Chapter 2: Spirits of the dead
As the two traveled silently for a few more hours, Xuan’s health condition was getting much worse by the second. He tried his best not to show that he was starving so badly he might turn into a cannibal soon. On the other hand, he found it interesting that he was able to feel hungry.
It didn’t take long before he fell down from the array. It wasn’t possible to fall from this array too, unless the carried person crossed its edge.
And because Xuan started hallucinating and saw his mother, holding a great number of meat buns, smiling at him from afar, he decided to go greet her properly.
When he fell, Hon heard a loud *TUD* and turned his whole person to face Xuan, who was lying on the ground, dirty and soaked with blood. He panicked and grabbed his own head in confusion.
He never wanted to take care of this boy in the first place, and now he had to save his life. Again!
But the problem was that he has never saved anyone’s life before. All he did before was killing or simply letting many innocent citizens die. Hon was not a type of a person who would willingly save people, and it showing right here, right now.
Even if he drew another transportation array, Xuan might not have woken up again if he wouldn‘t get food, or, at least water, soon. And Hon didn’t have any food nor water with him.
It would be bad if even Hon fainted, but that wasn’t possible since he was able to survive without any food and still work normally. It was not only that he was sometimes forgetting to eat, but also his odd manners and life style that was changing a lot that he was used to this.
And so, he hoped to find some shelter soon, or, at least some fruits.
Because Hon didn’t need to eat properly, he also didn’t know how to cook, and he didn’t want to poison Xuan with the raw meat soup (which was the only thing he could cook, but, trust me, mortals aren’t able to get even close to it). Last person that tried eating Hon’s raw meat soup also had it as his last meal...
Hon didn’t have any other option but to draw another array with Xuan’s blood. His last scar hasn‘t healed yet, so he didn’t have to cut him deeply again, but it was certain that if he had to cut him for the third time, Xuan might instantly die because of the blood loss.
„Why am I even helping this boy?“ Hon thought as he clapped his hands and lifted the array once again.
He was getting more and more anxious by every minute, because if this boy died, he would consider himself a failure for another 100 years for digging another minimalistic grave. Again, not that it really mattered to him.
As he was starting to accept his miserable fate and already felt all of Xuan’s misfortune transferring to him, he saw a small light in the distance. He got his hopes up and started speed-walking to it, and before he even realised it, he was running.
For some reason he really didn’t want this boy to die because of him.
Soon, he saw a shape of a small forest cottage, bright lights shining through it’s windows and he could smell something like a chicken soup coming out of it’s windows. He felt like he saw a similar image long time ago, but couldn’t remember exactly when, or what happened back then. He felt weird about it, but had to overcome the fear if he wanted to save the jinx.
He deformed the array and unwillingly, with a large disgust, took the boy into his arms and carried him to the door. He somehow managed to knock and, soon, the doors opened.
A young lady dressed in a simple red kimono with red dreadlocks and piercing yellow eyes came out and covered her mouth.
„Oh my, Is this young lady alright?“ She asked.
Hon didn‘t realise who was she referring to, but then he became aware of the fact that Xuan might look like a woman to the people who didn’t know what he sounded like. He himself was confused at first.
„N-no... He needs food and he’s p-probably sick...“ Hon said swiftly and looked at the woman. He would swear to god that he knew her from somewhere.
This woman invited them inside, showed Hon a bed where he could lay the youth, covered him with a warm blanket and took a proper care of his wound, so he wouldn‘t get blood poisoning.
Hon didn’t explain anything about the scar or where they were from, and, thankfully, the woman didn’t ask either. Xuan didn’t wake up immediately, but his color was coming back. Hon just waited until he wakes up, so he could eat and get well.
The woman brought in two hot meals, one for Hon and one for Xuan, if he woke up.
She herself sat on a bed next to Hon.
As he and the unknown woman sat on the edges of the bed, silently, the woman broke the silence:
„This person must be really dear to you.“ She said, with a gentleness which Hon didn’t feel in a while. He jerked a little and slowly looked at her, then at Xuan, and then his eyes followed the floor again.
„I- I d-don’t even know him actually...“ He replied, quietly.
The woman just nodded and smiled.
Soon, she stood up, and without a word walked out of the room, leaving them alone.
While Xuan was lying in the bed, unconscious, Hon kept on looking at him. He was thinking about everything that just happened.
This boy risked his life, saving him. Hon never asked to be saved in the first place, he was also never in danger, but Xuan still decided to jump to the river and tried his best to save him.
This felt like something long forgotten, since he couldn’t even remember the last time someone would risk their life for him. And to this boy he was a total stranger too! He just couldn’t understand why he would even try in the first place.
Maybe it was really only because his family just died and he felt remorse, but he still decided to jump into that water and exchange breath.
This was actually a very bad idea, because the way he did it wasn’t very proper. Water was leaking through multiple holes he made and all of his oxygen went away. He tried his best, but if it was someone else, they would surely die... Unless he just desperately wanted to kiss someone, then it wouldn’t be only weird, but also a very bad way to do so.
Hon unconsciously touched his lips again, but even after he realised it, his hand didn’t move.
He hated all people and physical contact, and yet, touching this boy wasn’t that bad as with others. He even carried him to the house. After he thought about it a bit more, he realised that it was still disgusting, but just a little more acceptable than with others. Why?
This feeling was totally strange for him and in any other case he would just drop him on the ground, but, this time, maybe he just felt happy to finally have some company. That was the only way he could explain the situation right now.
As he sat on the edge of the bed and watched the white haired boy sleeping, he got slightly closer, finding his left hand touching Xuan’s right hand that lay on his chest.
He had no idea what he was trying to do, or what that meant, but even though he just met this boy, for some unknown reason, he cared for him. Perhaps, it was because of his personality and respecting his boundaries? Or, maybe the strong will and his aura?
Now that Hon thought about aura, he quickly removed his hand, opened a literal third eye on his forehead that shone brightly red and looked at Xuan’s body.
His aura was strange. It was good and it was bad... It was lucky on the inside but unlucky on the outside, almost as if the misfortune surrounded every last bit of his happiness. Bright white light surrounded by the deepest darkness he has ever seen.
He really was a jinx with a strong curse.
Child born under unlucky star, no sun, no moon was seen that day for sure. He himself is kind of lucky, but those around him suffer, which brings misfortune to his fortune. He’s neither ying or yang, he’s both and neither.
Hon has never seen someone with such strong and complicated aura as this boy’s.
He immediately understood how much he suffered. He didn’t need to hear it from Xuan’s mouth, he could clearly see it.
And yet, even after everything that happened to him, he was still strong enough to care for someone else.
He remembered those women talking about him in the restaurant. Now that he truly realised it was about him, he knew they were right.
But he still held respect to that one woman who agreed to take him in. Who knows if she would actually do so, but it was nice of her that she at least considered it. If she actually took him in, her house might have burnt down or something worse could’ve happened... It wasn’t Xuan’s fault.
Even those monsters targetting exactly him and killing his family, they must’ve felt his aura and destroyed that village trying to find him. It all happened because of him, but he wasn’t the one to blame.
Hon wasn’t a kind of a person who would feel anything towards someone – people come and go, live and die, there’s no use in making relationships with anyone, especially mortals, but Xuan moved something inside of him.
It was only few hours since they first met, but Hon wanted to know him better.
Did he actually want to make a friend? He actually had a few people that called themselves his friends back at home, but this would be the first time he would make a friend willingly!
He observed him a bit longer. This aura was truly interesting. Maybe he wasn’t just some random rich boy after all.
He soon noticed that he had a necklace on his neck. There was something wrong with it. Despite all of Xuan’s aura, this thing somehow blocked it all and protected itself. The wine red necklace, which was as a vacancy in the middle of a storm. The eye of a storm.
The longer Hon looked at it, the more it attracted him. It started sucking his mind in and forced him to unconsciously extend his hand. His hand was drawing right to it without him knowing it, and soon his index finger touched it. He was suddenly brought back to his mind with a shock similar to the one by electricity.
He quickly put his hand away and his eyes widened. After realising how powerful this necklace might be, he got a bit closer to take a proper look at the thing that just managed to hurt him. His face was so close to Xuan’s chest that he could feel his breathing.
„You like that?“
Hon lifted his head and sat properly again, without a word. He caughed a bit into his hand, so both of them would forget what just happened and moved his head again to face Xuan, who was full of life now, smiling at him.
Hon still didn’t say a word, because he was so sure that Xuan knew that he just randomly touched his hand and got so close to him, that he felt so embarrassed that he turned his head around again to face the other direction.
„I- No it was just... “ He wasn’t able to find right words in that exact moment.
„I won’t ask any further if you don’t want to answer, don’t worry.“ Xuan said and sat himself up. After some time that they sat together in a very awkward silence, Xuan spoke up again:
„Thank you for carrying me here, but, where is „here“ exactly?“
„Y-you fainted and I didn’t know what to do... This was the closest house I found so...“ Hon said quietly, still looking away.
Xuan seemed to be thinking for a while and then, suddenly, his eyes shone with joy and he reached for Hon’s hands, forcefully turning him around.
„Does this make us friends??“
Xuan asked, his eyes wide opened, and Hon was very confused. He also widened his eyes and tried to pull his hands away, but Xuan’s grip was to tight that he just couldn’t do it in a way that wouldn’t hurt him.
„What?“ Hon asked. He wanted a friend, but were all humans so friendly right after waking up after a near death experience?
„I saved you... You saved me... Isn’t that what friends do?“
„I- I don’t know... I don’t really have any friends t-that would do that for me...“
Xuan finally let go of Hon’s hands, hugging his own knees and looked down, smiling.
„Me neither.“
Hon’s eyes widened again. Of course he doesn’t have any friends! Even if he had some, they would be already dead! He was lucky enough to live with his family for so long, it had to happen one day.
And then, Hon realised one thing. He was supposed to protect him, but he failed. He didn’t believe in fate until this one moment.
He lived his entire life just to meet this boy and protect him. He failed once, he couldn’t allow himself to fail again.
Or, perhaps, not. He forgot about all the fate right away and he thought about himself as dumb and naïve for believing in fate even for a moment.
He had more important things to do than caring for some random boy.
If his life purpose was to meet Xuan, then his life would be considered as wasted, ignoring all the things he accomplished until now.
„Fine.“ Hon said, looking directly into Xuan’s eyes. „Let’s... Be friends...“
Xuan looked up, facing Hon again, big smile appeared on his face and tears fell down. Xuan felt like hugging him, but he understood that this guy is very shy and that he might not accept it, so he changed his mind.
He just really needed someone to hold him right now, because after losing everything dear to him, he was feeling down.
And yet, this mysterious samurai appeared in front of him, saying some silly and beautiful stuff out of nowhere! A friend! Just like that! That would be the first he’s ever had!
Was he creepy? Maybe. Did it matter? Nope. Everyone has some flaws. Xuan forgot all of his grandfather’s teachings right away.
But Hon had no idea why was Xuan suddenly crying and got worried that he might’ve hurt him again.
Xuan wiped his tears into his sleeve and nodded.
Hon suddenly felt really awkward. Why was he saying stuff like that? Making a friend? With a mortal? That definitely didn’t sound like him AT ALL. Has something possessed him? Has this came out from his mind? What in the nine circles of hell was that just now?! He? And friends? Wouldn’t it annoy him too much, always having to hang out with someone?
Some red from embarrassement flew into his face, he stood up and dashed out of the room.
Xuan was looking at him, but Hon didn’t even bother to turn around.
But, after a few seconds, he returned and said: „You have f-f-food on the table... Please, eat it while it’s still hot.“ Then he turned around again and closed the door behind him.
Xuan realised that he might have forgotten to eat for these past few days, so he quickly got out of his bed, sat behind the table and started eating his really well-made meal.
Hon’s next destination was the kitchen, where he sat behind the table, right next to the strange woman with dreadlocks, who was stiching some old robes.
Dreadlocks? Really? Weren’t we in like, year 1351?
Neither of them said a word for a long while, Hon was lost in his thoughts and the woman was caring only about the clothes in her hands, completely and successfully ignoring each other.
Then Hon snapped out of it, looked closely at the woman’s face, and somehow disappointed that she didn’t even try to hide herself properly, he said in a silent voice:
„... Rika, I know it’s you. You can stop pretending now.“
This woman named Rika gave out a deep sigh and looked at Hon for a moment.
„I’m so sorry, your highness, for trying to deceive you.“
„It’s... Alright, I guess... Thanks for the h-help...“
„No problem. I haven’t seen you in a while. Were you finally able to travel around the world as you always wanted to?“
„Yes. After breaking the portal‘s seal I m-managed to possess a physical form. But... this body... Is weak. It reduces my full strenght. That’s also why I didn’t rec-recognize you earlier.“
If Hon was a bit stronger, he would recognize Rika’s aura immediately, but, as he said, his true power was being reduced. Or, better said, he had to reduce his spiritual energy if he didn’t want this weak shell to explode.
„Do you... Perhaps, have a problem with communication through this body? If it has any problem with mouth or chin, I can look at it and help-„
Hon stopped her. „D-don’t care about it...i’m getting rid of it soon anyways.“
Rika looked at him and sighed.
„I know you got used to not speak at all and now you might be struggling, but, your highness, if you plan on returning, you’ll have to get re-used to speak properly.“
„I know...“ He knew. But he didn‘t plan to return until now. He was aware that the portal wasn’t so far when he was in the city and there was something that forced him to go to it, even though he really wanted to stay in the mortal realm just a bit longer.
„Do you want to stay for a while and revise something about the demon realm?“
„It w-won’t be needed. I’ll have more than enough conversations about this topic soon a-anyways.“ He lifted his head in the direction of a room where Xuan was currently eating. He had a hunch that the boy would be talkative enough and interested in those kinds of things.
Rika smiled. „I’m glad you got yourself a pet. But, you know, you won’t be able to keep him for long.“
„...“
„He’s a mortal. And I assume you’ve seen his aura. He might be the end of you. You shouldn’t tell him too much about... Us.“
„...“ Hon didn’t really know what to say to that. She was right, but... Maybe he could find a reason to bring Xuan to the demon realm with him.
„Rika, I have one more question...“
„Yes?“
„Just now, I-I saw a necklace on him. It shone brightly red and when I tried to touch it, it gave me s-something like... Like an electric shock.“ Hon explained what he just experienced, because Rika knew everything about everything, so she could know something about it. Something that would help.
„A necklace that was able to hurt a demon king? Maybe it was just because of this shell of yours, but... You should acquire it as soon as possible and bring it back with you. I’ll take a look at it in my actual form.“ Rika said and looked as she was thinking about it for a while.
They were silent, when Hon broke the silence again: „Is it that important to bring it to the demon realm? Xuan seems to be really attached to it...“ Psychology. He didn’t study it for 5 years for it not to work.
„It doesn’t seem like a threat for now but it would be better off destroyed or in possession of someone with a bit more experience.“
„You’re talking about yourself, aren’t you?“
„Perhaps.“ Rika giggled and smiled at Hon. He smiled back and lay his head on the table soon after.
They both stopped talking after this, minding their own bussiness again.
Xuan was certainly a mortal. But he surely was a very odd mortal. He caught Hon’s eye, and now he had to do everything in his power to keep this friend. Even if it meant stealing him into the other realm. He might still say that he brought the whole person just because of the necklace.
Their friendship probably wasn’t going to last for long since he was a mortal and if he found out that Hon wasn’t, he would probably panic and try to run away. Then there would be no necklace and Rika would be angry, since she seemed interested in it.
That’s right, Hon is a demon monarch who doesn’t really enjoy ruling. At first, he was a confident and strong king, feared by all the other kingdoms and humans, but, soon, he got bored, tired and insecure.
All he wanted to do was to be left alone. His life wasn’t easy, his death was cruel and his afterlife didn’t play with him. He earned the throne by all rights, but still hated it.
But what were these rights? He couldn’t remember anything to be honest. His life? His death? How did he even become a demon king? He just heard what everyone told him, but was it actually true? He also couldn’t admit that he doesn’t remember it. Who would take him seriously? A demon with amnesia? Pathetic.
So, one day, he left everything to his two assistants Rika and Moka, and that one good for nothing servant, and without anyone knowing, he packed his things and escaped to the mortal realm. It seemed to be easier this way. Just escaping his problems without any explanation... How good it felt at first.
He was already dead and at first he didn’t plan on playing the „hero“, but soon more monsters and demons entered this realm. And they weren’t as peaceful as him.
Surely, it happend quite often, that some stronger demons, capable of breaking the seal keeping the portal between the worlds closed, escaped.
Or even the weaker demons who were basically stuck in the human realm and haven‘t entered the demon realm in a long time caused some small trouble.
But, in the past few years, more and more weak monsters escaped the demon realm. They were too weak to break the seal and it took some time for Hon to find out that someone was purposely letting them out.
It was also the reason to return to the demon realm and find out who stands behind all of his trouble. He was ready to behead that lowlife.
He didn’t really care about the monsters being let loose, but why that timeline? They could’ve chosen literally any timeline, why the one with him in it? He had a few suspects, but couldn’t be sure.
At the same time, he didn’t want to return. It would just mean too much trouble. And why did he even care about everything? The monsters were avoiding him anyways.
Suddenly, the doors of Xuan’s room opened and he slowly walked out, holding an empty plate in his hands.
„Um... Hello, where should I put this?“ He asked, politely.
„Please, put it on that table in the corner. I’ll clean it later.“ Rika replied.
Xuan nodded and placed the plate down. He stood there and scratched his forehead for a while before saying:
„Oh yeah, there was another meal. Hon, I think it’s yours.“
„What? You haven’t eaten yet? You told me that your body is weak just now, well, I wonder why. You are in a human bo- You are a human. You need to eat, drink and sleep.“ Rika said, stopping herself from saying something improper before it was too late.
Hon just grinned and turned away. All this time, he never realised that this body wasn’t his old demonic one that didn’t need to eat, drink, sleep nor breathe. This was just a random body he borrowed so he could enter the human realm. Of course it was weak.
How far from humanity he was by now... Even after living in the human realm for 50 years! Could it be even sadder?
„You don’t even eat? I noticed it was kinda strange but didn’t give it a thought... You can’t be this selfdestructive! Hm... Come with me.“ Xuan said, full of life, then he took Hon’s hand and dragged him into his room, setting him behind the table and forced him to eat.
Hon really hated to eat, drink and such needs. They just took a lot of time, he could’ve done so many things during it. He was also so used to not doing any of that and even with that, he managed to survive in this body for so long! It was weak, but it worked!
Xuan took the chopsticks and dipped something deliciously looking between them. He braced himself on the table with one hand and with the other put the food in Hon’s mouth, like feeding a child.
Hon felt very embarrassed, but after he swallowed, his eyes widened, he looked directly at Xuan and said while taking the sticks from his hands: ,,This really is delicious!“
Then he rapidly ate everything that was on a plate and while putting the chopsticks on the table, he laughed.
Hon never laughed like this in the past centuries.
He felt really good, enjoying Xuan’s company, the food, the scenery,... He couldn’t remember the last time he felt like this.
Xuan just smiled at him, closing his eyes. He was still thinking that Hon was just a suicidical maniac with demonic powers and seeing him eating properly and laughing calmed him a bit.
Xuan was just picking up his empty plate, when it suddenly fell down and Xuan fell on his knees. He was holding his hand that was cut before and tried to hold his tears.
His wound opened. It was hurting like hell, and he didn’t even know for sure why he had this scar. His bright red blood was dripping onto the floor.
Hon stopped laughing and got up, kneeled down in front of Xuan and held his injured hand.
„Does it hurt?“ he asked.
„...Yes.“ Xuan replied through the pain with his teeth tighly pressed together.
„I- I’m sorry. I had to transfer you somehow and this was the only thing I coul-...“
Xuan interrupted him: „It okay. I understand.“ He said and smiled. He didn’t understand it.
He cared for this guy for some reason, but after he saw him using the bloody demonic magic, he became afraid of him. Only evil people and demons used that, so why was Hon keeping him? Was he now only some kind of his blood supply vessel?
Even though he was afraid of his power, Hon seemed to be a normal person with some self destructive tendencies. Just out of concern, he still tried to act casual in front of him.
Hon couldn’t smile in that situation, because it was certainly his fault and there surely were other ways to do it.
He quickly unwrapped Xuan’s hand and called Rika to bring him some alcohol to stimulate the scar. Xuan sighed in pain a few times and even tried to back off with his hand, but Hon held it so tightly he couldn’t move it at all.
After they wrapped Xuan’s hand in bandages, he lay down to bed again.
„It doesn’t hurt anymore, I swear.“ He said after a while.
„I don’t believe you.“ Hon said, kneeling down in front of his bed, setting his hand in the right position.
It obviously did hurt. It was probably hurting this entire time, ever since he woke up. His face was still tired and he looked like he was in pain.
Xuan didn’t say anything and only looked at Hon next to him.
„I’m sorry. It was my fault.“ Hon said quietly, facing the floor. There were so many troubles with this kid and he still couldn’t understand why he even cared. He didn’t know what else to say.
„It really wasn’t. Don’t blame yourself.“ Xuan tried to comfort him, but Hon quickly stood up and turned around, ready to leave.
He suddenly felt something pulling the back of his robe. When he turned around, he saw Xuan holding him with that wounded hand, his bright green eyes following him.
„Don’t go.“ He pleaded.
Hon was stunned. He was so conflicted, he wasn’t sure if he should stay or wait until he puts his hand back and then leave.
When Xuan finally let go of his robe and held his wounded hand with the other one, in pain again, he decided to go with option A and sat on the edge of his bed.
Xuan’s eyes, that were still following Hon, were slowly closing now, and before he fell asleep again, he just silently added:
„Thanks for being my friend... Let me... You... Please... Save me...“