The young girl didn’t stay in the Sanctum for much longer. After she had confirmed that she had collected all of her belongings, An Fei slung a veil around her countenance and quickly left to the mortal world, her mind in disarray. The middle-aged man gazed towards the dissipating figure for a brief moment, then waved his hand towards the right.
“Come out. You still haven’t left – there’s no need to pretend.”
As though responding to cue, the air above Compendium warped and scattered to reveal a scarlet dragon wreathed in the dark nebula of the void. The heavenly dragon grumbled and clacked its teeth in annoyance.
“Why give me away so quickly?”
“She will not be coming back for a while. Why is there a need to keep you wandering around in my library?”
“Who said that this was even your library?”
Compendium twitched his lips into a scowl filled with mirth. The middle-aged compiler stretched his back and began to organize the sheets of paper stacked on the drawing table, carefully reading each one and jotting small annotations on the corner. Xilong aimlessly followed with his eyes, swaying his head with glorified boredom.
“She will have to come back soon,” the heavenly dragon cautioned.
“A flimsy veil will not be able to confuse the keen eyes of any observant mortal. Instead of strutting around in your library, why not prepare the disguise agent for our master?”
“Why not prepare it yourself, Xilong? Among us envoys, only you have so much free time.”
“Oh! The great compiler of the Sanctuary finally knows how to joke around!” Xilong’s teeth snapped with mockery and a hint of anger.
“Do you think that a dragon’s claws can properly mash up medicinal herbs smaller than your fingers, Compendium? Have you adorned yourself with too much heart’s crystal stone that you’ve lost all sense of your former intellect?”
The dragon’s voice was biting and accusatory, and the twin suns flared with brilliant, scorching anger. Xu Shen glanced down upon his exquisite robe and the numerous accessories of sky-blue crystal, and couldn’t help but smile. The middle-aged man raised his arms to carefully admire his adornments before the fuming dragon, and even began a grand exhibition in spite.
“Yes, indeed – I’ve adorned myself with far too much heart’s crystal stone. Don’t you know too well the feeling of exhilaration, the uncontrollable surge of heat and lightheaded sensations that bring endless joy?” Compendium mocked with grandeur.
“Heart’s crystal stone! The miraculous artifact of the Realm that can allow an Immortal being to directly experience emotions, change, and interact without having to process a tedious and limited mortal soul! Not even the great indifference instilled by our Constructs can suppress the exuberant and heaven-defying effects – how can I possibly avoid the temptation?”
“Even an Immortal can experience the joys and sadness of emotional attachment! How splendid! How miraculous – how could such a phenomenon not be described as a miracle!?”
The compiler’s countenance instantly solidified with a gloomy expression upon finishing his statement, and continued his task at a methodical pace. After the chaotic papers had been organized into neat piles based on their content, Xu Shen twirled the wooden brush with an interested smile. As he witnessed the soothing yet slightly eerie curve appear on the polished and refined countenance, Xilong’s eyes began to madly twitch.
“She will come back in an hour. Xilong, why don’t you prepare the ingredients?”
“You are asking a dragon to hoe away at some medicinal garden!?” the heavenly dragon roared in protest.
“Since when could these massive and bulky claws of mine carefully and… delicately rip away a single stalk of herb!?”
“You can change the size of your body, no? The last time our master asked you to gather herbs, you made yourself into an earthworm to ease the process… wait, that’s your original form, so it doesn’t –“
“Silence! As you so dearly wish, this envoy will become a temporary herb picker!”
The heavenly dragon roared, and immediately retreated from the glimmering crystalline library. Xu Shen gazed at the dissipating silhouette with mirth suffused in his eyes, and his fingers clenched around a shard of sky-blue crystal. With deep, shaking breaths, the light exuding from the crystalline teardrop gently receded, and indifference returned to Compendium.
The middle-aged man turned to face an opened book hovering in the air before his chest. Without a moment of hesitation, a pair of endeavored hands reached towards their sides, and the sonorous yet raspy voice echoed through the empty Archives of Time.
“I saw. I heard. I record.”
The right hand tightened into a fist, and desperately clutched onto a dagger stained with fresh blood.
–
Her disguised countenance restored through the unrecognized, back-breaking efforts of a heavenly dragon, An Fei stood in the middle of an empty street. A single glance towards the ground revealed an ocean of damp stains, and small pools of rain. The sun had long since risen into the sky, but the young girl couldn’t find a single person within the vicinity.
“Perhaps… the winter rain had extended into the morning, thus nobody dared to emerge?”
It was a humid morning, and the air was rather sticky and sweet. A single breath brought forth the unpleasant sensation of mildew sticking to the back of her throat, and An Fei quickly raised the corner of her sleeve to cover her mouth. Makeshift mask in hand, the young girl tapped the damp and partially flooded cobbled street with her foot, and raised her gaze towards the exit.
Towards her sides, stood armies of desolated storefronts and stalls. Their proffered goods and warehouses stood ravaged by the corrosive rain, and resembled decaying skeletons deprived of the slightest shred of dignity. Neither owner, customer, assistant, nor even a servant’s lingering presence could not be found.
What had happened?
An Fei was certain that she stood in the exact position within the city that she last remembered. Then, a literal sea of busy people had streamed along either side of her, eagerly seeking to fulfill the expectations and aspirations set for themselves. She could hear the faint echo of metal pounding on metal and other materials in the distance, but human voices were naught but dead silence.
“Speaking of which… how many days had passed?”
The young girl gently murmured, and began to walk towards the direction of Plum’s Grove. The faint taps of shoes striking against wet stone spiraled outwards in all directions, burrowing into the tiny crevices within the street and becoming devoured in the process. An Fei continued to propel herself forwards at a slow pace, but her hands slowly drifted towards the butterfly swords sheathed at her waist.
There wasn’t an echo.
The street was quite drenched with an unearthly rain and the walls encompassing the area were constructed from dense stone, but she couldn’t hear a single reflection of sound. The thatched and clay tile roofs and wooden skeletons leered at her back, and a set of invisible claws flickered within the shroud of darkness.
The closer the young girl moved towards the exit of the street, the more agitated the owner of the claws became. The shadows concealed behind the rotting stores and warehouses chattered in great distress and emotion, and began to froth and bubble violently –
Hu!
An abrupt gust of wind fiercely scattered the shadows into indiscernible specks of color. Carried by the wind was a deluge of pooled rain from the night skies that elicited a gruesome sea of wailing and curses.
An Fei blanked at the abrupt disruption, and hastened her pace. Only when she had diverged from the street and closer to the source of the sound of hammering did the young girl heave a sigh of relief, but not for long.
Behind her was a street devoid of people, but before her was a stagnant sea of wails, pleas, and cries.
Everything had been destroyed, as though the city had been rammed by a vicious hurricane. Stores, buildings, warehouses, and residences were utterly demolished, leaving only a few supporting beams standing per structure. Clay tiles were scattered across the cobbled stone, shattered into numerous fragments, and thatched roofs had blackened from constant decay.
“What happened here…”
The middle of the street was occupied by a meteoric pile of deteriorating and soggy wood, and people sat besides their homes with a countenance plastered with great fear. Their backs pressed against the crumbled walls of their homes as they fought to distance themselves from the gathering pool of rain, but the stinging pain on their legs and backside was a damp and horrid torment.
The young girl stood at the fringe of wanton destruction, dumbfounded at the drastic change of her surroundings compared to her most recent memory. She didn’t move and silently watched the numerous men, women, and children struggle for life and dignity with ragged and soggy clothes accursed by the wretched rains.
“Young Lady, are you alright?”
