| third pov |
the loud chatters of each villager were heard all over liyue, each has their own tale to tell.
and each of their own has something to grieve about.
"my husband went missing last night! almighty gods of this land...please help me find him!"
"dead? be can't be dead!"
"17 men has been missing since yesterday.."
"did you hear? the whole bamboo forest was burned down last night."
"what? how did that happen?"
"a fire started mysteriously in the middle of the day, it dispersed earlier this morning."
"the gods must've foreseen the tragedy, the forest was the only place that faced such horrible luck."
"nothing was left, the bridge that was newly built burned down like it was nothing. we're gonna have a hard time transporting goods back to qingce.."
"(mother's name) also fell extremely ill last night, she gave birth to her son prematurely."
"poor dear, i heard she recently left her husband, now she's gravely ill."
"it's unfortunate to even fathom.."
×
"..jing!" (first name) yelled out as soon as she opened her eyes. frantically looking around the room, reaching something out of thin air, yet it was just like before.
all just the same.
the feeling of being in a dream.
the air blew harsh as particles of dust flew all over as it accompanied the wind. the rage of the loud blows took a toll on their fragile roof as it banged and swayed the bamboo structure.
"mom?" the little girl yelled out as she didn't find her in their bed, to no response, she made her way out of the bed.
slowly walking outside the perimeter of their small chamber, a streak of dark red slowly fluxed the floor.
"..what?" (first name) mouthed as her eyes widened to the pungent scent of rusty metallic.
following the trail of somber red, it finally led her to see her mother on the floor.
to her distress, she hurriedly ran towards her mother lying unconscious, kneeling down to touch her forehead.
"a..ah!" she yelled in pain as she felt her mother burning from the touch— as if something was convecting this heat all over her.
"help.. someone help!" she started crying loudly as she ran outside their door hoping for someone to answer her call—
that was all there ever was during the night of the burnt bamboo forest.
disdain.
despair.
revenge.
×
"someone help her!" (first name) yelled out as she opened her eyes, she panicked but was quickly pulled into an embrace.
"i wish you didn't wake up this soon.." a sad yet familiar voice was the first thing (first name) heard.
"..do you.. recall?" he says once more and somehow calms her loud beating heart.
"..my father.. he.. he killed her.." (first name) could barely make coherent speeches.
"t-the bamboo forest.. it burned down.. it burned everything back to dust!" she said once more crying over to his shoulders.
"..(first name).. remember everything well.." circe said as he tightened his embrace— not wanting to let go.
"don't forget anymore." he continuously keeps saying,
"what's wrong..?" (first name) suddenly mouthed as she pulled away from the embrace, slowly wiping away her tears.
"this might be just a terrible nightmare for you."
"so please go back now.."
"back? back to where?" (first name) clung to the sleeve of his shirt.
"where you're supposed to be right now." circe said as he gave her a bitter smile. she tried to decode whatever circe was saying, but in the end she only grew addled.
"i don't understand—" circe cut first name off as he led her to the edge of the peak they were staying in.
"forgive me." he said as he held her hands tightly, "but please remember.."
"you were mine for awhile."
(first name) utterly confused suddenly gasped as circe pushed her over the edge.
their eyes met like in the middle of their own chaos, one filled with regret and the other filled with befuddle ideas.
she slowly kept falling down the abyss of her own mind— with wide open eyes.
×
| xiao |
×
i kept prancing back and forth in cloud retainer's domain. it has been a day and she still hasn't woken up,
she looked so at peace while she was lying down the sea of clouds, all i could do was wait.
'i changed her timeline of thought when i fought with her original contractor..' i thought to myself as sighed loudly.
"alatus, you have sighed so much for the past two days, and i feel like this is the most you've sighed ever since you became an adeptus." cloud retainer made a comment as i clicked my tongue over their sentence.
i slowly looked back towards (first name) and saw something i never thought i'd be relieved to see.
"did you see that too?" cloud retainer said as they kept a watch on her as well.
i gave them a nod and immediately ran over to (first name)'s sea of clouds.
her hand shifted for a small while.
i stared at her palms and took one closer to mine
"..hnn.." she muttered a small sound as her eyes slowly started to open.
"i thought you wouldn't wake up!" i said as i pulled her up from lying down— falling directly to my arms.
"..xiao?" she mumbled still feeling a bit lost.
but after awhile, was slowly accustomed to my embrace.
"i had a bad dream.." she quietly mumbled.
"..tell me about it."
×
rel: ok to brief you all in this chapter, first part were people gossiping about the fire. second was the same night the bamboo fire dispersed into nothing— the same time (first name)'s family receiving the curse.
xiao disrupted her dream timeline, anything that altered within her dream didn't affect what really happened before. but since circe had to wake her up, he pushed her over the edge of her own mind to go back to where she really needed to be.
also. . did u guys really think id make you have no romance in your old life? ure fucking hot bestie. ofc im giving you something. circe will always be something (first name) would reminisce with. but this story will revolve on how she remembers those memories and spends her last remaining time with xiao .
also one last thing :
happy 2k followers.. i heard y'all circe simps. im going to route out his story in a different book in 10-15 chapters.
his book will be strictly glued to up to when he was summoned and up until their (your) last encounter.
anw. join our disc! link also in the comment sec and my bio !
https://discord.gg/MzppexWS8g