Corrupted Love| XIAOVEN

Chapter 15: two monsters (1/4)

Breathless, Xiao ran over the meadows. His lungs ached and his body screamed from exertion. Fear flooded through him and the resulting endorphin jerked through his body like a drug. He was panicking, crazy afraid of losing him. 

 As so often, he had been sleeping poorly in his bed when someone called his name.

 For the adepti, this was like being chained to only one command and as a yaksha, he could not help but answer the call for help. It was more than a compulsion. It was forced into his mind like a command from a god himself.

 This was part of the contract with Morax. Just that this time, he had recognized the voice.

 Obviously, after all, he had spent the last week, day and night with him. Xiao had not even taken the time to wake the others but ran off directly. 

With inhuman speed, he moved toward Stormterror's Lair. He knew where Venti was. At the sound of his name, he could estimate exactly where and how far away the respective person was, and thus almost determine the exact location. 

He was afraid.

 It felt like his throat was being constricted. Though rarely did he have this feeling anymore. 

Of course, he was not fearless as so many heroes always were. 

He had almost completely cut off the thin thread with which he still hung on to life. What a man fears at the end of the day is death. Just as the ultimate goal of any action is happiness, fear, on the other hand, is precise to protect us from death.

 Dying, in whatever form, is always the end of everything we fear for. But when at some point even death no longer seems like something troubling, the will to live is correspondingly less.

 Unlike the common assumption, however, this does not mean that the person who fears death the most lives the best. Rather the opposite. Whereby it just depends on how much one hung on to life in the first place. 

If death and life are equated, then neither is appreciated enough. Just as it was in Xiao's case.

 But his life was currently more than just his alone. It was there for a specific reason and sole purpose. Whether he wanted to or not, he was not allowed to die, because his life had a meaning now over anything else: 

to save the person he loved. 

If he were to save even that one single life, only then would he have any right at all to indulge in the selfish act of dying. Until then, he would do everything he could to protect Venti. The night sky gave him time to think about his life.

He had never wanted to express a wish or have a desire, but this one time was to be different. This one time he would be selfish and deal with all sorts of consequences later if just this one time he was allowed to express his desire to save the other.

 It was strange to do that after all these centuries, but it felt good. Too good. Xiao enjoyed the feeling of doing what he wanted. He was too broken to care about his needs, but this time, his heart felt less heavy than usual. 

As he gazed up at the night sky, he was welcomed by countless stars, constellations, and the moon. Away from the city, he was greeted by such a sight that he normally rarely got to see. The peace of the nearby trees swaying in the gentle breeze, and the sound of crickets in the night.

 But as beautiful as the night was, the yaksha felt cold. He had left Venti last evening as he usually did and had gone to sleep in an adjoining room. 

If only he had stayed awake or had- 

"Stop it! Don't do that! Don't always blame yourself so much." Venti had said to him as they sat in a meadow. Just now the image of the two of them came up. 

It had been too perfect. They could never have stayed together. It's crazy, but he saved Xiao in a strange way. Never before had he met someone like Venti, and now it was all over. As high as they had come, as deep, he would now fall. It was always like that.

On a huge grass field, he stopped abruptly. His golden eyes scanned the wide spaces because at night he saw astonishingly well. Like an animal, he listened to the sound of the wind, thinking he could hear some sound of possible danger in the silence. 

His hand closed tighter around his spear. Skillfully he tensed his body, moved his left leg behind it, and turned slightly in that direction. Leaning forward a little, he stood motionless, in an attack stance, waiting. 

He stood still on the spot, breathing so softly that he could not have been heard. His eyes continued to scan the surroundings. He was one of the strongest beings in this world, even if he was far from the strongest, but at least he had enough combat experience to know when real danger lurked.

 He knew that someone was nearby. Whoever, they were strong. Xiao could sense their existence but did not know where they were. 

In such a huge area, the figure would have no way to sneak up on him, which worked to Xiao's advantage. Either the person had unshakable confidence in their abilities or was too naive to perceive this disadvantage.

 Whatever the case, he had to remain vigilant. The darkness was now thicker than usual. From further away, a figure slowly approached him. She was small and slender and looked like a child from the distance.

Elegant and as cold as ice, she walked peacefully toward the yaksha. Her skin was as pale and cold as the moon, her eyes closed and her long pitch-black hair hung down to her feet.