༺༻
t w o
☽✧☾
Lu Hua finished the last sip of tea, the warmth a temporary comfort against the deep-seated chill and the gnawing unease. She pushed herself up, the borrowed robe feeling suddenly heavy. "Right," she announced, trying to sound brisk, in control. "Thanks for the tea, Li Chen." She began shrugging out of the robe, the damp chill of her own clothes instantly biting through the thin fabric. "I should really get going. If I miss the last bus, I am so screwed. Plus," she added, a note of genuine panic creeping in as she remembered her real world, "I have finals in like, three days! Professor Cheng will skin me alive if I flunk again."
She held out the robe towards him. Before he could even form a word - his silver eyes narrowing slightly at the incomprehensible torrent of "bus," "finals," and "Professor Cheng" - Lu Hua executed a quick, shallow bow, a gesture she vaguely remembered from historical dramas. "Thanks again! Bye!"
Then she turned and marched purposefully away from the obsidian pool to find the exit, away from the unnerving white-haired swordsman, clutching her dead phone like a talisman.
Easy it was not. The whole place were a sprawling, bewildering maze of winding pathways, serene gardens filled with luminous, unfamiliar flora, arched bridges spanning misty ravines, and towering structures of dark wood and pale stone. Every corner looked similar yet subtly different. "Where is the exit?!" she hissed under her breath, near tears of frustration. She raked her fingers through her still-damp hair, almost pulling it.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of wrong turns and dead ends, she spotted it: a massive, imposing gate set into a high wall of weathered stone. Ornately carved with swirling cloud motifs and fierce guardian beasts, it stood open, offering a glimpse of the world beyond. Relief washed over Lu Hua like a warm wave.
"Finally!" she gasped, a grin splitting her face. She broke into a run, her wet sneakers slapping against the polished stone path. She burst through the gate, skidding to a halt just outside.
The grin froze, then shattered.
She wasn't standing on the familiar, tree-lined path leading back to Emerald Mist Lake and the city. She was standing on a wide, flagstone viewing platform jutting out from the side of a mountain.
Her breath caught in her throat. Below, nestled in a breathtaking valley shrouded in ethereal morning mist, lay the sprawling complex of a buildin - tiered pagodas, curved roofs, training grounds - looking impossibly grand and ancient. But it was the surroundings that stole her sanity.
Towering, jagged peaks, wreathed in clouds, pierced the impossibly blue sky in every direction. The air was crisp, thin, and carried the scent of pine and something else...
And then she saw them.
Figures. Silhouetted against the vast sky. Not on birds, not in planes. They stood, balanced impossibly on the narrow blades of gleaming swords, robes streaming behind them as they cut through the air with impossible grace and speed. One executed a lazy loop-de-loop before streaking towards a distant peak. Another zipped past far below, heading towards the valley floor.
Lu Hua's jaw dropped. Her mind stuttered, trying to process the physics-defying sight. "Flying... people? On... swords?" she whispered, the words barely audible over the roaring disbelief in her head. "That's... that's not possible."
Just as her brain threatened to short-circuit completely, a flicker of movement caught her eye right in front of her face. She flinched.
Hovering at eye-level, wings a blur of iridescent blue and green, was a creature the size of a large housecat. It had sleek, silvery fur, enormous, intelligent golden eyes, and delicate, pointed ears twitching with curiosity. It tilted its head, regarding her with an unnerving focus, a soft, melodic chirrup escaping its tiny mouth. It looked like a cross between a miniature snow leopard and a dragonfly.
A freaking flying cat.
Lu Hua's frayed nerves snapped. A blood-curdling scream tore from her throat, primal and raw. Instinctively, she stumbled backwards, away from the creature.
Her heel caught on the uneven flagstone at the very edge of the platform. Her arms pinwheeled wildly. The world tilted sickeningly. The breathtaking vista of mountains and flying swords became a terrifying blur as she realized there was nothing but thin air and a sheer drop behind her.
"Ohgodohgodohgod!" The scream cut off as gravity claimed her. She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the crushing impact against the rocks far, far below.
It never came.
Instead, a strong arm wrapped securely around her waist, halting her fall with impossible gentleness. She felt suspended, weightless. The terrifying rush of wind ceased. A faint scent of clean linen filled her senses.
Cautiously, Lu Hua cracked open one eye.
She was floating. Several feet off the edge of the viewing platform, suspended over the dizzying drop. Holding her effortlessly, his expression as inscrutable as ever, was Master Li Chen. His white hair streamed slightly in the mountain breeze, his silver eyes gazing down at her with that unnerving calm. He hadn't jumped after her; he was simply there, defying gravity as casually as the figures on the swords.
The sheer, overwhelming weight of the impossible crashed down on Lu Hua's already overloaded mind. Her eyes rolled back in her head. With a soft, utterly defeated sigh, consciousness fled. She went utterly limp in Li Chen's arms, the dead phone forgotten somewhere on the rocks above, the bus, the finals, Professor Cheng, and Emerald Mist Lake vanishing into the void.
★
The world swam back into focus slowly. Lu Hua blinked, her eyelids heavy as lead. Instead of cold stone and the scent of ozone, she was enveloped in softness and warmth. Thick, unfamiliar blankets cocooned her, scratchy yet comforting. She was dry.
Confusion warred with the lingering haze of unconsciousness. Where...? Memory slammed back like a physical blow: the impossible mountain vista, the flying swords, the terrifying drop, the impossible rescue... Li Chen.
She bolted upright, the blankets pooling around her waist. Her eyes darted around frantically. She was in a small, austere room. Smooth, pale stone walls. A single, high window letting in soft daylight. A low table. A glowing brazier emitting gentle warmth. And there, sitting neatly against the wall near the simple bed - her bright blue backpack!
A choked sound of relief escaped her. She scrambled, nearly tangling herself in the blankets, lunging for the bag. Fumbling with the zipper, she yanked it open. Wallet, crumpled lecture notes, lip balm, a half-eaten energy bar... all her mundane world, miraculously here. She clutched the worn fabric to her chest, breathing heavily.
"You are awake."
The voice, low and resonant, cut through the silence like a blade. Lu Hua flinched so violently she almost fell off the bed. A scream ripped from her throat, raw and terrified, echoing off the stone walls.
Master Li Chen sat on a low cushion several paces away, near the sliding door leading to what looked like a balcony. He didn't moved. He didn't even covered his ears. A scroll lay loosely in his lap, his pale silver eyes fixed on her with unnerving calm. He looked utterly unperturbed by the sonic assault.
The scream died abruptly, replaced by hyperventilating gasps. Lu Hua stared at him, her heart hammering against her ribs like a frantic drum. The dam of her confusion and terror burst.
"Where am I?!" she shrieked, her voice cracking. "Who are you?! How did you float?! That's impossible! Gravity! Physics! And this place! It's on top of a freaking mountain! I saw people flying! On swords! And that... that thing! The flying cat-monkey! What was that?! Am I dead?! Is this hell?! Or some weird, elaborate prank?! Did I hit my head?!" The questions tumbled out in a frantic, incoherent torrent, punctuated by sharp breaths. "Emerald Mist Lake is flat! There are no mountains! No flying people! No floating swords!"
She sucked in a huge, shuddering breath, her eyes wild. The sheer, overwhelming impossibility of everything - the location, the sights, him- crashed over her anew. It wasn't denial anymore; it was the terrifying, inescapable reality. She opened her mouth again, and this time, it wasn't words that came out. It was pure, primal, sustained terror. A long, high-pitched scream that scraped her throat raw, echoing in the small room. She screamed at the absurdity, the fear, the loss of her world, the man sitting there watching her unravel.
She screamed until her lungs burned and her voice gave out, collapsing back against the pillows in a heap of trembling limbs and tangled blankets, gasping for air, tears of sheer panic and frustration finally spilling over. Her chest heaved, the only sound now her ragged, hiccuping breaths and the soft crackle from the brazier.
Li Chen watched the entire performance. He hadn't moved a muscle. His expression remained that same mask of detached observation. Only the faintest tightening around his eyes might have indicated something. Impatience? Curiosity? Profound bewilderment at the sheer volume and duration of the outburst? He waited until the final, shuddering gasp faded into exhausted silence.
Then, slowly, deliberately, he closed the scroll he had been reading and set it aside on the low table. His pale eyes met hers across the space.
"You are in my property," he stated, his voice calm, cutting through her residual panic like cold water. "I am Li Chen." He paused, as if considering how to address the rest of her frantic litany. "The creature was a Cloud Lynx. A spirit beast." Another pause. The questions about floating, mountains, and the fundamental laws of her reality seemed momentarily beyond concise explanation. "You," he said, his gaze sharpening with undeniable intensity, "appeared in the Jade Reflection Pool. From nowhere."
His words hung in the air, heavy and undeniable. The screaming had stopped, replaced by a hollow, trembling silence.
★
The silence after her screaming fit felt thick and heavy, broken only by Lu Hua's ragged breaths and the soft crackle of the brazier.
Slowly, the frantic hammering of her heart began to ease. Exhaustion seeped into her bones, deeper than the cold from the lake had ever been. She lay there, cocooned in the scratchy blankets, staring at the smooth stone ceiling.
She appeared from nowhere. Without trace, Li Chen said.
'I'm not in my world anymore.'
The realization was vast and quiet, washing over her like a wave of icy water. It wasn't accompanied by another scream, just a profound, shuddering sigh that seemed to come from the very core of her being. Emerald Mist Lake, the city, her cramped apartment, the crowded buses, Professor Cheng's droning lectures... all gone.
Her gaze drifted to the window, where daylight streamed in. Mountains. Always mountains.
"Rest," Li Chen's voice cut through her spiraling thoughts. It wasn't gentle, but it wasn't a command either. It was a simple, stark statement of necessity. "You require it."
He rose from the cushion with that unnerving silence and grace. As he moved towards the sliding door, he paused, not looking directly at her, but gesturing towards a low wooden chest near the foot of the bed. "Your garments were... unsuitable. Revealing." He said the word with the same detached curiosity he'd used for 'phone'. "These are prepared. Simple, but adequate."
Then, without another word, he slid the door open and stepped out onto the balcony, closing it softly behind him. Lu Hua was alone.
Alone with the enormity of her situation.
She lay still for a long moment, absorbing the silence. Then, slowly, she pushed herself up again. Her eyes went first to her bright blue backpack, still clutched protectively against her chest. Setting the blankets aside, she unzipped it properly this time, her fingers trembling only slightly.
Wallet. Notes. Lip balm. Keys to an apartment that might as well be on another planet. And... there. Crinkly wrappers. She pulled out a slightly squashed granola bar and a small bag of sour gummy worms. Her emergency snacks. A hysterical little laugh bubbled up, escaping as a choked sob. She clutched the familiar junk food like lifelines.
"Okay," she whispered to the empty room, her voice hoarse from screaming. She tore open the granola bar and took a huge, ungraceful bite, chewing mechanically.
She looked towards the wooden chest Li Chen had indicated. Revealing. The word echoed in her head, and a flicker of her old indignation sparked. "Revealing? They're just jeans and a t-shirt! What does he wear under those robes, a full suit of armor?" But the spark fizzled quickly, replaced by a weary acceptance. Different world, different rules.
She finished the granola bar and eyed the gummy worms. Comfort food. Essential for dimensional displacement, probably.
As the sugar hit her system, a new thought surfaced, cutting through the fear and confusion with startling clarity. She paused, a sour worm halfway to her mouth.
"No more exams."
The thought landed with the weight of a revelation. No Professor Cheng. No cramming until dawn. No terrifying final papers on obscure economic theories she barely understood. No pressure to find a "respectable" job after graduation. The relentless grind of her old life... gone.
A slow, incredulous smile spread across her face, tentative at first, then widening into something almost genuine. "No. More. Exams," she breathed, the words tasting sweet. "Ever."
She popped the gummy worm into her mouth, savoring the artificial tang. Okay, so the world was terrifyingly strange, populated by people who defied physics. But... freedom? Actual freedom from the soul-crushing academic treadmill? That was... kind of amazing?
Then, reality crashed back in, a different flavor of horror. Her smile vanished. Her eyes widened in dawning realization. She slowly lowered the bag of gummy worms.
"No exams..." she whispered. Then, louder, her voice cracking: "But... but also... NO INTERNET!"
The sheer, devastating magnitude of the loss hit her. No social media. No streaming. No memes. No endless scroll. No cat videos.
She dropped the gummy worms onto the blanket and buried her face in her hands. A low, theatrical moan escaped her. "Nooooo..." she wailed, her voice muffled. "My precious data! My memes! My doomscrolling!" She rocked back and forth slightly. "How will I know what's happening? How will I waste hours of my life? HOW WILL I POST ABOUT THIS?!"
She peeked through her fingers, looking utterly bereft. It was pure melodrama, a shield against the deeper terror, a way to process the absurdity. Fake tears welled up for effect. "Gone! All gone! The greatest tragedy! Woe is me! Stranded in a world of magic and mystery!" She let out another exaggerated sob, shoulders shaking with mock despair, even as a tiny, hysterical part of her found the whole situation darkly hilarious.
★