The Dark Nights [Slow Update]

Prologue 🌑

It was a dark night...eerier than usual. The moon didn't even bother to come out of the dark clouds immersing everything on the earth in darkness. And through that pitch dark, a figure walked with much difficulty.

Her white Hanfu* made herself visible in the dark but everything around was hard to figure out. She stumbled upon stones and twigs as she walked... No, she wasn't trying to walk but run.

It was a woman in her mid 20. The dress showed her to be from a wealthy family by the current condition of it wasn't up to that status. The skirt of the Hanfu was all torn and dirty. There were blood spots here and there... and a big smudge on the lower abdomen.

She was stabbed.

Dragging herself in that condition was already hard but she was carrying something with her. She held it with both hands, close to her heart. It was covered in white silk and by the size, it seemed...

"Mother promises you. *Hufff!... I... I won't let anyone harm you, my precious. I won't..." She wailed.

And before she could pass much distance she tripped and fell. "ARGHHHHH..." Letting her wounded side hurt she secured the baby. But the impact of the fall and the mother's cry was enough to scare the small bean in her hand. The baby started crying doubling its mother's misery.

"Oh no. Please don't cry. Arghh... Please... Oh, God! Why am I being punished like this? Aaaa..."

She tried her best to sit up but her back give up. With great difficulty, she dragged herself towards the side where she felt support. It was a huge tree that she could lean on. She continued to rock the baby so as to make it stop crying. She kept complaining about her ill fate and now her poor baby had to suffer from it.

She was trying her best not to cry and scare the baby anymore. But slowly her hands were losing strength. She put the baby on her lap and leaned back trying to suppress the pain.

"No... No, I can't die right now. God please...help me. Help my child. At least save my child God... What's his fault? He doesn't even know how evil this world is. Don't kill him before he lives God. Have some mercy...have some mercy..." She wailed.

All these times she was blaming God and continuously asking for help, little did she know she was being watched by... something.

From the thick branches which hid that giant creature, he flew down. And as it touched the ground it shapeshifted into a human. A beautiful ethereal man.

On that pitch dark night, he glowed with a golden halo around him, lighting up the surrounding. The sudden exposure to the light made that woman's eyes hurt. But when she finally looked at that heavenly figure, a smile of relief appeared on her face.

"God!?" She asked doubtfully. As much as she wants to believe in it, she couldn't wrap her head around the thought that an actual God did listen to her prayers. But eradicating her doubts that man said...

"Not god. I'm the guardian of this village."

"Village?!" She exclaimed. And the guardian pointed towards his right, a bit far away she could see lights. Her eyes lit up reflecting those lights. But it didn't stay like that for long.

She flinched when a strong wave of pain hit her. She lost a lot of blood and her fall just before made her wound open more. Now as every drop of blood oozed out, she could feel her life being pulled out of her.

But more than her pain, what hurt her is the thought of the life she was holding in her hands.

"I won't make it to the village. I beg you... Save my child. Please." She put her child in front of his feet and begged the guardian by bowing down. "Please take my child."

"I can't take him." Said the guardian making the woman whimper. But he continued...

"But he will grow up in this village."

The eyes which were slowly losing vision lit up hearing it. "I only need him to grow up safe. Promise me. Promise me you'll protect my son."

What she asked for was a promise. A promise from divinity... and a promise to a mother on the verge of death.

The guardian stood there frozen for a moment. It was a lot to be entitled to. He was the guardian of an entire village. But he wasn't entitled to the lives in it. So, he wasn't sure if he could be responsible for a child.

That's when he felt his long black robe being pulled down lightly. He looked down. Those tiny little eyes were fixated on him and as the guardian looked back at him, he giggled brightly. The baby has no idea what's going on and what's gonna happen to his mother.

But that pure smile was enough to influence the guardian. He bent down and picked up that small bean who was still smiling innocently.

"I promise. From now on, the safety of your child is my responsibility."

The woman leaned back to the tree with teary eyes. It was tears of joy. The joy of being able to secure her child before she took her last breath.

"Little Wuxie... Goodbye."