Liu Zhenhan wiped his tear-streamed face with his sleeve, vision blurred by residual salt crystals crusting his lashes. The pyre's roaring flames cast flickering shadows across the carbonized Bixi remains, bamboo kindling popping like gunfire amidst his theatrical lamentations.
A shrill osprey cry pierced the mourning ritual's solemnity. Liu's head snapped upward, tracking the circling familiar before his combat-honed instincts triggered abrupt rotation - Helen's battered form materialized through dissipating smoke like spectral apparition.
Her porcelain complexion bore livid contusions resembling abstract watercolor, crimson abrasions marring alabaster skin where rappelling vines had scored epidermal layers. Sacerdotal vestments hung in tattered streamers, moss-stained hem dragging through combustion residue. The vision of vulnerability shattered Liu's stoic facade, crushing her against his sweat-slicked breastplate with infantryman's ferocity.
"Reckless fool!" he rasped through pharyngeal spasms, calloused palms mapping her injuries. "Twenty-meter vertical descent! Were gravitational principles omitted from sacerdotal curriculum?"
The vixen's trembling digits traced his soot-streaked features. "Seismic detonations reverberated through bedrock! I envisioned tectonic deities rending my beloved asunder!" Her lacquered nail paused at coagulated blood flecking his collar. "Why this funereal theatrics?"
"Cosmic mockery!" Liu's sweeping gesture encompassed the smoldering colossus. "I psionically bonded this mythical leviathan through Spiritual Hymns, only to witness immediate expiration! Neural contamination forces these accursed lacrimal secretions!"
Helen's analytical appraisal bypassed histrionics. "Sublunar draconic lineage!" she breathed, detecting residual psionic signatures. "Mentor Cecilia's swamp wyrm exudes identical etheric resonance! Had this Bixi survived, your sacerdotal status would eclipse provincial hierarchy!"
Semantic dissonance interrupted. "'Model'? Since when do chelonians participate in couture exhibitions?"
"Terminology derives from Modao dialect," Helen clarified, executing ritualized genuflection. "Tortoise-kin theocrats dominate southern deltas. This specimen's carapace alone warrants hierophantic veneration!"
Liu's derisive snort aerosolized residual tears. "Veneration through immolation? Your theological constructs baffle rationality!"
Meteorological intervention arrived as monsoonal deluge, hissing steam clouds engulfing the pyre. Liu's improvisational rainproofing involved swaddling Helen in phoenix-feather cloak while enduring nature's aqueous derision.
"Celestial weeping honors your camaraderie!" Helen proclaimed, pirouetting through downpour with mystic fervor.
"Celestial bladder infection more accurately!" Liu grumbled, squelching towards carbonized remains.
Post-conflagration analysis revealed the Bixi's carapace inscriptions glowing faintly through ash patina. Liu's digit traced archaic sigils. "Epigraphic enigma surpassing your linguistic databases?"
Helen's academic rigor surfaced through meticulous paleographic survey. "Neither High Elven runes nor Dwarven ciphers... perhaps pre-Cataclysm proto-script?" Her nail collected carbon samples. "The angular radicals suggest..."
"Mandarin seal script from my terrestrial origin!" Liu's revelation detonated like black powder charge. "This cosmological displacement theory demands..."
Helen's disciplinary repertoire proved comprehensive. "Quadrilingual fluency encompassing Common Trade, Vulgar Latin, and Desert Cant doesn't extend to celestial cartography! Even Hierophant Bromios struggles with Antediluvian stelae!"
Liu's earthshattering confession emerged through clenched dentition. "These glyphs translate as chronological coordinates - celestial longitude/latitude markers! This Bixi originated from my ancestral continuum!"
The revelation's gravity compressed atmospheric pressure. Helen's vulpine oculars dilated with epiphanic understanding. "Interplanar migratory patterns! The Bixi's psionic death-throes transmitted cosmic cartography!"
"Precisely!" Liu's excitement manifested through ash-disturbing gesticulation. "These numerals correspond to... wait, you comprehend multidimensional theory?"
"All sacerdotal initiates study Arcanum Cosmologica!" Helen's didactic tone resurfaced. "Though practical applications remain... theoretical." Her digit tapped glowing numerals. "These coordinates could map planar intersections!"
Liu's mindscape erupted with possibilities. "Reverse-engineering this spatial matrix... potential homeward trajectory calculation..." His enthusiasm deflated abruptly. "Requiring advanced astrolabic instrumentation beyond bamboo-tech capacity."
Helen's consolation involved tactile reassurance. "The Bixi's legacy transcends corporeal demise. Its carapace becomes reliquary - psionic resonance chamber for future experiments!"
"Experiments require laboratory infrastructure!" Liu kicked carbonized femur in frustration. "Our technological baseline barely exceeds Neolithic parameters!"
"Intellectual poverty!" Helen's rebuke carried scholastic authority. "The Bixi's neural remnants may retain mnemonic imprints! Through meditative..."
Interpersonal dynamics shifted as Liu's calloused palm silenced further theorizing. "Prioritize survival mechanics! This coordinates revelation demands..." His strategic reassessment dissolved into incoherent muttering.
The rainfall intensified its aqueous assault, transforming ash into bituminous slurry. Liu's pragmatic instincts resurfaced. "Shelter acquisition priority! Your hyperactive cerebellum can philosophize beneath waterproofing!"