Chapter 102: Descent into madness.

After some time Qin Qianyu woke from her dream like state. She was currently being dragged by Bai Saan.

Still groggy, she soon noticed that he was also affected somewhat, but, Bai Saan was holding on the best he could to bring Qin Qianyu away from that strange room filled with all those noxious gasses that came from those plants.

"Saan, I'm fine. Have a rest yourself."

Bai Saan heard her voice, he was tossing his head around. This confused Qin Qianyu till she saw his eyes.

They were both glazed over as if his retina had burst causing all its colour to leak out.

"Your . . Your eyes! . . "

Qin Qianyu cupped his head and scratch behind his ears as she placed her forehead on his.

She quickly searched her bag, she found it had a hole in it from Bai Saan dragging her away from that dangerous pond.

Qin Qianyu soon connected that dream she just had as a byproduct of being poisoned. It caused her to hallucinate while unconscious.

Bai Saan soon collapsed. He started whining a little before he succumbed to the effects of the room.

Qin Qianyu soon followed suit again.

In her mind she was going over the dream she just had. To Qin Qianyu, it was like being given a prophecy form on high.

But soon, the analytical part of her brain had her thinking about the symptoms she was going through and how the dream was most likely just a retailing of what she had been told by Xiong Jianguo about the Asura temple and it origins and her own story combined.

This all led to one conclusion in her mind,

"Something is drawing all the oxygen in this room, could it be the flower in the pond?"

This was her thought. Oxygen deprivation.

Qin Qianyu's head soon started throbbing. As it did, a strange formula started forming in her mind.

She tried to shake the nonsense thought away and will herself awake. She really needed to get herself and Bai Saan back to the previous room before their brains become affected by the lack of oxygen.

"Damn it all body! Wake the hell up already!"

Soon, Qin Qianyu stopped thinking, no formula or reasonings. No thoughts about the dream she just had, no analysis of the situation.

Nothing.

Qin Qianyu started breathing short shallow breaths as was Bai Saan.

"Xia . . yu . . Xiao . . Xiaoyu . . "

Qin Qianyu looked around after hearing the booming voice in her head.

She found herself in a white space. If she had to rationalise what she saw, it'll be a vast expanse of nothingness.

She looked behind her trying to find a sense of where that voice was from earlier, however, as she looked around she notice a small dot.

A little black speck, it was so far away yet, it was noticeable against the endless blanket of whiteness.

Slowly, that dot started getting bigger. Beyond that dark opening gave her an ominous feeling that scared her a little.

The expansive whiteness of nothing made her comfortable, too comfortable.

Qin Qianyu stood in place and and cast a few questioning glances in the two directions. This made her think about why these two opposing forces were both vying for her.

"White is good. It's happy, it's calming. Black is the opposite, it's scary, unnerving . . Bad."

"But on the flip side, White is too comfortable, I'm in a distressed situation yet this whiteness, it's like trying to keep me here. The Dark side however, it reminds me of life! . . Life is scary, it's daunting, unnerving and can be bad. But it doesn't have to be."

Qin Qianyu made up her mind. She started walking towards the dark side without a second thought.

She didn't want to stay in that white vastness anymore. To Qin Qianyu, she hadn't finished off her tasks. She hadn't paid back what was owed.

The whiteness with all its comfy essentials reminded Qin Qianyu of resting once all the work is done.

"Sorry about it, but I still have some ways to go. I can't rest now. I'll rest when I'm dead."

This was where her thoughts had led her to. If she stayed in the whiteness, she'll die for real.

The dark side however, it gave her a reason to keep fighting, to get back to where she needed to be and a reason to carry on living.

Soon the darkness swallowed her whole.

"Have I finally descended into madness?"

"Ah! . . Your awake, good! . . Hehe good,"

"Hmm!? . . Grandpa? . . "

"Mhm, . . Don't move you're not light you know."

"Whuuuuwu . . "

" . . . "

"Don't cry, it's alright,"

"How can I not cry!? . . I've completely lost the plot!"

" . . . "

"First I dream about a 12 ft tall woman who tells me I'm Asura, then I wake up and Bai Saan has turned blind! . . I want to fix him but he chewed through my medicine bag trying to drag me to safety. Then I end up blacking out again and find myself in a sea of whiteness, but like a dumbass, I choose the scary dark side. And now . . Wuuu . . Now I'm hallucinating about you and I'm even talking to you and to make it worse . . You're . . talking . . back."

"Mhm, it's been tough on you . . "

"Mm, . . And it's all your fault fake Grandpa!"

" . . . "

"Why is it my fault?"

"Shouldn't you already know why? . . For a hallucination you're quite dumb!"

" . . . "

"You don't even know you're being schemed against! . . I have to come down here to try and find you, only to still die by Xiong Jianguo's trap!"

"Alright stop moving around! I already said that you're not light."

Soon, Qin Qianyu's vision started to clear up a little. She started seeing shapes, she soon saw a human size head.

Qin Qianyu reached out her hand and found a cheek.

"Grandpa?"

"Mhm, just rest okay."

Qin Qianyu's mind shut off at that point. She couldn't tell what was real anymore. Her head went droopy, and soon, it rested on Grandpa Wú's chest.

He released the point he had pressed down on to make her sleep and sighed deeply.

Her arm, still outstretched. Her hand started slipping downwards and caught his neck.

Grandpa Wú stopped and readjust Qin Qianyu in his arms.

Qin Qianyu wasn't hallucinating. Grandpa Wú had flew over from Cebu to Laos on a private plane he had chartered.

The entire flight was two and half hours.

Once he landed he saw a black butterfly had fluttered past him as he just walked out of the terminal. This caused him to panic a little from this ominous sign.

After finding his bearings, he used shadowless steps and followed the map he had in hand.

The map led to the same cliff face Qin Qianyu and Xiong Jianguo had used earlier.

He soon found Xiong Jianguo's body slumped on the ground. He started looking around and soon came across the door Qin Qianyu had entered where he eventually found her and Bai Saan.

Grandpa Wú hogtied Bai Saan and carried him like a backpack whilst carrying Qin Qianyu in his arms.

He finally returned to the room that Qin Qianyu and Xiong Jianguo fought in and sat down on the ground with both Qin Qianyu and Bai Saan.

He was truly exhausted.

Grandpa Wú started coughing up blood as he lay there trying to catch his breath. He was too tired to even spit at this point.

His chest started tightening and a throbbing pain smashed his head like it was an anvil.

His breathing started to shorten as he closed his eyes.

The room was dead quiet.

After some time, Qin Qianyu started to stir.

She flopped around a little, still disoriented. As she tried to regain focus her senses slowly but surely returned.

The first of her senses was her sense of touch.

She felt that she was touching someone but didn't know who or what. Qin Qianyu blinked quickly to get her vision to return.

As she was doing so, Qin Qianyu's memory started coming back in drips and drabs as she recalled what had transpired. Soon, it all came back. The dream, the blackout and decision she made in the white space and even her hallucinated conversation with Grandpa Wú.

As all the memories to that point came back so did her vision.

"It wasn't a hallucination! . . He . . He came for me!?"

Qin Qianyu stared wide eye. She saw how he was covered in his own blood, Bai Saan was also strapped to his back.

The memory of him telling her to keep still made sense to her now.

Qin Qianyu quickly pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind for the time being. She undid the straps that bound Bai Saan's legs then carried Grandpa Wú to the stone slab that the fake Grandpa was once on.

She quickly felt his pulse and found he was just exhausted. Qin Qianyu sighed in relief as she calmed herself down some more and started cleaning away the blood around his mouth.

After doing so, she found a bottle of five form liquid and poured some into his mouth. She rubbed his throat and chest to help it go down smoothly.

"How did he find me here?"

Qin Qianyu asked herself as she slowly and gently massaged Grandpa Wú's frail looking limbs. She couldn't get over how he carried she and an adult tiger all the way out of that room.

"I guess you'll tell me all about it when you wake up."

Qin Qianyu added before going over to Bai Saan and checking him out as well.

She massaged his muscles and gingerly lifted his eyelid she was hesitant at first but she held her breath and forced herself to look.

She had remembered how his eyes looked. They were lifeless with all the colour drained out of the irises.

"Haa! . . Blue! . . Hahaha!"

She checked the other and she was a little concerned. It was still dull, like how she remembered it from that time.

But then Bai Saan started to blink, then stir. He sat up and stared at Bai Saan in amazement. It wasn't because of the shock that he had woken up, but because the dullness started retreating back and the colour of his normal eye colour returned.

In fact they were even bluer than what she had remembered.

Qin Qianyu latched on to his head and cuddled him tightly. Bai Saan flicked his head against hers in return.

"Thank you,"

"Awor roah!"

Bai Saan replied back with a throaty whine. Qin Qianyu just giggled and pet him heavily the pair stayed like this for some time. At first it was just to make sure he was really alright, then it was purely for the comfort factor.

"Now that you're awake, look who I found! . . Oh wait! That should be the other way around. He actually found us and carried us both out of that room."

Bai Saan looked over an saw Grandpa Wú laying on the slab. He got up and circled around the old man once, then using his head, he rubbed it against his hand.

It was a sign of gratitude from beast to man.

"Alright. Now that you're awake, wait here with him ok! . . I need to collect all the things that dropped out of the bag."

Bai Saan whined out loudly as if saying that she shouldn't go. That was what it sounded like to Qin Qianyu.

She cocked an eyebrow. A thought hit her suddenly

"It can't be? . . Saan, do you understand me? . . Uh raise a paw for yes and leave it down for no,"

Qin Qianyu says as she raised an arm then put it down.

She looked to Bai Saan in anticipation, she didn't have to wait long as the Tiger raised a paw.

" . . . "

Qin Qianyu's mouth was agape, her eyes wide with excitement.

"Mhm, let's test him out to make sure it wasn't a coincidence."

Qin Qianyu thought to herself as she readied a series of questions to ask the Tiger.

"Is that Grandpa Wú?"

"Yes,"

"Haha! That's right, it is! . . Is your name Wangxi?"

"No! . . Hehehe, thats right your name is Saan isn't it."

Bai Saan raised his paw indicating his answer. Qin Qianyu was amazed, she looked to Bai Saan, discombobulated,

"Was it the pond water? . . "

Qin Qianyu mumbled to herself then she saw the paw. She nodded and waved the Tiger to lower his paw.

"This is good, then . . "

She searched her bag again but soon realised that the bottle of pond water she had taken as a sample wasn't in there.

"I know you don't want me to go back in there, but I know better now, so I'll go straight in and straight out ok!"

Bai Saan whined again and kept his paws firmly on the ground.

"It'll be fine I promise. Please just stay and watch over the old man for me okay!"

With that said, Qin Qianyu used her cloak to plug the tear in her bag so that nothing fell out.

She went to the door leading to the pond chamber. She cracked all of her chem-sticks and using shadowless steps she made a beeline towards the pond.

As she did so, she dropped the chem-sticks where items had dropped out of her torn bag, marking them for collection for on her way out.

Once at the pond, Qin Qianyu took the bladder from the camel pack she had emptied prior, and started filling it to capacity.

An entire 5 litres.

She looked to the flower swaying from the water being disturbed, then she saw it.

"Tsk! . . Spores? . ."

Qin Qianyu frowned,

"What if, what ever happened to Bai Saan was a combination of both the spores and the pond water. Or could the spores be responsible for knocking us out?"

"Agh, forget it, I'll come back once I'm better equipped. I learn your secrets one day."

As soon as she said that, a flash went off in her mind, this was followed up with a voice.

"Here, take this as a parting gift. I'm sure it'll come in handy."

Qin Qianyu flung her head side to side looking for the source of the voice, it was so loud it was like the person speaking was right next to her.

She shook the stray thoughts in her head and started for the exit, picking up both the lost items and chem-sticks along the way.