Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling
"Go clean yourself of any traces of blood? It will be troublesome, huh? Wasn't him the one who wipe me up out of nowhere? What is left to clean after he almost make my skin shine?" Wu Xie fumed as he took off his beige jacket and black shirt to change it for another one and a red jacket instead.
He had moved away to do so, needing some distance as he was kind of angry with the poker face he had so wrongly called his Xiaoge. Somehow, he had better expectations of him, after growing up dreaming with Zhang Qiling for so long and seen the way he had so caringly protect him and in such a wonderful way. Will it kill him to actually offer him water for him to just drink it, instead of making him waste it in something already done? Because, honestly, did Zhang Qiling wants him to glow all the way to the tomb?
"Forget about naming him Xiaoge, he is Poker Face." Wu Xie murmur to himself, as he wiped his face with the water Qiling has force on him and as he did so, he could feel those dark eyes staring at him in the distance like a hawk over his prey and it was nerve wrecking.
"Dear gods, I'm just doing it, did he has to be so demanding?" Wu Xie keep fuming, while madly rubbing his face, to a point it was becoming angry red. I'm such an idiot... only because he was like a warrior god a while ago and hold my hand so kindly for a few hours in real life, doesn't mean you really know him. Dreams are dreams after all and reality, well... its sucks.
Not too far, as Wu Xie sense it, stood Qiling watching him do as he was told in an obvious bad mood.
"Did you make him angry? He seems to be fuming on his own. Didn't I already told you he was too green? Don't go breaking his little heart out of a blue..." Xiazi teased Qiling, who of course simply glance at him, then turned his attention to Wu Xie.
"He is a feisty one." Qiling said.
"Of course he is! He is a Wu, a descendant of the Mystic Nine and Lao Guo grandson no less. He is bound to be stubborn and reckless, just like that other one not too far." Xiazi pointed at Master Hua's direction, who was currently eating something while sat over a rock with an air of elegance around him, like no one else could put on.
"Not the same." Qiling corrected.
"Yeah, yeah... your Wu Xie is the innocent puppy eyes kind, while my Xiao Hua is pure heartless and cunning." Xiazi sighed. "Yet, this job is going to be the best for us both. Mark my words, I'm sure of it."
"It's not a job for me this time." Qiling whisper.
"Really? Then, can I have your paid instead?" Xiazi joked.
"No." Xiazi laughed.
"So serious... you know you look so young despite your centuries of life, so act cute in front of your charge, otherwise you will scare him away instead of bring him in." Xiazi advised.
"I'm here to protect Wu Xie until reaching his destination. Only answering the calling."
"Come on... you don't even know what that destination is yet. You should fall in love properly, you have been dreaming with him for like a century..."
"Not that long..."
"You don't remember most of it. At the end we are guardians Qiling and you more than me... so let the gods guide us all to where we are supposed to. Be warmer with the kid and he will do anything for you sooner than later."
"No need. This place is dangerous, keep an eye for anything that can harm them. Whatever purpose Wu Xie and the rest are supposed to fulfil, we better make sure they do." Qiling said, then walking away.
They moved to a sheltered place Pangzi and Pan Zi found a little further on the ruins and decide to rest there for what was left of the day. There was still a chance for the others to get out of the sandstorm and reunite. Pan Zi used the smoke signal for better chances of reencounter and those who survived the storm and the lizards in some cases, like Wu Xie, came to meet them sometimes alone, sometimes in their small group, glad to be back in one piece into a mayor group.
At night, they make fires around their camp and took turns to watch around in case those lizards came at them while they rested. Wu Xie decided to put his sleeping bag away from Qiling and the rest of the team, but to his distress, Poker Face put his next to him nevertheless. Ignoring him, Wu Xie try his best to sleep, but been too conscious of the silent presence of Zhan Qiling at his side, keep him from giving in to exhaustion for good.
"Wu Xie, sleep." He hear Qiling whisper, which only make him tense more.
"I just can't, alright? Stop watching me, I don't want a bodyguard." He blunted, opening his eyes to confront him head on.
"Still, you got one." Qiling fight back, which only frustrated Wu Xie more.
"Ahhhh, just leave me alone for a few hours of rest."
"No."
"Why not? We are in a big group again. This is safer enough for the time being."
"You had no idea of the dangers here."
"Oh, but I do... too well actually. I'm not as naïve as you take me."
"You are more naïve than I thought." Qiling disagree and Wu Xie felt like snapping, thus sitting in a fast move to properly argue with Poker Face, but by doing so, he felt dizzy all of the sudden, but not by sitting, but for something else.
His head seems to spin, as Zhan Qiling watch him, but it felt so far away. It was like his consciousness was been sucked into somewhere else. There were well made walls, corridors, tombs, traps, strange creatures of many kinds and at the end, a huge bronze gate. Right in front of it there was a beast he could only name it a Qilin. At that moment it was also translucent, like the one his grandfather had seen the night he had born. It was big, greenish and white, with the body of a horse, but a head and tail of a dragon, with scales on most of his body, that ended with some flames on its hoofs.
"Why me?" Wu Xie asked at the magnificent heavenly beast and as if answering him, it open its mouth to breathe blue flames at him. Wu Xie instinctively protected his face with his arms, but the fire didn't burn him externally, but internally instead.
"Wu Xie!" He hear Qiling's voice yell at him from the distance, but he only could scream on his own at the intense burning on his inside.
Outside Wu Xie's mind, Qiling was holding him down, as he was trashing around while yelling in pain. He could tell he was trapped in an illusion of his own calling, for who he was not yet ready.
"Let him go, it's too soon." Qiling whisper, while both Hei Xiazi and Hua Yuchen came at the sudden madness with the kid.
"What happen?" Xiazi asked and Qiling gave him a meaningful glance.
"He is trapped in an illusion." He answer as he pinned Wu Xie.
"Was it because of the poison?" Xiao Hua asked in worry, helping Qiling to hold the screaming Wu Xie.
"No. Just hold him for me." Qiling said, letting him go to sat over Wu Xie's lap, then opening his jacket and pulling up his shirt. On his chest, they all could see some kind of blue glow symbol aver Wu Xie's skin, which scare the hell out of Xiao Hua and the others that had gather around them.
However, what concerned Zhang Qiling more was not the blue glowing, but the red one of Wu Xie's pendant who was also shining bright. The thing was trying to protect Wu Xie from the internal fire, but no one could protect a mortal from a Qilin's fire, thus if it keep up for longer, it will break, leaving Wu Xie completely defenseless and that will not do. It had been that protection that had make the lizard pull Wu Xie away instead of biting him to death, like many others where back in the sandstorm.
"What the hell is that? Wu Xie!" Pangzi shouted as he too try to hold the trashing young man.
Qiling, however was not as alarmed about the Qilin's fire, he was no exactly a mortal anyways, so he simply cut his hand to use his blood to draw another symbol over Wu Xie's chest. As he did, he mumble words no one there could truly catch or understand, like if he was chanting a mantra in a level so low it was impossible for others to hear it. Yet, whatever he was murmuring and drawing over Wu Xie, it worked, as the blue glowing subsided, almost immediately.
Only then, Wu Xie stop moving under Qiling and relaxed under his unconscious state. At one corner, Ning was watching with interest what was happening to the only heir of the Wu family. It was obvious that now the young Wu Xie was deeply immersed in the many mysteries of the Mystic Nine, just like her Boss had told her and that been the case... she smiled faintly before going back to her resting place.
"Alright... everything is under control here, you guys go back to your places. The kid need his rest." Xiazi said, trying to disperse the crowd.
"Like hell I will. What the hell happen to Tainzhen?" Pangzi asked, still worry.
"He was caught on an illusion of these ruins." Qiling offered, removing himself from over Wu Xie, completely exhausted by taming the Qilin's influence on him.
"Then what did you did to him?" Pangzi asked next.
"Pull him out of it." Qiling whisper, laying on his own sleeping bag right next to his charge.
"Come on, Pangzi. This is not the first time something like this had happen around tombs. Wu Xie is now fine, just need to rest, like we all do." Xiazi insisted and seen that there was something deeper involving Wu Xie, like when he was a kid and a spy was burned to death out of nowhere in front of the kid, he pulled Pangzi up.
"Let them rest. It was an odd illusion, but an illusion nevertheless. We had been caught in those before." Xiao Hua said.
"But..." Pangzi protested.
"Trust me, let it go. Wu Xie is in good hands now, you know that better than me." Xiao Hua insisted, slightly looking at Hei Xiazi, who stared back at him so seriously, so unlike him, that it make him shiver internally. He had always had a hunch that both Xiazi and Qiling had the same vibe around them that could not be explained with words and he was now sure, Wu Xie was been pulled into it too, by fate itself.
AN: Alright, it's getting more complicated now, but I hope is still for reading . Take care, lots of love to all. 💖💖💖💖
