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The clash of two swords sing akin to a firework that paved its way to the sky above. Stars dance as Yao makes his move, sliding through the grass and wind as if he’s breathing. Everything felt so natural whenever he clashes blade with the unchanging Wish of Order. On the other hand, the ember splashed through Lan’s blade and cleaved its way, greeting the slash coming from Chilong Sword as if they’re meant to touch each other. The sonic wave emitted from them shook the earth, and even the heaven if gods above dared to glance their sight upon the two men.
Lan dashed backwards, trying to make some gap to make another calculated strike. He could not dive and drag Yao down as easily in an open space, where there is no bush to conceal himself and there is no other ally to cover his movement. When it comes to agility, the new wielder of Chilong Sword is not to be underestimated. His strike never falters, always precise, and full of vigor. One single mistake and the tide could be turned, what differentiated them was merely time and experience. Although Lan sure when life has given Yao more training, he could be stronger than him.
Just like this.
“Too slow!” Yao chirped, a grin hanging at the edge of his lips the way the moon smiles at them. The hilt of his blade is aimed towards Lan’s abdomen–attempting to deal a strike to close this night’s sparring section. But Lan’s instinct is sharper than any shark in this world, countless wars have honed him to be one of the most fearful guardians. Swiftly, he blocked Yao’s attempt with the edge of his blade, parried the incoming punch and swirl his blade ‘till ember dances along with him.
For a split second, Lan’s mind wandered elsewhere–the way the wind caresses Yao’s hair, the way his reflection shines in his golden eyes. Sparkling brighter than any gold miners could find in this world. The way the constellation blinks between mirror and the dimming light as their sparks die with a blast.
Nobody could be declared as the victor that night.
“Hey, hey, let’s go for another round after this!” Yao chirped as he lifted himself from the softness of dewy grass.
“Do you not know when to rest?” Lan sighed as a response, not completely refusing–just confused. Something’s been bothering him, and he wasn’t in the mood to spend all his night weary from entertaining Yao–no matter how much he favored him compared to other humans he had ever mingled with.
Yao leaped from where he rested before. And again, Lan caught how Yao’s hair dances as he moves, as his feet make a little jump whenever they are together, and his smile is wider than what he had offered to his peers. He didn’t know since when he started to pay attention to any unnecessary details when it comes to Yao. He didn’t understand why, but there is a sense of relief and peace that blooms in heart whenever he did so.
As the guardian of order, he has seen many things, but only this young one caught his attention. The way he shines is truly different from any other mortal he had aided before. Yao’s presence felt like a constellation coming from a lighthouse that cast its gaze on him. He is warm, not as warm as the sun, but like a spring that greets any wanderer that had been away from home way too long.
Home.
He never thought even his kind requires one, and it feels so funny how he felt so mortal after meeting Yao.
“Aw, what a bore! Come on, you will go for a long time, no? At least humor me a bit. We don’t know when we will meet again.”
Or, if they can.
Celestials are meant to guard the realm beyond what mortal can comprehend, and that is where Lan belongs. There is no victory without sacrifice, and the divine is meant to be the frontline so everyone can preserve how they live.
He did it for Yao’s future.
“You won’t be that all alone.”
“I won’t. There are others.”
“Why do you sound like you’re sulking? Isn’t it nice that you won’t face that scary battle alone? We’re training so you could win it, right?”
Yao peeked back to Lan, he noticed something was off ever since their sparring session. As if there’s something that’s been bugging Lan’s mind. As if, he’s somewhere else and yet he is right there. With him.
And yet, it feels like he doesn’t at all.
And this pisses him off, just slightly.
“Oh, come on, don’t reply to me with silence.”
Yao breathed at the thought, the ache gnawing beneath flesh–somewhere buried in his ribcage. A searing throb that he had grown to swallow whenever something concerning was happening. Lan didn’t seem to notice when he moved closer to him. Despite their difference in mortality, Lan is still made of flesh and blood and bones of a tender-limbed lover. Yao’s fingers gently traced Lan’s cheek, down to his jaw, to his chest, and where the heart rests.
Lan surrendered to the touch akin to a kitten receiving a pat, for a moment he wanted to speak–his jaw pried open; and yet there’s nothing he could say once he looked at those glimmering irises of Yao’s. Always, and always, he’s mesmerized by its glint, and the saying of look long enough into the abyss and you’ll be swallowed within was not said without reason. But Yao is no abyss, he is spring. His spring.
“No, it’s just I’m worried that you will no longer be here.” Time courses differently for both of them. What felt like a breath to Lan is a millennium for Yao. And there is no denying the gap from what has existed from primordial to what the present could offer to them.
Yao understood this too, and unlike Lan who from time to time gets lost in thought, he’s the man of the present time. Savoring everything he could with no regrets. So, there’s one thing he needs to do.
Yao pressed his ashes-stained fingers unto Lan’s jaw, and gently lifted his head to see him clearly underneath the dark.
“Promise me one thing, then.”
When the star dies, its eye closes; tired of watching, it flies back to its brightest dream. Yao is no polaris, and Lan never prayed, but even the mightiest and fiercest general ever hoped for a stupid–childish thing. No matter how distant parts, Yao hoped to be the blight that illuminates Lan’s night. So, someday, if Lan lost his way, he could see Yao as a guide.
“After that, rush and come back to me. No matter how long, worry not. I will be waiting for you, right here. At the same place.”
At a different time it may be.
“Lan, listen to me. Never surrender to the torrent of fate.”
Yao’s words were as brief as his impulse, and as if Lan enamored by said command–he nodded. By that point, their moment is carved in the cosmos, and somehow the gap between them seemed to stretch even wider.
Roars and screams, the sizzling of Wish of Eternity’s ultimate, a direct shot towards a straight line where everything in its way will be obliterated. The whistle coming from Wish of Abundance signaled their beginning of war, and the Wish of Order whose existence meant to be the perseverance of humankind comes next. Hordes of creatures laid unmoving one after another, through their joint efforts to obliterate what was never meant to exist in the mortal realm.
The battlefield is different from the hill where Lan and Yao could be just them. No title, no General of the Chilong Sword or the Wish of Order. Just two youngsters who love the company of each other. The wind doesn’t caress his hair the way it did to Yao whenever he slides through everything, cutting stars with his blade. Everything is far from gentle, only ashes and fire becoming the only company.
And for a moment, Lan felt lonely.
It didn’t take a long time until an arrow almost pierced his shoulder, and he maneuvered to the left–avoiding a strike early in the war. He looked upwards, and the star blinked at him.
“You really never leave.” Yao’s name almost slipped away from Lan’s lips, he didn’t even know why. Perhaps it was an attempt to say his name all the time when Yao is not around just to put more of him in the world. Lan’s world. Wherever he is, whatever he is doing, Yao is the constellation that could hold his hand to come back home. The way he has become his lighthouse as he is a ship that always soars through raging tempest in a vast, lonely, ocean.
The glinting shine of the planet has the same color as Yao’s eyes. And for once, Lan feel less lonely even when he’s not here. As long as the two of them under the same sky, looking at the same moon.
He will win this and come back home, where they could reside next to each other.