A Gentle Torment

Sacrificial Decisions

AN: There's also a ton of plot being carried out in this chapter--the next chapter is going to be much less sad.

The dragons are going to reunite and, oh, will they ever find her.

Yan Zhi clutches onto lantern's handle uneasily as they walk further into the abandoned tunnel system. Being in the dreamscape, the flame casts a blue glow along the damp, dark stone walls. This wasn't the ending her mother wanted, and it still leaves her heart aching to this day. She'd only ever wanted to die among the wildflowers, with the-

"-Are you alright?" Zi Lan asks quietly from his place behind her, where he'd been quietly tagging along for the past two days.

Yan Zhi shakes her head, stopping when they reach a fork in the pathway. Sending out two tendrils of black miasma, she sends them each down separate tunnels. A trap is activated on the one leading off to their left, and a series of arrows fly out at them. Before she can react, Zi Lan has pulled her flush against his chest and out of harm's way. Waiting until they're sure no more will follow, Yan Zhi's cheeks flush as she pulls away, "Thank you."

Zi Lan nods before looking at the tunnel off to their right, "The other must be a dead end."

"You're wrong," Yan Zhi speaks softly, avoiding his gaze as she takes the tunnel that nearly caused injury, "if Father set up no traps that can be triggered by cultivation on the second tunnel, then there's nothing worth guarding there."

He really is a simple villain, isn't he? Zi Lan wants to tease as he follows behind her. He doesn't utter a word, though. Yan Zhi adored her father as a child, and mentioning him now will likely only hurt her feelings.

He doesn't want her to hurt, regardless of if she's a Ghost Princess or not. She's been nothing but kindhearted to him, the least he can do is treat her respectfully...

Why does he want to do so much more for her, though? Maybe he really is as dense as Seventeenth.

"What are we looking for, again?" He merely wants to fill the air with their voices. The silence is so thick and suffocating that not even the sound of their soft footfalls is enough to settle him as they move further into the tunnels.

"Miasma. A lot of it. The air will feel suffocating and neither of us will be able to use our powers."

"Neither of us?" Zi Lan looks back at Yan Zhi in surprise. So far, he's only seen her unable to use her cultivation on one occasion.

"Neither of us." Yan Zhi repeats herself, keeping the lantern close as she keeps each step measured. She sends out another willowy tendril of her own magic, listening quietly for any sort of trigger to be released. They've already encountered more traps than she could count -- she'd rather avoid losing more than a lock of hair.

o~O~o~O~o

Bai Qian stirs slowly, at once aware of the sound of shuffling in one of the nearby rooms. Listening closely, she gets up and follows the source of the noise to Yan Zhi's room. Her heart pounds relentlessly in her chest over the idea of her waking up, yet she can't make the move to check through the thick fabric separating Yan Zhi's room from the rest of the house.

Is it time? Is it really her? It's not likely, as it could also be the lovely couple that lives next door, who had volunteered on multiple occasions to look after A-li when she felt ill.

But they... usually didn't wake up until much later, just like she used to.

Pushing past the curtain when she gathers her own wits, Bai Qian stops dead in her tracks, staring at a familiar face, "Xuan Nu...?"