I'm really not the Saviour! (我唔係救主囖!) [danmei/BL xuanhuan]

32 - Dark night of the soul

A/N: Apologies to those expecting a chapter yesterday. I've been a little sick this week and so I'm playing catchup!

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They followed the white demon in companionable silence. This time, it stopped at one of the entrances they had passed on the way up. Once more, the demon blew on the strange patterns floating like fog in the doorway, and they dissipated, allowing the group to enter.

This room was a morgue.

Five people, demons, lay in a row. A ragged scrap of fabric covered each of their faces.

The white demon appeared to converse with the demon who was examining the bodies, a short lizard-like humanoid, who moved back warily from the travellers to allow them to see the bodies.

All of the bodies were small. Each had an expertly slashed throat, but their chests were tattered with multiple uneven gashes. A faint smell of scorched flesh hung over them. The muscles in the back of Gou Dzing's neck tensed at the odour.

Gaam Yuk Ying crouched down by the first body, examining it top to bottom without touching it. Tattered, old clothing, thin muscles, small frame; it was clear that the demons were struggling in this world where nothing seemed to grow. Peeking over the top one of the demon's three clenched fists was a small piece of stone. After pointing it out to the white demon, Gaam Yuk Ying managed to extract it from the cold, stiffened hand of the demon. It was a tiny little stone figure, crudely carved.

"Some kind of artefact," Maan Dzi King muttered from where she stood at the back of the group, her sleeve over her nose.

"It's a toy," Gou Dzing said softly.

"Don't just assume things, child. There's is a different culture from that of humans, or loong, or any other species."

Gaam Yuk Ying peered at the chest wounds. His eyes glowed briefly silver. "Waiting."

"Hm? Waiting for what, Yuk Ying?"

"No. The slashes. It says, 'waiting'."

Gong Lau Yan moved closer. "You mean the wounds form the character for 'waiting'?"

"How can you see that?" Gou Dzing asked, impressed. "It just looks like a mess to me, poor thing."

"Isn't Little Gaam able to use Sword Eyes competently? He can read the path of metal."

Ignoring Gou Dzing and Maan Dzi King glaring at each other, Gaam Yuk Ying moved to the next body, his eyes silvering to examine the next set of wounds.

"Yuk Ying, what is it?" Gou Dzing had noticed that the other cultivator's usually expressionless face had begun to twitch, then collapse into a furious, teeth-bared snarl. He placed his hands firmly on Gaam Yuk Ying's shoulders. "What is it?" He glanced down at the wounds himself, a frown beginning to crease his brows.

"... Handsome."

It took all his willpower for Gou Dzing not to clench his hands in shock and anger, but he quickly took his hands away from Gaam Yuk Ying's shoulder just in case.

"What's this about?" Gong Lau Yan asked quietly.

"That... Tim Dzeung Baak. She likes to call Yuk Ying 'Little Handsome'."

Gaam Yuk Ying stood and practically materialised beside the next body. His silver eyes swept the demon's slashed chest before he moved to the next one. And the next. And the next.

A sound at the entrance caused the loongs' heads to swivel in that direction; Gou Dzing was too focused on Gaam Yuk Ying to pay attention.

A group of demons were gathered there. They exchanged words with the white demon, before hesitantly approaching the line of bodies, eyes watching the travellers warily. One of the demons paused at the first body, lifting the tiny corpse in its four arms. The other could see now that the body had a fourth, stubby arm that had evidently not grown right. The larger demon peered intently at the corpse for a long time.