The Stone King's Lover (石王的愛)

Chapter 72

Wen Reian

An unknown number of years after The Long Night

Wen Reian's Dream

<South Jiezhî>

"I'm so proud of you Wen Reian!"

Jin Songcai's words, of course, made the boy blush profusely, but when the healer saw he just chuckled and continued to stare at the fountain.

It was at the center of town, and Reian liked to come here on clear mornings before people were awake. The early light settling down into the valley, the chiming of the clock tower nearby, the sound of water flowing; like crystals, or raindrops, catching the sun.

Bumping into Songcai today was a happy surprise, the man having immediately caught his eye, simply from the beauty of his presence and soul.

Reian was always starstruck by Songcai, and today was no exception. But his mentor only had praising words for him it seemed...

"You've done an incredible thing. It's not something an ordinary man can achieve,"

Reian smiled, looking down shyly at his hands while he heard Songcai reach into his pocket and take out a few coins.

"Here," he smiled warmly as he handed one to Wen Rei.

"Make a wish."

The boy blinked, "Does this fountain grant wishes?"

Jin Songcai nodded. "For as long as I can remember, it has granted all of mine."

Reian fiddled with the coin between his fingers for some time, fairly certain what his wish would be, when he happened to look up and his heart stopped in his chest.

That's who I wished for, but-

Slowly, eerily slowly, as if the dream was turning to a nightmare, the sky seemed to dim and a grey haze settled upon the statue at the top of the fountain; it's eyes bound by cloth and hands tied, the faint smirk so familiar and heartbreaking, that Reian actually uttered out a faint gasp.

Xie Yi-jun...

The King, just as he was at the center of Sanlín City. The way he was for seven-hundred years. Cursed, entrapped.

Suddenly Jin Songcai spoke up again, his voice far too melodic for the suffocating feeling in Reian's lungs and heart...

"You truly did everything you could to free him, but I'm proud of you for knowing when to stop. After all, you couldn't very well have spent your entire life on him. Letting go was the best choice, it was a very hard decision-"

"Stop! I-"

The coin fell from Reian's hand as Songcai's words rang in his ears. He took a few steps back, away from the healer and the fountain and further into town. He recognised several of the buildings, but there were no people around or inside any of them.

Songcai kept speaking, not looking behind and acting as if Wen Rei was still beside him...

"Forgiving yourself for what you did to Xie-jun, and to me-" the man nodded. "Most people would have let grief like that kill them."

Before he could stop himself, Reian was running. All he knew was that he needed to get away from there, from that fountain and Songcai's words that may or may not be true. He didn't understand anything anymore-

Acting on impulse alone, he turned down a familiar street, heart pounding and sweat beginning to drip from his face as he fled from the failures that spoke to him.

Upon entering the alleyway, Reian was immediately assaulted by a strong odor of rotting meat. It itched his nose and made him almost gag...

Someone must have threw out the entrails of an animal-

Stepping back as his eyes scanned the road, trying to make sure Jin Songcai or something else wasn't following him, Reian's feet skidded to a halt as he felt something soft give way under them.

The stench was getting worse, and finally the boy looked down only to find that he was standing on the remains of a decomposing body; the flesh having seeped off the bones that were scattered under his feet, everything turning to grey mush as soon as he touched it.

Jumping away as if he'd been burned, Wen Rei's hands flew to his mouth to either stop the smell or stop the bile rising in his throat.

He couldn't have ever imagined such a horrible sight... except... except he had truly seen something similar that night. In this very alley-

Trying to hold his breath, Reian ended up backing so far up against the side of the next building that he could feel the coldness and dampness of the bricks against his body. The longer he gazed down in horror at the corpse, the more he felt his unshed tears begin to spill down his face. He really couldn't look away, as if he thought the thing might suddenly come back to life and attack him all over again.

Reian vauguely recalled the rage he'd felt that night, as if it was from another lifetime, but all he felt now was disgust at whatever monster had killed this person.

Yes, he is a person! Despite what he did to Jin Yu, he was a human being that I murdered in cold blood. And no one can ever know, and I can never go back and choose something else...

At the time, the power and energy had just exploded out, like a rope slipping away from his fingers. It was unstoppable, it was vicious. Reian was frozen with the fear that maybe that had always been inside him, and that it was his true face.

He wished to close his eyes, yet his terror wouldn't let him. Reian shivered and cowered against the wall, hot tears dripping onto his hands as he tried not to make even a single noise. As his vision blurred, Wen Rei blinked and after doing so let out a mournful scream-

It is me, it is what I have become...

Where the man's body had been, there now lay a similar one, except this was not the corpse of an old man, nor was he very long-since dead. This was a young person; with pale, sickly green skin, dark purple shadows under his eyes, and wild black hair creeping out into the cracks of the pavement stained with blood.

It was Wen Reian!

Staring at the way his limbs were all twisted, bones shattered; nothing but a shell of something hardly human, Reian fell limply to the ground, legs giving out completely as he sobbed in utter silence.

Only the racing of his heart made it past his ears as he sucked in a breath and reached a shaking hand out, as if trying to tell if the broken thing in the puddles was really him or not. Could it really be him?!

He neared the body. So close, he could even see the birth marks scattered about the boy's face and neck. Exactly where his own were. Exactly where Xie Yi-jun used to kiss-

As he stared at the freckle under his eye, the dead Wen Reian suddenly opened his eyes weakly. Instead of panicking or gasping or hurrying away like a sane person might have, Reian stayed, looking down into the deep abyss that was inside the boy's eyes as he wondered if this was what he actually was on the inside. His face, his form...

The dead boy's blue lips twitched, exhaling as he tried to speak, but it appeared his windpipe had been crushed along with the rest of him.

Wen Rei opened his own mouth, and what came out were the words he knew his inner self wanted to say. The part of him lying in a pool of his own blood, shattered and clinging hopelessly onto life;

"You would kill to save your brother, but give up on the one you love?! You aren't just a murderer, Wen Reian. You're a coward! And you should have died here instead of me-"