Chapter Text
Daylight.
Rays of sunshine beam into the vast room, softly illuminating floating particles of dust. Making them sparkle like tiny diamonds dancing all over the place.
Shi Qingxuan lights up at the sight. A smile drawn on his face, a surge of joy. Only when the last trace of sleep leaves his body and mind and his eyes focus on the rest of the room - the chamber, really - does the happiness fade, as if drained by an invisible force.
This isn’t home … and yet it is.
It should feel cozy. The large bed he is lying on is incredibly soft. If he closes his eyes, it might as well pass as a nest of feathers. The window behind him, covering almost the entire wall, grants enough light to make him feel comfortable. All it truely does however, is to enlighten the black walls and furniture, as well as carpets and bed covers in various hues of depressing dark blue and silver. None of the soft green, gold and white tones that once adorned his bedroom.
Instead of the fresh scent of flowers he was used to smell after waking, the only thing in the air greeting him right now seems to be salt. His own tears maybe, although he isn’t even sure, when they had begun to fall. Have they ever stopped?
Shi Qingxuan’s world came apart the moment his brother’s head was torn off from its body with brute strength; by the very person he considered his best friend - truthfully speaking, even more than that - nonetheless. But was it really a surprise, considering what a feeble structure his world has been build on, as Shi Qingxuan found out, the hard way?
Shi Wudu, his beloved older brother has done everything in his power to protect him. Apparently this included destroying the life of someone else. All his happiness was build on that persons suffering and misery, all his wealth on that persons loss and his prosperous life on that persons cruel death.
Could he blame Ming-xio… He Xuan for wanting revenge? For plotting a sinister scheme to end his brother in every sense of the word? For making him a pawn in this, although he has been oblivious to the machinations of both of the most important people in his life? No, Shi Qingxuan’s conscience wouldn’t quiet let him.
He may not have known, but he has never questioned either. Now, that he has time to think - and he has lots of it - there were red flags, had he just cared to look. Coincidences, unexpected turns of fate. The signs were there. Alas, being pampered and coddled, even if overprotected, was easier. But what would he have done, even if he had known? Given up his status, his life, his power?
At this point, having that decision taken from him seemed easier than having to make it himself. In a sense, this might have been an ironically cruel glimmer of mercy. Just like that faithful day.
He would live.
Back than, cowering in the dungeons of Nether Water Manor in chains, covered in blood - his brother’s mostly - it didn’t appear that way at first.
Somewhere in the back of his head, he was reminded of a similar scene of when he broke into Hua Cheng’s dungeons in Ghost City to free Ming Yi, only for their positions to be reversed this time. But the man in front of him wasn’t here to help, let alone save him. The man in front of him wasn’t even really the Earth Master Ming Yi, as it turned out and he was here to destroy him.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”, Shi Qingxuan whimpered.
The cold and eerily calm stare of his supposed best friend, as if he wasn’t holding a head he had just ripped off in his hand, froze him to the marrow. Every step Mi… He Xuan took towards him reverberated throughout the room and made his pulse quicken. The splashing sound of blood, whenever his foot met the ground, made Shi Qingxuan’s insides squirm and his body shake like an aspen leaf. The foreboding aura kept crushing his heart viciously.
“And what good is your apology?”
A pause, then hysterical laughter filled the air all of a sudden and he was horrified to figure out a second later, it was his own.
He has lost godhood, he was loosing his mind and soon he would lose his life.
Shi Qingxuan welcomed that thought at this point. Numb from the devastating pain in his body and heart it felt like an easy way out. And really, what else could he offer M… He Xuan now beside his life?
“I want to die …”, Shi Qingxuan pronounced his last wish with a raspy voice, teeth chattering, resigned.
Alas, He Xuan seemed to have other plans for him.
“Dream on.”
Those two words shattered Shi Qingxuan like a fierce blow. Panic flared. No easy way out after all. The prospect of prolonged suffering, torture even and no godhood, no powers to lessen the pain, had him shaking all the more like a leaf in a storm.
What was he thinking? Of course He Xuan wouldn’t let him off that easy, considering he took his glorious place in life, dooming the man to a living hell. Regardless of the fact, that it was his brother who instigated it. Regardless of the fact, that Shi Qingxuan has been harbouring feelings of love for him for quite a while now, albeit in secret.
He Xuan towered above his pathetically slumped form like an insurmountable wall, dividing him from the life, the dreams he used to have, filling Shi Qingxuan’s view, his entire world, with his imposing, intimidating, blood-soaked form that once used to be such a welcome and soothing sight.
A large hand with long black nails, sharp like claws, reached down as if to grab him, before Shi Qingxuan’s vision faded to black.
~*~
The next time the former Wind Master opened his eyes, it was in this very room. Cleaned up, clad in afresh robe and a wound on his leg, thankfully the only physical injury he had taken from this ordeal, dressed properly.
His first instinct was to heal himself entirely only to notice his powers no longer responding. His body drained of his godhood, his precious fan taken, broken even just like he was. Memories returned like a flood tide, and so did fear.
The door to the chamber he was resting in opened with a loud creak and a bang, making him jump and then hiss in pain because of his leg.
Normally Shi Qingxuan would have been delighted to see his best friend come for a visit, for it was a rare enough occurrence. Usually he was the one seeking out Ming Yi, after all. But right now, the man who walked in, was a stranger bearing Ming-xiong’s face. And not just any man. A Calamity, a Ghost King, Ship Sinking Black Water - He Xuan.
The temperature in the room instantly sunk at least twenty degrees. Shi Qingxuan could see his breath fogging up. Could feel the goosebumps on his skin and smell salt in the air.
He Xuan’s dark robe flared around him like waves of a stormy sea, making him appear to be almost floating, while he kept approaching the bed Shi Qingxuan was lying on with large strides. Closing in, focused solely on the quivering former Wind Master like a shark on an unlucky puny fish soon to be his prey.
Instinct kicked in. Disregarding the sharp throb in his leg, Shi Qingxuan sprung into action. He crawled back and sideways on the bed for all he was worth, trying to put distance between himself and his captor, the calamity soon to befall him, but the only thing he managed to do was to get himself tangled up in the sheets and slip.
He fell ungracefully off the other edge of the bed with a loud thud and a pained yelp. Clutching his leg with both hands in hope to still the throbbing, Shi Qingxuan looked up in a hurry to see how close He Xuan had already approached.
The realisation, that said man was already standing right infront of him, hit him like a knife to the gut.
Eyes the colour of burning gold focused on Shi Qingxuan with a sharp glint, freezing his movement, scanning him as if he was a specimen, but his expression utter disdain, as if watching a pathetically struggling worm.
“There is no need to run.” He Xuan’s deep, icy voice filled the room, drowning out Shi Qingxuan’s hitched breathing and thundering heartbeat. “You are not a prisoner. You may roam this manor, all of Black Water Island freely for the rest of your life. Your needs will be provided for.”
“However …” At this, He Xuan gracefully stooped down to Shi Qingxuan’s eye level. The long fingers of his right hand reaching for the former Wind Master’s injured leg and carefully, surprisingly gently tracing the bandage there. Blood had begun to soak through. Shi Qingxuan’s fall must have reopened the wound. “Consciously endanger your life, actually attempt to end it or try to leave the island and you shall face a fate worse than death.”
Shi Qingxuan winced at the cold threat and He Xuan immediately withdrew, returning back to his commanding hight. With one last sharp glance he left the room and the former Wind Master to his own thoughts.
At that time Shi Qingxuan had been so scared. Scared those words might turn up a lie, like everything else about Ming Yi. That true vengeance, torture for his brothers wrongdoings was yet to come. Surely, keeping him safe, bestowing a comfortable room, clothing and food on him, couldn’t possibly be He Xuan’s idea of exacting revenge, right?
But now, weeks, months have passed and all he fears is to go on like this forever, without the prospect to be able to end his misery.
Yes, he is alive and his human needs are being taken care of, just like Ming… He Xuan promised. But to Shi Qingxuan, a social butterfly, this life is worse than death. All alone, secluded from everyone, everything he knew. Utterly powerless in a magical environment and surrounded by the very person, who used to be his first love - albeit one-sided - without being able to interact with the familiar ease. He might not be a prisoner of this manor, locked and chained in the dungeons, but he sure is a prisoner of his heart and he could feel his heart decaying, rotting with the tears it has wept for what was lost, for what was never his to begin with. He might as well be dead.
At first Shi Qingxuan dreaded any possible interaction with Ship Sinking Black Water. Hid away in his room. Sleeping mostly only to awake at random intervals to find food served on a small table inside his chamber.
After days of this routine, boredom won however and he would dare to take a peek outside the heavy door guarding his room, which took him quite an embarrassing effort to open. He was positively heaving when it finally creaked and gave way. It was funny, how much of a toll such a mundane task, he wouldn’t have spared so much as a thought on back in the days as a god, could have on him now.
Sneaking through endless corridors and staircases he would cower against walls before every turn he took. Panting and with his heart audibly thumping through his rib cage, scared to actually run into the Ghost King in this sheer endless labyrinth. But he was to be disappointed. Sightings of He Xuan were as rare as warm spots in this huge manor of dark, cold and wet stone.
It irritated Shi Qingxuan to no end after a while. If He Xuan was going to ignore him, leave him to vegetate in solitude till the end of his days, then why keep him here in the first place? Why keep him alive? He made it painstakingly clear that “Ming-xiong” is gone, never existed in fact. He killed Shi Wudu right away. So why bother keeping the little brother, who is basically the reason for all his suffering, alive? Of what use could he possibly be to Ship Sinking Black Water now?
With a deep sigh Shi Qingxuan rises himself out of reminiscing and out of his bed. He walks to the table, where - as expected by now - a rich breakfast stood prepared and eats as much as he can without throwing up, which unfortunately isn’t a lot. But dread of being accused to consciously endanger his life and the possible consequences to follow, makes him lift spoon after spoon of the admittedly tasty Congee prepared for him.
Washed and dressed up, as there is a bathroom adjoined to his chamber, Shi Qingxuan resumes his daily routine of aimless wandering through the manor like a lost little ghost. Oh the irony. His fear of the monsters, that might lurk inside the dark corners of these walls diminished with time, as he came to realise on one such occasion of meeting a creature, that they seem to heed an order to leave him alone. Thankfully, the being crawled away from him hastily the moment it saw him, leaving him with nothing but a little scare.
Today would turn out to be one of those rare, special days though, it seems.
The air is getting thicker, heavier. The scent of sea salt more prominent than ever.
Shi Qingxuan turns into an open hall with a huge black chandelier, where he is unexpectedly confronted with the sight of He Xuan walking up a grande staircase. Not just a glimpse of robe vanishing behind a corner as usual, but in all his intimidating glory.
The first reaction, conditioned throughout so many years, is to call out to his best friend. With his back turned and at a distance, the Ghost King looks exactly like Ming Yi.
Shi Qingxuan’s face lights up like a firework for one second. A hand reaching out regardless of the distance, as if it could arrest the other man’s movement. He makes one almost joyous step forward, only to falter the very next second, as He Xuan turns his head a bit in his direction.
Those sharp, slightly exasperated eyes are not Ming Yi’s. Neither is the crushingly dark and intimidating miasma, that suddenly fills the vastness of the open space in the blink of an eye.
This is He Xuan.
Shi Qingxuan instinctively recoils from the oppressive aura surrounding the Ghost King, which he flares around himself like an unspoken warning, a clear threat. He winces as if burned by ice. It’s getting impossibly hard to breath. A drowning sensation, like water filling up his lungs and squeezing every ounce of air out of them. It takes Shi Qingxuan a moment to realise, that it is actually his very own tears he is chocking on.
“Your tears will not move me.”
He Xuan makes a scoffing sound and continues his way up the stairs without sparing the former Wind Master any further glance. He wields his indifference like a dagger made of ice, stabbing it right into Shi Qingxuan’s heart.
The instant He Xuan is finally out of sight, the former Wind Master, who has been barely holding on, collapses to the ground with a sob.
“Ming Yi …”
How is it possible? How is it possible to dread the presence of a person one used to long for so badly? We spent days together, nights and now you are like a stranger. Was really all of it just an act?
Ming Yi used to be stand-offish and reserved. Never giving in to Shi Qingxuan’s baiting and flirting. Always berating him and snapping at him, when he acted like a spoiled stupid kid. Making fun of him even. But there were those moments of warmth. A reliable, strong shoulder to lean on, whenever he truly needed it. Everything now ripped away like the facade the Ghost King kept up all these years.
How he must have resented me, hated being nice to me. But why? Why then does he still keep me around, instead of dumping me to some random village or simply into that pitch Black Sea of his? A thought occurs to Shi Qingxuan and a cold shiver runs down his back. Maybe he realised my feelings for him. Maybe he knew my feelings all along and only feigned ignorance, like he feigned everything else. Maybe this is the true punishment he has decided for me.
Horrified Shi Qingxuan shakes his head. No! No, no, no, no!
This would indeed be a fate worse than death. How incredibly cruel. The former Wind Master rises swiftly to his feet and runs to the main hall. He throws all his weight against the huge and heavy wooden doors guarding the entrance. With a loud creek they give in eventually. Shi Qingxuan manages to open them with great effort and storms out of the manor.
He feels incredibly vulnerable without his powers, which is also why he never made a step outside the manor during his captivity so far, but he doesn’t care anymore. Isn’t thinking at this point really. His heart burns with pain and he wants to flee from the prison consisting of his feelings for a person that no longer exists. Never really existed.
Shi Qingxuan stumbles down the stairs outside and runs into the dark forest. Branches hit him, scratch him awfully during his blind mad dash. But the throbbing pain in his chest overshadows everything else.
Only slipping and falling face first into the wet, muddy ground manages to stop him. Hands clawing into the earth, the former Wind Master lets out a frustrated sob and then another. His body rocking with his hitched breathing.
Clearly he has also lost his gracefulness. He hates feeling so weak. His brother would be so disappointed.
Shi Qingxuan wipes at his face angrily, just to make an even bigger mess with all the mud and blood.
Blood?
Only now does be realise all the cuts he has suffered while running through the thick bushes. In the past he would have been crying and sulking over such wounds daring to mar his beauty. Now tears of dread creep into the corners of his eyes. He holds his breath and looks around, but even after a while nothing happens.
He has consciously endangered his well-being and yet no trace of Ship Sinking Black Water coming to make true on his promise.
So it was an empty threat. One more lie. Where is the surprise? Shi Qingxuan laughs although there is no humour in it. Of course he wouldn’t care at this point, if something were to actually happen to me. This isn’t Ming Yi. This is He Xuan.
Anger rises up and erupts like an active volcano. Defiance rises along with it. Shi Qingxuan never liked to listen to rules. All the more reason not to listen to those made by He Xuan.
In a rush of stormy emotions he decides, that he would leave this stupid island and return to his friends or he would die trying.
The former Wind Master dully remembers that one needs a coffin in order not to sink in Black Water’s domain. Good, that could be done. Plenty of wood here anyways in this endless forest.
Determined, although he never really had to do any physical labor like this for, well, ages, if ever, he walks in what he presumes to be the direction of the beach. It doesn’t cross his mind, that he would need tools, at least a big knife, considering he is human now. It also doesn’t cross his mind, that he would need to leave Black Water Lake, where Nether Water Manor is located, first, which is a bit difficult to do for a mortal, who is unable to create a portal or even swim.
Something shifts in the air all of sudden and an invisible hand grabs his arm painfully.
Shi Qingxuan yelps in fright and kicks out into thin air, not meeting any resistance. His hand reaches instinctively for his Wind Master fan, which is no longer there.
“Damn it …”
He feels a presence behind him and wipes around only for his eyes to widen.
A creature made of dark mist is looming over him. Sharp claws and sharp teeth well distinguishable.
“Wait, weren’t you guys ordered to leave me alone?!” Or was that a false presumption?
The creature lets out a hungry growl and Shi Qingxuan isn’t going to stay and find out.
He turns on his heel and makes to run, only to bump into another creature of the same kind a second later. Although it appears to be made of mist, it is incredibly solid. Hard enough to knock Shi Qingxuan to the ground at the impact and the air out of his lungs.
With rising panic he scrambles to his feet, marginally avoiding having his head stomped on by the former monster.
“Oh, so you brought your brother along for the hunt, huh? How precious, ha ha.”
No brother out there to protect me anymore …
Beads of sweat cover the former Wind Master’s forehead as he frantically searches for a way out, while clawed paws are being swung at him from both creatures. He can no longer use the spiritual communication array to call for help. But even if he could, who would he call? No one seems to have been looking for him. They all probably considered him dead by now. Furthermore, how could he convince anyone to invade Black Waters terrain without any merits to his name? Who in their right mind would willingly risk the wrath of a Ghost King, let alone for free?
Xie Lian.
Taizi Dianxia Xie Lian certainly would, just as he did before. But surely Crimson Rain Sought Flower wouldn’t let his precious Gege risk his life for a Wind Master fallen from grace.
Shi Qingxuan suffers quite a few scratches, until he finally finds an opening, ducks and runs, laughing hysterically, when he leaves those two behind. But his joy is short lived. A few steps further at least a dozen more creatures block his path like a wall of mist. Just that mist doesn’t usually try to bite your head off, nor does it have claws.
In his desperation, Shi Qingxuan breaks of a branch from a tree beside him and swings it threateningly like a sword. If the creatures are impressed, they do not show it. Instead, they close in step after step while snarling hungrily.
The former Wind Master has nowhere to retreat anymore. They have successfully encircled him, trapped him in their middle. He wipes around, rises his branch and swings it around in blind panic, but they still advance.
The snarls grow closer, louder, hungrier.
And then they stop.
Not only do the creatures finally halt, they are cowering away from Shi Qingxuan.
No way they are scared of me now. I didn’t manage to hit even one of them. And this is just a tree branch …
The former Wind Master, who has his stick still brandished like a sword in his shaking hands, is shell-shocked, when they also start whimpering and whining without any visible reason.
And then, all of a sudden a ferocious growl overshadows their noises, seems to shake the ground, the air around them.
Shi Qingxuan’s eyes widen and he drops his branch in fright, almost losing his balance and stumbling on the quaking ground. Before he can look for the new threat he hears a loud thud behind him and a vast expanse of black fluid flares out to his sides, enveloping him almost like a protective shield, like a shell would a precious pearl. A dark shadow eclipses his form.
Shi Qingxuan spins around, only to find He Xuan towering over him, enraged, like a black storm.
The piercing look in his eyes with that dangerous golden glow a promise of pain and carnage.
“You disobeyed my order”, he snarls and rises his right, black clawed hand as if to strike.
This time it is Shi Qingxuan’s turn to cower and whimper. He shields his head with his arms and shrinks away, but the blow never comes.
Loud shrieking erupts in his vicinity instead.
Shi Qingxuan flips around just in time to see two creatures impaled on numerous sharp pointed tentacle like structures shooting from the black water swirling to his sides and then torn to shreds with ease as if they were made out of paper.
The former Wind Master takes an involuntary step back, only to bump into the solid wall that is He Xuan and winces, sure, he would now be the next to follow.
No reaction.
The black water to his sides shoots out more tentacles and shreds the next few creatures, but never once does it touch him.
He meant the creatures? Not me?
As if on cue, He Xuan moves from behind him. A swirl of black robes rushes past him and the floating black water goes seemingly crazy. He Xuan grabs at random creatures, tears of their heads in cold blood, crushes them or slams them to the ground with enough force to shatter them. His claws tearing through their bodies like knives through warm butter. In the meanwhile the black water sends down a rain of large black needles, perforating any other creature in the vicinity, but never so much as putting a speck on the former Wind Master.
Howls that sound like pleas are ringing in Shi Qingxuan’s ears, but the Ghost King doesn’t listen.
He continues his onslaught until every last of the creatures who dared to attack the former Wind Master has been snuffed out. The black water dissolves in thin air. The ground is now soaked with blood and littered with mist like shards of the fallen creatures.
Then and only then does He Xuan finally turn to Shi Qingxuan.
“If this was your attempt at getting my attention, then congratulations. You succeeded. But you won’t like the outcome.”
The former Wind Master gasps and recoils immediately. Suddenly feeling once more like a weak little fish in front of a huge, bloodthirsty shark. He regrets his decision to go against He Xuan’s wish out of childish defiance now. Especially considering the man has been taking care of him properly, which he clearly didn’t have to. Shi Qingxuan is a prisoner after all, even if the Ghost King claims otherwise. And yet there is that gnawing little ember of irritation and indignation at having been played his entire life, by his brother as well as by Ming Yi, that even his fear can’t quite stomp out.
For every step He Xuan advances, Shi Qingxuan takes one back instinctively. But the former Wind Master’s short, uncertain steps are no match for the large, confident strides of the Ghost King, who has him within reach in seconds. With a loud crack the branch Shi Qingxuan has been using as a sword beforehand, but was now lying discarded on the ground, snaps with frightening ease under He Xuan’s boot, just as well as something within the former Wind Master.
“I loved you, you know?”, he proclaims all of a sudden, unasked and halts his retreat. “Not just like a friend.”
“Oh I know that”, He Xuan scoffs to his utter shock, draining all the blood from Shi Qingxuan’s face with those few words. “Your pathetic attempts at getting into my pants, or rather getting me to get into yours, the way you have been flaunting your assets in my face at every opportunity, have not escaped me. I merely chose not to act on them, as it was quite delightful to be the one thing the little pampered prince wanted but couldn’t get.”
He Xuan’s sinister words rain like an ice cold shower all over Shi Qingxuan, piercing his body, his heart like a hail of knives. They draw wet streaks on his cheeks. His face lowered he repeats his confession once more. Speech being the only weapon left to him, the only shield.
“I loved you.”
Out of nowhere, a large hand snaps his chin up and he is forced to look into those sharp, unforgiving eyes.
“You did. But do you know who else loved me?” His tone grows dangerous here, sending chills down Shi Qingxuan’s spine. “My fiancée Miao, my little sister, my parents and I loved them.”
Shi Qingxuan winces at everyone of them mentioned. He Xuan’s eyes are ablaze.
“They’re gone now, though, thanks to your brother dearest, whom you chose over me in the end, disregarding what he did.” He Xuan presses his free hand to his heart. “And so is my capacity for love. Only hatred, ire and insatiable hunger reside here now.”
At this Shi Qingxuan gasps.
“I did no such thing!”, he immediately interjects.
“You did, time and again. I gave you so many chances, so many outs. But you still chose him over everything else.”
“Because he’s my family and I didn’t know back then! I told you, I’m sorry! So sorry!”
“You followed him even after you found out, begged me to spare his life and then you begged me to take yours. Thus rendering your apology worthless.”
Shi Qingxuan stops at that. It finally begins to dawn on him, what He Xuan means. But wanting to save his brother, his family to his last breath, never meant for him to approve of or condone his brothers deeds in his book. However, it clearly does so for He Xuan. He must have felt betrayed by his choice not to forsake his brother till the end.
“In that case, I must be the lowest scum in your eyes. At least just as much as my brother, just as guilty.” Wetness glazes Shi Qingxuan’s eyes as he stares up into the Ghost King’s face. “So why let me live, Ming-xiong?”
“Because death would have been a mercifully easy out for you.” The answer is just as sinister as it is fake.
Shi Qingxuan’s frustration peaks and he grabs He Xuan by the front of his robes in a sudden surge of strength.
“Why let me live, He Xuan?!”
Fast like a snake, the large hand formerly holding his chin, now winds itself around Shi Qingxuan’s delicate throat and lifts him, so that his toes are barely touching the ground. The former Wind Master yelps and lets go of the Ghost Kings’s robes, only to grab at his hand instead. Their faces are inches apart now. He can see himself, all frustrated and teary, reflected in He Xuan’s eyes.
“Because I unfortunately came to realise that a slight wisp of wind can still ripple the dead, unmoving depths of black water. Killing you would merely serve as another stab, another blow to myself to deal with for eternity.” A malicious smile spreads itself on He Xuan’s lips, revealing his long, sharp canines. “So, just like you not wanting your brother to die, regardless of what he did to me, I do not want you to die, regardless of what you and your brother did to me.”
Shi Qingxuan’s mouth forms an o and his eyes widen comically, but not out of lack of oxygen, as He Xuan is actually very careful not to press down on his windpipe.
“So you … reciprocated my feelings all along … but chose not to act on them … out of spite?”
So much for no capacity for love.
He Xuan emits a deep, sinister laugh and lets go of Shi Qingxuan, who stumbles a few steps before he regains balance.
“You’d love to hear that, wouldn’t you”, he smiles, but the humour never reaches his eyes. “I didn’t reciprocate your feelings back then, because while I admit, that the thought of making out with his sacred little brother right under Shi Wudu’s nose did seem quite alluring, I preferred to spare you the additional trauma with the revelation to come. And I won’t reciprocate them now either, as you’re clearly infatuated with the Earth Master Ming Yi. But I am Ship Sinking Black Water - He Xuan.”
The Ghost King leans menacingly over Shi Qingxuan.
“Sending a pampered little prince stripped of his powers and his immortality out into the harshness of this world, would be your death sentence. So, in the name of our friendship and as an apology for deceiving you all these years, I shall let you remain here in the safety of my lair and take care of you for the rest of your days. That is all there is.”
The former Wind Master is frozen in shock at those words, that hit him like a stormy wave and sweep him of his feet. Before he can drop to the ground, utterly overwhelmed, however, He Xuan reaches out and lifts him unceremoniously into his arms.
Shi Qingxuan gasps at being carried like a princess and attempts to protest a few blinks later, but the Ghost King’s grip tightens in a clear warning. He can feel the threateningly sharp claws through the thin, torn fabric of his robe.
“Shut up. If I were you, I would be very quiet right now, as there’s still the matter of your punishment for getting yourself messed up like this to consider.”
“I didn’t attempt to end my life!”, Shi Qingxuan protests after all, somehow not as intimidated as he should be after hearing that He Xuan really plans to keep him alive.
“Yet you almost succeeded.”
Shi Qingxuan longs to put up more of a fight. But he is too tired and this is not the friendly quibbling with his best friend he was used to and cherished. While he always felt safe with Ming Yi, he isn’t quite sure for now how far he can push it with He Xuan. This is the reason he decides to for once do as he is told and shut up.
The folds of He Xuan’s robe he is being pressed into are cold, but surprisingly soft and nice to the touch. Shi Qingxuan subconsciously leans his face closer into his broad, well sculpted chest, expecting to hear a heartbeat but hearing naught. Instead, the scent of sea salt, fresh earth and something unique tickles his senses.
Exhausted from his escapade into the forest and the emotional upheaval, his eyes begin to drop shut. He drifts off into sleep, lulled by the rocking motion of He Xuan’s steady movement. Trusting Ship Sinking Black Water to carry him safely back to the manor, as there is no greater danger here on this island than the Ghost King himself anyway.