Tear A Path

Zhao Wei couldn"t help but gulp at the sight of the entrance. It was like a boundary between this world and entering something else entirely. Outside the daylight was searing, but in that hole there was an almost unnatural darkness that looked like a solid wall.

As warriors stepped into the path they almost vanished into the shadows. Eyisha turned to him, " Now I must warn you before anything... No matter what you see or hear in there, do not respond, do not speak, don"t even acknowledge it in your mind..."

"What"s in there?" Zhao Wei asked.

"I..I don"t know..." She replied, her eyes couldn"t make contact with his as she put a foot inside, just before she was swallowed, she turned to him, "Mr w.a.n.g Zhao Hui... whatever is inside... it"s not real... or at least... I hope it"s not.." She said before she too disappeared.

Kitsi stepped next to him, "I will follow along with you benefactor... you"ve done so much for us, it"d be our deepest regret if we lost you here."

He looked at her questioningly... Why was everything so obscure about this place.

She sighed, "We call this place the abyss, few people pa.s.s through and come out the other side, for those who do, all have different stories, some say their souls are searched, some say monstrous creatures roam... I hope you don"t hold this against us as we couldn"t take a chance if you were scared away. But right here and right now, it"s just you and me and even though I kill as a soldier I don"t want to put an innocent into harms way."

He looked at the hole up again, "What"s your theory?" he asked.

"It"s h.e.l.l." she answered.

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Zhao Wei pondered over it a little. "If you are unsure it"s fine if you wish to stay here, I could bring your carriage in and once we are done unloading the allocated food I would return with it, you have my word" She said.

"No I"ll go" he concluded.

Her eyes were quite surprised, even if he wanted to learn a few things it shouldn"t be comparable from what she saw of his att.i.tude. He was only doing it to keep his promise to deliver.

"I wish you luck Mr. w.a.n.g Zhao Hui" She said as she bowed her head.

"Maybe, if I get through this you could drop the formalities in your speech, I"m just a hunter... By the way, my friends call me Zhao Wei..." he said as he brought himself forward with the carriage. He had Myra jump into his shadow and Panda in his arms as he stepped in.

He tried to turn to view the sunlight for the last time but his vision was already being buried as the clouds of ink-like tendrils raced to swallow him.

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He blinked, for a moment he wasn"t sure if his his were open or if they were closed. He"d known the dark, in fact he quite liked it, there was always some comfort to being yourself in a place people couldn"t see. It embraces them and their pain and acknowledges their depravity.

Even if there is an eventual downfall it was subtle and only harrowing when those residing in it turned blind to whatever was in the light. This one was different, it was a kind that didn"t entice, it penetrates into the deepest darkest recesses of a person"s sanity and scoffs.

It reaches in and grabs what"s left of the sanity, shredding it to rinds. In it"s stillness it forcefully makes a person question their own existence. In it"s emptiness, it provides a platform for all the demons in a person"s head to come out and play, bringing life to constructs so bleak that even nightmares dare not harbor it.

But suddenly, Zhao Wei saw a bright spot in the darkness, it was a small shining light but it seemed to call to him. He tried to move towards it. The darkness was somehow viscous, even though Zhao Wei could breathe normally, when he tried to move it was like going through a fluid matter.

As he got closer, the darkness began to fade, the light washing over the dark. "Was this Dracas village?" he thought to himself. As the image came into view, the world around him was white and black, every outline like a pencil line on a clean canvas. He was at a patch of land, the gra.s.s fluttering from an illusory wind.

Looking down, he saw a girl laying down, she seemed to enjoy her time. She felt familiar, he couldn"t recall her face, but he"d recognize the hair anywhere. A square patterned b.u.t.toned shirt and skirt hung loosely on her body as she relaxed.

Color began to fill her, the lines on her clothes filled with a darker shade of black while the squares filled with a light red. Her skin regained it"s tantalizing glow, a flush running over her cheeks. But her hair remained white, like snow on a mountain so pure and ethereal.

He crossed his legs and sat down next to her, awaiting the girl to wake up, it might be a day or it might be a century, but he was content just sitting there.

He felt the enigmatic pa.s.sage of time, he felt his death, his body breaking with age and crumbling into dust in death, but in the next moment he"d be back again repeating it all over always sitting next to her always watching her face in it"s rest. One day or minute later her eyes would open and he wouldn"t miss it.

And it did, those beautiful arches adorned by the soft feathery lashes fluttered before it granted him pa.s.sage into what he longed to see for so long. The lines like chocolate running down a late of copper. Speckles of black around the pupils, an image of the first drops of rain on a dry land, a kindness that warmed what the sun couldn"t touch and a playfulness that never ceased to draw him in like a memory of home. It was the world held in her eyes.

He brushed off a little hair that cascaded down her forehead, he couldn"t help not see everything to the fullest. She smiled, the only glint of light in this monochrome s.p.a.ce. Her hand drew upward, the fingers caressing his cheek in it"s fullness.

"You look tired honey,... what"s wrong?" she said a smile that seemed to take on the burdens he carried drew on her face. Somewhere in the experience, his face had contorted into an image of pain, grief, failure, but most of all longing. He wanted to vent his heart out but the voice was choked by the pain in his throat as his eyes glistened.

Her fingers brushed his lower lips, "You can"t be here honey... Not yet."

He wanted to rebut but it wouldn"t get past his lips as he was once again dragged back into the darkness...