Separate Lives (II)

I disappear,

Would I reappear?

I wanted to disperse,

It was a reverse.

***

THE YEAR 1904, a century away from the present time.

"We all know why she became a Healer, are we?" Mei asked it again for the nth time. She nodded while Qing Long shifted his eyes from her.

"The Healers are Healers because they wanted to curse you over and over again. The one you have met... she has a reason why she despised you in every way she can. If she will loathe you for the given time that she had been granted, we will stay as we are and we will never break off from the curse," Mei explained once again as Qing Long didn't even turn his head.

"The Last Healer that you have seen cursed you on her timeline. And I am sure of it, Wang Qing Long. How can you... how can you say that she wanted to heal you from the curse because she wanted it...," Mei wanted not to pretend because of what happened to her after all these years. She had been cursed not to bleed for the entirety of the curse, meaning... she will not bleed to death even though she had wielded with the knife through her abdomen.

Not only the sword, the only one that could make her die was Qing Long's Jian sword. But Qing Long will never do it. He will not. He promised that he will be healed by the Healers that had been granted upon him, the deities had helped him to lift off the curse. But what use of it to die with blood when you all know that you had lived in a fiery pit throughout the range of centuries?

Mei sighed as she said, "I am not going to bleed even though you bite me, as an azure dragon that you are, Wang Qing Long. I wish... I could see even a drop of my blood to know if I am alive or not."

Qing Long averted his eyes from the windows, the moonlight was evident, and he was pitying Mei more than himself. Mei looked at the side and turned around while Qing Long felt a soothing sensation on the Nian beast's bite.

It was a long story... and it was the excruciating feeling of hell inside the human world...

Wang Qing Long was not the only one who had been cursed by that day. He was with his eunuch, the loyal court ladies of the Zhaochong Empire, and the remaining knights that had lived by his side. Almost all of the people of the Zhaochong Empire lived through the nightmare of that particular Lunar New Year, but when the morning struck, the whole village, even the crying children, had been granted upon death after death.

The King, Wang Qing Long, and almost all of the staffs of the palace had summoned to wake once again, only to find out that they were alive.

They were alive only on the soul, but their body was dead.

That day, he turned into a dragon for about a day, but surprisingly, he turned into a human once again.

Wang Qing Long woke up on that cliff, without nothing to cover his entire naked body, and he saw the eunuchs on the side of the horses, who had been stabbed into death. The Nian Beast had vanished into thin air, but he was left with the curse.

All of them were surprised that they had been spared, but every people that had remained loyal to his side had been cursed with their sins.

Mei had been granted the life of not bleeding even in a deep swig of the sword, reflecting what she had done for Wang Qing Long's Empire as a knight. She was a cruel knight, killing everybody's families based on their rivals, and she was always holding a dagger in her hand.

The eunuchs had been granted the life being an ox, whereas Qing Long had been a cursed dragon, they... were waiting for their lives to be slaughtered and feasted upon, but they were out of their own luck. They had been living across from the town of the Empire, away from Wang Qing Long, only seeing each other when they ran past to the market.

This time of Lunar New Year, they must have lingered a lot in the woods to scrape some food through their carnivorous mouths.

Several court ladies on the Zhaochong Empire lived on with their curses, but even then, the former Six Healers had not been able to lift off the curse and died in their own way, protecting everyone, even him.

Wang Qing Long had been brought back to reality when something smashed on the floor. He held onto his wound a little and stood up, only to find out that Mei had broken her precious pot. He walked a little slower than usual towards the kitchen and leaned on the wooden door frame. He sighed as Mei looked at the other side and knelt down on the floor.

She picked up the shards without even flinching and placed them on the wooden table. Mei didn't even notice Wang Qing Long on the kitchen door while he breathed, "Althea Xi was different from what I've seen. She is the only one who could lift off the curse, and I am sure of it."

"How can you be so confident with your words, Qing Long? We are living for a thousand years now, trying to believe everything that the deities were saying... but the Nian Beast was still there," Mei picked up the last piece of the broken pot on the table.

"Tell me something, Qing Long. The first time she had seen you, she would have said something that must have sent a painful tinge on your guts," Mei pointed it out as she knew that Qing Long was just hiding it. Qing Long looked straight through her eyes, shadow white to coffee, and she shook her head.

"I am sure she will regret everything if she will do it," Mei concluded while she stood there with her knuckled fists.