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The abyss spread out before Wei Wuxian, gray and imposing
Here, there lay no color, only the dismal gray stacked upon gray. But it mattered not, for Wei Wuxian could not see.
Smell, hear, touch; yes. But see? Only shapes that bobbed and formed a larger one when he approached closer.
This must be part of his punishment, for what other reason could he be this way?
Beyond death, a soul reincarnates or faces punishment. Those pure of heart always pass through, on to their next life, with no hardship to bear.
But if karma's punishment had not been fulfilled in previous life, it attaches to the soul to be met in the afterlife, a cursed leech brought to the new life.
Wei Wuxian considered he must have been blind to a truth in his previous life, and thus was now being punished with physical blindness.
He knew not what he had done, nor could recall anything of the life he had left. This afterlife wiped all memory, and in this dismal landscape, left the souls to wander until they stepped through to the next life.
There was no time here. No sense of being. Wei Wuxian wandered far, or so he thought.
He only knew his name, and that he had to get on to his next life. But…something stopped him from his search.
He thought it was just his mind playing tricks on him, this world that was trying to emit a punishment perhaps.
But it was always there, that strange music that continued to call for him, that made him pause. It must be punishment, to play with his mind so. It was faint, barely there in the windless air. It made him pause, and stay back.
Time and again, it happened, until he stopped trying to move on, and remained in this limbo.
From his standpoint, he could only see shapes, some darker than others. WeiWuxian wondered often what kind of person he had been in life, to have ended up here. Was he at least kind? Most likely not, to be punished thus. What had he done to deserve blindness in this limbo?
The music wafted once more, and Wei Wuxian wished he knew why it was familiar. He followed the sounds often, but they always brought him nowhere. Why did it follow him? Was it calling to him?
The melancholy sounds of a guqin, of a song that Wei Wuxian knew, yet could not recall from where. Of a life he could no longer remember.
And still, he followed.
Going nowhere.
Getting no answers.
Receiving no salvation.
How long had he been here? How many years had passed in the living world? Who had he been to the people there?
It was during his wandering that he first came upon the poor soul. A child. Small and weeping, a gray little shadow that Wei Wuxian could barely discern.
Wei Wuxian could not speak. He had never tried, and now found he could not. His throat rubbed raw at the attempt.
Blind and mute.
What a punishment.
From the fold of his clothes, his hand wrapped around the instrument he had felt thumping within his sleeves. It was a crudely made flute, made from the bark of a dead tree he had found within this world.
Sometimes, this world shifted, and WeiWuxian found himself at a loss in his blindness. That tree had been the only thing that had centered him in the beginning, A dark looming shadow that stood tall over all other shadows, no leaf in sight, but stout branches.
WeiWuxian now brought the flute to his lips, and blew. There was no other song than the one that haunted him. He played it now, the child’s sniveling quieting as it heard the notes.
And so, Wei Wuxian found himself a companion in this small shadow.
The child didn’t speak. But they also no longer cried. A small hand that gripped on to his clothes, bringing a sliver memory of another tiny hand doing the same. Did he have children in the living world?
Wei Wuxian knew this companionship could not last long. Pure souls were meant to pass through to their next life, and this child would undoubtedly pass on soon.
And then it happened. Through the darkness, he finally could see. A beautiful arched stone paifang, animals carved into the pure white stone.
Wei Wuxian stood before it, awed that he could finally see. A tug at his robes made him look down, and the smiling face of a little girl stared back at him, little dark gaps where she had missing teeth showing her tender age.
They didn’t speak, and instead weiWuxian brought his flute to his lips once again. He watched as the little girl let go of him, and tentatively walk towards the archway, pausing underneath. She stared up at the huge monument, and then turned back to look at WeiWuxian.
WeiWuxian never stopped playing, and smiling, the girl waved at him, before disappearing beneath the arch.
The notes slowly drifted to a stop. Wei Wuxian didn’t attempt to cross through the bridge. He knew it was not for him. All around him, there was nothing but shadows he could still not see, all except for the arches, which he could still see as clearly as when they first appeared.
His wandering continued within the abyss. Soon, more souls attached to him as he played the haunting song that followed him.
And once again, he led them to the paifang, each one crossing through with the song at their back.
Over and over again.
Soul after soul.
And before he knew it, the song became a part of him. No longer something that haunted him, but brought comfort. Filled his heart with peace.
Time continued to pass. How long, he didn’t know. Long ago, the song on the guqin had ceased to play. It only knew the sound of his flute now.
As he sat in front of the paifang, once again directing a soul through, the world in front of him began to change. Color was still amiss, but the shadows became sharper, slowly regaining shape.
He was on a walkway along a mountainside. Trees and beautiful views could be seen from the edge of the trail. It looked familiar, and the view brought with it a whisper of a plea. Come back to Gusu with me.
Where was Gusu? Is this where it would take him?
The trail led through the archway, and Wei Wuxian could see a waterfall beyond. Wei Wuxian knew it was time. He only had to step through.
And yet, he paused.
The song.
It wafted through the air, played once again on a guqin. It was not a song calling for the dead, asking for answers. No, it was a song calling for the love within his heart. And WeiWuxian knew that in the living world he had loved.
An ache he had not felt in all his time here pounded in his chest. The need to follow it brought his legs to take one step. A second. And a third.
One foot in front of the other, the song he played for others now surrounding his own path.
And as he fully stepped under the archway, as the light became blinding, he gasped as he remembered. Remembered that it had brought comfort within darkness in another life. And that back then, the husky voice that had hummed it had given it a name. How blind he had been.
The light enveloped him as he whispered one last thing before passing on.
”Wangxian.”