Lights will guide you home [ Wangxian FF ] 🦋🧙

Chapter 5 | All magic has a price

As time passed, the moth began to suspect that he might have been in another wizard's room. At least, based on what he saw, that was what he thought the most.

Although Mothxian hoped he would eventually be wrong, he heard someone had opened the door. Dread seized him again. He was afraid that if it turned out that the unknown figure was indeed one of the demons' servants or magicians, then what terrible tortures he would have to endure as punishment for running away.

When Lan Wangji entered the room, the first thing he looked at was Mothxian. He greeted him with a faint smile.

"Hey. It's good to see that you're awake. You look a little better than when I found you."

Mothxian was quite confused when he saw Lan Wangji's smile. For a moment his fear eased, but then, due to a sudden thought, his negative feelings intensified again.

"How beautiful his smile is. He's so kind and handsome. He can't be a bad person. ..... Or, .. what if he only smiled because he knows me and is happy to catch me? Oh, no! .. What if he's going to hand me over to the Wen demons in exchange for a small reward? Maybe that's why he captured me?"  thought Mothxian, as he began to get more afraid. 💭

As Lan Wangji approached the table, Mothxian retreated to a corner of the cage and huddled tightly in fear. He stopped in front of the table and looked at the moth in confusion. He didn't understand what he could have done to make Mothxian so scared of him. He grabbed the small door of the cage to open it, but then the moth only flinched. Seeing Mothxian's reaction, he lowered his hand.

"What do you want to do to me? ... Who are you? What are you? What is your name?" Mothxian suddenly spoke.

"My name is Lan Wangji. I'm a wizard." - answered the wizard, then raised his hand again and this time opened the door of the cage, and continued. - "I don't want to do anything to you that you should be afraid of me. I only brought you here to my castle to heal you."

"Where is this castle?"

"It's at the edge of the forest, not too far from where I found you." answered Lan Wangji as he sat down in front of the cage. - "Would you tell me what happened to you? How did you get into the forest? ... I have been walking in the forest for many years and so far I have not even seen or met a moth before."

"You didn't see a single moth because they were all captured by demons." Mothxian remarked in his mind. 💭

Mothxian slowly stood up and walked unsteadily to the cage door and stopped there.

"Where do you live? Where is your home?" asked Lan Wangji.

"I don't have a home. ... I never had one." replied Mothxian, then continued after a short silence. - "I ran away from another evil wizard into the forest after I managed to escape from the prison of the Wen demons."

Lan Wangji noticed that Mothxian referred to him as another evil wizard. Still, his interest was more piqued by the mention of demons.

"Were you addicted to demons?" asked Lan Wangji with great surprise.

"Yes. Me and my parents too." - replied Mothxian as he began to rub his teary eyes. - "Their witches took my parents' lives. ... They took them from me and the lives of many other companions as well, .. and now I am left all alone."

Lan Wangji felt Mothxian's pain, as he too had lost his parents to the Wen demons.

"You're not alone. I am here for you, and from now on I will stay by your side to protect you."

The surprised Mothxian spoke again after a moment of silence. 

"You don't know me. . . Why risk your home or even your life for me?"

"Because I know that Fate led me to find you. ... And even though no one was there when you needed it most, I'll be here for you from now on. I'm not going to let those witches hurt you again. I promise you that."

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After the shy Mothxian was willing to step out the cage door, Lan Wangji was able to begin treating Mothxian's injuries. However, before starting treatment, Lan Wangji had to transform the small moth into human size for the healing spells. (But the wizard only did this after Mothxian agreed to it. 😅) 

Taking care not to cause pain to the moth, the wizard slowly and carefully covered the wounds on its wing and body with various creams mixed with herbs.

Mothxian's fear, mistrust and even a little hatred towards the wizard eased after seeing how gentle Lan Wangji was towards him.

After a while, the shy little Mothxian became more open and courageous in front of the wizard, walking around the table and taking an interest in certain objects that caught his attention. By nightfall, the little moth felt strong enough to share with Lan Wangji what was gnawing at his heart. Mothxian spoke more about himself and the tragic and sad fate of his parents. After Mothxian, Lan Wangji also shared his past and his family's history with him.

As wizard and moth got to know each other better, the two quickly developed a trust and then a friendship that quickly grew stronger and deeper. Yet their happiness did not last forever as they had hoped.

In their world, life, like most magic, always had a price that time reminded them of. From the moment Mothxian became human-sized, the limited time of his life sped up ... irreversibly. (Lan Wangji didn't know this when he transformed the moth; he only realized this when Time reminded him of it.)

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Thank you for reading! I hope you like it! 💙✨