” Mia? How did you know she was outside? ” Lin asked his Nana.
“Well you see, I know quite a lot of things. It’s part of who I am now. I have been seeing a lot of things all these years. Sometimes it’s like nightmare going to sleep with all those visions. But it has become a habit now., ” Nana said looking beyond the Fox fortress.
” Why do you say we shouldn’t let her wait outside? What’s out there? What was the evil that we all felt? ” This was Lin’s first question that poured out instinctively, though he had a hundred problems stacked in his mind that he wanted a clarification to.
” It’s the ghost of our pasts. The evil of our ancestors. ” Nana shuddered a little as she mentioned it, ” It’s nothing like a living being. And it has its eyes set on it’s prey. ”
Before Lin could understand what Nana was saying, she went into her trance like state in the middle of her sentence. Lin desperately tried pulling her down but she kept being afloat mid air. However she didn’t speak like she usually does. She was simply levitating when her eyes started bleeding and she opened them with a jerk.
” Lin, Mia. Take me where you left her. We need to go. Now. ” Nana commanded with panic in her voice.
” Your eyes Nana, they are bleeding, ” Lin tried wiping them, looking at them in horror.
” It’s nothing. Now hurry up, ” She commanded.
Lin obliged and came right outside where he had left Mia. As soon as they landed Lin started looking around.
“Mia. Mia.” He was calling out at the top of his voice.
Nanako however did not move even an inches. She kept staring in horror as more blood trickled down her eyes.
“It’s here. He was really here. It really was him. ” Nanako shrieked as if in pain and agony. Lin came running to her in confusion.
” Nana. What happened? Are you all right. Oh! My goodness, your eyes are bleeding again. Let’s take you to the healers. Let’s go. I can’t even find Mia. Let’s drop you at the healers and then I need to get a search party for her. Where did she go. I hope she is alright. ” Lin was split. He didn’t know where he should go.
Nana held his hand and looked him in the eye, ” I am alright. It’s part of my curse. No healer can do anything about it. As for Mia, no search party will be able to help her in anyway. Harness you senses Lin, can’t you tell if she was went anywhere or was taken? ”
Lin had the feeling the moment they had landed, but he was deliberately trying to avoid it. Thinking that he might be over thinking.
The area reeked of the smell that had come at them from nowhere. It was the same smell of evil and that of a wolf. Lin could feel his heart picking up the pace as it’s beating became more and more chaotic.
” What is it Nana? What is this thing? Where did it take my Mia? Why? ” Lin asked with his teeth and fist clenched.
” It’s former wolf prince Jin. More like his grudge, ” came a reply from behind. A tall figure walked towards them from the dark. It was Xie. He had come along with some of the foxes but was stopped at the entrance as the shield wasn’t still lifted. He was sent by his father to check on his sister Mia. He was also sent to give the foxes some warning about what was coming, so they were better equiped to fight it off together.
“Jin? The wronged wolf prince? But why would he take my Mia? Besides this thing stinks of darkness, utter evil. ” Lin was very confused.
Xie looked at Nana and bowed to give his greetings. She smiled back. Strangely, her blood strained eyes or her unkept look did not bother Xie even a little. He just took a good look at her and then turned towards Lin with urgency, ” It sure is evil. And it sure has Mia. Lin, my sister is in grave danger right now and so is your unborn child. Listen to what father had to tell me real quick, because we don’t have much time on our hands. Every moment we waste could be very expensive for Mia. ”
Lin had no words to utter, he just looked at Xie with attention.
“Fathe said, the then fox king, that is her father, ” He said pointing at Nana, ” wasn’t satisfied just by killing his newborn grandson and putting a curse forbidding blood ties between the two tribes. He had sealed Jin away in a tower, I can’t remember where father said. It’s in some other dimension. He wasn’t killed because that, the fox king thought, would be too easy a punishment for his actions. He had Jin cursed to have perverted feelings towards anybody from his tribe, who would follow in his footsteps. ” Xie stopped to look at Nana who nodded her head, giving her consent to carry on.
” Jin was someone with high cultivation, supreme knowledge and grit. He wasn’t somebody who would easily give up even in the face of complete doom. Though his life was now meaning less, he didn’t want himself to be deemed so low. Though his powers were restricted in that tower, he was able to isolate his inner self from the outer. “Xie paused and looked at Lin.
” He spilt himself into two? Is that even possible for a living being? ” Lin asked with shock filled in his voice.
” It’s sure isn’t possible for someone living. But the state he was in wasn’t exactly living. Nor was it dying. It was easier for him to tear off if subconscious and conscious selves apart that bear the guilt forever. We don’t exactly know about the two entities his self broke into, but the one that attacked us was his grudge, his lust. It no longer can be called the prince Jin but a evil entity born out of him. It’s worse than one’s demon. Because it onty caters to its basic instincts. It cannot reason and on top of all, it bears the curse upon it. Mia is the one to follow in his footstep from his tribe. Hence she is his natural and immediate target. He is able to cross all limits of immodesty. Incest isn’t an issue for the devil and this thing is nothing less of a demon as of now. We must hurry Lin. We must find Mia immediately at all cost. ”
Lin stood there unable to move as the horror started seeping in slowly numbing his senses.
” Why did he have to leave her behind. Why didn’t he just stay put with her. Where was she. What state was she in. She had begged him not to leave her alone, ” guilt was rushing in like flood water from all directions, unable to bear it all, Lin let out a loud growl full of despair and pain.