Wen Reian

2019 years after The Long Night

The Roaran Stronghold

“XIE XINGYUE!”

The darkness abated mercifully, just a little…

Wen Reian heard what sounded like a bit of a struggle, and then he felt himself be pushed to the ground. Terrified that A’Jun or Kai-Le had been hurt, the healer forced his eyes to open. What he saw then, through the blurriness of the tears streaking down his face, was Lan Kai-Le himself, standing in front of him like a fortress and holding up what appeared to be a very familiar piece of jewelry for the dark King to see.

“Where did you-”

Reian watched as Xie Xingyue gasped, startled enough to be frozen where he sat.

Wen Reian tried to move, but it was as if he’d had all the energy sucked out of him. The ringing in his ears had stopped, and after tentatively searching around throughout his body, he realized that The King’s Mark had been fully restored to him. Perhaps it returned when the connection with Xie Xingyue was broken?

Either way, Reian no longer felt like he was being torn in two. What he was feeling was entirely and achingly helpless, as Lan Kai-Le’s voice trembled throughout the room.

“You came to our home, killed my parents and burned our village… my mother died to keep this from you!”

Reian recognized it, the golden ring Lan Kai-Le wore in his hair. The delicate looking one, with the emerald inside. For some reason, Xie Xingyue looked terrified…

“You had it all along, you wretched creature?! I knew I should have made sure you were all dead!”

Reian wanted to help Lan Kai-Le, but all he could do was watch, blinking tears away as the hunter swiped his thumb over the green gemstone.

Blinding, brilliant light poured from it, and Wen Reian knew it was an object infused with magic. Xie Xingyue was absolutely, sickeningly still, as he screamed like he was being skinned alive. Reian’s ears nearly bled from the sound. But, then it stopped, and Xie Xingyue was still alive. Reian sensed immediately that all of the man’s magic, his core and his soul had been stripped away. He would never cultivate again. Lan Kai-Le had stolen his aura…

“Now you won’t hurt us again,” the hunter said, voice softer than a whisper.

Before Reian or Xie Xingyue could even process such a thing, Lan Kai-Le threw the ring to the ground, covered it with his boot, and pressed.

A sharp piercing sound echoed off the walls as the ring emitted a burst of green light and then shattered, crushing the man’s spirit for good. Without an aura you were as good as a ghost, and for someone like Xie Xingyue, death might even be preferable to living as he would have to now… powerless.

“Wen Reian?!”

The healer felt strong arms around him, Lan Kai-Le lifting him up and cradling him against his chest like a child. The guards who’d witnessed the event immediately dropped their weapons, their King unable to so much as utter a breath of rage, prayers, or anything in between as Lan Kai-Le sat Reian on his feet and then held him tightly.

Wen Reian could feel the hunter’s entire body trembling, he promised himself that just as soon as they were far enough away from here, he would spend as long as he needed to permanently erase all of the man’s injuries, whatever they may be.

For now-

Reian detached himself from Lan Kai-Le and spared a nervous glance back at A’Jun, whose eyes wide and glassy with unshed tears as the soldiers restraining her also scampered away.

She had been hurt, she had been taken… Wen Reian could not resolve the fear and fury that had been surrounding his heart, imagining her being injured. He couldn’t control his emotions at seeing her like this, after being willing to sacrifice himself for her. She was like a daughter to him, and someone had hurt her?!

“Uncle, we should-”

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Before her words had even reached him, Wen Reian had turned all of his rage and terror on Xie Xingyue. It all rose to a crescendo inside his body, as Reian felt the urge to pour every horrible thing he was experiencing and had experienced, directly into the evil man… let him be tortured for a change!

Reian had just barely reached the king, who was as helpless to Reian’s magic now as a human being might be to the whims of the gods, but then instead of killing him, Wen Reian was dragged away.

He was about to thrash and continue trying to wound whomever had lifted him away from his revenge, when Wen Rei suddenly heard Lan Kai-Le grunt in pain. The healer turned his head and met those golden eyes that had always puzzled him, but fascinated him so much. Those eyes that were always hiding the man’s story; his loss and how it shaped him into who and what he became.

They were here, they were right here where the hunter had fought to be! To have his own revenge, to be bloodthirsty and vicious and take from those who stole from him! And Lan Kai-Le was… walking away?

Unable to process what it meant and still fuming with rage, Wen Reian battled uselessly with the hunter all the way over to A’Jun, who was staring at Reian with such sadness in her eyes that it finally made him pause for a moment.

Wen Rei whirled to Lan Kai-Le and before he could stop himself he was screaming-

“What are you doing?! You should have let me kill him! Kai-Le, he’s a monster, why would we let him go?!!”

The man gazed at him, still holding firmly onto Reian’s arm in case the healer might decide to run off again…

“Because,” Kai-Le said. “I don’t want you to regret.”

Something in Wen Reian fractured into a million pieces, as if The Soul Shatter Spell had finally been completed the moment Lan Kai-Le uttered those words. Reian crumpled to his hands and knees, all the weight of the world on his shoulders as hot, painful tears cascaded down his face and onto the marble floor.

He could hear A’Jun’s voice, frantically muttering about how she was okay, and that they should be getting out of here, but all Reian could feel was Lan Kai-Le’s hand on his un-injured shoulder, rubbing gently in circles the same way he had when they’d been trapped underneath The Dust Maze, and Reian didn’t know if they’d survive.

When he raised his eyes again to the man, there were no words to describe how he felt. Someone was seeing him now, all his many flaws and missing pieces, and they weren’t angry at him, or disgusted? Reian couldn’t count the number of times he’d been horrified at his own heart and the things it did, the things it made him do. Lan Kai-Le wasn’t… running? He wasn’t going to… leave?

Unable to move or speak, Wen Reian eventually allowed the hunter to gather him in his arms again, lifting him as if he weighed no more than a feather and then softly calling for Song-jun to follow.

“You… you saved us again.” She said to Kai-Le.

The man seemed to think for a moment, and appeared to want to say something on the topic, but just ended up sticking to; “Mn,”

Song-jun got that determined look in her eyes then and immediately wiped the tears from her face, helping Lan Kai-Le adjust his hold on a quite emotionally-numb Wen Reian as they began to make their way out.

“Wait, stop!”

Reian’s heart twisted as he listened to Xie Xingyue’s tortured voice-

“Please… kill me!”

Wen Rei buried his face into Lan Kai-Le’s shirt, and felt the hum of the man’s answer ripple through his whole body as he held him securely.

Lan Kai-Le didn’t stop walking as he said;

“I have.”

As soon as they were outside, the three of them quickly made their way out of the bounds of the fortress. Wen Reian listened to each steady beat of Kai-Le’s heart right beside his ear, and imagined that each thump was a gentle pat on his head, a reminder that Reian was still cared for, still carried and wanted despite everything he had done.

“We need to get home as fast as possible,” A’Jun reminded them. “But Hêi’àn City is too far-”

Reian regained the ability to move a little after that physical and emotional torture, though between so much crying and everything else, he still felt rather weak. Shakily, he reached his fingers up to Lan Kai-Le’s hair and, even though he knew he shouldn’t touch, he tugged gently on one of his braids and let go immediately.

The hunter knew what he meant at once, beginning to march them north, still cradling Reian close to his chest as if he’d truly rescued him from the evil clutches of Xie Xingyue and that was all that mattered…

“W-where are we going?!” A’Jun panted as she tried to keep up.

Lan Kai-Le was quiet for a while, and Reian just closed his eyes and continued listening to his heartbeat while he gradually felt his body coming back to him.

Eventually the hunter spoke so Reian didn’t have to.

“Zuótiã. They are friendly,”

Song-jun blinked a few times and clearly wanted to comment on how Zuótiã was no longer a settlement after the war, it was only a tomb, but Kai-Le continued on.

Wen Reian opened his eyes after a while to stare at the silver coin hanging from the man’s braid, the one he’d tugged on. It had been Kai-Le’s father’s, who’d visited the Zuótiãn Tomb in his youth before eventually going to Xibù Shataar. He had come home with the coin, and a ring to give to his fiancee.

Kai-Le grew up hearing stories about the magical ring, how its powers made it strong enough to even contain someone’s soul. His father had placed his own inside of it and given it to Kai-Le’s mother as a token of their love, despite those that said it was an evil weapon, despite those that were jealous and wanted it for themselves…

Reian had listened to Lan Kai-Le tell the story one night in the middle of the desert after much coaxing.

They’d slept side by side after that, with unspoken understanding of each other, under a sky of only stars.