Chapter 15: Revelations Of The Past
-Yunlan-
Zhao held Shen Wei as tightly as he could with the red tower still at his back. It was beyond heartbreaking to see him in such pain and anger mixed up. His gentle nature shocked to the core, when finding out the true behind his brother's death in such a way, after so many years of thinking it had all been an accident. The revelation had hit him too and as he kept Wei in an affectionate embrace, in his agile mind, more unanswered questions were formed one after another. Obviously the woman who was undoubtedly a demon, was there long before the door to hell opened and somehow, professor Ouyang was chosen to open the seal the Ghost Slayer put on the door to hell.
In some way, he was sure now that the tower had two strong seals, one was from the Ghost Slayer, the other from the god Kunlun, which turned up to be him. The demon probably wanted both seal broken, so the door to hell could be fully open and stronger demons out of it, but for some unknown reason, she had chosen to hunt down the Ghost Slayer blood line first. Then why Ye Zun and not Shen Wei himself?
He doubted that Shen Wei was more than a simple kid back then before coming to Mount Kunlun, in which some of his former powers begin to awake, so he should had been an easy target as well. Just why go after Ye Zun instead? Did she mistook him, as they were twins, for Shen Wei or she chose him so his death could cause him a great deal of pain? Was she set on some kind of revenge? But then why not going after him too? He also took part in sealing the demons in hell, so why so fixed with Shen Wei?
If the professor was forced to brake the seal, as it seemed to be the case, then why had he been chosen among so many other professors around the world? Would it be because he had a close relationship with Shen Wei? The demon knew who Shen Wei was in a past life, but what about the professor? Did he knew who Shen Wei was too? And if he knew then, since when and how? Not even Shen Wei himself knew of his past life until a few hours ago. Just what really happened that day when Shen Wei lost his brother and he almost lost his father? Perhaps the two events were related in some way?
"Shen Wei..." Zhao trapped his lovely face on both his hands, to wipe off his tears, but Shen Wei closed the little distance between them and kissed him. There was a hint of desperation in Wei kiss, for which Zhao gave him reassurance, kissing him back with equal feelings. He wanted for his lover to be sure he was there for him and that he would not let go of him no matter what. Shen, for the other part, was aware that they needed to talk and find some answers to their questions, as he too have a lot of them on his own but at that moment, Wei needed Yunlan's passion the most, to distract him from the cruelty of reality, even if for only for a couple of minutes.
Zhao, of course, gave him exactly what he needed it, allowing Shen to do with what he wanted with him. He gave him full access to his mouth, letting him explore it as he wished and didn't move when Wei unzipped his jacket to have access to his skin under his shirt, his now warm hands moving up and down with curiosity and desire, making him breathless with hot kisses he returned with equal passion. As Shen desire aroused, Zhao found himself too lost in him, moaning with every touch and kiss, almost forgetting where they were and the things he needed to ask him, in hope they could find answers out of that place. So, when braking a hungry kiss, in search of dear air, Zhao placed his forehead against his.
"My Wei..." Zhao whisper, as his heart raced like crazy with the arising desire.
"Yunlan... I need you..."
"I know and you will have me in full every time you so desire... but babe..." Zhao paused and Shen sighed, once again resting his head over Yunlan's shoulder.
"You need answers... I... I honestly don't know much about her... Ye Zun's death was ruled accidental by the police who investigate the case. Back then, we lived close to a local library, just twelve minutes away from home and I used to go there every week at least once. The day of the accident, it was Wednesday and it rained heavily in the morning, but in the late afternoon the day became a bit sunnier with a hint of cold air. I called mom and told her I was going to the library right after school, because I had some books to return and some others to retrieve and that Ye Zun was going to go with me."
"Unlike me, my brother wasn't the bookworm type, for which I was surprised he wanted to go with me in the first place. It was actually the first time he accompany me to the library, but shortly after I sat in on one of the tables, I found out why. Ye Zun was after a hot girl, which frequent the library and they softly talked a while, before Ye Zun ask her for a date. Of course, she accept it and they went out to fool around somewhere else. They were about to cross the street, when a car went out of control right at them. Seen that they were going to get hit, Ye Zun pushed the girl away, trying to save her, but pushing her only make the impact fatal for him."
"The girl hit her head with the pavement, but she was relatively unharmed, compared to my brother who die at the hospital soon after. Our father asked for a deep investigation of the case, but the result only proved it was an accident. The woman's car had a mechanical failure in the brakes, so the police rule it as such, there was nothing that lead them to a planned murder." Shen explained, as his anger aroused once again, yet Yunlan held him with such care, that he calmed down almost instantly in his loving arms.
"But in reality, she did killed him... as a demon with unknown powers, she could had make it look as an accident quite easily." Zhao whisper, holding his lover even tighter.
"Yes... she fool us all." Shen whisper, closing his eyes, letting Yunlan gently rub his back.
"My father had a heart stroke that day, even when he was very healthy. He had a medical check just the week previous to that and there was nothing wrong with his heart. Mom told me that father had just come home and was on his study when he received a call and trough the course that call, he had the stroke." Shen looked at him suddenly, a suspicion forming in his head.
"Yunlan, do you remember the time?" Shen asked softly and Zhao kissed his forehead slightly.
"It was past four, I think..." He said.
"It was past four for Ye Zun too... could they be related?" Shen Wei asked.
"I can't honestly be sure of that, but my father was a high up military General, so very few things could impact him to the point of having a heart attack... he never told who called him that day and what bad news he received on that call. Every time I asked him, he never answered. We didn't have the best relationship, so I let it go soon after. The only thing mom told me was that before he had the stroke he asked her to call me and tell me to come home immediately, but my phone was low on battery and I turn it off."
"I think that may had been the reason he had the heart attack, but the call certainly make him aware of my absence when he usually ignore it and there was something that pressed him to want me at home as soon as possible. She also found strange that when on the ambulance father whispered a name a few times, even when half conscious. She didn't recognize the male name from their circle of friends, so she suspected it was someone from the military. It was... something like Lin... no, Li Qi... Qia... damn, I can't remember the name well."
"Li Qiang?" Shen asked completely taken aback, his blood running cold in seconds, instead of the previous feverish desire of his lover that was making him crazy a seconds ago.
"Yes… I think that sounds about right, why look so shocked?" Zhao asked back, still not letting go of his lover.
"That's my father name, Shen Li Qiang and just like professor Ouyang and myself, he was a professor too, a retired one, although his specialization was in... Ancient Scriptures..." Both of them looked at each other, some understanding finally sinking in both of them, then, they looked at the red tower behind them.
"Obviously, our parents knew each other for a long time. Dad probably received the news of your brother's death and possibly feared that something had happened to me too and that's why he asked for me. He most had known the demon was after both of us..." Zhao whisper as he came close to the now open seal from which beasts demons were escaping, their bodies passing through them, like phantoms as they were still inside the past vision. He keep Shen Wei at his side, holding his hand firmly, ignoring anything else but the seal inscription.
"My father was obsessed with old texts, especially with rare runes. Somehow he most had find out about the seal in this tower, either by accident or otherwise and probably deciphered it at some point. Maybe professor Ouyang helped him out with the decoding, they were close friends and they shared works all the time..."
"Which would explain why the demon chose and force him to open the seal. If he knew how to read the inscription, maybe he also knew how to break the seal. She most had threatened him with something, letting him without a choice. I presume your father is no longer around, otherwise…"
"My father die three years after Ye Zun. He was never the same after his death, he became weaker over the years, got very sick during a winter, catch a pneumonia and die shortly after..." Shen said sadly, squeezing Yunlan hand, who's squeezed his back.
"I'm so sorry for all your losses Shen Wei... babe, I..." But Shen simply smiled at him.
"It's not your fault and I have you now too." Yunlan just couldn't resist, so he kissed his Wei, giving him his heart in full. He would be damn, if he allowed for someone else close to his lover to die. He will have no more grief under his watch that was his personal promise.
"We will close the broken seal and kill all demons… I promise." Zhao whisper.
"Then I will take care of her…" Shen added a hint of rage in his voice.
"We, my Wei… we…" Zhao murmur against his lips, then as he kissed him, he felt a strange energy surround them and when he open his eyes again, both of them were back to that cold room in which Shen Wei was still sleeping under the warmth of his sleeping bag.
Zhao sat by his side, wondering if everything had been a dream, an illusion of that enchanted place, but as he looked at himself, he notice his jacket was wide open and his dark gray shirt wrinkled from Shen Wei's messing up with it, while the lingering feelings of their kiss was still present. So what happen before was no illusion, there were simply portal back to the starting point. He looked at this lover, his sleep probably induced by whatever magic was working in the temple and as he closed back his thick jacked, he felt some extra weight on one of his pocket.
Instinctively, he reached for the extra thing in his pocked and found a small red journal. He open it, reading in the first page the name he never thought he will see again. Shen Li Qiang, Shen Wei's father. Was that his journal? Did professor Ouyang have it in his possession and lost in the tower? Did the guardian watching the tower want him to have it? Well, there was only one way to find out. He turned the page and read the neat handwriting of Shen Wei's father. The first entry dated to long ago, probably when Shen Wei was still a kid, it was long, but he had an impulse to read the last entry, which was less neat and a bit mess up.
"Their birth was a strange one from the beginning, many peculiar things happened that night. The first was their names. Mei Fen and I had discussed about how to name the twins many times and we finally agree in two just a month before their birth, but as soon as they were born, when the nurse ask for their names, we both said at the same time two different ones we had not consider before, Wei for the oldest, Ye Zun for the youngest. A few hours after that, there was that monk who told us that our boys were special and that we should always keep them in sight. He offered talisman for their protection, because a great evil was always close by, but I though the man was crazy, then one day, when Wei had four years old, he wrote some very old runes. I was shocked, he was too young to write things that neither Mei Fen, nor me had teach him, yet he wrote them all with ease right in front of me, in my study. The runes, I had never see then before, but they had power, I was sure of it."
"I study them carefully and documented them as he wrote a few more until he was seven. Then, he begin to see things beyond our human eyes. Ghost, they were ghost, his guardians as Wei had told me when I asked about them. Ye Zun however, never saw any of them, although he said he could feel them and sometimes hear them. I got scared as I remember the warning from the monk the day they were born, that great evil was always close to them, so I took them to a temple and talked with a high priest. As soon as he saw Wei, the monk bowed to him and told me I was the father of a reincarnated god, his aura was too strong for a common human. He also told me that he had guardians, but I needed to be more careful, especially with Ye Zun, which wasn't as protected as Wei."
"He gave me a talisman for both of them, told me exchange them after a few months, because Wei's energy kept Ye Zun protected as well, but as the years passed, Wei stopped seen ghosts and nothing else happen, I let my guard down. Then, when Ye Zun was ten, he almost drowned in the school pool, he told me that something grab him from under the water when no student was in. Wei was sick that day, so he was alone. After that, I never sent to school at Ye Zun alone, neither I did allow Wei to go on his own either. Their closeness keep them safe and the boys were very close, so life passed normally for long years and I obsessed myself with finding out what Wei wrote."
"Then, one day I finally translated the runes, with the help of my best friend, professor Ouyang. To my shock, it was a kind of incantation to seal away demons. Then we find out about the tower, the place in where the gods sealed the wicked that plagued the earth causing nothing but death and harm. The boys were twelve and one night, Wei had a nightmare. He screamed a name, Zhao Yunlan's name along with that of the god Kunlun. Profesor Ouyang and I, researched about both, then went to the same temple that said my son was a former god. Zhao Yunlan was the son of a military general, and just like my Wei, he was also a reincarnated god. I manage to be in contact with Zhao Xin Chi, he had also seen very strange things happened around his son, so I warned him."
"We meet after a few calls in that temple and as the time passes, we became friends. We decided our sons should not meet, so the danger surrounded them will not increase, but at the end, it was all useless. Ye Zun was killed, I'm sure of it. That woman was not human, I could tell and Wei also felt the same, he called her demon in another nightmare. I failed… I lose my beloved son and Wei is plagued with nightmares. I cannot call myself a father after failing to protect my family. I'm nothing more than a failure… forgive me, Shen Wei."
Yunlan was simply speechless, he was moved and saddened so deeply and also he understood now that his father, while strict and hard to approach, had always cared in his own way. The hard decisions he make that he had hated, had been in orther to protect him from the unseen danger. He looked at Shen Wei, sleeping peacefully by his side and wonder if he should show him his father last note, but the decision was taken away from him as the book simply burst into flames, for which Zhao throw it away.
"You are his guardian now… he doesn't need to know more." A voice said from the inexistent door.
"Lóng Hún…"
"The woman is not here anymore, she took some demons out and left, still if you don't close the door now, she will come again and brake the second seal preventing stronger demons to go out."
"Then why show me this?"
"Because you need to understand. The demon had always known of both of you, but she waited until the seal was weaker. She couldn't attack you because your divinity is stronger, that's why you are always lucky, nor Shen Wei directly, because he is always guarded, that runes you gave him, simply gave his guardians more power to protect him. That shield that save him back in the cave, it was their doing."
"Ye Zun, however was unguarded that day, he forgot to put on the talisman pendant before going out, then he went away from his brother's protection. The tragedy was inevitable, the demon waited patiently to collect the needed blood to brake the seal, but it brought the two of you together again. Even if both of you never notice, your bond reborn that day, for which you felt the impulse to make the bracelet and waited until you gave it to his rightful owner. So you know, you wrote it quite clearly, 'for my beloved Wei' in the beads. That's what they said. Have a rest for tonight, tomorrow we hunt demons." The dragon in his human form said and soon after, Yunlan was sleeping soundly while holding his beloved Wei, their love for one another stronger than ever.
AN: Thanks for reading.
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