Wen Reian

2005 years after The Long Night

Hêi'àn Palace

The first thing Reian saw when he opened his eyes was Jin Songcai. Naturally, the boy assumed that he was dreaming.

He's back in my dreams, that's a good sign I guess...

Wen Reian hadn't even realised he had moved until the healer's bright blue eyes flickered to him, Songcai being startled by Reian's hand reaching out for him.

I've missed you, I missed when everything was good-

Songcai blinked, then a brilliant smile brightened his face, such a look of relief that Reian felt his breath halt in his throat.

"Wen Reian," the man sighed. "Welcome back."

It was several moments later that Reian realised the heaviness he felt on top of him wasn't all in his head, and was in fact because Xie Yi-jun was asleep on his stomach, fingers loosely gripping at Reian's clothes.

Frowning, the boy looked to Songcai again.

"This..." Reian's voice felt incredibly hoarse and uncomfortable-

"This isn't a dream?"

Jin Songcai chuckled softly and Reian realised that he'd never before felt like this in any of his dreams; like Songcai's aura was so tangible around him. It was astoundingly gorgeous...

The healer's laugh had stirred the King from sleep, Reian immediately meeting eyes with Xie Yi-jun and finally understanding when he saw his face, that this was indeed real.

"Wen Rei-"

Yi-jun gasped, suddenly grabbing Reian and yanking him up into his arms. The boy didn't know why but he felt as if all his energy had been sapped out of him, his entire body feeling limp as the King squeezed him far too tight.

"You're okay!" Yi-jun hugged him so hard Reian winced, but then when he released him, the boy felt an ache in his heart like he wouldn't mind being suffocated a little longer...

"How do you feel?!" The King was searching his eyes, so Reian forced out a few weak words in response;

"Mostly confused..."

Yi-jun grinned and Reian watched as a single tear fell from his eye. Just then, the King's gaze flew to Songcai, who was standing over the bed Reian was in and staring at them both fondly.

"Jin-cai promised to explain everything, as soon as you were awake. I, for one, can't wait to hear any explanation!"

Reian blinked, going from looking at Yi-jun to Jin Songcai and back again...

"It..." the boy swallowed. "It worked-"

"Both of you! Answers. Now!" The King demanded.

Songcai smiled. "Very well. Reian, lay back down, you're still weak."

After Yi-jun helped him, they all waited patiently for the healer to begin. Wen Reian listened intently to his voice, watching the way the King hung on Songcai's every word. Their three souls fluttered shyly and joyfully as one, greeting each other more and more as every minute passed.

"It was after a particularly gruesome battle," Songcai frowned. "I realized it was quite possible that we were going to lose the war."

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Xie Yi-jun and Wen Reian were both silent, the King seeming to recall...

"I decided to create a sort of time capsule, a place where I was able to store a portion of my conscious soul, that would survive whatever was our fate. It was in an attempt to one day tell others of what had happened in the war, so that if we did die, the true history would not be erased. Well, as you can probably guess it didn't quite turn out that way. After the fall of Hêi'àn City, the piece of my soul that was left grew dormant. The spell was designed so that it could sense the right person to free it, but I didn't realise this that soul would be so rare. Seven hundred years later, Reian was born. I heard him calling out, and went to him in The Spirit Orchard. He was freezing, left to die, so I had to do something.

"Instead of waiting for you to grow up, Wen Reian, I decided to join with your soul. I remember how easy it was, how your spirit warmed right up. Like that, in a way I suppose I was always with you. But I didn't show myself until that night in Sanlín City. When you woke up Xie-jun, I was there too. I felt your power rising, like nothing the world has ever seen before. I knew that your abilities would only grow, and as they did, it became easier for me to visit you in your dreams. I thought that perhaps you would one day be able to bring me back, with what was left of my soul as a tether. After what happened in South Jiezhî, your spirit sealed itself so fast that I had no way to reach you anymore, to stop you or keep you from choosing something dangerous. Like what Xie-jun did, you also created a prison for yourself, and in doing so I was shut out. It was because of this that when Yi-jun was cursed again, he would not wake up. I never imagined you would try something so dangerous like the Soul Shatter Spell to bring us all back, at risk of your own life! If I had known, I would never have come to you in the first place. Your power exceeded even my wildest imaginations and fears. You broke your soul into a billion little pieces, and then those pieces grew to possess a power that should have ripped the universe apart. It's a miracle that there was anything left of you at all..."

Xie Yi-jun spoke first, his eyes wide-

"So you were there the whole time?! Why didn't you say anything?"

"I wasn't aware of anything outside Reian's emotions, and communicating to him in dreams. I didn't know you had been cursed until later, and I couldn't force Wen Reian into anything. He needed to learn to heal at his own pace."

Reian's head was spinning at all of it...

"Hang on," the boy blinked.

"So it was because of you? That Yi-jun woke up in the first place? That's why I couldn't wake him in The Howling Cave... because you were no longer there-"

Reian's spoken train of thought was interrupted by Jin Songcai chuckling suddenly.

"No," the man smiled. "Like I said, I was only very basely aware of your emotions at the beginning. My soul was, for lack of a better term, sealed inside of yours. Your awakening of Xie-jun was your own doing, I was not involved."

"Then... why couldn't I wake him again?"

As Songcai sighed, Reian wondered if maybe he himself already knew the answer.

"When your soul shifted so drastically, not only was I shut out, but your spirit was shut in. You convinced yourself that you had changed, that you were so different to the point that Xie-jun could no longer recognise you, this then became the truth."

The King seemed to mutter something under his breath, and Jin Songcai smiled when he heard him-

"Soulmate..."

"Yes," then Songcai looked at a terribly startled Reian.

"Do you know what a soulmate is, Wen Reian?" Songcai said.

The boy blinked, then ended up shaking his head...

"A soulmate is someone who inspires you to live. Not a lover, not a friend or a husband or a wife. It's when a heart finds another heart that beats in the same way."

Reian looked up at them both. At Yi-jun staring at Songcai with such love in his eyes, and Songcai's gentle smile. It was obvious to him now. That these were the people he was meant to find. Even time hadn't ended up stopping them from being together, being alive in the same moment, with their hearts beating as one.

Xie Yi-jun sighed then, and Reian felt the man's soul easing in such a way that the boy took a deep breath in as well...

"I have been gifted more time with you both," Yi-jun said. "There will not be a single day that passes where I don't thank you for coming back to me."

They all stayed like that in silence for a long time, but it was clear that the bond between their souls was like a form of talking, in its own way. Reian had never before felt anything more joyful in his life.

Finally, once Songcai was satisfied for now that Wen Reian was stable, Xie Yi-jun helped him sit up again and immediately hugged him once more.

The boy blushed and smiled, feeling the King's rapid heartbeat against his chest and then his hushed words;

"You've been asleep for too long, Wen Rei... time to get up."

Reian laughed.

Xie Yi-jun huffed, "Everyone at Jingshén must be so worried about you. Master Hao might never forgive me at this rate-"

Reian shook his head, grinning.

"What are you talking about?" He laughed, pulling away from the King.

Yi-jun raised an eyebrow and repeated; "You don't think they're concerned for you?"

"They...?"

Reian watched as Yi-jun frowned, and Songcai seemed to listen in closer. The boy looked from one to the other, unsure why the King was suddenly talking nonsense.

"Wen Rei," Xie Yi-jun said slowly.

"The Masters at Jingshén. Your friends; Xie De and Jin Yu and the little ones. They don't know yet where you are, or what you've done."

Blinking, still smiling, the boy shook his head at the King's strange jokes. As Songcai and Yi-jun exchanged a look, Reian finally sighed in exasperation;

"Who?"