The Stone King's Lover (石王的愛)

Chapter 56

Wen Reian

2005 years after The Long Night

South Jiezhî

<Yīyuàn Medical Center>

Wen Reian was hollow. In his chest, his lungs, his heart-

There was nothing inside but emptiness, and the heaviness of the outside world, steadily pushing at him until he feared that in the end he would crumble, fold in on himself and never be the same. Beside him Xie De stood, knuckles turning white as he fought not to reach out and comfort the sleeping boy on the bed...

The healers had explained to them that Jin Yu was not actually sleeping. It was the head wound that was causing his brain to swell, and his punctured lung slowing air intake. They said that sometimes the person wakes up, but sometimes they just don't. A miracle would need to occur. And Reian was currently in the process of trying to make one.

When they'd asked to be alone with Jin Yu, all the healers had seemed hesitant. It was only Xie De's insistence that had finally made them relent.

Someone had also gone out on their behalf to fetch Sun Xieren, and he had come inside with reddened eyes for a few moments, then told the two he would let them say goodbye on their own.

Reian was not saying goodbye. Beside him, Xie De was not saying goodbye...

Xie De was telling Jin Yu stories. Like he used to when they were kids. He was mumbling, and sometimes forgot some words, but he was doing so in the hopes that A'Yu might hear it...

Wen Rei had spent the last fifty minutes, analysing every inch of his younger brother's broken body, both spiritual and physical. He was shaking from the effort not to let his own pain be seen on his face.

Once I assess his wounds, once I can feel where the damage is most severe, then I can connect with his soul and begin to heal him...

This was what Reian kept saying to himself, over and over again as he checked, double checked, and triple checked.

He wasn't sure if it was his own emotions getting in the way or Xie De's, but Reian was still struggling even after this long, to locate Jin Yu's soul.

His broken arm. It's there, I feel it. That pain is sharp at the edges, pulsing, swollen-

As he continued to scan the boy, searching for a place to start, Wen Rei continued to feel and see each injury, and not only the external ones...

It's true. A'Yu's right lung is full of blood, and because there was nothing they could do to fix it, they've simply placed a spell on him that allows him to only breathe with the other. That won't last very long-

Reian realized the longer he stared at Jin Yu that the truth was, even if he could heal the boy's body, his emotional wounds were only fixable from within his soul and that was something Wen Rei couldn't find.

When he'd healed Xie Yi-jun all those months ago, the King's wounded soul was hidden in plain sight. So noticable simply because in extreme pain, it had built up a huge, poisonous wall around itself...

Dismantling such a thing was one matter. But Jin Yu's spirit wasn't hidden where Reian could see. It didn't give off a sense of wrongness, a faint ebbing glow, or even a pulse.

Is it possible for one's aura to be so buried inside, that no one can feel it? And if that's true, how am I ever going to heal him?

"Wen Rei?"