10 The Guardian

-Yunlan-

As they go down, Zhao Yunlan was rather pleased with his lover, because Shen Wei was in perfect synchrony with his movements. He had tied himself with others inexperienced partners in a similar way and it had been a disaster, because as they jumped down they simply used too much force or none at all and it had make the descend quite hard for him, but Shen Wei was simply an extension of him, as if he simply knew exactly how he wanted him to move.

So, he found himself enjoying having the perfect man securely connected to his harness atop of him, as they keep making small jumps with the right amount of force over the face of the cliff, slightly stopping to make another jump.

"You are quite good at this, Xiao Wei..." Zhao whisper to the professor ear, making him lose concentration for a second, stopping completely over the wall. Zhao then, secured the rope in the spot, mentally face slapping himself for the sudden interruption when they have moved down so beautifully as one.

"Yunlan..." She Wei whisper back, though looking at the solid rock wall, a bit at his right.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have make you lose concentration." Zhao apologize.

"It's not that, look... claw marks." Zhao focus his vision in the area Shen Wei pointed, but although they had thrown some torches down, which slightly illuminate the bottom of the cliff and the others were also using torches at the top, he could barely distinguish something right in the middle of the cliff.

"Wei, just how good is your vision? Do you really need those sexy eyeglasses of yours? Because, honestly I can't see much and I had been told to have a perfect one." Zhao said and Shen Wei, smiled.

"For some unknown reason, I see far better at night than in daylight." He explained, looking back at him.

"Damn, you are not only striking beautiful and smart, you are also supernaturally gifted too..." Shen smiled even more charmingly.

"You are also something else Yunlan..." Shen said back.

"Mmm, so lovely. Can I kiss you?" Zhao joked and Shen coughed.

"Please focus. Do you really can't see the mark in the stone? It's quite big to miss." Shen said.

"Okay... do you have the glowing sticks Lin gave you before?" Zhao asked as they still hang in the middle of the cliff.

"Yes, I have some in my jacket pockets..."

"Oh, that's perfect." Zhao wasted not time to use his free hand to look for the thin sticks inside Shen's pocket, while he kissed his neck in the process. Instantly, Shen Wei flushed like mad, trying to sallow a moan, because that had always been a sensitive spot for him.

"Yunlan... for heaven's sake, I can look for them myself." He protested as he felt the curios hands moving inside his jacked.

"But where's the fun in that? We should enjoy our time together as much as we can... we don't know what could happen next..." Zhao said in his hot red ear.

"Liar... you just like to tease me." Zhao laughed.

"Well, that too... you are so shy that is damn hot and cute..."

"Zhao Yunlan, please... the others are almost reaching the end, this is important... It will give us an idea of what we will be facing eventually."

"Okay my Wei, let's see those claw marks of yours." Zhao said more seriously now, as he bend the stick to illuminate the surface and he was a bit shocked to find that Shen Wei was indeed right, because he could clearly see a claw mark on the wall, but not the average one. What he was looking at was huge, four deep claws and one kind of talon.

"Babe... this is..." Zhao whisper.

"I think this belong to the guardian, not a demon... it's too big to fit those the professor draw, and you said there was lighting, right?" Shen asked.

"Yeah... the screeching was quite piercing, or so they told me. Honestly I barely hear it." He said, making Shen Wei look back at him again.

"Were you in some kind of trance, Yunlan? They said only you remained standing. What did you do?" Shen asked curiously.

"Who know? Actually... that part is a bit fogy in my mind. So... is the guardian some kind of dragon or something? I mean, those intervals lighting that appeared up and down, looked like something flying when we watch it from afar and if we add this mark then..."

"That will be..."

"Yeah, damn incredible. Still..." Zhao held the professor waist, after throwing the stick down, allowing darkness to return. "We are going to close that door, even if we face the king of hell himself. I promise." Shen smiled again.

"You know... in that dream, I was told we had been lovers for centuries in many past lives. Now I know why, because you... Yunlan, you are..."

"Hey! Is something wrong up there?! Chief Zhao, you are not flirting with the professor, right?!" Zhu yelled from bellow, as she and Lin reached the end of the cliff and Zhao sighed.

"Damn Zhu, she is so noisy and it was getting interesting. What were you going to said, hum?" Zhao said as he rested his shin on Wei's shoulder.

"Never mind that, let's go down." Shen said.

"But, Xiao Wei, you were going to tell me something very juicy... past lover's and all..."

"I will tell you later. Down, Yunlan... please?" He flushed so much that Zhao laughed before they resumed their descend and as soon as they reached the end, Zhao unhook Shen from his harness.

"You guys saw the claw marks as you go down?" Zhao asked to both Lin and Zhu.

"What mark? It was all dark until almost the end." Lin said a bit confused, looking up.

"See, babe, you are awesome..." Zhao whisper to Shen, making him turn red yet again. "We saw claw marks, very big ones at that. So, we must be very careful from here on, because whatever a guardian or a demons, this beast is no joke. I guess I will have to pass on a little of my luck onto you guys, otherwise we are kind of doom." Zhao added.

"Ah... I forgot. I was given these... it was meant for the guardians. One for each." Shen Wei said, taking out the bead bracelets Kunlun had given him.

"Wow! So this comes from the legendary god of mountains? Awesome!" Lin merrily said as he took one.

"Hey, don't go trying to study it or all your precious and expensive equipment will become nothing more than a useless pile of toasted electronics." Lin ignored him and try to take a picture with his cell phone, which burst into flames instantly.

"Aahhh... no, no... no my phone..." Lin protested, trowing it to the snow of the floor.

"Idiot! The Chief just warned you..." Zhu said as she too, took a bracelet from Shen Wei's hand. Just like Wang had said before, she could feel a strange energy coming from it. Zhao looked at the remaining ones and do a quick math.

"Shen Wei, you said one for each, right? Assuming I don't got one and I had the feeling I won't, it will be six bracelets... Zhu and Lin, who are here. Wang and Sang, who are still up at the border of the cliff. Then there is only Old Chu and Da Qing, who are escorting the professors out and should be back soon, but you got seven. For whom is the last one?" He asked curiously and both Zhu and Lin looked at him with equal curiosity.

"It's for Guo." Shen whisper.

"Oh, come on... the kid again? Right now he should be on his way back to the town." Zhao protested.

"He is not going back, I'm sure of it. He was one too, Yunlan, one of the spectral men I saw in the tower, guarding it, along with the rest of your team. I'm a bit reluctant about him too, but he was a guardian in his past lives, I can't ignore, nor defy what had probably been fated by the gods."

"Shen Wei, there is no way Old Chu will allow him to turn back. He kind of like him, I can tell." Zhao said, quite sure of it.

"You don't know Guo yet. He may be easily scared, especially by supernatural things, but his determination is no less than mine or yours... you will see soon enough." Shen Wei assured him.

"I hope you are wrong Shen Wei... He is just too young." Zhao whisper and Shen tap him on the shoulder.

"I know he is probably too young to face gods and demons, but we sent youngsters to war too and it's not like we can act against the will of the gods. Sooner or later what is meant to happen, will happen no matter how hard we tried to prevent it." Shen said sadly.

"Okay, professor... Let's leave it to destiny. Alright... we still need to get down this hole. I will go down on my own first to have a look, you guys wait for the others and keep Shen Wei safe. If I don't come b,..."

"Zhao Yunlan, there is no way I will let you go down on your own. I was the one who ask you to help me, so you are not going anywhere without me." Shen said so seriously that took both Lin and Zhu by surprise.

"Wei..."

"Don't Wei me, Yunlan. Whatever the risks, we face it together. I will not allow any less." Shen insisted, and as they deeply stared at each other, Lin and Zhu wonder what had happened between those two inside that tent. At the end, Zhao sighed, giving in, to Shen demand.

"Come with me then... We will only have a look at what's down. You guys stay safe and don't come down until you see my signal. If you don't see it at all after a while, get out." Zhao said as he tied the long rope and secure it on a rock near the hole.

"Also give this to the others..." Shen gave the rest of the bracelet to Zhu. "Just in case we don't..."

"Don't finish that sentence babe. I'm your god of good luck. Nothing will happen to you. Stay safe guys..." Yunlan added, as he hooked himself to Shen Wei harness, once again and after they were secured, they jumped down.

"Don't you feel like those two are closer now? That staring contest between them looked like..." Lin begin.

"A lover's quarrel, I know..." Zhu confirmed, as she watch them go down.

"Do you think they will be alright down there?" Lin asked.

"He is indeed one lucky bastard. It had been thanks to his luck that we had come this far." Zhu responded.

"Hum, true..." Lin said.

"Still, he is only human and down there is an unknown world. They should had waited for the rest of us." A female voice said, making both Lin and Zhu jump in fright.

"Damn it Wang! Are you a ghost or something to always scare us like that?" Zhu said as her heart raced faster on her chest.

"Actually I think I was one... in a past life and so was the professor." She answer seriously, yet Zhu only sighed.

"Never mind, why are you here? Where are the others?" She asked again.

"Up. Chu said that somehow they make record time escorting the others and coming back, like if the distance had been shorten by more than half. There was also another strange happening. When Guo Changcheng was about to go out, after he begged Chu to let him stay and be refused, a big piece of ice fall down, sealing the entrance, trapping the poor kid with us." Lin whistle.

"The professor score one, our Chief zero!" Lin joked.

"Idiot. Let's see for how long can you joke like that. Come here Wang, I had something for you, from processor Shen." Zhu said as she looked for the beads.

Down the hole, Shen stared at the floor in which they had thrown a few glowing sticks to see just how deep it was. Luckily, it wasn't more deeper than the cliff itself, however, as they go down closer to the middle, Shen frowned.

"Yunlan... I think there are a lot of bones down there."

"Are you seen it with your night vision or your x-ray one?" Zhao joked, making Shen smile a bit.

"Really... I can see bones of different sizes."

"Demon bones?"

"Maybe? I had never see a demon aside from the professor drawing, I can't tell..."

"Hum, anything else? If there are bones, then there most be something that kills them, right?"

"Yunlan..."

"Yeah?"

"Is your luck really that outstanding?"

"So far yes, why?"

"Because we will need it right now. You were right, we do have company indeed." Shen pointed at a moving shadow over the wall.

"Damn it!" Zhao cursed and a second later, a beast that was clawing its way up the wall near them, throw itself toward them.

Zhao could only let the rope lose, so they would fall faster avoiding the thing by mare inches, but then they were falling freely. Zhao unconsciously whisper some words in a low tone, again in that inhuman language that Shen Wei somehow understood, as they fall while holding tightly Shen Wei's chest.

"Come, Lóng Hún..." And something big, glowing in blue raised from the distant floor, opening a set of big wings and taking the air, catching both of them with its claws soon enough.

AN: Long Hun (dragon spirit). Yep, it's indeed a dragon. Thanks for reading.