Your dreams

Chapter 7

Lan Wangji was standing on unsteady feet. The ground below him was rocking and he had a hard time maintaining his balance. All the more because his back hurt so badly he wanted to start crying. He had never experienced such pain, not when he had fallen down and lost his breath during a night hunt and not when his uncle had punished him for crying too much after his mother had died. Though it was a little similar in a sense. The pain went however mostly unnoticed because in front of his eyes, he was watching a terrible scene.

There was a city and it was burning. And Lan Wangji's heart felt like it was burning together with it. He could hear distant sounds of battle and agonized cries coming from that direction. It looked nothing short of an inferno. Next to him, someone was calling desperately: "Mother! Mother!" A female silhouette turned around hugged the one standing next to him. Lan Wangji cried for real.

As soon as Lan Wangji left the lecture hall, he had to steady himself on the railing of the stairs. If he had not, he would have keeled over the second the vision had hit. It was utterly terrifying, especially after seeing another war scene in the last one. Somehow, this one had felt even more intense and raw. More personal too.

He could not tell who were the people he had seen in the vision. The images had been flashing in front of his eyes way too quickly to make any sense of them. The pain he had been feeling had also overtaken his whole body and he could still feel tears in his eyes. All he knew for sure was that the place which had been burning had been Lotus Pier. That much was clear to him, after all, the Yunmeng Jiang sect headquarters were one of a kind and had the sect crests engraved on every burning door.

Lan Wangji tried to catch and steady himself. The vision may have shaken him, but right now, he had more important task than to dwell on its meaning. He could still not say with certainty if his visions were just daydreams caused by his imagination and fatigue or if there was something more to them.

He had to find Wei Wuxian before it would be too late. Too late for what, he did not know. The only thing which was guiding him was the bad feeling he had, and it was growing worse and worse with every passing second. He had to move from here. He had to straighten his back, let go of the railing and go down the two stairs.

When said like that, it was so easy. Only, there was nothing easy in actually going through the correct motions. Lan Wangji's body was still feeling the phantom needles of pain ravaging his back and coursing through his veins. It was so bad he was worried that he would throw up. Or fall unconscious; perhaps that would be a way to find relief.

But he could not allow himself to be weak, definitely not right now. He could meditate and get his body and mind under control once he found Wei Wuxian and took him to the Library pavilion for his punishment. There would be ample time then.

Lan Wangji made a conscious effort and let go of the railing. His head was now spinning only marginally and he believed that he would be able to walk more or less normally without falling down even if he did not keep a strong grip on some support. He still kept his steps deliberate and slow, there was no reason to try his luck any more than he already was. It would not help in the slightest if he fell on the ground here and now.

His vision finally cleared of the unwelcomed tears. He won the battle with the stairs and was standing in the courtyard in front of the lecture hall. Where could have Wei Wuxian run off to? He had not looked well at all, Lan Wangji was somewhat worried about him. It would not do if a guest disciple got hurt in their care. For the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple had indeed looked like he had run out mindlessly and who could say if he had fallen down some stairs and broken his bones already. Lan Wangji had to find him. And quickly.

A soft but heart-breaking sob came from behind him. He immediately spun on his heel, though it made his head hurt even more and the concern of him saying goodbye to his breakfast was becoming pretty material. He longed to sit down, put his head between his knees and breathe for a while. That would surely help. Not that he had the luxury to lose this precious time.

For his eyes had fallen upon a figure sitting next to the steps he had just walked down. The person was wearing guest disciple robes and was huddled in a tight ball. Even without checking for a fiery red hair ribbon that Wei Wuxian had been wearing this morning, Lan Wangji knew who that person was. He had found the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple.

"Wei Wuxian?" he called softly, not wanting to startle the other too much. Although he could not hear any more sobs, he could not be mistaken. Wei Wuxian had been, or perhaps still was, crying.

The lithe disciple was huddled into himself and his head was hidden in his arms and knees. Now that Lan Wangji was looking more closely at him, he saw that he was trembling all over too. He had no idea what was happening, however, his heart squeezed tight in his chest. For a reason he could not quite name, he was worried about him.

"Wei Wuxian?" he called again without any success. It was as if the other was completely lost in his world and could not even hear him. Or had decided to ignore him like earlier in the classroom. This option though did not seem too likely as he looked too distressed to care about the rest of the world.

Lan Wangji extended his hand when he did not get any reaction. If calling the other did not do the trick, perhaps a light pat on his shoulder would actually get the attention he wanted. He hated seeing Wei Wuxian like this. Even if it was making him believe he had gone crazy, Lan Wangji preferred the cheeky troublemaker grin over this. There was a strange aura surrounding the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple, the air around him seemed to be shivering with something ominous. It was making Lan Wangji's skin crawl.

He never got to finish his motion. Wei Wuxian must have felt someone approaching because his head suddenly shot up. His teary and bloodshot eyes focused on Lan Wangji and his expression changed into one of pure horror. He smacked the offered hand away with force.

"No!" he shrieked so loudly everyone in the Cloud Recesses must have heard him. It got Lan Wangji's ears ringing.

The Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple tried to crawl away, looking more and more panicked by the second. "Go away, go away..." he was mumbling to himself as his heels were searching for support to get him as far away from Lan Wangji as possible.

Then, he jumped up to his feet and started running.