A Tale of Forgotten Gods

Chapter 26: Buried Hope

The forest thinned. The sick twilight that had coated everything, the trees, the air, and Mo Fei’s skin, now peeled away like a bad memory. His face glowed when the light hit him... Real, warm and comforting.

He’d forgotten what warmth felt like. He ran toward the exit. At the tree line, stood Jian Yue, and Lin beside him. Both of them were armed.

Jian Yue’s eyes found Mo Fei first. "There!"

Mo Fei burst from the trees, his breathing intense, the children stumbling in his hands. Mo Fei didn’t stop until he was past the tree line, and the invisible boundary. He had past everything that had been trying to kill him for the past 45 minutes or maybe more.

He finally fell to his knees. The children collapsed beside him, both of them catching their breath. For a moment, no one spoke.

Jian Yue reached him first. He grabbed Mo Fei’s shoulder, squeezed it hard enough to hurt, then let go. A small greeting, or maybe confirmation of a promise.

Lin arrived a step behind. Her eyes scanned him head to toe, cataloging wounds, dirt sticking to clothes, and hair messy like a bush. "You look like shit." She said, though a small sigh escaped from her lips.

Mo Fei gasped, a small laugh at his own state... His own recklessness. "Fifty minutes of running from ghosts. You try it, and see if your clothes don’t get dirty."

"I have." Her voice was flat. "I just don’t take souvenirs." Her eyes dropped to the children. The boy clutched a locket in his small, dirty hands.

The boy couldn’t stop staring at the locket in his hands and turning it over. Tracing the edges like he was afraid it would disappear. The star shape fascinated him.

And the girl just stared at the forest, where her sister wasn’t coming back, and would never.

Lin’s face went pale when she recognized the locket. "Where," her voice barely a whisper. "did you get that?"

The boy looked up at her, then at Mo Fei, then back at the locket. "The..." her tone startled the boy. He hesitated and pointed at Mo Fei. "The one-eyed man gave it to me."

A soft chuckle escaped her mouth at his words. But as soon as it appeared, it disappeared too.

Mo Fei, still on his knees, gasping for air, saw the movement. He saw her face and understood: nothing in these worlds was a coincidence. Mo Fei saw the recognition on her face. "Rang some bell?"

She ignored his words and stared at the locket in the boy’s hands like it was a ghost. Lin’s eyes finally found Mo Fei’s. For a long moment, neither spoke.

Then Mo Fei said very quietly: "Don’t stare like I stole it from someone; it doesn’t look that expensive." lin glared at Mo Fei, and he quickly averted his gaze. "Okay, I found it... In World 2. In an empty house’s room that had a mirror. I just thought it was of a dead person."

Lin’s jaw tightened. "You’ve been carrying it like a maniac."

"I didn’t know."

"And?" Her voice was barely audible.

"Just have it back if you are so desperate." Lin didn’t say anything afterward and looked at the boy who was staring at her face.

The girl glanced back again, clenching her dress.

Jian Yue watched Mo Fei’s eye, covered in the same cloth. "Why are you covering it?"

Mo Fei stood up slowly, and he dusted off his clothes. "... Ascension didn’t heal it."

Jian Yue’s gaze locked into Mo Fei’s covered eye. A strip of coarse, grey-hued cloth was tied tightly around his head, completely concealing the right eye. Jian Yue moved closer and placed his right hand on Mo Fei’s head, gently patting him. "Don’t worry, we’ll be your eyes." Jian Yue grinned with a half-hearted smile.

Mo Fei’s lips twitched in a grin too. "You are really acting like a captain."

The boy studied Lin’s expression. He held the locket toward her. "It’s yours? You want it back?" Lin’s heart pounded; her head shook in denial. She stared once again at the locket and her eyes softened.

"If you are fond of it. You may keep it, but keep it safe." The boy nodded solemnly. Lin’s focus shifted to the girl, her eyes red and puffy. Lin sat down to look at her.

"That look doesn’t suit you. What is your name?" Her hand moved to her head and ruffled the girl’s head.

The girl flinched from the sudden touch. "Xi... Xin Yi."

"Then the expression really doesn’t suit you."

"Let’s get going now." Jian Yue’s voice interrupted, his hands raised toward them to get them to stand up and walk. "Zhuo is waiting." Mo Fei’s ears perked at the name, and then he sighed.

"He is safe then."

Xin Yi, the one who lost her sister, finally looked away from the forest. Her hand pulled the back of Mo Fei’s cloth. "Mei is still there... What will happen?"

Everyone went still for longer than a second; their steps stopped on the track.

Mo Fei met her gaze. "... She may have become an angel... Yeah, she will protect you after all, right?"

"She was scared of the dark." The girl’s voice was flat. Empty, her tears had dried up. "She always slept with the candle lit. Mother said she’d grow out of it."

The words stuck in Mo Fei’s throat, that he couldn’t swallow.

"She didn’t..." Xin Yi stopped.

There was nothing to say, or even if there was, something couldn’t be said to a child. There were always a few things that no one could fix.

Grief was one of those very things.

Mo Fei walked ahead with Jian Yue, who walked silently but with a comforting silence. But every few steps, Jian Yue glanced back at them. Mo Fei noticed that he was counting them, making sure no one fell behind.

The children followed Mo Fei, staying closer to him than others. Behind him, the forest went quiet... Waiting for someone to be offered... Again.

Lin slowed down her step, walking beside Mo Fei. A quiet whisper came from Lin. "It belonged to my younger brother." Mo Fei didn’t stop or ask; he kept walking. His eye looked at the ground before raising back to the path.

They kept walking. The sun rose on the horizon; the air was cold, but with every step, the sunrise brought a tentative golden warmth to their faces. A promise of another dawn. Then the gateway of South Cleveland came into view. The vast metal seemed like it was covering the earth itself.

When they got closer to it, the gate unleashed the scent of dusty parchment and old glue. It undercut with the pungent aroma of wet asphalt, vinegar, and cold iron.

Zhuo had been watching from the gate, waiting patiently. His ears twitched when he heard some footsteps coming toward his direction, and his eyes lightened when he saw the figures emerging from the runway. He rushed toward them.

Zhuo burst from the gate entrance, his feet pounding the green ground. He didn’t stop until he was beside the group, breathing hard and eyes Wide. "You’re alive," he said like he hadn’t quite believed it until now. Who could believe it when the first thing someone saw was ghosts that lurked around them?

Mo Fei noticed him. His eyes met the boy, who was filled with quiet enthusiasm, like a cub of a wolf. Mo Fei’s eyes looked at his body; Zhuo’s wounds had healed completely. "Yeah," Mo Fei waved his hand. "Still working on that."

Zhuo’s face broke into a grin. Then his eyes darted to the children. The boy with the locket, and the girl stared at nothing as if day dreaming. "Who are they?"

Mo Fei opened his mouth to answer, but Zhuo had already knelt down near them. For a moment, both of the kids froze at the presence of a new person. Their figures moved closer to Mo Fei.

Zhuo’s voice came out in a soft tone. "You look tired. I’m too; I waited a long time. Are you hungry? Should I get you something? What are your names?"

Both of their eyes stared at each other; their tensed expressions gradually shifted to comfort, overwhelmed by the relentless questions. They could only answer one.

"Xin Yi."

"Hao Yu"

Zhuo stood up with his hands locked together, and he stretched them. After a long wait. "When are we entering the city?" Zhuo asked.

"Now." Jian Yue replied.

Zhuo nodded before turning his face toward the city.

They approached the gate. The talismans fluttered with the view of the city opened like a mouth and swallowed them without a sound.

Mo Fei had imagined the gate hundreds of times in the forest, an exit, and safety. Now it loomed before him, but all he felt was exhaustion.

The gate guards have noticed them approaching the city of hope.

At the gate, a figure in worn leather armor stood up. His hand rested on a blade that had seen better decades. Behind him, two more guards peered through the talismans. Their eyes had dark circles. Their steps tripped from the late-night guarding.

"Strangers," one muttered.

"With children," another added.

The first guard, who was older and held a scar under his left ear, shook his head. His hand raised to scratch his beard. "Not our problem. Though, how are they outside? We saw none moving out last night."

The scent of the city hardened. They reached the gateway and stopped.

The older guard stepped forward; the wind whipped through his beard, causing it to stream behind him like smoke. His voice was tired and firm. "You there. Stop."

They had already stopped.

He looked at them, his eyes sweeping each of them, tracking their every movement. To the one-eyed man, to the woman wearing Han-Fu, and to the young warrior, then finally to the two children and Jian Yue.

"No one leaves the city at night. No one enters at dawn without reason. So give me one."

Jian Yue stepped forward. His hand moved away from the hilt of his blade as a reassurance of peace. "We’re travelers. The children are orphans we found in the woods. We seek shelter, food, and information about the pages."

The guard’s eyes narrowed at the word ’pages.’

"Pages cost everything; why do you seek them... An ascended?"

For a moment, Jian Yue considered his words. "Yes, we are."

The guards stared for a long moment; no one spoke or breathed. The guard’s laughter echoed with a dry, hollow sound. "I have suspected it." He stepped aside.

Another guard murmured; his hand closed around the spear. His head jolted from the sudden attack of sleep.

"Be aware."

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