𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐓 ↷ 𝑧ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑖

iii

"Guizhong is in Guili plains one believe, mesmerizing the field of glaze lilies again." The cloud retainer told the great lord of geo, Morax. "One has been told for you are requested by her. She has something she want to give you." She continues.

Morax nodded after asking where was Guizhong to Cloud Retainer. He is in cloud retainer's home or the place where they always have a drink along Streetward Rambler (madame ping's adeptus name). at this time of the day, he always spend his time with his closest friend, Guizhong.

"I shall leave to meet her then." He told the cloud retainer as he left her place to see his friend.

Guizhong always spend a lot of her time in the Guili plains, singing and watching the glaze lily bloom. As he travels, he turns himself as a small dragon so he can travel properly.

As his on his way to Guili plains, he felt a painful impact in his arm, causing him to crash down. Making fall down to some kind of farm.

He was about to turn back to his human form when a mortal come close to him. He stopped himself from transforming so he won't alert the mortal.

As the mortal approaches him, they picked him up; thinking like he some harmless animal that you can keep as a pet.

And he pretended to be one.

As he pretends and let this mortal take him. He will take care of them later. He wondered where did he got that painful impact from. Did this also happened to Guizhong? Is she okay?

He was bleeding. But loosing a small amount of blood is nothing to him. He is a god. He can heal himself.

But he could not stop himself from questioning to what in celestia was this mortal doing to his arm where the bleeding bruise was. It seems like they are wrapping something in his arm. A bandage?

Morax didn't say anything and just stared ate this careless mortal as they put a bandage in his arm. He was planning on how to out of this place and go see if Guizhong was alright.

I'll just leave when they fell asleep.

As he was waiting, he suddenly felt embarrassed. They were changing clothes. He didn't want to see such thing so he looked away.

He looked back again when he heard the door closed. Looks like they left. Thank the celestia when he saw they left the window in their bedroom was open. He was able to leave the place.

As he left, he immediately went to the glaze lilies in Guili plains to see if Guizhong was alright.

"Morax! What take you so long?" Guizhong surprised him with a smile on her face, meanwhile he had a worried face. Guizhong notices. "What's wrong? Did something happened?"

"Are you alright?" He immediately asks her as he examine her face, checking if she has any bruises around her.

"Whoa! Morax! Hey there! Nothing happened to me, but what happened to you, huh?" She asks him.

Morax sighed out of relief when he saw that Guizhong was completely alright. "Something came up when I was on my way here to see you." He told his dear friend.

"Really?" Guizhong raised her brows and looked at his left arm. "Does it has something to do with that bandage in your arm?" She points out.

Morax didn't notice that he was still wearing the bandage. He thought the bandage was lose and out of his arm when he was in a hurry to come to Guili plains to see Guizhong.

"I didn't notice I was still wearing it." He removes it as he heals the wound inside it.

"What happened exactly? Why did you had that bandage in your arm? Who putted I your arm?" Guizhong has so many question in her head but Morax can't answer it all at once.

"We should go back to cloud retainer and streetward rambler." Morax said as they both went back to cloud retainer's place.

"How was the trip?" Streetward rambler asks as she clean her instrument.

"Something came up!" Guizhong worriedly said. "It seems like Morax was attack!"

"What!" Both cloud retainer and streetward rambler said in shock. Someone attack the god of contracts?

"Are you alright?" Cloud retainer asks.

Morax nodded. "I am quite alright. It was just a small wound so I was able to heal in time."

Morax had this feeling that something big will happen soon.

* * *

The time is here where Morax be collecting nascent bamboo shoot for him to make a tea that they will drink later.

He collects them. After collecting all the nascent bamboo he needed, he transforms himself as a small dragon.

As he was on his way back, he accidentally hit someone making him crash along with them.

He opened his eyes just to see the same mortal he saw. The same mortal that put the bandage in his arm. What are they doing here?

"It's you! The golden dragon from my dream!" They said as they pointed at him.

Once again. He didn't want to scare the mortal so he let them hold him like he was a pet.

"We're both hurt." The mere mortal said as they stare at their knee, full of bruise, as he was in their arms. "What will we do next?" The mortal was talking to themselves but it was obvious that they were talking to him, but he didn't want want to talk.

"I'm quite lonely. Do you want to go home with me?"

* * *

"Then what happens next?" Guizhong asks as she was eagerly wanted to know what happens next.

"They were holding me in their arms, refusing me to let go. They also kept talking about a lot of stories." Morax said and looked at the beautiful sunset and took a sip in his osmanthus wine. "They even gave me a name."

"Really? A mortal giving the lord of geo a name like he was some kind of pet to them to keep?" The cloud retainer angrily said.

"What did they call you?" streetward rambler asks

"Zhongli."

[ feb. 19 2023 ;; unedited ]