Fated Souls

FS :; 8

n. hallelujah, i am back.

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"Your sand castles are improving!" Shi Qingxuan couldn't help but exclaim in awe. His brother had only been able to play for merely hours, and yet his towers looks cleaner and more neat than his own despite being the most experienced one. "The bridge could be fixed, but wow."

"The bridge is awful." Shi Wudu pinches the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Can I just remove it?"

"But how will our castles connect?"

"Does it have to anyway?"

Shi Qingxuan looks at him with a pointed gaze. "Of course it should! So we could always be neighbors!"

"Qingxuan." The older brother sighs. "It's just sand castles."

"But it's our sand castles." Shi Qingxuan proceeds to trim the edges of the bridge the other had created with sea shells. All whilst smiling as though he really enjoyed this little time they have together. "There, a bit more decent."

"Could be worse." Shi Wudu mutters, putting the small blue and green flags on either side of the bridge. "Are we done?"

"Aiya, ge, always so impatient." The wind master shakes his head. "There's not much to do anyway. What do you want to do, ge?"

"Have you ever roamed the manor?" Shi Wudu asks, eyeing the said manor behind them with peak interest.

The wind master hums, shaking his head with no desire to stand up from his spot. "Nope." He Xuan hadn't forbidden him to explore the place, but he haven't really had any reason to walk around the wide perimeter.

He might find something that could keep him entertained. However, with how much darkness and empty rooms he had seen without even having to try, there's a low chance.

"Do you want to explore it, ge?" He asks, arching a brow in surprise when the latter shrugs. A shrug is almost an equivalent to a yes in Shi Wudu's books. "Let's go explore it together!"

"Don't be so loud." The older scolds, feeling himself getting pulled up on his feet within a blink as Shi Qingxuan dusts himself off. Helplessly, Shi Wudu does the same. "Is the former earth master's skeleton still here?"

"I'm not sure." Shi Qingxuan replies with a hum. He had intended to visit it whenever he had time, though, there were some events that occured that had held him back for a few days. "But... I do think it is."

"Want to visit it?"

The wind master looks back at the manor. The dark, eerie air around it – he got used it and found it doesn't bother him as much anymore. "If my brother would like to visit it as well, then I have no complains." He says, already tugging on the latter's hand toward the entry of the manor.

"Don't be too rush, Qingxuan." Shi Wudu chides with a sigh.

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When they first entered the manor, the skeleton was just by the entrance of it. Shi Qingxuan remembers because he remembers the fear that striked his spine upon seeing the bones just sitting there lifelessly.

They wandered about the Nether Water Manor. There wasn’t anyone there, as the legendary Black Water Demon Xuan wasn’t home. The framework of the Water Manor was complex; there were many big and small side chambers within, but there was one that was particularly hidden and narrow. Its doors had strange spells drawn upon it, and the very leftover trace of having a recently Distance-Shortening array get casted.

Shi Qingxuan vaguely realizes it's the very door that He Xuan had used when they were trapped in this "unknown place" to let Crimson Rain and Xie Lian go back to puqi shrine whilst the two of them... well, did not end quite the same.

Upon noticing the solemn look of his younger bother, Shi Wudu did not hesitate in pulling him back toward the dark halls where they resumed their adventure.

Really, there was nothing here they could actually have the means to find interesting or entertain themselves with other than what they suppose is the skeleton of Ming Yi that was moved to the dining room.

"Ge." Shi Qingxuan calls softly. "If the skeleton really is there, what will we do then?"

"Do what we weren't able to do before." The older says simply as they open doors after doors for they were not made aware of where the dining room actually is. As dark as this place may be, it is still a manor. A massive manor that was always empty with how the owner of it wasn't home that often.

In fact, Shi Qingxuan could count the days He Xuan was actually here.

He doesn't ask what it was about until they finally opened a door and revealed a long table with multiple chairs on each side. By the end of it sat a familiar snow white face, the corpse of Ming Yi they had disrespectfully disrupted almost a century ago.

He does not ask even when Shi Wudu was the first to stride toward it. Walking with utmost confidence and what seemed to be determination.

He doesn't ask, he merely follows right behind.

He does not ask even when his brother stops just infront of the corpse. Shi Wudu's hand suddenly lifting up to trace just the jaw of the skull, and the wind master could only watch in confusion.

Then, with no warning or sign, Shi Wudu goes down on his knees. Kneeling for a skeleton of a god they haven't even seen before, and if the past events had not occured – Shi Qingxuan would be absolutely horrified to the core seeing the esteemed Water Master kneeling.

He steps forward in hesitancy, "Ge-"

"In the past..." Shi Wudu says softly. His face toward the skeleton, and Sji Qingxuan wasn't sure who he was talking to. "In the past, all I could think of was my fortune and my brother's safety."

"I did not think about what the consequences would be for the people not close to me. I did not care. I did not bat an eye." Shi Wudu's fists were slowly clenching. "Only after I had died did I realize what mistakes I have made. How much I have sinned that it's also the cause of my downfall."

The wind master swallows down thickly. "Ge, what are you saying?"

The former water master looks at him then. His features showed genuine remorse and sympathy that Shi Qingxuan backtracked.

If Noble Jie and General Pei heard this, they would have laughed.

"When I died." Shi Wudu turns back toward the skeleton, now lifting up a hand to hold the bony ones. "I was sent to the world of souls. And since because I was a former god, I was treated a bit more... kind and different. I was treated, well, like a god."

"Amidst those, I met a man. While he was in the place for gods, it was obvious the people were indifferent to him. When asked why, it was said because the man wasn't really a god." His thumb runs through the dexterous fingers of the hand. "He just experienced a second of heaven."

Almost automatically, Shi Qingxuan's eyes averts toward the skeleton.

"A few more gossip and I understood well, it was the late earth master, Ming Yi."

"He wasn't treated here good, now he wasn't treated in the souls realm good either." Shi Qingxuan could not help but feel sad and sympathetic toward the man that he had not met. "Why are you telling this to... to his skeleton?"

Shi Wudu took a moment to answer. And when he did, Shi Qingxuan didn't know what to feel.

"We conversed. I explained everything. He said that he'd only accept my apology if I manage to bury his remains properly."

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n. I FINALLY UPDATED THIIIISSSSSS YEEEEEEESSSSSSS