Cultivator of Magic

Chapter 8: Enter Abandoned Ruins

     The two hadn't been walking for long when Ash suddenly raised an arm in the air in front of Aiko, stopping him from walking farther.

     Aiko groaned in annoyance, "Young Master, please don't tell me you need to pee again..."

     Ash flushed at Aiko's quip, "No, I don't. There's something in the woods over there."

     Ash started walking off the trail and into the forest without a response from Aiko.

     "Wait! Ash!"

     Aiko followed after Ash with little pitter-patters of his feet. He entered the forest, pushing stray tree branches away from his face.

     Aiko was running into the woods, following Ash's back. The latter stopped and Aiko was soon beside him, looking at the area in front of them.

     In front of them were old ruins that were barely standing. Swords littered the entire area, propped hilt first out of the ground like flowers, with weeds and vines growing on some of them, and fully budded fruit bushes surrounding others. Some swords had been forgotten for so long that it seemed like nature had tried to reclaim the metal.

     Blades of all sizes, shapes, and types could be seen in the ruins, sticking out of pillars and rock, having fallen over flat on the ground, and some even releasing weak bursts of qi, possibly remnants of qi from its user, or even its own qi.

     Upon looking out at the ruins, Aiko instantly felt his entire body go numb, frozen still as he stared at the scenery before him. An unusual sense of familiarity ran through him; his feet moved before he had time to register it.

     He made his way through thick bushes and their stray branches, picking up his hanfu skirt as he walked, preventing it from getting caught on anything. He could faintly hear Ash calling out to him, but his voice was so far away as if he were in a trance.

     He had no clue why he was entering such unstable ruins so suddenly, all he knew was that he felt like he'd been there before. It was as if his soul knew something that he didn't.

     He continued nonetheless and as he approached, he began to feel a presence inside of the ruins. But it wasn't anything malicious, no. In fact, it felt friendly.

     How did Aiko know this? Well, the truth was he didn't. He was just following what his gut was telling him to do. It was as if the ruins were pulling him in; calling to him.

     The closer he got, the more butterflies ran through his body. He felt light. It was as if everything in the mortal realm that had been holding him down was now lifted.

     Right as he was standing before the walls of the ruins, about to raise his hand and touch the old stone, there was a sudden hand on his shoulder.

     It jerked him out of his sudden trance and he stumbled back a bit. He turned to his left and saw Ash had been the one who pulled him out of his trance.

     He stared at Ash for a moment before slapping his hand off him, "What was that for?"

     "You were acting weird. Your eyes were cloudy and you were completely ignoring me."

     Aiko snickered, "And that's so shocking? I tend to ignore you a lot actually, if you haven't forgotten."

     Though it was a joke, Ash wasn't smiling at all. "Aiko, I'm serious. Are you alright? You've been acting weird."

     Aiko let out an exaggerated sigh before ignoring him and making his way to the ruins again. Yeah, it was weird, but shaking it off would probably be best at the moment. He didn't want to seem crazy after all.