Chapter 99 – When the Heavens Weep (IV)

Chapter 99

When the Heavens Weep (IV)

The tunnel I found myself in was rather long, dark, and cold.

No, not cold. Not it. It rather seems that… I am cold. You know that tingling sensation that starts in your fingertips and that dread that coalesces in your stomach as your feet, for some ungodly reason, go cold, no matter how hard you rub them together? And the ever-so-slight mist in the mind that seems to make it just that much harder to get through a thought?

They’re all here, like the soldiers awakened.

I’ve seen death more than a few times by now, and though I could hardly say I’d grown numb to it, I’ve never had someone close to me die in this world. And however suspicious I was of that old oak, and however misaligned his title of ‘Just’ was, I… did care for him.

He was always kind to me, from the day I met him.

And, yes, I didn’t see him die–but I may as well have.

The reality of everything is catching up to me, but now isn’t the time. It may not be the time for a long while, but especially now when I need to bolt and run.

It took me about a minute to emerge on the other end, where everyone else was waiting; Dai Xiu and Xi Zhao sighed in relief, Long Tao and Hua barely reacted, and Light already seemed assured I’d come out.

“Are you okay, Master?” Dai Xiu asked, walking up to me.

“Just fine, just fine,” I forced on a smile and patted her head gently, looking around.

We were still in the mountains, surrounded by jagged rocks and steep cliffs and trees marrying the slopes. Oddly, however… it was silent. Well, not wholly–there was the chatter of the occasional bird and the whistling of the fading gale, but I couldn’t hear the hell unraveling behind us.

No thunder.

No explosions.

No agonizing wails and cries.

No scent of the scorched flesh or the red rivers digging canals.

… how is it possible?

“We should hurry,” I said, recalling Elder Qin’s instructions. It wasn’t time yet to swap our appearances; I figured we’d do it once we leave the mountains. “We’ll have to run a long while without rest.”

“Well, this is disappointing,” A familiar voice startled me as I gazed sideways, where I saw a ripple in spacetime contort into a twisting deconstruction of the world, from which a silhouette emerged.

An old man with hands behind his back and a seemingly kind smile on his face.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I always knew you were a coward, Elder Lu,” Spirit Sage said. “But to think you would run away while your home is being destroyed. How shameful.”

“…” I instinctively pulled the kids behind me, standing at the front–not that it would do much good. If that guy wanted me dead, I’d be dead in a heartbeat. “Aren’t you the same?”

“Hoh? Talking back?” He chuckled. “I’ve had my suspicion for a while, but… aah, poor Lu. He was a good kid. Perhaps it was the karmic ties to me that finally got to him.”

“Shouldn’t you be reaping the rewards of your labor?”

“Hm?”