Of Forgotten Dreams (Book 1) [NANOWRIMO 2022]

Chapter 7

Summer turned into winter. And soon enough, it was going to turn into spring within a month's time. Lord Gu had chosen to stay home this time to accompany Yun during the last season that she was going to be home. And as if to pamper her more, Lord Gu had bought a huge chest of clothing and accessories from his last trip trading, making sure that she was dressing up even in her day-to-day life. He'd also made sure that she was eating better, and taking her medicine regularly.

In place of her late mother, her father had also got ready the dowry needed for her to bring to the palace. The latest news that he had gotten from High General Jin was that he would again, come down personally to bring Yun to the palace. But it would be only Yun that would go as the Emperor decided to somehow, cut down the expenses of the Imperial Harem this year, hence, downgrading even the number of maidens brought to the palace.

That meant she would be all alone there. Until she had found out that she could bring Ling along with her. It gave her a small sense of peace knowing that she would have a piece of home with her.

She had spent the most of summer filing up the books, and they had almost become a story of herself if she had lived through those lives. And the more she read through the books, the more strongly she felt like it was real memories that she had lived through. Emotions started to surface for the people she had known in her dreams, the principles she lived her life on and the causes she had fought for.

It changed her in ways she didn't expect.

"Milady, it's already late. Are you not going to bed yet?" Ling flounced from behind her.

Yun shifted her gaze from the moon, looking back at her surroundings. Her room was already heated up with several coal stoves so that she could sleep comfortably even in the harsh cold. Extra blankets were also laid at the side readily if she needed them.

"I'll go to bed soon. Take some early rest first."

Ling nodded and left the room after extinguishing most of the candles.

Yun continued to look at the moon, feeling an unfamiliar yearning for someone rising in her. She found herself thinking back to the day when she had gone for the prayers. Red threads were commonly used to signify romantic connections, and she wondered if Yufan was represented by one of those threads. She had been starting to have more and more dreams about him, and even now, just thinking about him made a warmth grow in her heart.

She closed the windows after a short while, and blew out the last of the candles as she went to bed, feeling sleep taking her as her head laid on the hard pillow.

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She felt like her body was on fire. Liquid fire, with unbearable heat coursing through her blood and burned her body from the inside out.

Her body jerked instinctively as she clawed at the bed she was lying on. It hurt so much. Strangled cries escaped her lips, the pure agony slowly chipping away at the last bits of coherent thoughts she had have left.

She couldn't open her eyes, her instincts told her she couldn't. But through her shut eyelids she could tell that her surroundings were bright as the sun were in front of her.

She heard somebody else yelling at her, from a distance. Their voice was distorted and blurred, like the pain was a physical barrier that blocked out all the noise around her as well.

It would be too easy to just fall unconscious right now. Maybe that would take away all the pain.

"Don't fall asleep!" A hoarse male voice pierced through the fog. It seemed so familiar to her, and her body instinctively tried to stay awake, trying to fight back against the pain that wanted to pull her under.

"Yun, you have to stay awake through this. This is your only chance Yun." The male voice came again, this time more concerned than commanding. "You can make it past this, I did not raise you this far for you to fail this test."

Yun wanted to nod, to say something, to show that she understood, that she wasn't going to fail him, but her screams had turned into wordless writhes of pain as she convulsed on the bed.

Wake up.

• ───────────────── •

Yun shot up out of bed, but immediately went weak, falling limply to her side. Her hand clutched her chest as she breathed in and out heavily, like she had been dancing for hours. Her heart thundered against her chest so hard, it felt like her ribs were going to break. Her gaze darted around the room frantically.

It was too hot. Too hot for her. Within a spilt second, she threw away the layers of the thick blankets. She tried to stand up to get some water, but her knees went weak the moment she got up, and she stumbled onto the floor, hitting her knees and her palms hard against the stone. She toppled sideways, lying on the ground. The coolness of the stone was soothing against her heated skin, but soon it became a sort of prickly pain. It did not bother Yun too much though. She just wanted to lay down here, and just let the heat go away.

The light appeared immediately then. And whatever coolness that she had felt was quickly diminished significantly. She lifted up her hands, to see that they were glowing. Light seeped from within them a bright white, and it was travelling from her arms. Looking down, she found that her whole torso was glowing as well. Heat quickly followed after, as the burning sensation from her dreams overcame her with full force.

She curled into a ball, the agony rippling all throughout her from her torso. Faint gasps of air escaped her lips, the shallow breaths condensing. A wave of the pain past, and she inhaled a shaky gasp of air, rolling herself onto her knees as she started to crawl. She needed to find help.

Her hands gripped the cloth curtains that divided the small hall of her room from her living area as she tried to pull herself upright.

It was a bad idea though, as the curtains burst into outright flames as her fingers came into contact with it. The cloth disintegrated within seconds and she felt herself falling to the ground again.

Another fresh wave of pain washed over her and caused her to soundlessly curl her nails tightly into the flesh of her palms. The light grew somehow brighter than before, if it even was possible, and Yun soon found herself unable to open her eyes fully.

She coughed, the familiar scent of smoke suddenly filling her lungs. She peeked through her lashes, and saw that there was a fire that was spreading from the curtains. It licked the wooden pillars of the room, and illuminated her surroundings in an eerie cast of red light.

She hacked again, and pushed herself upright even as the pain got intense. She had to get out.

She scrabbled around for a few moments, trying to determine her direction as her eyes watered. She knocked down pieces of the furniture in her wake, and some of the clattered as they hit the ground, one smashed into smithereens.

Finally when she'd gotten to the threshold of her room door, she was in such pain that her vision was blurring in and out. But with one last burst of energy, she pushed open the doors, rolling out from the concrete into the snow as she managed to crawl over the threshold of her room. It seemed to burst into flames the second after she did.

She lay limply on the snow, the cold ground underneath her doing nothing to soothe the heat that she was in.

She thought she might just die. And faces flashed throughout her mind's eye. A tear rolled down her cheeks as she thought of her father.

"I love you." She murmured as her eyes closed, slipping into a blissful unconsciousness.