In the name of love || ONC2023

Chapter 2: Lan Zhan

Lan Zhan's POV

Location: Earth. 69th Dimension.

It was cold. Cold and lonely. The sky had turned dark, and my life, with it. It was only right; the one who shone the brightest was gone.

I looked at the lifeless body cradled in my arms. The dead could feel cold, at least, till their souls hadn't reached the underworld. Did you know that?

Wei Ying loved the sun. He loved how warm it made him feel. Glancing up, I prayed for lightning to strike and claim me too. It hadn't been long since we had gotten our happily ever after. Not long at all.

The heavens had done me wrong; the world had done us wrong.

My fingers fisted in the dark fabric covering what was left of Wei Ying's robes. "Wei Ying, you never held back. You should have. You should have waited. Why didn't you?"

I waited for an answer I knew would never come. "Was it worth it, Wei Ying?"

I loved calling his name.

Wei Ying, who will I call now?

'Lan Zhan, stop calling my name so often, or you will wear it out!'

'Wei Ying.'

'What?'

'Wei Ying.'

'Whaaaaat!'

'Wei Ying.'

'Stop it!'

'Or what, Wei Ying?'

'If you don't, I will kiss you senseless here and now.'

'We are in the school's courtyard!'

'So?'

'That's no way for educators to behave.'

'Lan Zhan, they know we are together.'

'Still.'

'Come here, Lan Er gege!'

'Stop it, Wei Ying.'

'Sorry, you brought it upon yourself, Light-bearer.'

A feeling of loneliness gripped me, and my pristine white robes, in stark contrast to Wei Ying's burnt-up visage, shamed me.

Where were you, Light-bearer? Where were you when the love of your life was sacrificing himself?

I was called Light-bearer. Ironic, wasn't it, now that my light was gone.

"Wei Ying, forgive me."

"Are you angry, Light-bearer?" Someone mocked me from the shadows to my left. The familiar stench of sulfur tinted the air.

'An ancient evil,' The fighter in me warned; I ignored it. Nothing mattered anymore. What was the most it could do?

Dying would be a blessing, for living was a curse.

I had had enough of this curse.

"Have you gone deaf, or are you trying to ignore me?" The voice drifted closer.

I had had it with him, "Either do what you came here to do or get lost."

The vile thing chuckled, "Alright." and floated towards me, keeping to the shadows of the now-destroyed residences. The residents had fled without thinking about the fate of the one who had risked his life for them.

It stopped just before its primordial form came into contact with my robes.

The stench became more defined.