Time Through Time We Remain Untamed.

CHAPTER 41: BROKEN SOULS

     The full winter eventually hit and it came full force overtaking everything in pure, electric white. Most places closed down with the heavy onset of snow and frost and there was a general shift within the population of the town and province. It was a strange occurrence yet and stranger things were about to happen.

     Seconds turned into minutes, minutes into hours, hours into days, days into weeks and weeks into a summation of the month. It was the last leg of November a few days left before the Christmas holiday as well as Wuxian's 18th birthday on the 23th although that wasn't something to look forward to, as a matter of fact, there wasn't anything to look forward to anymore. Time had just stooped for a pair of boys.

   Oblivion had struck Wei Wuxian since that day. He fell into a collosal whirlwind of self depression and inner degradation. He was tormented day and night, his demons swallowing him whole and left him ripped to shreds. Everything was up in the air and he had taken the full brunt force of the fall.

It hurt. It hurt more than anything else in the world..... More than he had imagine it would. It crept and flowed within him, crushing his bones, sucking up his blood, choking the air he breathed and left him lifeless and wounded to the core. He didn't know himself anymore and couldn't define who he was when looked in the mirror everyday.

    Every night was spent in tears and exhaustion. He couldn't sleep at all because of his dreams of Lan Zhan that eventually turned into nightmares and terrors. Each night was filled with his sweat drenching body and  devastating cries and  screams which he had to cover with a pillow so as not to wake the house. His mental state took a plunge, his migraines growing into full blown occurrences and now he would faint around twice in every three days with noone to care for him. It had gotten so bad that he was now surging on several pain medications just to function, not to mention the sleeping pills and anti depressants that he was taking as well. He was also on food supplement pills as he had stopped eating or rather, he had lost a appetite for solid food and drink. His weight dropped rapidly, turning him into a hollow shell of himself.

      Dark eye circles, haggard features, empty soul, thin framework, lacklustre skin, Wuxian was sick both inside and out, from all sides. His unusual presence didn't go unnoticed by his aunt and uncle but you already knew that nothing would be done. He isolated himself completely from them, sometimes not even spending several nights at home. When his uncle had tried to intervene, he had lashed out so harshly that it made them significantly break apart and since then his uncle left him alone. It was also good to mention that his aunt proved to be very much evil as she redirected her husband's concerns elsewhere, leaving the poor boy all to his demise. He drowned, gulping every bitter swallow down and he resigned himself to it. He had chosen this path and he would walk it to the bitter end.

   

    Lan Zhan wasn't any better. He shut himself mentally, emotionally and physically from everyone. He became a vast solitude cage of a person, filling every hour and day with work so as not to feel or think. He overspent his energy, running through life as he didn't want to be part of anything. He didn't rest as he began taking 6th year classes as well as assisting his brother with some of his university studies. He completely forfeited from the Martial Arts Club, destroying his home training field at home as the desire to rip everything that reminded him of Wei Wuxian at all. He completely turned into this obscure person that scared Xichen each time they were together but what could he do? He had brought this upon himself and them so he deserved to feel the guilt and pain as well. He would have to live with it.

   In addition, Lan Zhan had become an insomniac. He couldn't afford to sleep because sleeping would mean he would feel and think and he wanted to avoid that like fire. Wuxian would appear in his dreams and he would lose his mind if that happened. So during the day, he worked... worked till his body couldn't take it anymore and at night he lied wide awake in the over consuming silence, cementing his thoughts and emotions deep into a box; locked away from everything and everyone even himself.... But that..... Didn't mean that the tears didn't flow occasionally or that the soulmate bracelet that he hadn't taken off didn't burn. It was the one thing he had no way or rather strength to discard even in the midst of his pain. It just seemed extra cruel for that...... so he ignored it, ignored its existence; its bondage between him and the who he had ever loved. It was a saddening state of affairs.