Xie Song-jun

2022 years after The Long Night

Huibàn Lagoon

“Now remember, whatever you do, don’t upset the earth… it has a history far older than us, and it will remember you-“

The old man who steered the boat had said those words as the group of them were ferried across to the little island. Song-Jun’s ears were still ringing with his warning, and her heart sank ever deeper as she watched the callousness with which the Shataarian men set foot on the sacred land.

“A’Song, hurry up with that! Don’t drop it-”

Arms aching from the weight of the crate she’d been ordered to carry to shore, the Princess fought tooth and nail against the urge to yell at the others as they began making arbitrary markings on the snow-laded ground with stakes, and even reaching up to snag a few branches off the looming tree above.

Scientists, please… Song-jun thought to herself bitterly. They’re all just fools-

She planned to wait until she wasn’t needed, and sneaking away to take a couple glances at the tree up close would be no problem, but then Song-jun was being saddled with all the others’ mundane tasks as they went about whatever poorly thought out research they were attempting to conduct.

“Fetch that! Start the fire! If you dare break those glasses I will have your hide, boy!”

While Song-jun fanned the flames to keep the fire going, she took a moment to look around, marveling at not only the tree at the center of the island, which stood easily over a hundred feet tall, but also the fact that so few had been lucky enough to set foot here… and now, she was one of them.

Practically itching to get away, to get well acquainted with her surroundings and do some research of her own, the Princess was barely paying much attention to the others anymore. If she had, she might have noticed that one individual had gone missing long before she did.

“Has anybody seen Su Ling?!”

A’Jun’s head popped up. As the others began shaking their heads, Song-jun’s stomach twisted, some part of her saying that maybe the man had already gone off and done something dreadful… something he couldn’t take back.

Leaping up, she exclaimed quickly-

“I’ll go find him!”

Hopefully this would also give her a chance to look around. The others merely waved their hands, so off she went. The island itself couldn’t be much larger than a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty yards in diameter. Every square inch of ground was covered with snow, though it only went about two inches down… Song-jun began to wonder why, if The Long Night (and Long Night 2.0) really had emanated from here, why wasn't it actually cold enough to freeze the earth solid?

Song-Jun fell into the impulse to reach out and touch one of the branches above her. Some of them hung so far down that one could even snap them off, of course she didn’t do that, only trying to inspect the tree with scrutiny. It was… very impressive that a tree of this size was still alive. And alive it was, Song-Jun could feel its life force thrumming through the tree’s veins, as potent and present as a heartbeat, unaffected by the surrounding weather.

“Mgh!”

The sudden shuffling sound above caught the Princess’s attention, and then she glanced up. The sight of Su Lan crouched in one of the low tree branches was not actually what startled Song-Jun… it was how he was holding his head in his hands and grumbling in what sounded like pain.

Judging from the distance, it seemed he’d used some of his hidden abilities to get up there. Song-Jun didn’t know what would happen if the others came over and caught sight of such a thing. She didn’t really want to have that out in the open.

“Su Lan!” She hissed, glancing around a few times before stepping closer.

The branch the man was perched on was still swaying in the breeze somehow, as if Su Lan weighed nothing at all. It was a strange thing to look at…

“Are you-“

Before she could ask, Su Lan’s hands fell from his face and he seemed to be saying something. Song-Jun could only barely piece together a few things, namely, that he wasn’t speaking to her at all.

“…everything you are… every… every time I close my eyes-”

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With his eyes closed, whispering to himself as he sat in the tree, Su Lan painted the perfect image of a person losing his mind. Song-jun couldn’t believe it, he’d only wandered off a few minutes ago!

There weren’t any branches sturdy or low enough for her to grab onto, so he settled for calling a bit louder and waving her arms. When that didn’t work, Song-jun narrowed her eyes and in a flash, had bent to gather a few handfuls of snow.

See if this snaps him out of it-

The projectile struck Su Lan square in the shoulder, and finally his muttering ceased. When those piercing green eyes landed on her, the Princess swallowed back to innate urge to look away, instead, she stood her ground and demanded firmly-

“What’s wrong with you?! Sounding as if you’ve completely lost it… get out of the tree!”

To her surprise, Su Lan did just that, falling gracefully through the air and landing completely effortlessly on the snow, and unsettlingly soundless when he did. Song-jun peered closer. Su Lan seemed aware at least, but his eyes kept flickering and he seemed as if he was listening to something intently.

“What is it?”

The man frowned, almost a grimace, and took another look around.

“I’m not… exactly sure. There is a part of me that finds this place exceedingly… familiar-”

Song-jun’s eyes widened, “Really?! Like, you’ve been here before?”

Su Lan shook his head. “No, maybe. It’s like… I keep hearing… seeing…”

Eager for any information she could get and more than a little intrigued, Song-jun came closer and asked;

“What are you hearing?”

“Voices. They…”

“What are they saying?”

Silence, then Su Lan seemed to shudder and close his eyes again. When he finally spoke, it was clear that his words were not his own.

“... the chance to be happy… with everything I am… it was the gift I could never give myself. Aren’t you tired, little one? A’Xing, sit up… I have to keep running-”

Song-jun held a hand up, “Wait. You’re not making any sense.”

“The voices aren’t making any sense either,” Su Lan draws a deep shaky breath and then turns around. “I don’t even recognise half of them. Maybe it’s something to do with the island… the tree-”

Before Song-jun could say that they should definitely stay together, just because she didn’t want the others to end up finding Su Lan in a catatonic state whispering nonsense about hearing voices, the Princess stared on in shock as the man suddenly stood up straight, then turned as if being called by name. Su Lan walked with a purpose, directly for the southernmost bank of the island, and despite her conscience screaming at her to stop, to think this through, Song-jun couldn’t help but follow.

Song-jun began to wonder how it was possible, that along the way they’d not manage to stumble into anyone, but then, it was a bit hard to worry about that when, the further they walked toward the water, the colder it got, temperature dropping so rapidly that Song-jun knew it couldn’t be a natural phenomena. Something… some magic is at work here-

Woah!

“Gods have mercy!” Song-jun gasps, startled by the two figures suddenly standing directly ahead.

They’re turned away from her, seeming to be peering out at the far distance. Song-jun frowns, and, realizing she’s somehow lost track of Su Lan, decides to go over and investigate what the others are looking at.

She doesn’t get halfway over to them before she’s being yanked off her feet, pulled away and to the side as she exclaims;

“What the hell are you-”

“Shh! Look…”

It’s Su Lan. After roughly elbowing him away, Song-jun finally gets a glimpse of the two men’s faces, and her heart skips a beat or two in fear of what she sees.

“How… is that-”

Possible? They’re-

The two men are completely frozen solid, covered in a light sheen of ice, their faces; mouths and eyes, wide open and terrified, as if they’d been frozen in a moment of pure fear.

“The island. We were warned.”

Su Lan says only this before continuing off on his mad man’s trek. Song-jun can barely get her feet to start working properly. It takes quite a bit of strength for her to walk around the men’s bodies and continue to follow Su Lan. Pulling her father’s jacket tighter around her shoulders, Song-jun briefly wonders if the sudden drop in temperature would abruptly plummet and encase them in ice too… she’s not sure she’d be forgiven by her parents if she went and did that.

Where are the others? Did they endure the same fate? Are they even still alive…?

Song-jun’s mind is racing a million miles an hour, so when she finally raises her eyes again, it’s because Su Lan has stopped and is… what the hell is he-

“Where are you- what are you doing?!”

They’ve stopped at the edge of the lake. Su Lan has already waded in about up to his knees by the time Song-jun notices that the way the water moves is… wrong. A rather large area of the lake, just a few feet away from shore, is… moving down?

It certainly appears that way; the little ripples and currents, all of them spiraling together to create what looks like a funnel, or an air pocket. And, it looks like it goes down into forever.

Song-jun holds her breath when Su Lan looks back at her then away, a strange expression on his face, like regret and relief both. Then he’s gone, stepping directly into the path of the spiral and being immediately sucked under.

Xie Song-jun wishes she had any one of her father’s or uncle’s voices in her head right now; Yi-jun telling her to be patient, Songcai begging for caution, even Lan Kai-Le and his hunter tendencies, telling her to gather all the necessary information before she moves forward. Unfortunately, all Song-jun has is herself at this moment, and her body that is already waist deep in the icy waves…

The fact that the whirlpool, or whatever the hell it is, disappears into the shadows, doesn’t bode well. But Su Lan had heard something, gotten some sort of directions, maybe from his own ghosts, but maybe from the island itself. Song-jun realized the choice she was making here was a risky one, but still… if she didn’t risk this now, then how could she ever call herself a child of Hei’an City.

With a big gulp of air, the Princess closed her eyes, stole herself, and dove under.