Yu Lin opened her eyes. The grass under her body prickled her face as she pushed herself off the ground. She lifted her right arm and felt no pain. ‘What’s going on?’ She thought, however caught eye of strands of black hair flowing in the wind. 

“This… Liang Guang Ming!” She blurted out. 

“Correct!” She heard the soft voice call out from behind her. Hu Die turned on her heels, and when she did she was in the room that she first met Liang Guang Ming. Liang Guang Ming sitting at the table sipping tea. She set down her cup and gestured towards the seat across from her.

“Welcome back! Go ahead, sit down.” She giggled. Hu Die didn’t hesitate this time as she walked up to the chair, and sat down. Guang Ming lifted up the teapot. “Care for tea?” She asked. Hu Die shook her head.

“No thank you.” Hu Die refused. 

“Is that so? Too bad then.” She said as she poured her own cup of tea. Hu Die stared at her and opened her mouth ready to say something but Guang Ming lifted up her finger. “Ah ah ah, no no no! I know what you want to talk about, but we can’t talk about those things right now! When your memories come back you will know. We need to talk about your current situation.” Guang Ming shook her finger and her head. Hu Die closed her mouth and squinted at her. Hu Die had wanted to asked her about the previous matter with Lan Hei Kong however it looked like she was not willing to talk and Hu Die knew it would be effortless to push. 

“What do you mean my situation?” Hu Die quickly changed the topic not to waste the time they had together. She didn’t know when she was going to get sucked out again. Guang Ming set down the teapot and sipped some of the tea she was pouring before she answered. 

“That woman that took you. Be cautious. She’s dangerous.” Guang Ming looked at her with serious eyes. “Do not let her see your eyes. She wasn’t paying close attention when you two fought, but if she knows that you are an elto, then at that point no one would be able to help you.” 

“What do you mean?” Hu Die furrowed her eyebrows confused. 

“That woman… is a dark witch.” When those words left Guang Ming’s mouth, Hu Die felt a chill run down her spinal cord and her jaw dropped. 

“Dark... witch…” She breathed the words out. Hu Die’s heart raced beneath her chest and her breathing was unstable. “But, I thought… I thought…. I thought.... witchcraft practices were forbidden and lost over millenniums ago!” She stammered out.

“That’s right, they were lost over millenniums years ago, but this woman is not millenniums old… she’s millions of years old.” Guang Ming had a painful look in her eyes as she said this. Hu Die’s jaw dropped and her eyes were wide open. 

“Wha-wha-what did you say?” Hu Die asked even though she had heard it clearly the first time. 

“I said, that witch is millions of years old.” Guang Ming repeated herself calmly. Hu Die began shaking her head.

“That’s not possible! That can’t be possible!” She yelled. “Elves may have blue chi but at most it's only a couple of thousands of years, but millions? That is impossible!” Hu Die did not believe her ears.

“It’s possible. What she was before she was a dark elf… made it possible.” Guang Ming seemed to be holding back tears as her eyes stared at nothing, avoiding Hu Die’s gaze. Hu Die froze and looked at her.

“What do you mean? Before she was a dark elf? What?” Hu Die asked. Guang Ming’s lips quivered as she did not want to answer. “Answer me!” Hu Die slammed the table. “First you tell me that Lan Hei Kong will destroy everything we cherished and next you tell me this dark witch is millions of years old and it was possible before she was a dark elf. What do you mean?” Hu Die yelled. Guang Ming still held her gaze down as she bit her lips. A moment passed yet she did not say anything which added oil to Hu Die’s fury. “Why aren’t you saying anything?!” Hu Die screamed. 

Hu Die heard the doors behind her slam opened and she felt heat on her back as her body began getting pulled away. 

“No! Tell me!” She screamed fighting against the light, however the light was stronger. 

“You will know one day, and when that day comes… forgive me… this all happened because of me… because of my foolishness…” Tears rolled down Guang Ming’s face as she said those last words. When Hu Die saw those tears she could not say anything else, as if she felt the pain, and the guilt within Guang Ming’s heart enter hers. Hu Die could only watch Guang Ming cry silently as she was getting pulled back by the light.

Yu Lin opened her eyes and she immediately felt a sore and numbing pain on her right elbow and her stomach. Her face was touching the cold hard ground as she laid on her stomach. She clenched her teeth as she slowly sat up the pain in her abdomen radiating throughout her whole body. TANG! TANG! TANG! She looked around her to the two trolls holding pickaxe as they hacked away at a huge rock. There only light source were the two lanterns sitting on two barrels, causing the room to be dim. ‘Cave?’ Yu Lin thought as she looked around the room. She was sitting in a prison created out of thick wood. She searched the room to look for the woman but she did not see her anywhere, and she quietly sighed. ‘He Lan!’ She thought and she looked around the cage. At first she could not see much however from the corner of the cage she could make out a faint childlike structure. She let out another quiet sigh. 

She reached her hand up to her hat and pulled it off, letting her long white hair fall down. She stuffed the hat in her mouth and bit down on it as she turned her arm inwards. She screamed into the hat as she felt pain expanding throughout the whole right side of her body. She pulled her arm towards her until it touched her chest. She looked up to see the two trolls not noticing her as they still hacked away at the rocks. ‘They are too weak. They won’t be able to sense my chi energy.’ She thought as she gently placed two of her fingers over her elbow. She closed her eyes and started to concentrate on healing her elbow. Only a bit of her chi energy was released before she heard a loud sound and stopped. She sensed someone coming and quickly laid back down on the ground. As the two trolls heard the sound they dropped their pickaxe and turned to the side, bowing deeply.

“Welcome back, master!” The two said in unison.

“How is it? Did you guys get to the orb yet?” The woman asked as she walked in with her head held high. 

“Not yet, but I think we are getting close.” Din said keeping his head low. 

“Is that so? Well continue to work then.” The woman ordered and the two bowed their heads before picking up their pickaxes as they continue to work. The woman strided over to the cage that held Yu Lin and He Lan. She stopped in front of them with her eyebrows slanting downwards. ‘Strange, I could swear I felt some chi energy. It didn’t feel like normal chi energy either.’ She thought as she casted cold looks down to the two. It was too dim for the woman to see Yu Lin’s hair laying on her body, however she could both of their figures distinctively. 

Yu Lin felt her heart beating furiously, however she remained still, and her breath calm as if she was still sleeping. The woman stared at them for a few more minutes before shrugging her shoulders. ‘Oh well, I must’ve imagined it, and I have things to take care of anyways.’ She thought as she turned on her heels. 

“I will be back later so be good you two,” She gave them a light smile and waved at them before her face grew cold, “and remember, do not touch the kids.” She hissed and the two trolls felt their whole bodies shivered before they nodded. 

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“Yes master!” They bowed. The woman let out a chuckled before a loud sound rang out and her presence was gone from the cave. The trolls shuddered before they continued on hacking at the huge rock. TANG! TANG! TANG! 

Yu Lin waited a few moments just to be sure before she picked herself back up. She rested her back against the cage and then placed two fingers on her elbow. She closed her eyes again to concentrate on her wound as she sent her chi energy onto her elbow to heal it. 

After a her mouth relaxed as the hat dropped to her lap and she rested her head back onto the wood. She breathed in and out relaxing her whole body. She then sat up straight and moved her right arm around. She felt no pain and a her lips curled up forming a small smile. ‘It’s seems ok.’ She thought. She then picked up the hat on her lap, and clenched her teeth down on one end. She started to pull the other end with her left hand as she slowly turned her head. The hat ripped in half. She took one half of the cloth and tied it around her right elbow, and did the same with the second cloth. ‘Just in case they start to get suspicious.’ After that she placed her hand over her abdomen and did the same. 

Yu Lin stood up from where she was sitting and then walked over to He Lan. Her nose wrinkled at a sour odor coming from her however she did not back away as she bent down. She moved He Lan’s hair back to reveal a huge bruise on his cheek. ‘She beat you up good too, didn’t she.’ She didn’t heal the bruise on his face as it was a visible mark. Yu Lin slightly shook him, and He Lan whined before his eyes began to flutter open. When he fully opened them and saw the scene before him he opened his mouth ready to scream but Yu Lin smacked her hand over it. 

“Shhh.” Yu Lin hushed and he nodded understanding. “Listen,” Yu Lin whispered, “if you want to live, then follow along with my act and do not say anything unnecessary, understand?” Yu Lin looked into his frightened eyes as he nodded his head. Yu Lin slowly lifted his hand off of his mouth and watched as he took in big gulps of air. After he calmed down he looked up and glared at Yu Lin.

“This is all your fault!” He hissed. “If you didn’t hit me in the chest then I would’ve been able to run on my own and we wouldn’t be here!” He Lan rubbed his chest. Yu Lin’s jaw dropped in disbelief as she looked away. ‘This little brat! He deserves a beating.’ 

“What?” Yu Lin squinted her eyes. 

“You heard me, this is all your fault. When my grandpa finds us then I will make sure you get kicked out of the house.” He Lan pushed her shoulder. “Get away from me, you monster!” He half whispered half yelled. Yu Lin felt fury building up in her as she pushed He Lan back until he hit the cage.

“Stop with you stubbornness! You say this to the one person who helped you when all your friend ran away with their tails in between their legs?” Yu Lin hissed back. At that point she did care how old he was or how old she mentally was for she have had enough of his attitude. “You should be more grateful, I could’ve left you behind also but I decided to help you. Don’t make me leave you behind now.” Yu Lin pushed him away as she stood back up and walked back to the corner she came from. She plumped down and rested her head on the cage. 

“Ridiculous. My frie-” He Lan stopped as he thought about the events of the previous day.

He sat there speechless as he started soaking in what Yu Lin just said. A moment past before he felt this hollow feeling in his heart as he realized that what she said was true, and that the ones he felt were truly his friends were the ones who had left him however the only one who he had ridiculed this whole time stayed to help him. The scenes of the day before flashed through his head, when Yu Lin pushed him back to protect him, and when Yu Lin helped support him so they could run away. He felt ashamed of the words that he had uttered just seconds earlier. He wished he could take it back, but he knew he couldn’t. 

He Lan glanced at Yu Lin and saw her sitting there observing the trolls. He saw the cloth wrapped around her elbow and a look of sadness crossed his eyes as he remembered how she got her arm twisted trying to protect him. ‘How could you possibly help the one who has insult you this whole time?’ He thought and his view of Yu Lin began to change as something he didn’t know stirred in his heart. Although he was stubborn and young, he was smart and knew how to feel grateful towards those to had helped him. He felt especially indebted towards Yu Lin because this whole time he had held contempt for Yu Lin, however Yu Lin had sacrificed herself to save him. 

TANG! TANG! TANG! A long time passed as the two of them sat there apart from each other. He Lan was not sure of what to do. At that moment he had never felt more ashamed then he had his whole life. He mustered up all the courage he had as he got up and limped his way over to Yu Lin. He sat down next to her with his head down. The two sat there next to each other in silence not saying anything for a while.

“Sorry… I’m sorry.” He Lan said quietly. Yu Lin sat there and thought about his words, not sure if he was just saying it because or if he was serious. By his tone he felt that he had been serious however she also knew that he was quite a schemer. She thought about whether she should continue to play mad at him or forgive him. Yu Lin cast him a glance and seeing his head hung over she let out a sigh. 

“I understand. I forgive you.” Yu Lin replied as she felt her motherly instinct kicked in and she couldn’t stay mad at the child for long. He Lan turned his head to look at her his eyebrows raised and his eyes opened wide. 

“Really?” He asked. Yu Lin nodded her head.

“Yea,” she said, “and besides, it won’t help our situation if we were to stay mad at each other. We only have each other now, so we have to trust each other.” Yu Lin gave him a small smile. 

“I see… I understand.” He Lan said and nodded his head. The sound of metal hitting rock stopped and Yu Lin looked up from where they were sitting. She saw the two trolls approaching them and she stood up from where she was sitting. He Lan noticed her sudden movements and did the same.

Din was leading as he carried the lantern with Xin behind him. The two stopped in front of the cage and upon seeing Yu Lin and He Lan awake their faces showed glee. 

“Look, the brats are up.” Din said as he elbowed Xin. Xin let out a laugh causing He Lan to tremble however Yu Lin just stood there staring back at them. Din saw the look in Yu Lin’s eyes and the smile on his face disappeared. 

“This little… if master didn’t wish to keep you alive, I would’ve killed you already. If you were human then I would’ve ate you until there was nothing left!” Din roared as he remembered being electrified. He Lan jumped before falling down, his knees weak from fear. Yu Lin only walked up closer to him. 

“Don’t worry, we share mutual feelings.” Yu Lin said with her lips curling. Yu Lin knew that the two trolls wouldn’t be able to understand her for she knew that unlike her father, their intelligence was not that high. “But, I will be the one to win in the end. When you and your brother are dead.” Yu Lin hissed. Din did not understand a word she had said, however he understood her tone and the look on her face, and he began to chuckle.

“Ha..ha...haha...hahahahaha… Just wait, when master finds no use for you, then that is the day you die.” Din hissed back.