From Dusk til Dawn

The Last Debt

"Damn it Mo Yuan, lower this barrier!" Ye Hua voice roared as he threw spell after spell at it while the Disciples looked on unsure of what to do.

In the past year, Mo Yuan had only left seclusion once, and that was to give Die Feng and Zhi Lan permission to leave for Qing Qiu to assist Bai Qian with her army. And though the thought had upset him greatly, having wanted to be the one to help her, he was happy for his two Disciples who had continued to remain in touch with her, a friendship he hoped he too would be able to pick up again one day, even though it could not go anywhere.

Now listening to his brother trying to break in, Mo Yuan tried just as hard to block him out. He was not ready to leave, his heart was still broken and the pain was still raw, but this time, Ye Hua would not let up until Mo Yuan had no choice but to lower it.

Storming into his meditation cave, Ye Hua suddenly came to a standstill as the shock of his brothers appearance came into view. He had lost a terrible amount of weight, his face was gaunt and he looked as if he had aged another hundred thousand years.

"Oh Mo Yuan." he whispered as he fell heavily to his knees before him.

"What do you want Ye Hua." he asked softly as his dead eyes looked back at him, hating the sympathetic look on his brothers face, yet too weak to do anything about it.

"Mo Yuan there is a way you can win her back." he said softly bringing Mo Yuans gaze higher.

"How?" he asked, as a small flicker of hope began to appear in his dark eyes.

"You know that her sacrifice took away what was only meant for you, but what you obviously don't know, is that because you used a forbidden magic to create the Bell, one you were never meant to know, Lord Pua said, if you pay for the crime of theft, the debt that you owe fate will be wiped clean." he said and as he watched his words take hold, the man before him suddenly flared back into life.

"How does it clear my debt with fate?" he asked next.

Desperate for his brother to understand, Ye Hua could not keep the impatience out of his voice  "It is exactly as I explained Mo Yuan. The sacrifice was made, and though it wasn't made by you it was still made.  However,  you can still pay your own personal debt, by taking punishment for the theft of ancient knowledge in order to open the way forward for you both." he said pulling on his sleeves as Mo Yuan looked down at him.

"What is the punishment?" he asked after considering everything he had just heard. He had thought that the theft of the ancient knowledge was paid for with the sacrifice, but to learn she had merely made partial payment, suddenly had him sitting a little straighter.

"Each metal carries a separate debt of 72 bolts of lightening. That is 216 bolts of lightening. If you take them all in one day, the full debt for your crime and therefore your debt to fate will be cleared." he said softly as they both shuddered at the harshness of it.

No one had ever received such harsh punishment before, and though he knew he was in no fit state to take that many, he knew Lord Pua would only give him what he could handle. Lightening bolts were always created specifically for the individual taking them which meant no one could take them in his place, not that he wanted anyone to, and nor would they kill him, but they would certainly weaken him even more than he was. The Healing process could take months before he was ready to tackle her, but having waited a year, he could wait a few more months.

 But as he looked at his brothers expectant face, he suddenly smiled.

"Alright, I'll do it, please inform Lord Pua I will be there in the morning at dawn." he said finally rising to leave the cave and prepare himself for what he hoped was the sunset he had so desperately wanted.