After thoroughly apologizing, and expining who and what I was, things had settled down quite a bit.

  “If Xiu saw you as her daughter, then who am I to refuse you?”

  A small smile came to his weary face.

  It may have been in the worst of times, and the worst of pces, but to think I would find comfort here.

  “Can you tell me what’s going on here? All the bodies, and the prison cells?”

  It’s been eating at me for a bit now that Xiu’s memories say nothing at all about this pce. What it’s for or even that it was here. And despite all my wondering, all it looks like to me is indiscriminate cruelty.

  The man sighed.

  “Hàorán is a master pill refiner for several sects. It came to our attention that he wasn’t just working with righteous sects however, but demonic ones as well.”

  “He’s been using human corpses to make pills for the demonic sects”

  “We put together a group to enter his domain and eradicate him, but it was already much too te. He had already reached a level far above our own. I joined the group in the hopes that I could free my daughter from this pce, but only ended up trapped here alongside you.”

  His eyes closed in an attempt to hide his anger, but I could see his jaw clench.

  “So that’s what awaits us too? Becoming pills?” my voice shook a little, but I remained calm.

  He turned to give me a bit of a sideways gnce.

  “Only if you’re lucky. He may decide to make you his pill furnace instead of into a pill… a fate I wouldn’t wish upon the worst of my enemies”

  Become a pill furnace? How would that even work?

  The old man Chen must have spotted the confusion on my face, because he sighed before expining.

  “Hàorán Would manipute the Qi in your body with his own. Turning into fuel that constantly burns you from the inside. It’s pure torture. On top of being burned alive without being able to die, the way he would make a pill would be to literally shove Spiritual herbs inside you. If you’re lucky he’d simply force feed you. But Hàorán is a sadistic bastard. He’d likely carve holes in your stomach and force the herbs in directly”

  The more Chen spoke, the more queasy I felt. Just the thought of it was disgusting beyond measure.

  I mentally renewed my promise. Once I escaped this hellhole I’d make sure Hàorán died not just a painful death, but a slow one.

  Yawwwwwwnn~

  This situation sapped my energy quite a bit it would seem. It wouldn’t be easy, but I needed to be well rested if I hoped to perform at my best in the following days.

  I slowly y back. The floor was cold, and devoid of any comforts, but I did the best I could. Curling up and resting my head upon my shoulder.

  Though it was hard, I found that some light meditation helped sleep come faster, and within a few moments, I felt my consciousness begin fading away.

  …

  Oh fair moon

  Where do you roam?

  Know that you have

  A pce at home

  Oh fair moon

  I’ve given my best.

  Promise one day

  You’ll return here to rest?

  Oh fair moon

  As i say goodbye

  I have one st question

  To bring to your mind

  Oh fair moon

  Now that i’m gone

  I pray that you’ll rest here

  No longer to roam.

  Is that… singing?

  Everything is still pitch bck, but I no longer feel the cold stone of the cell floor beneath me.

  Are my eyes simply closed, or is it just that dark?

  I try to reach out my hand, and as I do, my fingers meet with something smooth and ft. Not a wall, It’s thin enough that I can pce my fingers on either side of it. It’s oddly dry, and has a simir texture to fabric.

  Perhaps It’s…?

  Thunk

  Whatever I was grabbing I had accidentally pulled, and it had fallen somewhere by my feet. Finding it would be much easier if my eyes would actually open though.

  Nevertheless I crouched down, and waved my hands around feeling the ground around me. I was standing on a wooden floor, and the thing that had fallen…

  I slid a finger between a crack I felt in the fabric-like binding, and I felt the brush of paper across my fingertips.

  A book. Of what kind I could not say, nor could I even so much as read the cover, but I knew the feeling of a book.

  I unsteadily rose to my feet again.

  Why couldn’t I see? And why was I suddenly in a pce with a book when I clearly remembered the cell I was trapped in.

  I stuttered a little as I called out.

  “H-hello? Where… am I? What is this!?”

  The soft continuous echo of my voice was all that answered my call. Whatever this space was it had to be quite rge for my echo to go on for so long. And if I couldn’t see, then wandering such a wide space could be dangerous.

  As I reached out again however, my hand was suddenly wrapped in something warm.

  “Um… h-hello?”

  Silence. Only broken by yet more echoes of my own making.

  Slowly the sensation of the warmth on my hand faded away until I woke. Finding myself back on the cell floor.

  Same four metal walls, stone floor and stone ceiling. I hadn’t moved, and nothing had changed.

  No books, no echo even. It had to be a dream, but it felt so unnervingly real…

  What an odd dream it was though. Gone as quickly as it came. And why hadn’t I been able to open my eyes?

  Such a confusing thing. I stretch and begin cultivating for the day with what little metal Qi has returned to my surroundings.

  I can’t afford to be worrying about weird dreams right now.

  . . .

  I jolt awake from an odd dream and lift my head out of the book I was using as a poor excuse for a makeshift pillow.

  “A… prison of some kind?”

  Odd…

  SorisBckwinter