11 Where You Are

Da Xia sat still on the bed, her head throbbed in pain. Jia Yi finishes cooking soup and gives some for her to consume. Wu Zhou sits down by Da Xia, "You alright?" She lies back down on the bed, "Go away."

Jia Yi frowns then looks at Wu Zhou as she whispers, "Is she mad at you?" He shrugs his shoulder, "Whatever, it's not really my concern right now," slowly he gets up and walks over to Wen Qiang, "Enough with the games and all, you have to tell me what happened to you."

Ying Pei holds Xiao Jian as he falls asleep. Wu Zhou and Jia Yi listened to her side of the story. She begins, "You already know that most of everyone dislikes or fears me, maybe it's because I'm a cold person, or I just look terrifying. It's the royal families that especially hates me right?"

Wu Zhou pats her shoulders softly, "I don't care about who doesn't like you. We here, do and that's all it matters."

She continues with her story, "When you left me alone to grab some medicine from Hua Jia Yi's place, the Prince and his fellow soldiers barged into our place. Putting up talisman everywhere to cancel out my powers. And that was when a powerful shaman came by casting a spell, weakening and torturing me. They dragged me out the place to the Vanishing Mountains. I'm telling you, it was the King and Prince of Jin Xing Palace! At the mountains, they dared hit me, burning and cutting my skin. They..bled me til I can no longer stand. 'You took our blood, and now we'll drain you of yours to get ours back!' Was what the King said before the Prince kicked me down the cliff."

Da Xia was listening the entire time, she threw the blanket over her head and closed her tired eyes. She thought to herself, 'That kind of sounds like what I just dreamt of..'

Ying Pei interrupted her story, "Wen Qiang, is that Shaman still alive?" Wu Zhou sighs in regret, "I should have never left you alone, why didn't we leave together.."

Wen Qiang answers Ying Pei, "He's dead. I was going to get him back, but the moment I stepped in the house, he was hanging from the ceiling. Seemed like a ritual went wrong and he got possessed or something."

Jia Yi was frightened, "Possessed...hung himself to death.." Wu Zhou scoffs, "That's not possible, why would the-" he shakes his head, "Never mind, I understand the story of how he died".

Wen Qiang then looks back at everyone, "But I can't do anything now, I'm too weak to even put up a fight."

Xiao Jian then wakes up and rubs his eyes. The moment he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Wen Qiang. "Daddy, why does she have a black core?" He asks.

Ying Pei immediately stands up, "A black core?" Jia Yi begins thinking to herself, 'Nobody here should a have black core. We should all have our bright colored cores..unless they walked through hell and followed the laws of darkness, giving their selves to the evil. That's how someone's core can fade its color away..'

Da Xia rose up, "So what will you all do now?"

Wen Qiang requests everyone for a favor, "Can you all help me find my core? Before I fell off of Vanishing Mountains, they stripped my core away. Without it, I cannot use any Magic." Wu Zhou begins packing his belongings into a cotton like fabric bag, "Who took your core?"

She replies, "You obviously know exactly who has it."

Wu Zhou and Ying Pei looks at each other then back at Jia Yi. "Let's not go.." she tells the two guys. Xiao Jian runs to Da Xia and hugs her, "I want to stay with you and mommy." She smiles at him, "I'm not going anywhere."

Da Xia raises her head up, "Wen Qiang, will you be going too?" She replies to Da Xia, "Of course I am, it's my core. Why wouldn't I?"

Jia Yi holds her husband's hands, "What if something bad happens to you, Xie Ying Pei, I honestly don't want you to go." He hugs her, "Who do you think I am? I'll be fine Yi'er. I will come back safe and sound." Wu Zhou slightly tilts his head, "Let's go get Wen Qiang's core back!" He seemed quite happy.

Before he walks out the house with Ying Pei, he gives one last look at Da Xia. Something about her just bothered him in a way he worried for her. Wen Qiang tugs his robe lightly, "Come on."

And just like that, they all left. Xiao Jian didn't want to let go of Da Xia, "Aunty Xia, you smell good." She laughs, "Do I?" Jia Yi smiles, "He's taken a liking to you it seems." He then looks at his mother, "Mommy, Aunty Xia is a strong person." Da Xia confusingly thinks to herself, 'strong?'

Did he see something in her again? Or was he just joking around? Jia Yi then asks him, "Can you tell me how she's strong?"

"Her powers are growing a lot mommy! Sooner or later it will take over the world!" He jumps off of Da Xia's arms and imitates a bird soaring in the sky. She smiles at Jia Yi awkwardly, "He's..just joking..right?"

Jia Yi instantly replies back, "He's probably not. You're part of Mei Gui clan, hence why you have a bright red core. Their core symbolizes a red rose which can mean lots of things. They're quite strong, but don't get me wrong, every clan is as equally strong as Mei Gui clan. Wen Qiang..Xian Yue, after their clan was destroyed, they were the only remaining ones left. Which is exactly why Wu Zhou keeps saying that there should only by two bright red cores left in this world."

Da Xia shakes her head in frustration, "I don't get it.. why did their clan collapse? Did they do something to upset someone... and why did Xian Yue choose ME to give the core to? She doesn't even know me."

While walking to their way to the Palace, Wu Zhou talks to Ying Pei and Wen Qiang, "If talking it out doesn't work, just know I'm taking the first move." Ying Pei disagrees, "Don't put out a move, let them attack first. Therefore it'll look like we're defending ourselves from their reckless actions."

"But what's the point? Either way we're going to be fighting anyways," Wen Qiang points out.

Wu Zhou crosses his arms, "Right?" Ying Pei sighs, "Just listen to me. It really doesn't matter if we end up fighting, what matters will be determined from our actions. We only came to politely ask for her core back, and if they want to make a scene out of that, it'll be their fault as to why the fight even started in the first place."

Wen Qiang pouts, "It's whatever." Something then strikes in Wu Zhou's mind, he looks at Wen Qiang, "Were we always this distant with each other? I don't remember us being so apart.. I also don't remember you being so.. rude to Ying Pei?" She smiles at him, "Oh dear, people too, change over the years."

He puts on a frown, "I guess so, but it's just that you never really talk back to Ying Pei, not give attitudes." Ying Pei pats Wu Zhou's back, "Don't think too much about it." He slows down his walking, letting Ying Pei and Wen Qiang walking in front of him.

"Did I change too?"

Xue Qin gets off his horse. He gives it a pat on its head and walks in towards the mountains. "Wait here," he orders his men to stay behind as he walks through the mountains.

While walking around, he notices something in the corner of his eyes. He turns around and sees a translucent barrier, "What is this?" Calmly, he chants and writes the spell onto the barrier. In blinding sight, the barrier created by Ying Pei broke off into pieces of holographic crystals that disappeared in the thin air.

Startled, Jia Yi and Da Xia looks at each other. "Mommy, someone is here," Xian Jian quietly whispers as he hides behind and holds his mother's hand. Da Xia walks towards the door, "I'll check it out."

"No, I will! You stay here with Xiao Jian!" Jia Yi quietly whispers to her. Before Da Xia walked back to them, the door opened widely. She turns around to see who it was.

Jia Yi and Da Xia's eye's widens as Xue Qin speaks out, "JiangDa Xia? You were here this whole time?"