Chapter Text
Darkness and resentment. That was all Wei Wuxian could see, all he could feel. The tightness in his chest was getting tighter and he knew he was in trouble. His goldencore was transferred to his adoptive brother and he was all but powerless against the rising despair. Soon the sword that he would later learn that was made of Yi Metal was admitting an intense black aura and floating just feet from him. It seemed to offer the only source of light in the darkness of the burial mounds. Wei Wuxian crawled on all fours toward the sword hearing whispering from the darkness promises of revenge. As he reached a hand out to grasp the helt of the sword he heard a young man's voice softly whisper in his ear. “You can save them.” And all at once darkness claimed him.
When Wei Wuxian awoke he could feel himself in a pool of hot water. He opened his eyes slowly struggling to use even that much strength. He nearly screamed as his eyes focused on a large face twisted in agony came into view. Blinking a few times to settle himself he saw that the pool of water that he was submerged in originated from the mouth of the face. He took a deep breath but came a bit short when he felt the twisting tightness from the darkness seeping into his lungs. Well at least he knew where he was now. Still on the cursed mountain full of corpses. Sensing movement to his right he turned to face that way, what or who he saw startled him. Sitting in the hot springs with him was a beyond dead pale man with thick messy long black hair, but it was the eyes that really startled Wei Wuxian. They were green, greener then any jewel that he had ever laid eyes on and frankly they were unsettling to say the least. “W-who are you!?” Wei Wuxian asked, trying to lift himself up into a more defensible position.
Wei Wuxian watched as petal pink lips parted and spoke, “My name is Harry…” The words were in his tongue at least he thought they were. They seemed odd, like he wasn’t quite used to wrapping his tongue around the letters. “How am I not dead?” Wei Wuxian asked as he continued to study Harry. Harry gave him a brilliantly white smile, “That cursed sword of yours. It did a number on you in exchange though.” Wei shifted slightly in the pool trying to ease the ache in his body. “I can tell. But you know what this bath needs? Alcohol.” The only answer that Wei Wuxian received was a hardy laugh as the world once again turned dark.
An unknown amount of time had passed before once again Wei Wuxian found himself awake. This time he was dressed and laying on the ground of a cave. He could sense water near by him and smell the darkness in the air. He shifted ever so slightly to try and get rid of the rock digging into his back when he was disrupted by a voice, “You have a chance you know. Of making it out of here.” The young cultivator opened his eyes and looked toward the strange man who had spoken. The man Harry as he was called pined Wei Wuxian down with his glowing green eyes. “You have a chance for revenge if that is what you wish.” Wei Wuxian let out a weak laugh at that and closed his eyes once more his will to live low. His resentment growing, frustration leaking out in the form of tears. “You can get revenge without a goldencore.” The man's voice whispered closer to him this time, “You can protect all you care for without it.” Wei Wuxian shot up and swiped toward the sound of the voice getting nothing but air as his eyes flew open. Just Harry sitting in the spot he was before 6 feet away from himself. “You know nothing…” Wei Wuxian replied frustrated. Harry just smiled softly at him. “I’m going to go get us something to eat. Feel free to read something while I’m gone.” And with that Harry left. Wei Wuxian watched him go feeling all the while as if he had missed something. Did he hit his head on the fall down to the corpse mountain? That had to have been it. Because to him it seemed as if someone was living down here in the burial mounds.
It was a long time before Wei Wuxian got the energy up to explore because that's what he did best. The first thing he learned was that he was trapped in the cave by some sort of net made by negative energy. He had only ever thought that was possible in theory. Seeing it made Wei Wuxian have some hope. He immediately went to the books on the table like stone. He had just picked up the first book with the candles flickered and Harry entered the cave once again. In his arms he bore fruit. At least Wei Wuxian thought they were fruit, they had an odd look about them and were filled with negative energy. Harry waved a hand over one piece of fruit and Wei watched in amazement as the negative energy seemed to leave the fruit and entered Harry’s body. Harry had purified the fruit so it was safe to eat, he watched with hunger as the green eyed man took a large bite of the now purified fruit. Wei Wuxian swallowed hard as he eyed the other fruit. As he took it from Harry’s hand he could feel a large amount of fear try to consume him. It was almost unbearable. He held on to the fruit tightly and tried to concentrate when a male voice penetrated the fear, “Feel the fear but don’t let it consume you… you must have a strong mind.” It was the forgien man. He felt Harry place a hand on his shoulder and felt himself become calmer. “Think of the good things.” Wei Wuxian took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He could still feel the fear and resentment in the piece of fruit and concentrated hard on resisting the overwhelming resentment energy. He thought of his senior sister, and his adoptive brother and for some reason his mind kept wandering to Lan Zhan. As Lan Zhan stayed at the forefront of his mind, the man representing calmness and peice that Wei Wuxian wished he could feel again he could feel a new type of energy entering his body. He almost panicked but the firm hand on his shoulder helped to keep him grounded. When he opened his eyes again it was to stare at the fruit that was now resentment and fear free. He tentatively took a bite before smiling up at Harry, “It’s delicious!” Was all he could cry as the sweet fruit hit his tongue and the back of his throat. It helped to relieve the dryness of his throat and the hunger in his body. Wei Wuxian was so hungry he realized that his body felt weak. The golden core he had would normally sustain him without feeling hunger but with out it in his body the hunger was there and it was looming.
As soon as his hunger had eased he studied the man who knew how to purify and manipulate dark energy. “What are you?” Wei Wuxian felt the question leave his mouth without a thought to stop it. Harry looked amused, “People call me many names… But you may call me master… “ Wei Wuxian was confused and taken back by the answer. “Many names? what did he mean by that?’ the young cultivator thought to himself. “Why am I locked in here?” The green eyed man gave him a long penitrative stare that reminded him of the look that Lan Qiren would give him during his lectures when he was being particularly distracting. “You are not locked in the cave, you just can’t get out…” Wei Wuxian gave him a dirty look and harry sighed, “Not yet… You need to study…” Harry got up and Grabbed one of the books, it revealed a strange looking book that wasn’t in a language that Wei Wuxian was familiar with. “How did that get here?” he heard harry mumble to himself before he grabbed the strange piece of literature and Wei Wuxian watched as it disappeared into black smoke and resentment.
Wei Wuxian couldn’t help but think of the beauty collection that Lan Zhan had destroyed. It felt like a life time ago that he was stuck in the libary copying the copy’s of rules that the Lan sect had dedicated their lives to live by. The boy curled up in a small ball as he thought of his silent friend and wondered how he was doing. Wei Wuxian hadn’t seen him sense the snake turtle cave and he was curious. Was he leg healed? How about Lan Xichen did he ever return to the cloud recess? His mind wandered to Lotus pier and the disaster that had taken place there. Then he thought of his adopted brother Jiang Cheng about the mountain he had last seen him. Was Jiang Cheng mad at him because he hadn’t been at the bottom of the mountain to mean him. He could feel his mind starting to turn to dark thoughts. Maybe Jian Cheng was thankful that he was gone, it was his fault that Lotus pier was gone. That madam Yu and his uncle, both dead third party by his own hands. He moved his hands from around his legs to look at them in front of his face and burst out of his little sadness ball to a sprawled position on the ground. His hands were being wrapped with dark mist and resentment. “Be careful, once you have some darkness in you, you have to keep your mind sharp.” Harry warned coming into view above Wei Wuxian. The teen looked up at the green eyed man, “I want to live…” that was all Wei Wuxian could voice and really it was all he could think. The strange man reached out and grasped one of Wei Wuxian’s hands helping him up to his feet, “What do you want to live for?” Harry asked. “I will live to protect and achieve the impossible through righteousness.”