Life and Death are Lovers on a Coffee Date

Chapter 35

[Sett]

Where am I? What, what is this place? I surveyed the area around me. oh right, I'm here to get Shen out. The fog doesn't make things any better. There's nothing near me except thick fog. I picked myself up and started walking straight.

"Shen!" I shouted, hoping that somehow he'll be around here. The man said I have to find him and return him. How can I ever find him in this all-fogged-up place? In the distance, in front of me, the fog started to disappear as a temple came into view. He might be in there. I climbed the mountain of stairs, it took a lot of time, but now before me are the wooden gates, each with two shields towering in size. As I pushed the wooden gates, it didn't seem to be guarded and the door was slightly open from my efforts, I pushed even further and finally, before me was a... person? His eyes were just plain black holes and so was his mouth, and he was oddly staring at me... creepy. Within one blink, he appeared in front of me and then phased passed through me and I swear my heart dropped so did my butt on the floor. What was that!? I felt a shiver of cold sensation as my breaths drew mists. After picking myself up, observing my surroundings, the interior is very different compared to Zarzaun even in the higher streets. The middle area was surrounded by sand as a huge tree stood still in the middle and rooms seemed to surround this place like a box. I inspected one of the sliding doors and found it similar to the rest of the terms, with no light, everything seemed haunted as ashes slowly rained down from the sky. I slid the door closest to the right open to find a kid version of Shen inspecting some sort of flower. "Buddy, there you are." As I rushed to him, the same man with dark holes for a face appeared before him like a ghost,

"Leave." He shouted as I was pushed out of the room and the door slid shut, I started banging the door only to realize it wasn't doing any effect, I recoiled my fist and punched, but the room deflected my punch as I was jerked in front of the middle, destroying the fences that surround the rooms and the sands. I picked myself back up and moved on to the next room beside it instead. Sliding the door open to see Shen with some fine-looking old man in his 40s-50s. He must be Shen's father as they resembled one another. His father cradled his boy as Shen rested his head on his father's lap, his hair being stroked. I never had a father to see, Shen must be lucky. As I blinked I found myself outside with the door closed and the same as usual, locked. I moved to the next door. It was a funeral, Shen at the side as all the attendees have the same look as the creepy man in front of the gates earlier, except they were all smiling as a black ooze of liquid escaped their eyes and mouth, all of them looking at Shen as he just stood at the side with his head arched down. Before I could take a step, I once again appeared in front of the door, guessing it was locked. I opened the next door. It was Shen who seemed to be covered in black smoke from the mouths of the people as they all stare at Shen as he meditates in the middle, his eyes slowly turning into the same pitch black.

"No Shen!" I rushed inside but in a blink, I was reaching out for a closed door. I quickly rushed to the next door, opening it with force to see him curled up in the corner of the room. I neared him and this time, I wasn't forced out; his figure cowering tightly as he held his knees up to his body. "Buddy..." I whispered. He was sobbing, his figure facing the wall, poor kid. A ghastly voice whispered behind us and upon realization, the doors, and the rooms, were the point of view of the blade watching over him. The people that surrounded him, corrupting him and draining him made him what he is now, pitiful and oblivious. His childhood was stolen from him. That's why he has a hard time knowing common sense or what's sensitive or not. That's why he bought the happy pills. As I turned my head behind me, I saw the man from the gates as the others at the funeral towering over us with their gigantic figure. I knew it, these people are ruining his will, this is the curse in the worsened state.

"Shen look at me; I know you can hear me. Do not listen to these people. Do not listen to their words, do not be frightened to do anything you want." As the doors slid shut, they started growing nearer and nearer from when they were at the door, the dark fog slowly covering the room and I could fill my will slowly fading. I can't give up now that he is in front of me. "Shen... remember the time you bought those happy pills and you wanted to give them to me? and that a succubus almost seduced you into a company when in reality it's sex? It's good to ask yourself these questions right? You told me you had fun in Zarzaun and in the pit." My mind is drawing a blank, this curse is also affecting me and draining me quickly. "I had never seen someone so innocent before, that's why I had fun being around you, you didn't fear me like others pissed their pants. Come back to me, Shen, I need you." My last words came in a whisper, I am at my limits. I guess my will wasn't strong enough for the both of us... I'm sorry I failed us, partner.

A hand cupped my cheek making me face forward. It was Shen, and his eyes are no longer pitch black and in a child's body but instead, wondrous, the same person I saw when he entered the gates of the pit.

"Do you really mean it when you said you need me?" He asked. Only if you knew, and only if I knew sooner, then the answer is yes.

"More than you could ever know." He laughed as I spun him around the room raising his waist high above, after a while I embraced him, the ghastly mist of dark oppressing fog soon disappeared and so did the spirits. We had fun. "Shen, be honest with me." Now for a way to break the curse, I must make him truthful. I don't like to beg but, by gods please Shen, be honest with me. He took a deep breath as we gained a little distance, seated on the bamboo floor mat, him facing me as I faced him.

"Alright... after this, I can trust you. You did somehow get inside." He giggled. Something inside me felt blissful. "The Kinkou Order has always been restricting me since I was a child, they tuned me into something more... stoic. Meditating when I had free time, taught me that feelings are nor necessary and will hinder my growth and balance. My childhood was stolen from me like my father who died for an unknown reason. I went through training, sent into the woods to live without a blade nor clothing, bathed under the sun for an absurd amount of days and was told not to react even in the slightest, shivered in the cold snow without clothes as they had their heart meal inside and said that if I get jealous, then my father would disapprove of me for jealousy. But whenever I come back finishing their deed, they snicker at me or curse under their breath. So I strived to be more for them, family was never an option, and if it was, I don't seem to deserve them they said. So I was sorrowful, I deserve a slow, painful suffering, the cuts I earned however somehow made me feel alive." He removed his upper clothing revealing marks and scars tainting his beautiful body.

"Heh, it's weird to want to bleed just to know you alive, but alas, I did much more but I also learned to digress my feelings. That was until I met the brawler. Seeing him so... weird, immature yet funny. I thought to myself, that's unfair, how does one harbor careless caution on emotion? That was until he showed me around, stuck with me despite being oblivious, warning me that the fruit-looking thing is an animal curled up in a ball. That was when I realized, I've been revived. This can't be, the order will shun me if I showed any signs of emotions. So I kept my mind at bay. I kept myself from saying, 'thank you for the wonderful day, Sett. I had fun.' Or 'you look good today, Sett.' When I feel attracted to you during the day. He then faced me again. "You really changed me." he tilted his head with a smile before running through a hug. He's back to being warm and cuddly as the walls around us shattered like glass. But we still remained in our position as we fell into the dark abyss. This feels right. And Shen, you're not my weakness, you're my strength.