Shen Wei never wanted to be an Emperor, but on the anniversary of the peace deal he discovers that Kunlun might be alive.
Part 1 of the The Leaves Of Autumn Are Memories series
I'm really sorry for the huge delay, life and illness got in the way!
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The words cannot make sense but they ring through Shen Wei's heart like the tolling of massive bells.
Burning. Alive.
Zhao Yunlan. Hurting.
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"No one could... survive that." Lin Jing says his tone vibrating in the night air with shock. Then he blinked and said in a strained voice, as if hoping someone would correct him, "Chief? Not Chief."
Whatever reply Jie Ming might have made, it's lost as he lurches forward choking as the pain increases. The deceptively delicate chains around his wrist glow ominously, but Zhao Xin Ci grabs his shoulder once more to steady him and for once he doesn't fight his former enemy. His face is ashen and his lips are trembling as he silently chants something Shen Wei cannot hear.
He does hear him say in a gasped breath, "For all my days," like the echo of a vow, a piece of himself whispered and held.
There is no sound save the thudding of his own beating heart and the only thing he can feel beyond grief is the swell of his power, almost thrashing against his will. Power and strong emotions are a poor combination, proven when unbidden as another creatures flies too close, Shen Wei incinerates it without blinking.
Swallowing, Shen Wei stares at Jie Ming as if trying to deny what he has heard. Zhao Yunlan's precious, beautiful face was so calm as he slept and Shen Wei had feared it hid some great harm. Now he knew what it was, what Yunlan was suffering...Shen Wei's throat closed.
Burning. The flames that had surrounded him inside the Fifth Gate...the boundary holding him and the strange way the Gate Guardians had reacted to Shen Wei...
How long before pain was all he knew? Had he called out? How long before even the strongest mind broke?
He felt irrationally angry that the Gate Guardians supreme in their callous arrogance had not mentioned that Kunlun was in two places. That Da Qing and Sang Zan were with him somehow.
Had the Gate tried to take their minds? Had Kunlun done this to save them? Or worse yet, had this been forced on Kunlun, by someone or something?
He had had thought that being Zhao Yunlan, they simply had little control over him, because he was Kunlun. Not that he was...split? Stretched? The idea alone had a shudder dancing down Shen Wei's spine and cold dread settling in his core. Whatever Yunlan was, whatever state he was in, it was hope pure that sparked in his heart hearing that Kunlun was aware enough to speak with Jie Ming.
It did not take long before Shen Wei remembered why Kunlun could do this, his hand tightening around the hilt of his sword.
The reason why he could hide life-force and why if he had wanted to, with enough Gate energy stolen in careful amounts, he could in theory at least, make an illusion then thread their lives into the bridge. Kunlun had one tool at his disposal, one creation powerful enough to be used in this way.
