Chapter 3: As a Road in the Rain (天雨路滑)
The armored jacket went first, revealing the character for earth (土) inked in black over the guardian's sternum. Inked characters of a much more ancient, fluid script ran out from 'earth' in lines up their shoulders, down their arms, and down the sides of their ribcage.
The guardian stepped out of their boots and unbuckled their belt.
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Explicit encounter on AO3
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The spirit caught Daiwen in their arms. They carried them a few feet from the wall to a thick, dark carpet of moss under a black-boughed tree. They laid Daiwen's sticky, battered body on the moss and knelt beside them. The little finger of one hand curled around Daiwen's, maintaining the living, burning link. Though they didn't move to replace their armor, their ox-skull head stayed up and alert for danger.
Daiwen's head swam so that the leaves overhead seemed to dance like fish in a pond. They could still taste the spirit, bitter and earthen as a mouthful of wet dirt.
"My body doesn't want to move," they murmured.
"Sorry about that."
A weak but genuine laugh bubbled up from Daiwen's chest. It hurt the fullness of their stomach, but they didn't want to stop. It was the first time they'd laughed since their father's death.
"Don't be. It feels good. I...feel good."
The spirit's little finger squeezed theirs.
"I'll stay with you until you can move."
"Thank you, Tushenmen."
The spirit and the necromancer remained under the tree in silence. Daiwen dozed off after a few breaths. They woke at the cool first drops of the daily rain. True to their word, Tushenmen knelt beside them.
Daiwen smiled and sat up into the feather-light drizzle. Tushenmen vanished.
"No, wait!"
Daiwen scrambled up to their feet. They staggered into a run toward the wall.
"Wait! Wait!"
They slammed their palm against the unyielding stones. There was no response. All heat bled out from Daiwen in the earth, the air, and the rain. The spirits of this realm were frighteningly literal.
Daiwen shrank under the strengthening rain. Their hair plastered like black ink over their bare skin.
"My clothes…"
They were lost for good on the other side of the earthen gate.