Chapter Text
Wei Wuxian was falling.
The darkness surrounded him, growing darker still the further down he went in his unwanted descent, whispers of unseen beings brushing against his ears alongside the rushing wind.
Is this how it ends ?
The thought was fleeting, any fear he might have felt ignored in favour of an unwillingness that only grew with each passing second.
He didn't want to die, not at all and definitely not like this .
His eyes shot open, the once-dulling hues of his eyes slowly beginning to regain their light; resignation shifted into determination at the same time something else stirred within him.
It was the smallest of flickers, near unnoticeable at first.
I can't .
I can't die.
I'm not going to -
No, you won't die .
Drowning out the rest of the whispers was a singular voice, its speaker's gender one that couldn't be determined.
Wei Wuxian didn't have time consider the voice nor anything further as in the next moment, a pulsing warmth seared through his veins and every fibre of his being.
A spark within him, latching onto the scant trace remnants of something once there but no longer, tendrils of something not quite spiritual but far from resentful brushing against the frayed ends of his meridians.
The spark flared and said meridians burned as the withering paths were set ablaze, cleansed and reborn beneath an inferno whose origin point laid where his golden core once was; flames of orange-gold flickered with a myriad of different colours in an ever-shifting mass of circular form.
Night had long since reigned above them, its darkness a silent witness to their deeds, the soft whispers of stirring winds not speaking of previous events.
Upon the cliff they had first thrown Wei Wuxian in, the entourage dressed in robes of red-trimmed white drew to a sudden halt from their retreat. The spiritual energy within them shifted in restlessness, their former feeling of triumph slowly melting away to be replaced by a new sense of something else.
Of… fear ?
(But what was there for them to be afraid of? Everyone should and was afraid of them .)
"What are you all waiting for?" Wen Chao would never admit to the slightest of tremors to his words, his fingers reaching for the sheathed sword at his side and gripping tightly about its hilt, "We're done here, let's go!"
He couldn’t suppress a shiver; despite the fact that the Burial Mounds and surrounding areas were known for their almost-constant chill made worse at evening’s time, why? Why did it feel as though the air was warming up, and not even a comfortable warmth but one that resembled the very sun that served as their Sect’s symbol -
Hot, so very hot, no, not hot but scorching, and it was originating from right behind them.
“Going so soon?”
Slowly, Wen Chao turned to the familiar voice, a voice which should no longer have been heard after its screams faded and its owner disappeared into the depths of the darkness he’d been thrown into.
“Wei Wuxian!” His dark eyes landed upon the other male, a sharp intake of breath given at his appearance, “You -”
He was cut off at a flash of red from the corner of his eye, one that was followed by a short yet agonised scream from Wen Zhuliu. The older man collapsed onto his knees, staring ahead with widened eyes and a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth. One hand clutched at his side, the other trembling where it hovered above the charred remnants of his robes, a surprising lack of injury otherwise seen.
That didn’t mean Wen Zhuliu was left unharmed, however, and it was sheer will alone that kept him from giving up and collapsing completely. He coughed blood, the crimson liquid staining his lips and dripping down his chin to further soil his already ruined robes.
“M-my…” He whispered, staring beyond his sect leader’s son, at the one that he had helped throw over the cliff not too long ago, at the one who should have been dead, “You -”
Like a puppet with its strings cut, he toppled over fully, resigned disbelief in his eyes and a last single question on his lips, “How?”