In Darkness

One of the Last

AN: Welcome! This story is actually (very) loosely inspired by one of my favorite folk tales as a child; All Kinds Of Fur. If you haven't heard of it before, I highly recommend reading it. It carries a very beautiful lesson inside of it. As a forewarning, however, this is definitely going to have dark themes woven into it. I will leave a warning at the beginning of each chapter if there's something that I think others might need/want to avoid reading. I hope you enjoy my side project to A Gentle Torment, this was started due to M.Y. not being very present for a period of time in that story.

Bai Qian had been on her way towards the abandoned fox den when she heard the bell that signaled the death of the Heavenly Lord. She tore down the cloaking spell to enter her old home, putting up the barrier immediately after and heading directly to the wine cellar. She should celebrate. That's what she should be doing.

Yet his death felt bittersweet.

By the time she'd made it to the cave cellar, she spotted her target waiting on the table. Three jars of wine remain from the time her father and Zhe Yan taught her to brew it herself.

She has two years left to get justice for her family; two short years left of freedom before she marries into the Grand Ziming Palace. Walking up to the table, she plucks one of the jars off of it before finding her favorite secluded wall, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness all the while.

It was easier to live in the Ghost Realm in some respects. Not only were they a little looser on rules in comparison to the Celestial Palace, but it was also rarely sunny. Her sight had been removed during her ascension to high goddess, and even though Zhe Yan gave her an ability to see, it wasn't foolproof.

Light irritated her eyes the most - intense rays often required a piece of thick silk to block them out, otherwise, even when closed they would ache painfully. Her vision was healed enough for her to be able to cloud jump and hunt on her own and when she was in the dark it seemed to almost clear up perfectly, as impossible as it sounded.

Removing the cloth lid from the jar in her hands, she smiles down at the spot where her father once sat to comfort her during a particularly violent thunderstorm... it was the first time she ever tasted wine. And even though the first cup was rough on her throat as a child, she loved it from the very start.

Pouring a small amount onto the ground in an informal toast to her father, she rests her head against the wall before taking a hearty swig, eager to get straight to it. Even though she had always intended on enjoying the wine, tonight she's drinking it more for effectiveness, not quality.

Pulling it away from her lips before she all-but drowns herself in the wine, she smiles mournfully, "Father, I ascended to High Goddess at the start of this year."

If things were ideal, even though her father would never come back to them, she would have been able to visit the day she returned. However, it was hard enough just to summon the courage to acknowledge when she so much as wanted to leave the Ghost Realm, much less to actually do it.

She must be the most courageous out of her small family of 'five' in this regard -- she was the one to show up the most. Mother still fell into tears at the mere thought of her father, Bai Zhen outright refused to visit the past, Zhe Yan had no need for visiting the Fox Den, and Bai Feng Jiu was born after they settled into the Ghost Realm.

What would life have been like if the Celestials hadn't come in the middle of the night, breaking through their barrier to torment their family in the most heinous of ways?

Would Bai Feng Jiu not be a High Immortal yet? Would Bai Zhen still be able to frequently see Zhe Yan? Would he not have to hang on to every visit like a lifeline?