7 Yangtze River

I fell down on the river.

Without knowing that I will be in blister.

I was afraid at first sight.

But then, I knew, I was in a state of fright.

***

THE YEAR 2021, 500 centuries away from Zhaochong Empire.

The box landed on the depths of the water as Althea ignored the guide, who was crying few meters apart from her. She turned her head to the side but as soon as she stepped to stay away from the deck, she tripped on the railings.

Althea opened her mouth slightly as she found herself falling on the cold water by the deck. The guide was gasping in his place as the people around the area watched as Althea fell down on the river. The guide sprinted up the deck as he retrieved a life jacket and floatation device while the other guards were running up the steps. Lots of people, who were in a picnic down by the lawn, and saw that there was someone who fell.

Althea felt the shiver all over her body as she succumbed to the water. The bubbles came out from her mouth as she tried to control the surge coming from her body, fighting the gravity, and was nervous about what will happen to her because of how deep the river was. The bejeweled box was floating meters underneath her, but she didn't notice it. Althea tried to swim upwards in all she could, but she knew that she couldn't do it.

The water of the river was bitingly cold, that even if Althea was wearing a coat and double clothes to be kept warm, it would not lessen the sharp and numbing temperature of the waters. She used up all of the strength she had on trying to swim upwards as she widened her eyes when she saw a piece of floatation equipment right from where she fell. She gasped for more air, but she knew that it was impossible. She closed her eyes as she felt the numbness through her limbs, and she gave up from her life.

She floated right in the middle of the waters as her heart was beating slower than usual. She closed her lips too, making her out of breath, as she let her body loose and die in the depths of the river. She heard the loud and distant cries of the people on the top of the river, but she knew that what she was hearing was gone too. She lost it, and she knew that it will be the end of her life.

Her breath stopped abruptly as few bubbles came out from her mouth. After a few minutes of floating in the waters, something light up underneath her as it surged through the weeds on the seafloor. The bejeweled box that Althea threw had opened itself, and light passed through the deep ends of the river. The gleaming light sent an alarming ringing right through Althea's ears and her eyes shot up, widened, jolted up with the sound. She twitched in the middle of the water as she tilted her head back.

Althea found her strength once more as she moved her limbs and swam all her might towards the surface. The hair and coat were flowing on her back as she glanced upwards and she was surprised to see herself determined to flag her arms The light was still evident underneath the waters, but Althea didn't notice it. She swam and swam, and she was surprised when she reached the surface. She gasped for more air as she let herself float above the river. She squinted her eyes as she was confused on why the deck she had been setting foot earlier had gone.

She ignored it for a while as she swam towards the nearest shore and she grabbed a hold towards the land that she felt on her palms. She sniffed as she hoisted herself on the land and was successfully drowned out from the water. She laid down, facing her front, while she was coughing a lot of the water she drank up while she was in the middle. She huffed as she grunted and closed her eyes.

Althea sat up in a sitting position as she was still recovering from what happened to her. She panted as she turned her head towards the side where she fell. She furrowed her eyebrows a little as the beating of her heart was catching up at her lungs. She rubbed her eyes as she knew that she saw the deck right in her eyes when she fell down but she was confused on why it disappeared all of a sudden.

She swallowed as she slowly stood up from the lawn as opened her mouth slightly. She walked towards the side of the river as she looked all over the area. She opened her mouth wide as she saw that the lawn, with families doing picnics and stuff, was gone. She creased her forehead as she turned and looked around the area while she whispered, "What happened?"

She walked swiftly on the lawn and the stairs that she had been on when she was rushing to throw the box had disappeared. The railings on the side of the river had vanished too, and she covered her mouth with her hand. She bit her lip as she was baffled by what she was seeing while she looked up and saw a passerby.

She ran up the steps as she approached that passerby, who was wearing ancient traditional clothes for peasants during the Qing Dynasty. It was long, ranging in different colors like brown and white, and the skirt was covering his legs. Althea was surprised that she was now seeing one of them. The passerby had a sack --- that was formed into a bag, with bamboo strips as support--- on his back, a stick on his right hand, and his long hair had been tied up in a knot on the top of his head. She gasped in her place as the man was observing what she was wearing. He furrowed his eyebrows as he passed by and ignored her completely.

Althea doesn't have the time to stop him from his walk because of how astonished she was. She asked herself while she tilted her head to the side, "What am I seeing?"

Althea slapped her hands through her face and she squealed in pain as she felt the sharpness on her cheeks. She gritted her teeth as she heard distant music on the other side of the lawn. Her jaw fell down on the floor as she realized where was she. She swallowed as her knees had gone weak when she realized that the Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel and Bridge had vanished in one blink.

She fell down on the dirty ground as she clasped both of her hands on her mouth while she was out of her breath. She heard loud, distant music from where she was sitting down and she was closing her eyes.

She heard the ringing once again as she covered her ears with her two pointy fingers. She grunted in pain as she let her head on the lawn while she was closing her eyes tightly. She squealed in pain.

She laid down on her front as she felt that she should clench her jaw while she was hearing things. The voice of her grandmother erupted right on her ears, simultaneously with the cymbals and gongs that she was hearing, as she listened to what it said.

"You will now meet him. King Wang Qing Long."

Althea's eyes shot up open as she sighed and opened her mouth slightly. The ringing halted, and she slowly removed her fingers from the hole in her ears. She swallowed as she stood up from her place while she was curious about what she had heard. She breathed inwardly as she closed her eyes and mumbled, "King Wang Qing Long? What... Am I going crazy?"

She squinted her eyes as she looked at the trees beyond from where she was standing and she just sighed. She knuckled her fists as she turned her heel towards the side of the river. She walked align as she was thinking to herself, deep in the thoughts from the past hours that she had heard her grandmother.

She shook her head, and said, "It was just an illusion. How could I... How could I meet someone who was cursed?"

She stopped in her tracks as she looked at the skies. She saw how gloomy it was, and how the clouds hid the sun abruptly on their back. She heard the lightning and thunder crackled in the skies altogether. She sighed as the rain dripped down heavily while she was standing there, aloof, didn't know where she was, and soaked all over. She pursed her lips as the tears formed in her eyes as she remembered what happened earlier.

"My fortunes were always taken aback from me," Althea gritted her teeth while she whispered it, infuriated, as she closed her eyes and let the tears escaped from her eyes.