Dusk And Dawn ✔️

Part 4 :- Till 'Death' do us Part

Past 

"Such a nice name, Fengmian, Look into my eyes... " YiJun requests, and the child looks into YiJun's eyes. 

"Take me to your home," YiJun whispers in the child's ears. The child nods. He holds YiJun's sleeve tighter and pulls the immortal towards his home. 

YiJun's heart grows heavy. He recalls Xian doing the same thing: pulling his sleeves and dragging him here and there, when they were kids.

The eyes follow YiJun and the little boy to a village nearby, where YiJun drops the child off and leaves.

*One hundred and fifty years after YiJun and Shen parted ways with Xian's parents*

Shen and YiJun had heard about a mysterious flu that had broken out in a small village next to the one they were currently residing in: people had started dying of unknown causes. People had started calling it the Yèjiān liúgǎn: The Night Flu. No one knew from where or when the flu had originated.

"Uncle, I think we should go there. Maybe we can help." Wangji suggests, hopefully.

Shen and YiJun arrive in the village and are at once, hit by the smell of infected blood. 

 "Night creatures." Both realize, simultaneously. They roam the village; they see nothing but burnt up corpses all around. They decide to leave but just then, a familiar scent calls to YiJun. 

"Uncle, let's check there." He says, pointing to a small hut and walking towards it.

On entering it, YiJun's eyes fall on a middle-aged man, crouching next to an empty cradle; the man is crying. His tears are red.

YiJun goes to the man, "What happened here?" he asks, turning the man to face him.

"He took him. He took him. He took him." The man mumbles. He keeps repeating the sentence over and over again. 

YiJun's breath hitches, "No!" he softly exclaims. He can't believe his eyes. He cups the man's face, "Jiang Fengmian, what happened here? Tell me."

The past fifty years had not been kind to the small boy YiJun had helped almost fifty years ago. Jiang Fengmian looks at YiJun. His eyes become clear, "The night flu took everything from us. My family was the last to get infected." He looks at the cradle and continues, "My grandson was the only one who was left unaffected. But before I could take him to safety, he came and took him away."

YiJun strokes Fengmian's shoulder gently, "How did the infection spread?"

"I don't know," Fengmian says, shaking his head.

"Can you tell me who took your grandson away?"

"No, he came before dawn. His face was covered; all I could see was a triskelion mark on his wrist."

"Where is your family?" YiJun asks.

Fengmian shakes his head, "Everyone is dead."

"What about in the village, any survivors?"

"I am the only one," Fengmian says before he starts coughing. Blood oozes out of his mouth. He holds YiJun's sleeve and tugs, "Young master, please help me!"

YiJun nods and smiles. Tears make their way down his face, "You will feel no pain, Fengmian." He whispers and unsheathes his sword; with one clean-cut, he ends Fengmian's suffering.

YiJun walks towards the cradle. He lifts a sheet that must have belonged to the baby and smells it, 'It's similar to Xian, but not the same. But it is closer to Xian's scent than Fengmian's.'