Chapter Text
A small flame lights up on his fingertip as he snaps his fingers, providing some light in this dark. Gao Shi De keeps the flame small and it works. He smiles at his own ability, surprised and somewhat proud. He doesn't want to alert anyone else. He follows the footsteps that sound clumsy and careless, which is a good cover for him because it's dead quiet out here except for the sounds of the forest. He stops, shutting his eyes and listening to the distinct sounds mingled together. The rustling of the leaves, the owl hooting, the crickets chirping… soon he is brought back as he hears a branch snap. He shakes his head, clumsy! and resumes the trail. He has been doing this for days now but has never gotten this far. It does feel wrong. Deep down he knows he shouldn't be doing this but he is just… curious, or well this is the lie he is telling himself to feel better because this might be something he has always been looking for. It is not completely a lie and it still isn't enough of an excuse to justify it. But he means no harm to anyone or anything. Yet.
There is something alluring, something he couldn't put his finger on. He doesn't even know what exactly he is following. All he knows is that whenever he is near it he feels in control and a little drained out but in a good way. It’s strange and something he has never felt before. A strong wind blows and the trees around him light up in a purplish grow. He has seen these trees before but a long time ago. There aren’t a lot of these in the city now. He is quickly alerted back as a rustling sound is heard. He examines the sound and it doesn’t really sound like someone is being clumsy but rather that they are having a hard time walking. A similar sound follows half a minute later. It keeps repeating as if someone has to drag themselves.
Suddenly the flame in Shi De’s hand grows significantly larger in size and he is taken back. He immediately gets his hand away from his face, he shakes his hand, trying to focus, trying to control it somehow in a frenzy. Only a fool will risk doing what he is doing, in a forest!! At this moment, the only solution he can see is running towards the chase, so he does that, the flame flickers. Larger one second and back to normal the other as if dancing to someone's heartbeats. He is aware of the destruction that might be caused from slightest carelessness. He turns his hand into a fist, trying to shut down the flame and it does for a microsecond before the flame bursts into the size larger than his whole fist. He looks ahead while running, he can see a structure that seems like a house. He keeps running towards it. He hears a sizzling sound down beneath his feet and the hairs on his skin stand up from fear. The fallen leaves are burning with bright red edges before turning back and then into ashes. All happening in a matter of seconds. He doesn’t even need to touch them. He gulps, sweat beads form over his forehead and his heart is drumming in his head. He is well aware of what follows. He starts feeling light headed, the tingles crawl beneath his skin and there is a rise in heat all around him.
***
A trail of blood leads to a wounded figure standing in the middle of an opening in the forest. The blood is trickling down from his forehead to his nose bridge then diverting to his left cheek, finally dripping down from his chin in tiny drops. The cut on his right cheek shows flesh. The pain is so excruciating that it is almost numbing. He looks down, head spinning, the blood seeps from under his long flowy sleeves into streams and is dripping from his fingertips into the mud. And as if there still was something that could have gotten worse, suddenly everything around him is painted in ferocious shades of orange and yellow. Zhou Shu Yi stares around, skin feeling as if it would burn from the heat, covered in sweat and blood. Everything around him is burning bright yet there is this darkness taking over him, making it impossible for him to assess the situation properly. So, Instead of danger and the doom all he is seeing is a beauty in the dancing flames.
On the brink of losing complete consciousness, someone bumps into him, more dead than he is himself. Zhou Shu Yi faints and falls down on his back with the body on top of him.
Everything is dark and quiet again, back to as it was as if someone put it in a time machine. Except now there are two bodies lying on the ground, intertwined, seemingly dead. A strong wind blows and as the trees sway and dance again, the forest is lightened up with a flash of beautiful purplish neon glow.