Memories or Dream

Long Cheng could not help his emotions, so he grabbed Lu Meili by the neck to bring her closer and held her in his arms, as he tries to not do it so tightly to avoid hurting her further. 

"Wound… back…" Lu Meili moaned slightly reminding Long Cheng to loosen his hold, but he still didn't let go. 

Long Cheng nodded his head as he suppressed the anger in his heart for the soldiers who had hurt his mate. It was not the order, and it was deliberately commanded that she should be captured unharmed. 

Why would they do this? Because she killed Rusan? Long Cheng mortal side tried to justify the soldiers' action. However, his beast was being murderous and wanted to kill them for touching her. 

"Was it so painful?" He asked carefully, to which Lu Meili did not answer. After looking at her face, Long Cheng realized that her eyes were closed and she seemed to be asleep. "I am sorry… This wouldn't have happened if you had not run away, but I should have chased you myself. Only myself…" He uttered, the self-blame was evident in his voice. 

Long Cheng could not heal Lu Meili immediately, as the ground would be too muddy for her to be laid down. All he could do was hold her close, occasionally whispering how sorry he was for being late. 

During this time, though, Long Cheng did not know what he had done. That caused Lu Meili, to go under a deep sleep, relieved some of the memories that were better off called nightmares…

***

Inside Lu Meili's dream…

"Mother! I want to go home! Please..." The young seven-year-old Lu Meili called out from nowhere. Her small face drenched with tears, as she called out to her mother for rescue. Her small weak voice, that was trying to remain strong despite being alone, was echoing. 

Her whole body ached, especially her heart. "Sob… sob… It hurts…" Lu Meili said as her small body was shaking with cold while her eyes were painful from tears. Her body was drenched in rainwater that continued to fall mercilessly on the place that she was in. 

Lu Meili was surrounded by dried up trees, that gave her the terrifying feeling, because of the scary bedtime stories her nanny used to tell, regarding man-eating trees that looked like a corpse. 

The atmosphere in the forest was so dark that no sunlight could possibly pass through. She was not even aware if it was day time or night time. All she knew was that the place was dangerous and, Lu Meili must leave the place as soon as possible. If she didn't die from the cold, the wild creatures in the forest would surely kill her. 

"Mother! Where are you? Help me! I am scared!" Lu Meili screamed again, hoping that this time her mother would come to rescue her. 

She did not know how it happened, but Lu Meily had suddenly woken up in the scary forest. All she knew was that her mother was supposed to bring her to her father's family, so they could start a new life. 

Feeling utterly confused, Lu Meili could only continue to weep and hoped for a miracle to be saved from unknown creatures around, that wanted to harm her. The forest was so dark and eerie which made Lu Meili afraid to look back. "Mother… I don't want to die… I promise, from now on, I will behave…" She begged weakly, kneeling on the muddy ground. 

'Grrr…'

Her tiny body stiffened, terrified of the growl that she heard. Instinctively, that something dangerous was coming, she ran as fast as she could, despite not being able to see clearly where she was going. 

Her heart was in her throat, lips shaking from fear. Lu Meili bit her lower lip to avoid making any noise, hoping it would help her avoid the dangerous creatures inside the dark forest. 

"Ah!" Lu Meili yelled after she suddenly tripped from one of the tree roots. Her smart mind knew that what happened, had given away her position, so she ignored the pain in her body — forcing her to get up until she reached a place with a hill inside the dark forest. 

The area surrounding the hill was surrounded by talismans that were strangely not getting wet from the continuous rain. Lu Meili instinct told her to stay away from the place, as it scared her more so compared to any place in the forest. 

However, since she didn't have anywhere else to go running from, any beast or creature that might be after her life, Lu Meili forced herself to get closer to the hill. 

The hill was just above seven feet tall. Lu Meili did not know what possessed her to climb to the top of the mountain and stay there. 

She did not know what else to do or where to go. She was already out of breath, and her body was so cold and painful that it was hard to even continue moving.

She should continue running away. But where? 

If she leaves the place, Lu Meili was still surrounded by the dead, dried up trees and unsure of where the exit was. 

If she tried to beg for life, would she be saved? 

Who to beg to? 

However, she just started murmuring to herself that everything will be fine, and everything will go smoothly, as she continued to cry so terrified. 

Eventually laid down on the top of the hill, giving up for her life. Lu Meili's chest continued to ache and increased with every second that passed. 

Lu Meili was getting weaker and was already dazed, almost losing her consciousness, not until she reached for her aching chest and, "Ah!!!" 

***

Author's Note: Thank you guys for waiting. Due to schedule issues, I will need to change my update time to 7:00PM ( Manila Time). I will do my best to make the chapters longer as well as posting more than once per day after my internship. Appreciate the understanding!