6 A Strange Night

-Yunlan-

No one was able to sleep after what happen and Zhao could not blame them, because he was just as restless as any on his team. Shen Wei had immersed himself in trying to figure out those crazy notes for a while. He had not share with anyone else his theory about a guardian and he was grateful for that. Whatever or not something like that exited in those dangerous mountains, it was still far away and showed no signs to break the endless circle around the sealed part of the mountains.

Nevertheless, he was quite concerned about that, but he already had his hands full with Wang, which was performing a kind of ritual in the snow, so the gods will not be too mad at them from crossing to their sacred place. They had no evil intentions, only that of rescuing a loved professor and only had what they needed to defend themselves, in case there was the need.

Zhao looked at Shen, which was now looking at Wang with curiosity, his notes forgotten. He was probably observing the behavior of a shaman, when in times of crisis, although her husband, Sang was making a bit hard to do so, as he keep trying for her to stop. He had told him to leave her be, because her prayers were not harmful and if there was something really godly on those mountains, then her effort could actually make the difference.

He took two thermal cups with hot tea and walked toward Wei, offering him the warm drink. As he expected, despite the intense cold, the professor gave him a warm smile that make his already lovely face, even more welcoming. He had no doubt that Shen Wei was going to end, becoming the absolute owner of his fast beating heart, because he was already halfway there.

"Thank you, Guardian Zhao..." Shen said.

"Guardian Zhao? That's lovely..." Zhao smiled back, "But too impersonal, so call me Yunlan instead. We don't need to keep been formal anymore. You had already kiss me after all..." Shen Wei instantly coughed some tea, as he wasn't expecting the remainder so soon. It was a good thing most of the team were watching Wang performing her prayers and rituals, otherwise everyone would have turn their eyes his way, thanks to the shameless man sat at his side, who actually dared to laugh.

"You are truly enjoying seen me lose control, right?" Shen asked.

"Well, of course. You are cutter when you blush." Zhao said, making Shen sigh.

"How can you joke in times like this? I wonder..." He whisper.

"I'm not joking and in times like this, good humor is what we all need. Getting too worry will not change a single thing, nor make us move forward. So relax a bit Xiao Wei, we will find the missing professor and be on our way back, right after." Shen looked at him more seriously now.

"You think he is still alive? I had hope before, but after seen what happen with the militaries in just two nights..." He sighed, yet Zhao came closer and put a hand on one of his knees.

"Hey, we still don't know what exactly happen at the military's camp. Tomorrow morning, we will get as closer as we can and see if there are survivors. I had the feeling we haven't see the last of them yet. Also, we need to look for an alternative route in case we can't cross after the avalanche." Zhao reassured him.

"Of course, you are right, but... what about that?" Shen asked as he looked straight at the dark horizon in which the strange far away lighting could still be seen.

"One step at the time. We will worry about that when the time comes. If it is indeed a guardian, then only by the will of the gods it will spare us. I have no weapon to fight against a lighting beast. Then again, my luck is quite good, so maybe it will work wonders." Zhao joked, making the professor smile again.

"Then I will make sure to never lose your bracelet. Who know, it may save my life." Shen said, unconsciously touching the beads under his thick jacket. Then he rolled up his sleeve, to have a look at them more closely. "Yunlan, what's the meaning of these words you craved in each bead? I can't recognize them, which ancient runes did you use on them?" Shen asked a bit exited.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but they are not old runes from lost civilizations, just a bunch of nonsense put together. They looked right when I engraved them, so I use them like that." Zhao said.

"You are wrong... those are beads of power and they are indeed runes, from the times of the gods..." Wang voice said all of the sudden coming from behind, making both of them jump in fright.

"For the gods, don't go scaring your people like that! Do you want to give me a heart attack?" Zhao asked as his heart raced inside his chest.

"As if the god of luck will die so easily. Chief Zhao, I have prayed to the gods so they will grant us a safe pass through the mountains." Wang said as she looked at the shining moon.

"Well, that's good." Zhao said taking a zip of his still warm tea to calm his nerves.

"And they had grant it, for now. Tomorrow morning we will find a small cave exposed after the avalanche and it will lead us halfway thought the mountains. The rest of the way will depends on our fate." Shen Wei looked at her like he wanted to interrogate her. He probably was having a field trip with a subject of investigation, but she was his subordinate, so mentally apologizing to the shining eyes professor, he said...

"Thank you, go have a rest now. We will keep watching." He said.

"No beast will come close to us tonight. You have some rest too, Chief Zhao and so do you, professor. The nightmare will not come back again tonight." At that Shen Wei widen his eyes in pure surprise, yet Zhao half laughed urging Wang to go to her tent.

"Never mind her... she had some extra senses gifts, but most of the times is nonsense." He explained.

"She was right about my nightmare." Shen whisper as he watched the small camp fire.

"Well, you came to me because of a bad dream. That's not too hard to figure it out." He said.

"What about the cave we are supposed to find tomorrow?" Shen asked, as he take some notes.

"That's yet to be seen. It will be good if she is right and what is even better is that we can have a few hours of sleep, now that she is so confident about it."

"I rather not." Shen whisper again.

"Ah, the nightmare? Come on, Shen Wei, what am I here for?" Zhao open his arms and Shen blushed at the thought of him sleeping in the other man embrace.

"I still rather not." Shen said, avoiding his gaze. Zhao simply smiled. Eventually, exhaustion will take his toll on the professor and he will be there to carry him back to their tent. Fifteen minutes later, Zhao gently put the professor back on his sleeping bag and cover him with it, closing the zipper to conserve his heat. Then, he pulled his own sleeping bag closer, so if he had another nightmare he will know before the professor awakes.

The next morning, the weather remained clear of snow, so they broke off camp quite early and walked for long hours, only stopping to rest and eat, until they reached the place where the military team had camped. His team focus on trying to find either clues of what happen or survivors. However, ten minutes after searching, Wang called their attention, telling them she knew the way inside the mountains, just like she declared last night.

Shen Wei was too curious, so he followed that strange woman, not really looking back to see if someone else was following him. After a few more minutes of walking over a very narrow path, to his big surprise, they found an opening in the previous tick wall of ice. An ice cave.

"I'll be damn..." Da Qing whistle.

"Hum, this path really seems to lead to those close off mountains, Chief. The compass had gone crazy already." Lin said.

"Alright... guys, let's make sure this place is safe. Also, try to look for some indications someone else was here before, then we go deeper." Zhao said and his group obediently dispersed to secure the place.

"Hey Chief! I found something!" Chu said after a few minutes. In the snowy floor, there were marks of boots, military boots prints.

"I guess they are still alive."

"Yeah and they preparer a perimeter... have a look at this." Zhu said a bit further in. Zhao then saw a set of wires in diamond shapes in different sizes. However, there was no signs of anyone close or anything else. There were no prints coming from any kind of animals.

"Don't worry Chief, it's safe." Wang insisted and Zhao looked at Shen Wei, looking for his approval to keep going in.

"It's your call now, Shen Wei. Should we keep going?" Zhao asked him, although he already knew the answer.

"Yes. Let's hope we can find the professor in this path. Do you agree?" Shen turned to look at his team. Most of them accenting. Only Guo remained still.

"Guo?" Shen asked and Chu simply moved to sightly slap the young man in the back of his head.

"Don't mind him, Wei. He is just scared." Chu said for him.

"Hey, I'm not..." Guo protested.

"Of course you are. You didn't stop trembling last night, whispering, 'I'm so scare.'" Zhu laughed.

"He is such a scardy cat..." She said and Shen hoped that when Yunlan did embrace him, during what was left of the night, he wasn't embarrassing himself in such a way, although the look that Yunlan was giving him right now, tell him he had simply enjoyed hugging him for no particular reason. Seriously you... Shen sighed as he followed his Guardian into the belly of the mountain.

AN: Thanks for reading and sorry for the wait. Hope is still going in the right direction.