Chapter 70 – Fragments of Lives Gone (II)

Chapter 70

Fragments of Lives Gone (II)

The walk toward and over the bridge was unsettling, to say the least. I could feel the pessimistically apologetic eyes of an old man uncertain of his choices on my back and could barely feel my finger anymore, as Light had squeezed all the blood out of it.

Dammit, you two! I have enough demons of my own to face without you two saddling me with yours!

The closer we got to the center of the ‘island,’ the colder the air became. No, that’s not quite right; it wasn’t so much colder as it was cooler. It was sort of like going from a city to a mountain and suddenly learning what it actually means to ‘breathe fully’. Except this one went even beyond that.

It wasn’t just that I could breathe more easily; it was even my Qi–the gunk-addled monstrosity that cruised through my meridians—loosened up ever so slightly, and I felt that if I stayed here, I could do one circulation in approximately 4 minutes, a full two minutes quicker than I can elsewhere in the sect.

Here, I am almost… average.

And yet, the terror would not go away.

We paused for a moment at the very edge; it was… odd to bear witness to it from up close. The way the world almost bent alongside the rotating twirls of Qi was enlightening. It was sort of like imagining how a black hole warps space around itself, though not to such an extent, of course.

I glanced down and saw a young, scared girl gnashing her teeth together in a bid to muster courage, and felt all the cowardice of my own fade. Squeezing her hand, we took a leap of faith inward.

Darkness swelled as all light vanished. I tried mustering Qi into a similar bulb of light to Elder Qin’s but found it impossible to conjure up even a strand.

“Elder Lu…?” she whimpered.

“I’m here. Don’t be scared.”

The silence and the darkness lasted for a moment longer before I could hear the distant hums churning. Like deep-bellowing drums being pounded by something immeasurably tall, the sound carried over and under, yet I could not feel any vibrations.

It grew neither louder nor quieter, perfectly static in its pitch.

About thirty seconds later, I noted a mote of light emerge from the endless darkness; at first it was murky, like a globe of swamp water being rolled, but as it grew larger–no, as it grew closer—the image became clear: it was of the two of us, her tiny hand squeezing my finger, staring off into nothingness.

It didn’t move toward me but rather toward her; before I could react in any capacity, it drilled between her brows, and the darkness around was interrupted by a sudden burst of light.

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Her skin began to glow in a rather spectacular fashion as her fingers loosened the grip on mine. In the same breath, her body began to hover, lifting up as her eyes widened and beams of light shot out of them.

Holy shit! What the hell am I even seeing?! My jaw must be kissing the floor right now ’cause… well, goddamn.

All the endless Jesus imagery that the movies just love being subtle about? Well, I get to live it out!… not quite, actually.