His Demoness

8 ⚔️ The Mysterious Girl

The girl in his dream was alive. 

How was this possible? Wasn't the dream simply just a figment of his imagination?

Both of them stared at each other intently, at a loss for words. When he took a step towards her, the girl hesitated and frowned, shuffling backwards in nervousness.

From the dark look in her eyes, he knew what she was thinking about him.

Untrustworthy foe.

Before he could utter a word, she turned and bolted off, leaving him without a choice but to chase after her.

However, he wasn't doing a good job at keeping up. Every few steps he took, his weak legs would stumble and he had to cling to the nearest tree for support.

He had so many questions, but there were no answers. Why was she on this island? She couldn't be the Demoness herself, could she?

But if she indeed was, his sword should have detected her malicious energy. Yet there was no sign of his weapon being triggered.

Zhijian forced himself to press on. As he continued his pursuit by following her tracks, his symptoms were starting to be unbearable for him. It felt like his burning lungs were being squeezed and he was suffocating.

He collapsed under a nearby tree, gasping for air. There was a need to investigate the mysterious girl, but he was too weak to move any step further from his current spot. With a flick of his fingers, he summoned his familiar to chase after her as his final resort.

A whirlwind of his thoughts slowly dulled into numbness. His eyes grew heavy as he struggled to remain conscious.

Stay awake, Zhijian. Don't fall asleep...

Find the others...

But before he knew it, he had lost the battle.

***

Someone nudged Zhijian's shoulder once, before something brushed his icy cold fingers.

Instantaneously, warmth seeped through his hand, moving up his arm and spreading across the rest of his body. Expelling the cold out of his system and pulling him out of the darkness.

When his energy was restored, he finally regained his consciousness.

His eyes fluttered open and he groaned while clutching his head, his mind in a state of confusion. He moved his hands and legs, surprised to find that the strength had returned to his body and he could move freely. Almost as if he had never caught a fever in the first place.

Hm, strange.

Sensing a presence near him, his head snapped to the side with one hand on the hilt of his sword. Instead of seeing anything malicious, all he saw was the girl who had run away earlier standing a few feet away from him. Her innocent, doe-like eyes staring right back at him, but with a hint of caution.

Zhijian reeled back from surprise. Didn't she run away from him earlier?

"You came back?" he said in disbelief. "Why?"

She tilted her head at him, watching him with wordless curiosity. It was difficult to fathom what thoughts were running through her head. Zhijian's desert fox appeared behind her, casually slinking past her before nestling by his thigh.