Suddenly the cloud vanishes to reveal the huge dragon his burning eye looks right at the Eternal and Huīchén lies down. “Climb on to my neck,” he says, offering a paw. Once the Elemental is in place, he asks, “Are you able to reach my horns?”
The Masked Warrior puts out his hands to discover he is just inches away from them. He is about to move forward when he realises that area is known as a Sweet Spot which all creature Dragons have. It lies between the back of the head and the shoulders. “Emm, there is a problem for me to reach them I will have to sit on your love spot.”
“Love spot,” chuckles the Night Dragon. “Really it is all right you can place yourself there, for you already have a mate.”
The Great Warrior shifts himself forward so he can easily take hold of the long horns and starts to move the Dragon’s head around making him emit a soft giggle. “Ah, I am now in control of you,” commands Yūrei Samurai with a laugh to his voice.
Huīchén emits a playful growl and responds, “Ooh yes common me, Ink Summoner.”
They both laugh and the Masked Warrior gives the Night Dragon’s head a stroke, before they take to the air and fly towards Japan. Once they are over Tower Island the Great Warrior gently points the Dragon towards his husband’s tower. They have to fly around it to face the mainland to see the once thick fog has turned to a mist which is still going around the barrier.
Huīchén comes in to a soft landing near the strange barrier. “So this is a Safe House?” He carefully rises up to place his front right paw on top of the barrier. “It covers a big area.”
“It sure does,” answers the Great Warrior gently holding on to his horns. “I just cannot wait to see if Einar is able to open it.”
The Night Dragon lies down on the ground and helps the Eternal to climb from his neck. “It is going to be interesting to see what he can do. I might, that’s if I can remember the spell, be able to help change the air around here.”
Yūrei is fill of intrigue and quickly questions, “Change the air? How?”
“Ah,” replies Huīchén slightly raising his left index finger, “I was able to, in the Dark Time, put up a barrier that I could heat with my own breath. Which not only kept the Soul Drinker’s nice and cosy, they could also use their magic through it.”
“That sounds interesting and a challenge at the same time.”
The Night Dragon laughs and nod. “You could say that. Then again spells from the Obscure Arts are kind of like that.”
“You are not wrong there. Please see if you can remember it.” The Great Warrior watches the Dragon sit up with his lovely long tail around his back feet. He folds his arms and white smoke comes drifting out of his nostrils.
Huīchén’s right toes begin to tap the ground and his eyes narrow as he tries to recall the spell he has not used in centuries. “I think I’ve got it,” he says and starts to chant it, whilst slowly raising his left paw above his head. “Kin fa mun ta yin sa da ya min ka fu daaaa." bringing his hand down. The moment it makes contact with the ground an incantation goes shooting out in all directions and starts to glow a soft blue. “Yes,” he cheers, “this is it. All we need now is your wonderful husband to test it out.”
Yūrei reaches out until his hand comes in to contact with something solid and gives it a tap, making the barrier emit a deep dum, dum sound. “This is amazing. I already beginning to feel warmer. I will go and fetch him.”
“You should be able to portal through this,” informs Huīchén tapping the barrier.
The Masked Warrior holds out his left hand and a portal to Einar’s home opens to reveal the Soul Drinker is already standing in the hallway. “My love, you have to see this,” calls Yūrei holding out his hand.
The Westerner steps through along with Dōngjì fēngbào, Odin, King Yǔmáo and Wiseong.
“I saw in my vision you had created something like this,” implies Einar, looking around. “This barrier was also used to keep Whispers in tacked because you can move and the barrier moves with you, right?”
“You are correct and it should not have any impact on this Safe House… might I ask what exactly is it?”
The Westerner extends his left hand out in front of him. “A Safe House is exactly that, it is a house that can provide an occupant with whatever they need. The problem is once struck by lightning or tampered with that magic which supplies the person inside with everything they need could not work properly or in the worst case be severed. Going by the writing, that is running across this Safe House, it was lightning which has struck it. Let’s see if Sköll can unlock this.”
The others watch black wisps of black sand dance around the Soul Drinker’s slender fingers and his head also tilts slightly to the left. His eyes remain fixed upon the side of the Safe House and his Describer begins to rise. “No door there,” he mutters turning to the right and begins to walk feeling the barrier as he goes. “Door? No nothing.”
Huīchén makes sure to move along with the handsome Westerner to prevent him from slamming into the side of the barrier he has put up to keep them all warm. He finds it fascinating how he can use the Shadow Heart for other thing other than calling forth the titan creature. He also likes the bond he has with the Describer as it floats by the Soul Drinker’s hand that is touching the barrier. The pulsing light within seems to glow brighter the closer he gets to the rear of the Safe House and he mutters something in his own language.
“They have found it,” informs Odin. “He is asking Shadow to be careful.”
More black sand appears around Einar’s left hand and he starts to frown. “Touch it? All right, I will go with you,” he says in his own language and places his hand flat on the barrier. “Sköll.”
The Describer seems to wait for instructions. A few minutes later she moves over to the left and up to above her master’s head. The black sand surrounds her as she begins to write the first symbol.
Einar emits a soft moan and Odin whispers to Yūrei, “Place your hand upon his back. I have noticed he stays clammer when you are close to him.”
The Masked Warrior nods and starts to gently stroke his husband’s back. The Westerner takes a breath and informs him, “I am all right, my sweet Ink Summoner.”
“I like to be sure as you are well aware I never like to hear you in pain.”
“It is why I love you… Shadow?”
“What is it?”
Einar repositions his hand slightly to the right and his eyes begin to looks around. “Interesting, it would appear someone tried to open this door from within after the Safe House was struck by lightning. Shadow is checking for another lock… a sort of safe lock, they might need to bypass or unlock before we can get the door open. So far it is looking like the person within did not trigger it.”
“That could also be down to the impact of the lightning,” states Odin.
“Funny enough Shadow was saying the same thing. He also thinks the lightning might have an impact on what they are doing. Sköll is looking for the best place to wright the next symbol. Good girl, she’s got it.”
The Describer carries on drawing the symbols which begin to glow bright white with a soft blue edge. When she draws the last one a locking sound comes from within and there is hiss as the door begins to open and steam starts to pour through the gap. Steam that has a slight stale stench to it along with stench of waist which makes all of them place a hand over their mouth and nose.
Wiseong watches the Soul Drinker push open the door to reveal a meadow. He bows to him and points a hand inside before he steps through the entrance. The stench of waist is coming from the far right hand corner and over in the far left is a bamboo house. The Healer uses his senses to detect there is are lifeforms within the house. “We need to do something about that smell,” he grumbles madly pointing his right hand in the direction it is coming from.
“I am on it,” calls Dōngjì fēngbào stepping inside and runs down to the far right hand corner. He goes on to use his abilities to unblock the steam that is running through the back of Safe House so the waist can be carried away. It is then he notices writing upon the wall he is unable to read. “Einar, Odin you both need to see this,” he calls quickly recovering his mouth and nose.
The Soul Drinkers glide over to him and the Westerner mutters, “A warning?”
“It would appear so,” responds Odin. “To anyone who can reads this, this Safe House is faulty and cursed it should not be used for long term. What is that at the bottom?”
Einar crouches to get a better view and reads aloud, “Only a Describer with a black stone can put things right. Otherwise all who enter are doomed.”
Wiseong starts to run over to the building and tries to enter, only to discover there is barrier blocking the way. “Ow!” He gasps rubbing his chest. “Ah, we have a problem,” he shouts through his hand.
The Father of the Gods joins him and gives the barrier a tap. “I have never seen anything like this. Boys, what do you both make of it?”
Yūrei watches the incarnation dance across the surface. “I have no idea.”
Einar studies it for a moment then draws his left hand towards his chin with two raised fingers. “It is a protection barrier…. Something that is solum used these days. I think Shadow and I can get rid of it.” He begins to mutter a spell when Odin gently grips his shoulder. “Easy, lad, do not do too much.” The Westerner nods and continues to chant.
The barrier starts to shake which makes everyone apart from Einar take a step back. He throws out his left hand and says in a harsh whisper, “Yin sa min ka un ta.” Cracks begin to snake across the surface and as the Soul Drinker draws his hand towards his chest the whole thing shatters and turns to dust.
Wiseong quickly goes to the Soul Drinker, offering him a bundle to sniff. “Gipge sum-eul swida.”
“He said, take a deep breath,” informs Dōngjì fēngbào and continues in the Healer’s language, “Are you sensing anyone inside?”
“I am, their life signs are very low.”
“Go, I will take care of Shadow Heart,” says the Father of the God, taking hold of the bundle.
Wiseong bows to him before he opens the door and steps inside. There are two sets of sandals upon the rug in the hallway along with a topcoat. The Healer kicks off his boots and continues to use his senses to locate the people. He discovers them lying together upon a futon that is covered in stains and does not smell all that that pleasant. One of the men is an Eternal and the other is an Elemental and they appear to be in some kind of unnatural sleep. “I do not know this magic,” he whispers. “Ingkeu sohwansa, ingkeu sohwansa.”
Yūrei comes running in to the room and the Healer mimes sleeping and shakes his head. “It is not… normal jam… sleep… geudeul-eun mabeob-e geollyeoss-eo.”
Dōngjì fēngbào comes in to the room questioning, “Geu salam-i mueos-eul hagileul balanayo? Sorry, Mèngjiàn, He said they are under a spell and I was asking him, what do you want him to do?”
The Masked Warrior points his hand at the men. “They are under a sleeping spell?”
The Father of the Gods translates and Healer begins to nod. “Kkaeneun bangbeob-eul asinayo?”
“He is wondering if you know how to break it? I take it from your expression you do not?”
Yūrei shakes his head. “Yǔmáo, might have a better idea than me. I’ll go and ask him.”
The king is still on the other side of the Safe House along with Huīchén who is now in his human form. When they hear what has been discovered they both brave the foul stench and run with him over to the building.
The Night Dragon picks up the topcoat and shows them the feather pin. “It is him King Dǎ shǎn. His husband King Cǎihóng gave this to him.”
They all continue on in to the room and King Yǔmáo takes a look at the sleeping couple. “Huīchén, Cǎihóng is a?”
“Conjurer, I should say Elemental Conjurer. I know his blue hair is very unusual. He told me never underestimate the power of a spell and gestured a hand towards his hair. That is not the only thing that has changed about him, his eyes are purple with a hint of pink.”
“That does not sound good,” implies King Yǔmáo waving his hand over the Eternal. “I think this was done by Cǎihóng. I can image he did it to stop his husband craving his blood.”
The Great Warrior tries to open a portal only to discover nothing happens. He shakes his head and runs out of the house and makes his way out of the Safe House. Once he is on the shore he puts on his mask before he opens a portal to his town and steps through.
Yūrei is making his way over to the family home when the butcher comes running over. “Thank goodness you have returned.”
The Masked Warrior can tell the man is stressed and quite worried. “What’s happened?”
Harumi points his hand across to the White Rabbit and informs the king, “Sasaki-san has had that General he was with arrested.”
“Arrested? Why?”
“I am afraid, Yūrei, I do not know the details.”
“I will get back to this later, right now I need my friend.”
“I understand, I thought it should be brought to…ah, it would appear your friend is coming to you.”
The Great Warrior waves to the Elemental and quickly tells him in Chinese what has been discovered. “Sleeping spell?” Chūnfēng is a little surprised and agrees to return with him. When he sees the couple he recognises the Conjurer not as King Cǎihóng but Prince Cǎihóng.
“Prince? I was never informed of this,” states the Night Dragon watching the Elemental produce a crystal that is covered in purple sand.
“It is ironic really, it was his brother after he went missing he became king of the north region and made his missing brother a prince. I heard the other reason he did it was all because Cǎihóng had fallen in love with a man. Shénmì yuèliàng (Mystic moon) could not understand how his own brother could love a man. It is also speculated that Shénmì is behind his brother’s disappearance. Hilleoya, junbihaela (Healer get ready.”
Wiseong puts out his hands he can sense the couple are coming out of their unnatural sleep. He is also concerned about the Elemental who is performing the task as his heart rate is dropping and he has no idea if that is normal or not.
Chūnfēng allows the crystal to hover between the couple, he closes his eyes and places his hands together, drawing them up towards his face and bows his head so his thumbs are touching his forehead.
The couple begin to stir and King Dǎ shǎn’s lips draw back to reveal extended fangs and as he exhales he whispers, “Blood.”
King Yǔmáo takes another drag from his pie before placing the end between the waking Eternal’s lips. “Suck,” he commands in soft voice. “I promise you it will take that horrible urge away.”
The sleepy king’s tongue exams the tip that is within his mouth, then his lips form around it and he takes a long drag causing the ambers in the pipe to burn bright. When he breathes out a large cloud of white smoke everyone hears him sigh with relief and he goes on to take another drag from the pipe.
The crystal that is still hovering over the couple moves towards Chūnfēng open hand but stops and moves back. “They are falling back to sleep… I am not able to break it. Let’s get them out of here and King Jīngyì might be better skilled to bring them out of it or Zhìhuì for that matter.”
Huīchén gently picks up his long lost friend King Dǎ shǎn and Dōngjì fēngbào picks up Cǎihóng and they all make their way out of the hut.
When the group is approaching the entrance Einar suddenly disappears to reappear near the open doorway of the Safe House. He throws out his left hand and the moment everyone sees the black sand moving around and in-between his fingers they halt in their stride. The Westerner turns back to the party just as it goes pitch black and the only source of light is coming through the open doorway.
Odin moves the other back and tells, “Brace yourselves.”
Einar looks around and begins to wonder, could this be the curse the writing was on about? If they tried to leave a barrier drops over the entrance and the light taken away. He is waiting to see if anything begins to appear in the blackness. A set of glowing eyes or a floating orb. There is nothing. “What did that warning mean, only a Describer with a black stone can put things right? Sköll, what can you do?”
The Describer rises out of her master’s topcoat and hovers for a moment in front of him before floating over to the blocked doorway. The light within her grows brighter and symbols around the black stone, that is sitting near her centre, change, making her master question, “What are you up to? Whatever it is I hope you know what you are doing?” Sköll moves to above the door and begins to write a series of symbols that Einar recognises from the scroll, hidden symbols which only he saw and did not mention. He turns his attention to the black sand that is hovering around his fingers and Odin shouts, “No! Einar, do not give in to him, you do not have the food to sustain yourself and you know what will happen to you. That’s it gain control. You can do it, lad.”
The Westerner’s left hand turns into a fist and he forces it down to his side. “You do not order me, Shadow, that was our agreement. I am your master. You will always obey me.”
Odin breaths a sigh of relief and reassures the others, “He has successfully regain control I am no longer hearing the Shadow Heart. Still it leaves me questioning how was his father able to accomplish this? I tell you Einar should not have the power to control the Shadow Heart the way he does.”
Yūrei is worried how long can his husband keep up his battle with the very titan that saved China from the creatures that came from the Shadow Realm known as Destructors. Will he one day be completely lost to it? This thought has often crossed his mind and wonders could it also be their love which makes Einar not give in to the creature’s demands, for he remembers back in the battle the Shadow Heart did protect him. Could that be what he is trying to do now, protect them from whatever is lurking in the darkness?
Einar turns around and starts to stare into the gloom. He is well aware his husband is becoming afraid. Now he understood the curse, it was done to make them think there was something concealed in the darkness, when in fact there is nothing there. “My love, do not let this get to you,” he says walking over to him. “It is nothing more than illusion designed to make you paranoid. It is nothing other than a dark room.”
The Masked Warrior takes a cleansing breath and responds, “You are right, I need to control my fear. There is nothing hiding in the darkness.”
The Westerner gives him a hug. “We are getting out of here Sköll and Shadow know what to do. He did not mean to scare you all, he is just concerned we could be trapped in here. Hold on, you are right we need to fix where the lightning hit the Safe House, in order to put things right. The shaft of light over there,” he says pointing his hand upwards.
Everyone sees in the centre is the very shaft of light the Soul Drinker was on about and he continues, “Sköll cannot float that high, that is why Shadow was going to come forward to get her up there because he knows by the time I get to the hight I will be struggling to breath. Huīchén, are you able to transform in here?”
The Night Dragon hands the sleeping king to Yǔmáo then he disappears in to the blackness and a few minutes later a large paw emerges to gently scoop up the Westerner who pats the palm. “Wait, Sköll is yet to return to me,” he informs him. The Describer floats over to his open hand. “Good girl. All right, Huīchén, take us up.”
The Night Dragon slowly rises towards the shaft of light that is coming though the roof of the Safe House. “Will you be able to fix it?”
Einar puffs and replies, “I might be able to patch it. Are you all right floating for a moment?”
“Yes, I can do this for as long as you need.” Huīchén is a little worried when he feels the Soul Drinker moves a little further up his neck and mutters something in his own language. “Is everything all right?”
The Westerner pats him on the head. “Yes. Sorry old Norse can be a pain to read. I was making sure I was going to attach the patch to the right symbols. Otherwise it will not work. Just bare with me muttering away in my own tongue.”
“It quite all right, you mutter away.”
They both laugh and Einar orders Sköll to perform the patch. It does not take the Describer long to complete her task and return to her master’s right side. “Rin da sin ka,” he chants.
Suddenly the light returns to the Safe House making everyone shut their eyes and groan with pain.
“Well, that should have also restored everything,” informs the Westerner rubbing his eyes.
Huīchén blinks his eyes and slowly descends back down to the meadow. “Mèngjiàn, see if you can get through the door?”
Yūrei puts out his hand and cheers, “Yes, you did it, my love, we can finally leave.”
The Westerner jumps off the Night Dragon’s hand. “Thanks for your help.”
“Anytime,” responds Huīchén as the black mist begins to surround him and transforms in to his human form.
They go on to help the others get the sleeping couple out and Dōngjì fēngbào opens a portal to his place.
ns 15.158.61.12da2
