"Master Yuan! Are you in?" I asked as I knocked at the door of the studio "I am deeply sorry for the late hour!" I muttered while I was looking at my hands a little bit ruined thanks to that damn cold water.
I couldn't hear anything just a little noise.
Oh no.
What if he did wait for me and meanwhile he fell asleep on the chair?
What if his head hurts against the table?
What if he's sleeping and tomorrow he wakes up with so much backpain?
Well, I'd have an excuse to offer massages.
No.
It's not appropriate in this body.
Damn it.
After a fight against myself I decided to open the studio, in order to wake him up since my trials out the studio weren't succesful at all.
As I opened the door of his studio, I could notice there was none.
Eh? I could swear I heard noises of someone actually snoring.
I did more steps and reached his main desk where he used to sit to read in peace with me, without anyone entering or talking. It was one of our "spots" where we could enjoy each other's company.
I noticed there was a pack of books with a little text "Lady Bai Hu", and my eyes opened up surprised. He actually wanted to gift me those books? Did he pick them up by himself?
"Aren't you so lovely?" I started to talk with a weird voice, getting emotional, like I did recognize my lovely husband.
All the candles were turned off and I tried to call out some of my energy to summon a sword.
"...show yourself!" my eyes opened up as I noticed a big shadow approaching me at an incredible speed.
Oh... snow falls hard from that hill
Oh my child, afraid don't be
A sea of stars
A sky of hearts
Frozen in
The Eternal Breeze
***
"I swear, if she has entered..." Ming was literally running back to his studio under the eyes of some servants and guards who were on duty in the night.
Ming felt worried as he was about to assist to something tragic he did cause with his own hands.
His eyes opened up as soon as he reached the corridor that would lead to his studio and his heart skipped some beats as he noticed the door was opened.
***
"Ahww aren't you the best lion ever? You recognized the song, haven't you?" I laughed as I was laying on Aranvar. He was licking my face and holding me close to him, by laying his big paw on my belly
"BAI HU!"
Me and Aranvar turned towards the door and we looked confused by Ming's worried face, he was even panting like he had run for the whole house.
"I have literally ran for the whole house" Ming said between the pants
Oh.
"Oh. Hi master Yuan!" I said happily as I was quite comfy on Aranvar's beautiful white fur.
"You... haven't listened, as expected..." He stopped for a moment "How did you manage to avoid death?"
I raised an eyebrow and looked a little bit confused "You mean... The legendary white lion that protects the Yuan family is dangerous?" I asked and started laughing as Aranvar kept licking me under the hopeless stare of Ming.
"Why is this happening?" he sighed at himself, under my and Aranvar's confused stare.
Ming kneeled before me to look at both me and Aranvar "Aranvar is a white lion from Eternal Breeze, me and my wife saved him when he was a little cub, captured by some hunters... only humans he trusts are... my family, or at least was.." he sighed "It seems it's a curse... Everytime I have to deal to one of your doings I must get headache"
I looked a little bit grumpy and he looked at me like he wasn't believing to his eyes.
"Maybe he saw you're from Eternal Breeze... but this doesn't make much sense... he didn't like even my wife's clan... I don't..." he stopped for a second and got a piece of paper from his hanfu sleeve.
Probably Aranvar saw my soul energy. As an animal, they have way more perception than humans. I can't believe he actually did recognise me that fast as soon as I sang his favorite lullaby I used to sing to him, back to when we used to lay on each others, and Ming was working, giving us sometimes enamoured stares.
"Lady Bai Hu" Ming got my focus back at him, while Aranvar was enjoying the company of us two again, even if Ming was clueless.
"Yes?" I asked and he sat on the floor in front of me, making me a little bit worried.
"Liam is in the Baixue clan, doing research about you and your whereabouts" he explained, making me bite my lips nervous "He sent me a report about the technique you used back... against the Cult... you know what The Cult is?" he asked and I rubbed my hand through my hair a little bit confused.
"I guess the bad guys...? They use black sorcery and a sorcerer himself showed up that night to set everything on fire" I explained and Ming nodded, staring into my blue eyes like he was trying to get if I was either lying or telling the truth.
"They're the one who killed my wife" he said making me skip a heartbeat "And I think they wanted to target me" he looked at Aranvar "As soon as they made sure she was.. dead, for real" those words sounded far away from my ears, like it was weird to hear about it as in the end I was there "They started their rising in the whole region of Yinyué... They want to bring chaos in order to buy more time"
"Time for what?" I asked and he looked at me with a soft smile
"For a plan to kill me and absorb my power as they tried with my wife, but failed."
"Wait a minute" I moved myself a bit closer to Ming "Why are you telling me this?" I asked and Ming tilted his head close to me.
"Because in this report, the Baixue clan has no idea who you are, but knew about your existence as soon as you used that technique to protect the people" he explained, making me feel a little bit under the target of even those who were supposed to be my friends.
"Therefore I am almost sure that you have some connection with the clan, to be able to use their main element and even change the spell at your will. You have lost your memory, but if... What if you got to know my wife?" he asked and that made me opened up my eyes.
"No, impossible" I said as I crossed my arms "If I was anything close to your wife, I'd be the Cult's next target, yet they didn't even know my existence" I said, making him nod.
"Might be true" he looked at me "What I am trying to say is... you might not know Baixue Clan, but... if you're not in the Cult's target, you surely are one of the Baixue Clan" he said "And I am not sure which part is the worst, and I can't protect you"
"Eh? Why would I be in their target" I asked as I was cuddling Aranvar. I yawned and Ming leant a bit backward, holding himself up from his stiff arms, making me a little bit blush as he didn't notice his hanfu was a little bit messed up from the run and I could see a little bit of his chest.
"I don't know how soulmastery works, but Liam told me to prepare for possible visits from them to check on you... Whoever the Master of that clan wants, I won't be able to protect you"
I smiled "I don't need protection, I can take care of myself master Yuan" I streched enjoying how comfy Aranvar was and looked still at Ming "I do appreciate, but I think you should care about your position, The Cult is on you... Is there actually a way to kill you?" I asked and Ming smiled.
"Would you like to know?" he asked and I smiled innocently, realising how it did sound bad.
"No, I was just saying... Anyway, do you have any idea how they're moving even inside Yinyué?" I asked and Ming sighed.
"Nothing seems totally clear" he said as he looked at the sky out of his studio window. The night was there and there was a lovely silence upon the manor.
"Thank you for the honesty" I said as I fixed my position on Aranar, who put his tail on me like he was covering me to sleep. Ming looked at me and I smiled "I hope that I showed you that I am not an enemy, I just wish to end my research and be able to help" I said and he did nod with a little smile.
"There are still many things I would like to know, but I get it's late... Lady Bai Hu?"
***
Ming noticed Lady Bai Hu falling asleep on Aranvar. He stand up and put his hands on his hips "I can't let her sleep here"
Aranvar stared at Ming with a threat stare and he tilted his head confused "Aranvar? Do you really let her sleep on you? Are you betraying Fen?" he asked as he crossed his arms like he was scolding the lion. His eyes fell again on the figure of the woman sleeping peacefully on the white lion and smiled nostalgic. Her hair were again not tied, a little bit messy and her lilac hanfu made her look like a princess for no reason to his eyes.
Ming for a moment got distracted by a sound that came from the garden, and Aranvar looked unsettled.
He jumped off the window and his golden eyes noticed a shadow on the roof, he was running and making zero noise. That shadow was running towards the part of the manor that was built attached to the lower side of the Eternal Breeze mountain. That side of the manor was literally the night zone of the manor, where the family members but also the noble guest were sleeping.
"What are you looking for.."
A little breeze made Ming stop for a moment, and in no time he noticed Hue running at the same speed of the shadow.
Ming jumped on the roof and ran to find out what was happening.
Hue looked at the shadow and his stare became colder "What did your master ask you to find..?" he asked as he moved his hands and the shadow got imprisoned in the ice, showing off the image of a man who was laughing hysterically.
"Who are you and what are you doing in the Yuan's manor" Ming asked while his eyes became golden and in his hand different flame tongues formed his weapon, the guan dao "It is unsettling to find such a nuisance in this night, identify yourself"
The shadow couldn't move itself, but Hue stare became more aggressive as he noticed the shadow turning slowly till breaking the bones of its own neck, to keep looking at Hue.
"You" the shadow said looking at Hue, who raised his eyebrow "Master wants this energy" the shadow that more like a shadow it was a man covered in black magic, probably made insane enough to mind control "Master is so happy the strings are ready to be absorbed"
Ming looked at Hue confused "What is he talking about?" Ming asked, he then noticed the shadow slowly burning till free itself from the ice that was keeping it still.
"I don't know, but I am not quite interested" Hue moved his hands and a breeze of ice formed around him, till it became an ice sword that he held towards the shadow "You've been following strings ignoring your death sentence."
Ming noticed more shadows forming behind Hue "Watch out!" he exclaimed and Hue with the corner of the eye looked at the shadows. He jumped and reached the side of Ming, who moved his guan dao in front of himself. Around of his body it was possible to see golden flames and his hair were slowly moving by the cold wind of the presence of Hue next to him.
"Master is coming, master is happy!" the shadows kept shouting as they were running towards the two of them.
Ming moved forward and fought against the shadows that were using their hands to counterattack.
"They're not humans... not anymore" Ming said as he noticed for a little moment the face of a human behind the black magic that was literally covering everything, leaving just red eyes to be seen in the night
"I don't care if they're humans or not, they're in the house of my lady" Hue looked like he wasn't getting any struggle even if they were literally surrounded by the shadows.
Ming noticed that shadows were appearing even on the roof of the servants' building. The guards already moved and were fighting them.
Hue noticed Ming's stare "Go help them, I shall fight here on my own, I don't need you" he said as he turned and blocked three shadows attack.
Ming moved fast to protect the building before they would touch any sleeping servant. They weren't there to fight, apparently they were looking for those strings, but they would have killed whoever was in their way.
He could notice the guards killing the shadows and getting attacked by the remaing ones. They were aggressive and they were pushing themselves even to self-destruction to hurt the humans.
Ming ran and in no time he reached the building, making the shadows look at him as he did move his weapon and some thunders made the city tremble. His eyes became golden as he positioned his feet, ready to sprint with his guan dao against the five shadows that were about to fight.
In a glance, he stepped forward clashing his guan dao in front of the enemies launching a strike of golden fire against the shadows that became dust as soon as they got in contact with his power.
"Why did you show yourself... What are you looking..." he stopped for a moment and in his mind the picture of the shadow pointing at Hue came clear
"You..." he repeated as he opened up his eyes "This means they're after... Bai Hu" he could still hear the sword of Hue crushing against enemies "Why are they fighting Hue then.. There's no other enemy... I shall go back to Hue, Aranvar is there with Bai Hu anyway."
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