Not From This World ( MDZS STORY BOOK 1)

20

(Pretty short but concludes the Cave scene)

The turtle opens its jaws to devour Wei Wuxian, but Xia's hand suddenly clasps his shoulder and without hesitation she effortlessly flings him towards the water's surface, taking his place in the demon's mouth.

Not a second later, a burst of energy shoots out of the slaughter tortoise's mouth and it shoots up out of the water.

On the surface, Lan Zhan's eyes widen when Wei Wuxian's body breaks and comes flying out of the water, and in an instant, he moves to catch him midair.

He looks down at the unconscious male in his arms.

"Wei Wuxian! Wei Wuxian!" He calls desperately and after a few seconds, Wei Wuxian stirs.

"Lan Zhan...Xia is .." he starts weakly but begins to cough violently.

Lan Zhan sets him down gently.

"Wei Wuxian, what happened? Where's Xia?"

Suddenly the turtle's head comes up from the water, violently moving from side to side and screeching loudly.

Then, in a matter of seconds, the head was completely blown away by flame-like energy emitting from inside of it. Nothing was left but a hole where the head was and standing at the top where the neck would start stood Xia. She was covered in blood from head to toe and her eyes were a fierce orange. Her mouth twisted in a malicious grin.

Lan Zhan's eyes were wide and his mouth parted slightly at the sight of the girl. It was like she was a completely different person.

"Xia..."

Xia puts a bloody hand up to her mouth and yawns with a bored expression as she looked at what remains of the turtle.

' Ugh, to think you were the same stupid demon that ate me years ago. Now you die instantly. Talk about rude.'

She snickers to herself but is interrupted when someone calls her name.

"Xia!"

Her brow raises.

"Who the hell is calling the brat's name?"

Her eyes look around till she sees a young man dressed in white, holding onto the young man in black whom she had seen in the water earlier.

'What the hell? A Lan? What the hell is a Lan doing hanging out with a Wen? Unless..'

Xia jumps from the turtle's neck and down to the cave ground. She looks at Lan Zhan with narrowed eyes.

Lan Zhan's brows furrow before narrowing suspiciously.

"You... you are not Xia."

Xia snorts.

"Wow, no shit, pretty boy. You think that weak little girl could defeat such a big demon in under a minute?"

Lan Zhan rises and clenches his fist.

"What are you?"

Xia smiles cheekily.

"I'm just a humble soul who the gods have blessed today~You see, my name is Li Mu. I was a well-known warrior back in the day. I've been dead for quite some time. But who would have thought the descendant of my enemy would come into this stupid cave hundreds of years later and wake me up" they turn to an unconscious Wei Wuxian. "With the help of your little boyfriend as well."

Lan Zhan glares.

"Li Mu, Jiang Xia has nothing to do with your past quarrels. Leave her body at once."

"And do what? You won't be harming me at all. This girl has already made a pact with me and it cannot be broken unless..."

"Unless what?"

Li Mu smirks.

"Unless she takes her own life."

Lan Zhan gasps at this revelation.

'Xia...Why did you make contact with this evil spirit...and to make a pact with it as well.'

Li Mu puts a hand on their hips.

"If you're wondering why she did it, well, she wanted to save that guy. Tsk, not that she helped him much. But he was gonna be turtle food if I didn't throw him in time. You can thank me now~"

"Where is she right now?"

"She's just relaxing in her own domain. Almost like being submerged in a cool spring. Lucky for you, I can't use her body 24/7, but she has no choice but to obey me when I decide to take control again." Li Mu groans "Damn I miss my body. Your woman needs some meat on her bones."

Suddenly Li Mu lurches forward, holding Xia's head in pain. Their eyes start switching from orange to blue to brown to black.

'Watch it, stupid spirit! I think you're forgetting this is MY body!' Xia's voice inside her own mind states gruffly.

"Ouch ouch ....damnit... the stupid girl is awake...." Li Mu grunts before closing their eyes.

Lan Zhan steps closer and puts a hand on Xia's head.

"Xia, wake up."

In an instant Xia's eyes open back to their normal green. Her knees finally give out, but Lan Zhan catches her before she hits the ground. Unlike when Li Mu took control, Xia's eyes had bags underneath, showing how physically exhausted it had been to let the spirit use her body.

She looks to the side and spots Wei Wuxian resting on a rock.

"Lan...Lan Zhan....did I...did I save Wei Wuxian?"

Lan Zhan nods.

"Yes. He's safe."

Xia smiles weakly, but her heart feels heavy.

'Is this the end of my journey here? Wei Wuxian is safe... so that means everything will be okay, right?'

"Maybe ....maybe I can go home now," she says out loud, but Lan Zhan takes it as her speaking about Lotus Pier. He nods, picks her up, and gently places her next to Wei Wuxian.

He looks at the two teens with worried eyes. He had no idea how he could help them as he didn't exactly know what happened under the water. Even though he was exhausted himself, the battle the two endured with the turtle had drained most of their energy. Especially Xia, whose body was used by a vengeful spirit.

Silently, the Lan male moves closer to the two sleeping teens. He first touches Wei Wuxian's cold cheek, then Xia's, and retracts his hands only to keep watching them.

'I promise we'll get out of here soon, and then you both will be able to rest properly at home.'

++++

(I sorta changed the scene in ep 10)

After an hour, Wei Wuxian is the first to stir. He looks dazed and exhausted as his vision becomes clear. He hears the crackling of a fire and on the other side of the fire sits Lan Zhan.

Lan Zhan looks at him with a calm expression.

"Wei Ying. How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts...and I'm tired."

Lan Zhan's expression softens.

"Try to stay awake."

"Play a song for me," Wei Wuxian responds softly.

Without hesitation, the Lan male takes out some string, makes a makeshift instrument by tying the string to a rock, and begins to play an original melody.

It makes the tired male smile, and he moves his fingers lazily to the tune.

Beside him, a sleeping Xia's shoulders relax to the sound that plays in her ears. In her mind she sees herself back in the Lan Pavillion, laying on the wooden floor of the library, watching as the rain falls onto the lush grass outside. Wei Wuxian is leaning against a wooden pillar while painting a picture of a rabbit, and Lan Zhan has his eyes closed as he plays the same beautiful tune on his guqin.

She smiles, feeling at peace, and convinces herself, for a while at least, that dream is real.