Arbor

IV. Yanqing

IV. Yanqing

"Hey, you're back!" Jing Yuan exclaimed. Yanqing looked up at his face, and almost screamed. He saw a tiny ginkgo branch, a sign of mara. It sprouted out of his neck and overtook the corner of his face, strangling it.

"J-j-Jing Yuan!" Yanqing smiled nervously. "What's that on your chin?"

Jing Yuan brushed his chin. Somehow, his finger went right through the branches.

"Is there something?" He asked, confused. "I don't feel anything..."

"Here, let me..." Yanqing reached for his chin, but he couldn't pry the branches away. "H-hh-huh. I-i-it's nothing..."

Jing Yuan worriedly looked at Yanqing, then sighed.

"Arf!" Yanqing looked down and saw the creature that was making noise.

"Diting!" He cried, picking up the bionic dog. It panted happily and squirmed in his arms.

"Arf!" Diting was usually very vocal while tracking something.

"Jing Yuan, what's Diting doing?" Yanqing asked.

"Diting is going to help you track Bailu."

"Isn't Bailu at her clinic?"

"She was moving irregularly the days before the whole...tree incident. We need you and Diting to track her on the days that she disappears."

"Alright." Yanqing pressed a button on the dog, and it shrank into a cube. He put it in his pocket and took a deep breath. "Jing Yuan?"

"Yes?"

"Did you mean what you said about the... the mara earlier?"

Jing Yuan paused. "Yes. Yes, I did."

Yanqing looked down at the ground.

"I guess I didn't believe you then. I-I..."

Yanqing collapsed.

Jing Yuan caught him, but he didn't know that. He was lost in thought. When he opened his eyes, he wasn't seeing the present — he had a vision of the future. Yanqing saw horrible things. A tree's roots overtook the city. He saw himself caught in its center. He saw Jing Yuan strangled, like in his earlier hallucination. He saw a crown of thorns, hands smeared with blood, and his arms holding a face with gold eyes like his. Then, he started to speak before he could react.

In the hollow, through the strife,

In the fruits that bear long life,

In the center, through the heart,

Swords shall pierce the mara's start.

Through the journey, long life ends,

Icy swallow makes amends.

World is torn and world is well,

Ailment's Writer watched the hell

Mentor's gaze will see no more,

Silenced is the lion's roar.

Boy of ice, the progeny,

Shall watch a heart in agony.

"Yanqing! Yanqing! Wake up!" A voice pierced through the boy's head, jolting him awake.

"Jing Yuan!" Yanqing sat upright. "Wh-wh-what's happening to me?"

Jing Yuan hugged him tight.

"I don't know, Yanqing. I don't know, and that's what scares me."

"I-I'm sorry. I'm such an inconvenience to you, and this just adds onto your burden. I-I...I hate it!"

A tear fell from Jing Yuan's eye.

"Please," He muttered. Yanqing trembled. "Stop being sappy. It's going to hurt me more later on."

"Alright. I won't." Yanqing smiled a little.

"Let's go get tea. Then we can go home...I guess."

Soon, one of them wouldn't come home.

Soon, there would be no home to go to.

In a short span of time, their lives would be changed beyond repair.

And then?

The remaining one's sanity would crack, and their life would go downhill. But most had it worse.

Worse, worse, worse.