Destinies : Connected by Fate✔️

Chapter 15

While the other animals approach the human and the Yuanjian, the Xihun turns tail and takes flight. YiHuang, whose attention is fixed on the approaching hoard, fails to notice that the mask Zhang was wearing was dislodged by the bird, fleeing in haste.

The prince pulls Zhang behind him and fishes out the metal container, freeing the nanobots which form a barrier between the two men and the hoard that was merely a hundred or so meters away.

He feels Zhang's fingers on his forearm before falling away. He turns around, expecting the human to be panicking. Instead, he finds Zhang on the ground, gasping for breath. He scans the area and realizes what has happened a moment later when he sees the mask crushed under the restless hoard's feet. Gripped by fear of losing Zhang, he scrambles to get to the backup serum the human had carried, but as luck would have it, finds the vials shattered as well.

Without losing time, YiHuang lifts the human in his arms, "Zhang, just hold on. I will take you back." He looks around but finds himself surrounded.

"It... hurts. Put me down." Zhang struggles to get the words out. "I will be fine." He reassures, lifting his hand to the prince's face. But he doesn't reach it; instead, it falls away and lands at the human's side limply.

"No. Don't fall asleep. Wake up!" YiHuang yells, laying Zhang on the moist ground. He shakes his head, refusing to believe that the human had perished right in front of him. Clinging to the slipping strands of hope, he closes his eyes and thrusts his fingers into the soil, making the ground around them vibrate.

'I should never have brought him here. I should have been more careful. What should I do now!?' He laments, trying to close his senses that were overwhelming him.

"Ah-Huang..." A voice, soft like the silk of his robes, reaches YiHuang's ears. However, he ignores it.

The Yuanjian's body trembles with anger raging within him; the ground around him quakes and cracks, forming deep wedges in the forest floor.

"Ah-Huang!" It's the voice again. Stronger. Steadier. "Open your eyes, Ah-Huang. You are scaring them!" Zhang pleads.

YiHuang continues to ignore the voice that sounds so much like Zhang's. 'Stop. Stop hallucinating!' He closes his eyes tighter. Saltwater forms rivulets on his cheek, becoming one with the moist ground as it drips into it.

The cracks widen, threatening to swallow everything, leaving nothing behind, but before the worse can happen, warm arms circle around YiHuang's frame and pull him close.

Everything stills. Even time stops as YiHuang opens his eyes. The rage and despair that had possessed him leave. His mind clears as Zhang's familiar voice rings in his ears, "Huang-ah, I am fine. I am here. Please...just. You did not lose me. Look at me, damn it. Just look."

'Am I still hallucinating?' YiHuang wonders. His fingers come away from the caked soil. They tremble as he raises them and slowly, carefully places them over Zhang's back.
"Zhang?" He mutters, leaning away to look at the man who had captured his heart even before they had met. "Zhang..." The Yuanjian breathes, bringing his hand up to stroke the human's cheek.

Zhang smiles. "Yes, it's me. I am fine."

"You are fine." YiHuang blinks as if waking from a nightmare. The ache in his heart subsidies. He pulls the latter in a tight embrace. "I thought..."

Zhang doesn't resist the pull. "I am here." He strokes the back of the shaken man's head, trying to calm him down. "Ah-Huang...my Huang." He calls in a soft, soothing tone as if calling a child. "Look at what you did. You scared the poor animals and hurt the soil you are supposed to protect." He scolds the prince lightheartedly. "If your people see you like this, they will blame me for it. They will hate me...more than they already do. You don't want that, do you?"