A Trial by Halves

A New Life

The screaming was horrendous from both the Mermaids and the Celestials.  The moment Ye Hua fell into a ball of flames, the battle effectively ended with both sides rushing towards their leaders.  Screaming in fear, Su Jin dropped her sword and raced towards him.  Her maniacal screaming soon alerted Lian Song and Die Feng while the Mermaids high pitched squeal sounded as the King went down with him.

For a moment, Ye Hua felt immense fear as the first spell hit.  The flames were a magical illusion that gave off enough heat to keep them back, while he himself was instantly enveloped in a thick invisibility barrier.  To their eyes, his form remained inside the flames where they could all see his body die before erupting and scattering his illusionary remains across the sands of the Chang Sea.

But the screaming from Su Jin, had him looking back briefly to witness her throwing herself at the flames with the intention of pulling him out only to have Die Feng tackle her to the ground to prevent her from hurting herself.  But the horror and immense pain in her expression, only made him feel physically ill.  There was something extraordinarily unstable about that womans love for him that made him quickly turn away from the seeing her hands digging into the sand until they were bleeding.

Leaving them all behind, Ye Hua did not look back, but Lian Song was searching the surrounds for a hint of him, knowing that what he was looking at was not Ye Hua, or at least he was praying it wasn't.  He had no real way of knowing because the entire beach was in mayhem.  The storm that was raging along with the fierce wind and rain, made it impossible to see anything other than the Mermaids who were dragging their leader back.  

But it was their high pitched cry that send shivers down his spine and raised the hairs on the back of his neck.  It has been said that the Mermaids cry of grief can shatter the mind and that was exactly how he was feeling.  It all seemed so surreal, as if he were watching a scene from a play and the actors were all playing their parts to perfection.

For three hours, they battled to put out the fire, the longer it burned the more heat it produced and approaching the flames became impossible.  But when it finally did die, they were not even left with a single ash to take back with them, the boys entire remains scattered with the last of the wind, which also seemed to die the moment the fire died.

Now heading back to the Celestial Heavens with dread in his heart and tears in his eyes, Lian Song had to order Su Jin to be shackled, because she refused to leave.  Carrying her back on a stretcher was all he could do for her, their Medicine king would deal with her on their return and no doubt the Skylord would deal with him.

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Stumbling though the barrier, Ye Huas arms suddenly reached out and grabbed hold of Su Su just as she was about to race through to find him.  Though the mirror he had given her, she had heard the sounds of battle and the screaming from a woman and several men.  Frightened and immensely worried, she had run out into the storm that was still raging across the sky the moment her feet hit the hard ground.

"Ye Hua.... Ye Hua... Ye Hua...." Su Su cried as his arms fully enveloped her before dragging her into the house, his third spell had already been woven and they needed to get inside before it took effect.  

Ignoring the pain in his chest and the crying, he picked her up and ran for the steps.  He could feel the spell taking hold.  The entire surrounding forest was wavering in the rain just seconds before his feet hit the entrance.  Flying though the door with Su Sus arms wrapped tightly around his neck, he quickly slammed the door just as the entire forest outside, disappeared then reappeared.  The spells were now complete.

The first was to hide his star.  The second was an illusion spell which gave the impression that his body had exploded, which was something all Celestial Dragons do when their hearts stop beating in battle so as to leave nothing of themselves for the enemy.  And the third was to move himself, Su Su and her home that she loved to another time and place and far enough away from prying eyes.