Wen Reian

2005 years after The Long Night

Wúmeng

"So... snake monsters. Are they a common occurrence these days?"

Wen Reian wanted to roll his eyes at Yi-jun but he refrained. The man was clearly in a playful mood this morning, something Cai Yimu hadn't been shy about commenting on.

The woman, her grey eyes shining, grinned across the table at the two young men.

"About as common as that smile on your face, I think..." she spoke to Yi-jun, as if his happiness was a great joke, perhaps one played on the universe.

Reian was pleased of course that the King was happy. He himself was happy to be away from Jingshén, however he still couldn't help from feeling grateful that Cai Yimu hadn't taken to addressing Reian's shifted soul...

Placing her hands on the table as if trying to be serious all of a sudden, the town head frowned and nodded.

"Since long before I was born, it has been only a legend, that creature in the cave."

As she spoke, Reian could feel himself being drawn into her words, like she was weaving a spoken net to entrap him. He and Yi-jun were both falling in...

"Serpent serpent, how do you plea? "No one's guilty quite like me!" Serpent serpent, what did you do? "Everything he told me to!" Serpent serpent, why are you shy? "Because a bird pecked out my eye!" Serpent serpent-"

"What on god's green earth is that?!" Yi-jun exclaimed.

Cai Yimu chuckled, "Children sing it when they play games, it's changed over the years since I was young... back then it was a porcupine that gouged out the serpent's eyes-"

"If it's only a legend, why are we here?"

Reian interrupted the woman's rambling, only for her to barely hear him. She continued on for a few minutes, Yi-jun signaling to Reian to just be patient.

Finally, Cai Yimu nodded...

"Several months ago was when it started,"

"What started?"

She frowned again, "The serpent came out of its den."

Reian exchanged a look with Yi-jun, the King leaning forward slightly on the table.

"Did anyone actually see it?"

The old woman nodded, eyes widening-

"I wouldn't be so bothered by the old thing, but it's been stealing chickens..."

Reian blinked, "Ch...chickens?"

After several more half-sensical riddles and stories from Cai Yimu, Yi-jun at last promised her that they would look into it, taking Reian's hand when they left and whispering to him with a big grin-

"What say we go disturb this fowl thieving serpent? I myself have never heard of something so romantic..."

Reian's smile was a mirror image of the King's but the boy was still waiting for the feeling to spread to his heart. Weighed down by regret, grief, and his ever worsening insomnia, he felt as if he'd been dragging around his own body for the last few days, the weight of it slowly growing hard to bear.

Noticing the way Wen Reian was blinking, yawning behind his sleeve, Yi-jun stopped him, leading him over to the docks instead of the back road leading North.

"What are you-"

Reian was cut short by Yi-jun kissing him gently on the cheek. He blinked in surprise as the King pulled him down, laying back on the gently swaying platform over the water and easing Reian's head onto his shoulder.

"Rest before we leave," he sighed. "You haven't been sleeping well."

Reian yawned again, balling up his fists into Yi-jun's clothes and closing his eyes contently. This was where he felt the most at home. Yi-jun's love and warmth like sunshine soaking into Reian's skin, reminding him how it felt to be alive.

After falling in and out of lovely, peaceful dreams for more than an hour, Wen Rei stirred due to a tickle on his nose...

Opening his eyes, he realised with a soft hum that Xie Yi-jun was staring at him, gently stroking up and down the bridge of his nose. Reian wrinkled it which made the King smile. They laid like that in the sun for several more moments, watching the way the light reflected in each other's eyes; Yi-jun's turning bright like amber, Reian's deep and violet-black...

Finally, Yi-jun moved. They stood together, Wen Rei feeling warm all over and much brighter than before simply from being so close to the man. Yi-jun was like oxygen to his gasping soul, something he felt he would die without.

"Ready to go?" The King said, and with a final look out at the gentle rolling waves, the two set out North for The Howling Cave.

Reian had tried to do a little research on it before they'd come. Apparently the cave itself was once a source of great power, back when magic was so common and could be felt in nature's every breath. After The Long Night, like so many other things, the cave's natural abilities and resources faded until it became a forgotten landmark. A simple home for a snake demon...

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Wen Rei wasn't worried about any potential dangers. Not when he had someone like Yi-jun with him. He could tell that the King's knowledge of this kind of creature was from personal experience. Reian didn't ask, for he knew as well that any sort of memory tied to his past was bound to be bitter sweet. He had no desire to cause the man any more pain.

For a long time, they walked together in silence through the thinned and frigid woods, the trees long since bare and dying, creeping branches reaching out towards them like they were grasping at the faintest sign of warmth.

An eerily foriegn feeling came over Wen Reian then. Like jámàis vu, the sense that he had never been here before or experienced the coldness of these trees in this exact way. Pretty soon, with his every footstep growing wary, Reian reached out for Yi-jun's hand, clinging onto him and feeling the King move towards him in return.

It was the middle of the day but the sun was hidden behind a thick fog, Reian's vision growing so blurry that at one point, Yi-jun had to catch him from tripping over several fallen trees in their path.

"I guess no one's been down here in a while," Reian said, disliking the way his voice seemed to cut apart the silence into ribbons.

Biting his lip, he glanced over at the King. Yi-jun seemed on high alert though he'd not told Reian he was nervous...

Perhaps the feeling of dread I have is getting to him too?

Finally, when the ground beneath their feet turned from bone-dry soil into rock, Reian saw through the fog ahead the faintest outline of a cave. However, before they could continue Yi-jun stopped him.

Looking up, Reian grew fearful in an instant at the amount of worry in the King's dark eyes. With his hands on the boy's shoulders the man leaned in, whispering in his ear what their plan would be...

"No matter what, you stay close to me, okay? I can see in the dark and I'll watch out for you. If something happens where we get separated-"

He suddenly reached down and took hold of Reian's wrist, bringing it up and causing the boy to inhale sharply as the King pressed a kiss to the inside of it. Where his lips touched, Reian felt his skin tingle, eyes widening in surprise at the little shimmering gold symbol that was left when Yi-jun pulled away.

Blinking, Wen Rei stared at it.

"What is this?"

Yi-jun only smiled, "A secret power of the Kings of Hêi'àn City. Whoever I put this mark on I'll always be able to find. It's like a beacon. You'll never be lost as long as I'm alive," he said, placing his hand over his heart.

For some reason, the thought of never being separated or apart from Yi-jun made Wen Rei very excited. He imagined forever feeling like his other half, a piece of his heart, was out there waiting for him. No matter what...

Remembering their encounter in the forest last night, and Reian's sudden confession as the King stared up at him with gorgeous passion in his eyes, the boy felt his face warm.

He really is my first love. How lucky would I be if I was his last?

The Howling Cave was exactly what Reian imagined.

Shadowy, cold, the rock walls so freezing his fingers almost became numb from a single curious touch. Yi-jun kept him close after that, Reian's eyes darting around as they entered the mouth of the cave and saw two tunnels before them.

As its name suggested, howling, whistling noises could be heard from both directions. One seeming to slant up, the other down...

"Which should we choose?" Reian whispered into Yi-jun's ear.

The King glanced back at him and grinned in the darkness, his eyes twinkling with mischief and the thrill of something potentially dangerous. That look made Reian long for him in a way he'd never felt. The foolish, cocky smile on the King's face and the way it caused Reian's heart to race... new feelings combining with his already growing love-

"Snake's tend to burrow down where it's darkest," Yi-jun smiled, then his eyes slanted devilishly.

"Watch where you step..."

With a shiver, Reian followed the King, trying his best to be sure of his footing on the slick stone floor so he didn't accidentally brush against the walls again. He walked behind Yi-jun, still holding his hand tightly as the tunnel curved deeper and deeper, narrowing, getting colder until both their breath came out in visible puffs of air.

Reian was just getting used to his strange surroundings when Yi-jun abruptly stopped, jumping back with a start and scaring the wits out of poor Reian.

"Ah!"

He practically jumped onto Yi-jun's back, heart pounding, only to hear the King's soft laugh from ahead...

"Sorry, I thought I saw something-"

Reian frowned, hitting the man hard in the shoulder and preparing to complain loudly, when his attention was caught by a little flicker at his feet.

Holding as still as he could, Reian looked down, his heart racing and then calming again in an instant when he met eyes with the smallest little snake he'd ever seen...

It was tinier than the garden snakes in Jingshén, hardly noticeable, and Reian smiled at how wrong they'd been.

"Yi-jun, look!" Reian almost giggled, pointing at the little green creature as it blinked at them.

The King finally saw it, clearly startled which made Reian actually laugh...

"Is that the snake demon?! It's so cute, like a toy-"

Reian was still admiring the thing's glowing yellow eyes when Yi-jun seemed to tense beside him.

"That..."

About to tease him for his reaction, Wen Rei stopped when he caught sight of the King's shadowed face. He was frowning deeply, seeming to be engaged in a staring contest with the little creature.

"Yi-jun?"

When he didn't answer, Reian looked at the snake again, a little startled to find it equally intrigued by Yi-jun's presence. The serpent seemed to be...tilting its head? Wait-

"What-"

Reian gasped, watching the snake grow right before his eyes. It's body slithering upon the floor until it was nearly the size of Reian's arm!

Too stunned to panic, he only stared. Suddenly the thing sped away, disappearing down the tunnel into the darkness-

When Yi-jun raced after it, Reian couldn't even say anymore that he knew what was going on...

After following as close as he could to the frantic King, Reian at last caught up with him, his eyes growing wide as he took in the room they now stood in.

Likely several dozen feet below the surface, the cave seemed to be lit by large candles rising up from the ground. Hay and feathers and snakeskin littered the floor, and Yi-jun stood in the center, still staring furiously at the creature.

Watching as the snake continued to grow, becoming nearly as large as a person, Reian was about to call out to Yi-jun and beg him to withdraw. Before he could, the snake almost towering over him now, collapsed with a hiss on the floor, writhing horribly.

Unable to tear his gaze away, Wen Rei stared...

The serpent seemed to be convulsing, it's skin stretching in all directions as the life went out of its eyes. Reian hadn't seen Yi-jun do anything to it to cause such a reaction, and the King was still frozen as if he also couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Yi-jun's posture was not in any way like Reian's, who was terrified and confused. Yi-jun stood as if he was barely withholding himself, his knuckles white, jaw clenched in fury.

Oh my god-

Reian's stomach rolled, watching as the skin of the snake split, a horrible ripping sound coming from it, and he blinked in astonishment at what fell out...

That's... that's an arm!

For a moment, thinking that the snake had eaten someone, Reian gulped in fear. A second later the arm was followed by another, and then an entire naked man slithered out of the snakeskin that lay dead upon the cold floor.

Having never seen anything like it in his life and never wishing to again, Reian could only stand in silence as the man stood up and ran his hands through bright auburn hair, a viscous fluid coating him that smelled like death itself.

The man's bright yellow eyes flickered over them carefully, until a smile started to form upon his lips when he looked at the King.

Xie Yi-jun was... shaking?!

About to go over to the King, Reian was stopped by the stranger's whispered words-

"A'Jun?! You're alive?"

"... Su Lan-"

Reian blinked in surprise as he recognised the name Yi-jun had hissed through his clenched teeth.

Su Lan, as in the King's best friend? The man who betrayed Xie Yi-jun when he needed him most, conspiring with Meng Bai and ultimately cursing the King to be a statue for seven hundred years?!

Noticing the way Yi-jun was glaring at him, Reian guessed this was the truth.

A split second before he attacked, Wen Rei heard the King's scream echoing off the walls themselves, his heart racing in fear at the sound...

"You're dead!"