Yin|Yang

36. Like A Madman

Originally, from the abandoned marketplace to the Roku Forest was three and a half hours, but as Yang Guang drove like a madman, they arrived in a lot less than the estimated time.

"R-Run..."

Turning his head fast, Yang Guang saw his lover was looking at him with his left eye which was back to normal, unlike his right one which was still completely pitch black.

"Yin An," the concerned man reached his hand and caressed his cheek, not minding the weird sensation the popped up black lines gave, "we made it. We are in Roku Forest."

"G-Grandma?"

The tall man smiled as he nodded, "everyone is safe, your father is finally dead and the chief said he will take care of the situation."

Despite the pain and his body not quite belonging to him at the moment, Yin An managed to smile subtly, using the left side of his numb lips. Then he forced himself even more and said "t-thank... you... n-now... run..."

Yang Guang frowned and pulled back his hand, "no running, we will make it," he said, determined, and left the car to extract his doll-like lover.

Securing him on his back like a baby koala, the determined lover started to walk into the forest. As the sun was already up, the heat and humidity was severe inside the forest, but Yang Guang chose simply to ignore it.

Trying not to deviate from his path, he walked and walked with sweat dripping from his face. They had already checked the map of Roku Forest, but being in it was totally different. No matter how much he walked, his eyes couldn't spot something different or unique like the maple tree they were looking for.

Trees and trees and trees...

Yang Guang was getting desperate...

At one point, he stumbled because of a huge tree root and took it as a sign to have a break. Half lying his now-unconscious lover under the tree, he slumped next to him and drank a mouthful of water from his metal flask. With a tiny bit of hope, he also checked his phone, but of course there was no signal. Cursing himself for forgetting to take the physical map with him (then he realised, even if he had it, it wouldn't be of any use), he brooded about his next step.

Should he just keep walking or should he just keep walking?

It was a tough choice, but in the end, Yang Guang chose to keep-walking option. Taking his small burden on his back again, he continued to walk.

Walk... walk... walk...

It seems there was no end of the damn forest. Being very conscious about the movements of the sun above them as much as he could see, Yang Guang walked and walked, using a minimal amount of his own healing power on himself to alleviate the pain his body was suffering, especially his feet inside those booths.

Like that, the poor man walked for hours and when he saw the huge wall separating the forest from the highway, the bottom fell out of his world.

He took the wrong direction!

"DAMN IT! WHY?! WHY IS IT ALWAYS US?!" he yelled from the top of his lungs to let out some of his frustration and he actually felt better.

"I can't stop now, our destiny is in my hands," he mustered his inner strength as he leaned his lover on a rock carefully. Then he tied his all-messed hair into a bun and drank some more water. He stuffed the flask into his cargo pants's pocket and rolled up the long sleeves of his linen shirt.

"Let's see," he murmured as he fished out a coin from his front pocket, "heads for left," he decided and threw the coin to the air before catching it again. He opened his hand and saw it was the tails, "to the right then!" he announced and lifted his lover to his back, he started to walk towards the right.

Walk... walk... walk...

Hours passed and the blue maple was nowhere to be found while the tired sun started to disappear from the horizon.

"I-It's... a-almost... t-time..." Yin An mumbled from his lover's back.

Terrified, Yang Guang halted his steps and heard his lover coughing before he felt something warm on his back. With accumulated fear, he reached a shaky hand to touch it.

It was blood!

"Yin An!" he exclaimed in horror and quickly laid his lover on the earth to check his condition. There was a trail of blood trickling down from his mouth, but he was at least conscious. Well, let's say as conscious as he could be.

"R-Run..." the pitiful man implored his soulmate one more time. He had already acknowledged that there was no use trying, so he didn't want his soulmate to harm himself in vain.

However, his soulmate didn't share his noble thoughts. As if he was deaf to his begging, he cleaned the blood stains off his face and pulled him on his back again.

Even when the sun disappeared completely and left its place to the blinding darkness mercilessly, Yang Guang didn't stop. With the help of the small light provided by his cell phone flash, he kept dragging his feet until he realised the only sounds in the darkness were his heavy breathing and the cracking of the dry branches underneath his booths.

The forest was indeed too silent.

With utmost fear, he checked the time and saw it was already eleven pm. Panic seized his mind and body alike and he started to run like a headless chicken... until he saw something reflecting his light on a clearance...

Yang Guang rushed to the clearance and saw it was a metal plate stuck on the ground.

The legendary blue maple was here.

Now, my dear reader, you can guess what was the end note of Eberheard's book, right? Indeed, it was telling about the sudden disappearance of the maple tree almost ten years ago.