A Trial by Halves

A Smile not so Bright

With his arm about her shoulder, Bai Qian listened carefully to every word that came out of her Shifus mouth.  She listened as he once again explained the intricasies of Zhutian Terrace, how a soul is scattered in that place, what happens to the soul pieces and how it is possible to regather those pieces.  She had heard them before, a long time ago, only Ye Hua had been with her then, and even now as she listened to how Er Li had continued to gather his fathers soul pieces, she struggled to comprehend it.

Back then, she had listened in both horror and awe.  This knowledge that he had along with the power to pass about soul pieces as if he were merely passing bread across the table had unnerved her.  Such things were what the filled fanciful stories for children, it just didn't seem real.  After all, a soul was not something one should be able to manipulate, but she had seen with her own eyes him doing exactly that.

Then again, he did save his own soul pieces by putting them back together again and this was where all her questions had lain.  If Shifu could do it for himself, then why did Er Li have to do it for his father? Though she gathered that Ye Hua was too inexperienced and not knowledgeable which of course was true.  But he was no ordinary Mortal, he was just as powerful, but after listening a second time, things became a little more clearer.

Zhutian Terrace may have been contained and the pieces kept under tight control, unlike the Chaos where soul pieces were scattered to the end of time and even in other far away places such as the island they had found themselves, but the power of such a place was so much more condensed.  Of course, that wasn't to say that Zhutian Terrace was more powerful, it wasn't.  It merely meant that Er Li had less space to move about which made finding the pieces that much quicker.

It also meant that Mo Yuan had far more time to prepare himself for it, where as Ye Hua did not, but after listening to how Er Li had spent the past twenty five thousand years gathering his fathers soul with very little rest, she could not help but wonder just how powerful her own son was.  Mo Yuan trained him of course and even prepared him well for it, but Er Li was the one who did the majority of the work, and the smile of satisfaction on his face only increased her belief that her son was far too ahead of most.

If anything, she felt saddened by this, because it meant that he had been marked for future greatness well before he was even born by both his father and his uncle it seemed.  And though he was generally a rounded boy, with a happy disposition and ability to laugh, cause mischief and at times, think irrationally, at that moment, he seemed older than herself, as if he had been created in the very chaos itself and taken on the knowledge of the ages.

So there was a little fear mingled with pride for this son of hers.  Only it wasn't until Mo Yuan began to explain what exactly Er Li had managed to achieve and the changes in Ye Huas soul pieces that she really got an inkling into the magic that Mo Yuan had woven and what it now meant for her, that the tears of pride that were streaming down her face, began to feel heated.

And suddenly her mind was thrown back twenty five thousand years as if the long lonely days had not existed.  Back then, her heart had shattered along with his soul the moment he jumped into that hell hole and for the life of her, nothing mattered to her but the agony she had seen on his face just seconds before he turned to face his death.  He had smiled at her, gave her a small twinkle of his eye to show her that he would be alright, that she would too.

Only she had seen the flicker of fear in those eyes, the regrets and the pain at having won and then lost.  But it was agony and fear mingled together that had her falling to her knees screaming her heartbreak into that pit of hell.  Had he managed to keep it together and not let her see his pain, she may have managed the long years ahead a litte better.

The pain of losing a loved one is never easy for anyone, only it was made that much more intolerable because he had been afraid even though moments before his smile had seemed bright and convincing.  And though she had awoken weeks after his funeral, those haunted eyes continued to drown her in dispair.  They tormented every waking moment, and terrorized every dream for years afterwards.