reading. He waits patiently for the door to swing open – he waits for Dan Heng to walk inside the cabin and join him once more.