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The crystal stairs seemed endless. Of course, with their magic, the three of them didn't break a sweat. But its possible this was all an illusion.
"Four cronies seems like enough." Lan breathes. "Thats the limit, as far as I'm concerned." She grits her teeth. "I'm fed up with this shit, wheres the big bad?"
Mei, who was flying next to her sighed. "They're close."
Lian seemed completely engrossed in her thoughts. She got like that sometimes. Empress Wu was gently stroking her hair as they flew at breakneck speeds.
The place around them was reminiscent of heaven, where they had visited only a few months earlier. Mei still wondered if the blood he left on the pure while tile floor still sat there. Hard to say. The stars and nebula stretched before the trio, until they spotted a large door, decorated with flesh. The eyes blinked, mouths seemed to whisper either pleas for help or silent secrets. Mei barely flinched.
Lan furrows her brow as she lands in front of the door. "This is your kind of stuff, Mei."
He nods without needing further instruction. Lian still seemed anxious. This time, Guanyin had their arms wrapped around her.
Mei takes out his Necronomicon, and flips to a page. On a door sealed like this one... This spell should work. Mei swallowed dryly, pulling the knife out of his pocket. Opening his third eye, he slashes his palm open. Even though he quit self harm a while ago, he still got a rush of feeling from it. He pushed it to the back of his mind as he squeezed his palm onto the book. The mouth on the book seemed to say something, and the door blew open.
"Ok, everyone. This is it." Mei exhaled, casting a weak healing spell on his hand. It was something simple, he learned from Yi. Hopefully he'd seem him again.
"...We won't die, right?" Lian asked. Her voice smaller than usual.
Mei and Lan both stayed silent. The enemy seemed pretty serious. Sending all of their underlings after them. They insisted it was for 'testing purposes' but with Mei's title, and word getting out... This could possibly be a plot to assassinate him. Its just part of being god.
Thats what Mei liked to tell himself. He was putting his friends in danger as long as he was around them. He insisted that he could go by himself.
Sure, he was immortal. But who knows. Anything could happen, it seems.
The three hesitantly walked into the elegant looking room. The tile was that of a gods, with velvet curtains all around the large room.
Mei felt a familiar pressure. In that instant, a being materialized out of stardust.
"Oh my, you're all here earlier than I expected." A warm voice coos. Almost mockingly. That pissed Lan off to no end.
"Finally- Mrs. Big Bad shows her ugly mug." Lan growls. She has obviously had enough.
"No need to get so hostile." She laughs. She's a Hindu woman of above average height, a gold tiara under her hair, that billowed down to the base of her spine. Her dress was a strange one, greens and whites with beads strung around. Her purple eyes we're piercing, seeming to read ones soul like a book.
Mei finally spoke up. "Are you the one who sent the letter?" His voice was shaky. A panic attack was definitely on the horizon, but he was stronger than that. At least he hoped.
He'd be strong.
The woman pretends to think, before laughing again. "Of course~ It's such a primitive form of communication, I miss the old ways, before that war... So much more convenient~"
"What the hell are you going on about?" Lan spat. "According to Xiaochun, it was hell back then."
"To some." She finished. "Anyway, I'm Nie. The so-called 'Goddess of Eternity'. I control everything you see around you. You could call me a Goddess of Matter too, but eternity sounds nifty." Nie smirks to herself.
"Xiaoshen, how nice it is to see you~" She continues, eyes locked on Mei. His head swam. Fear plagued his heart.
"X-Xiaoshen? Me?" Mei feebly asked, taking a deep breath. Being called that made his breath hitch.
"Isn't it cute?" She asks, giggling. "I like it. I think it fits you! You're the shortest god I've ever seen!"
Lan breaths a 'Heh' as Mei pouts.
"It's true, you know. And the most powerful. Besides me, of course." She lounged around on her invisible chair. "Whats your secret?"
The red haired boy closed his eyes. "You know."
Nie blinked, surprised at his attentiveness. "Ohoho, you're much more perceptive than I thought. You sensed me there when you transformed?"
"Yeah."
"Interesting~" She pauses. "How did it feel to have a blood sacrifice?" Her voice didn't change from that cheery tone.
Mei feels his knees fail on him, collapsing to the ground, sputtering. Lian instinctively swoops down and summons Empress Wu.
"Mei! Are you-"
"I'll..." He coughs, hard. "Be fine." Lan is already ready to kill Nie. Just from that sentence.
"HEY! What the hell? You know that Hua was our friend!" Lan stomps, breaking the tile at her feet. "How do you think it felt? Being force fed his friend's blood? Fuckin' AWFUL!"
Nie made an expression akin to a kicked puppy. "Waaah, you're so mean! I just wanted to know..."
The boy crumpled on the floor tried to pull himself together.
"I didn't deserve to have them as a sacrifice. They had a second shot at life-" He stalls. "And they gave it up. For me." Lian wraps one of his arms around her shoulder, effectively hauling him off the ground. That was. Maybe half a panic attack. He's been getting better.
"Now now. If they didn't do that, you would be trapped up in heaven, losing your mind like the rest of em. Like Meridith." Another percise jab to Mei's heart.
"You knew her?"
"Of course. She was a strange one. I suppose it was that third eye of hers."
Mei looked into space for a second. "That. That happens."
"I didn't let it happen to me." He continued.
The silence grew. It consumed everyone. Lan tightened her grip on one of her swords. Lian took out her pair of fans. Mei stood there, feeling unreal. Not again.
A fight was about to break out. Maybe he could just. Fall into that state again. Let Guai take control. It shouldn't hurt too bad. It knew what it was doing.
Right now. He didn't want to exist.