14 A Chance Encounter With A Butterfly.

The first thing he saw was a face of young maiden. A young maiden about thirteen of age, with round, delicate fresh face. Her pale yellow eyes contrasted her dark complexion and black hair.

Upon realizing that the person lying on her bed opened his eyes, the girl backed away from him with a deep blush. What startled her even more was the fact that he sat straight up, his 'soul' left his body.

The 'soul' took a quick glance around the room, squinting his hazy eyes to have a better look at his surrounding.

A room, a small wooden hut of sort. A screen blocked his sight, only allowing him to look around in the bedroom. The bed beneath him was hard, rows after rows of bamboo tied together to form the plank. Beside the bed, a table on the right, a window on the left.

He ignored the baffled look on the maiden's face, his hand swiftly tossed the quilt that covered his legs.

Only then, he felt something off....

Lowering his head, he found out that other than his own pair of legs, there was another pair that simply went through his legs. As though he was incorporeal.

He instantly whipped his head, searching for something behind him.

Still sleeping, a body he was extremely familiar with. An appearance of young man that he often saw.

In his state of disembodiedness, Yuan Ji reached out to touch the boy's cheek. Which failed, as his fingers went through the boy's body.

"What actually happened?" A gentle murmur left his lips, in his eyes confusion and panic stirred.

The maiden hesitantly stepped closer, to sign a few words. Her brows knitted, her expression serious. She pointed to him and the sky.

[Are you a god?]

"You... can't you speak?"

She frowned distastefully at his words, and crossed her arms.

Yuan Ji tried once more, "I... What happened to him? Is... is he okay?"

The girl only rolled her eyes.

The deity's eyes instantly widened, he opened his mouth only to say nothing. After a short while, he decided to give her the ability to 'speak'. With a flick, Yuan Ji gave her a blessing.

"Please answer my questions, I need to know what had happened. He is someone important for me..." His voice faltered at the last words spoken.

The girl snapped out of her astounishment, and hurriedly explained.

[The boy is fine, he is just sleeping. We found him in a cave, and then took care of him. I was changing his compress when you suddenly...]

The dread gradually decreased as she spoke. Her voice gentle and youthful, maturity lingered in her tone.

The deity's shoulders relaxed as he listened, he composed himself and was about to ask another question when she interjected.

[Who are you? And why are the both of you in that cave?]

"I am a deity, banished a few years ago. This boy, he is..." He paused, "A very important person for me."

The girl took a place at the corner of the bed and nodded, telling him to continue.

"We were drifted into this place in one of our mission. Why and how, I don't really remember." He rubbed the back of his head while stared at YueChen with a gentle melancholy look.

[What's your name, Your Grace?]

"Call me Yuan Ji, the one over there's name is Yang YueChen. You don't have to refer me as 'Your Grace', just Yuan Ji will do."

[Okay.] The girl smiled.

Following them was a conversation about the unconscious boy.

•

The second day, YueChen's bruises and wounds had disappeared. Only the deeper cuts remained as faded scars. The pair of teen discovered that when they were changing the bandages.

[Does he always heal so fast?] She tidied the quilt and tucked in the comatose male.

Yuan Ji immediately shook his head, "No, instead his wounds need at least one and half amount of time needed for healing."

The girl took out a few utensils and laid them on the desk. [Mmm.. His wounds had closed a little when the night-guards carried him inside last night.]

"Is that so?"

[Yeah. Also, there was a loud booming sound and blue-yellow light in the sky before Xian Jian Zhe went to the cave.]

"A what?"

The girl stepped out of the hut to collect the clothes. [A light. Xian Jian Zhe said only she and me could see it.]

A light? Did something like this occur five hundred years ago?

•

A-Die had left to help the villagers, a trail of colourful butterflies followed her closely.

So, it was Yuan Ji's turn to watch over the comatose boy. Three days had passed, yet Yang YueChen was still unconscious.

In those three days' span of time, the deity stayed in the hut, waiting for his vessel to wake up.

The quilt draped over the boy's body slipped and fell on his laps. Yuan Ji picked the snowy quilt and folded it, placing the thin fabric on one corner of the bed.

Jade-white hand brushed the stray strand of hair and tucked it behind the other's ear. The fingers lingered on the olive skin.

Yang YueChen had a weird complexion for an Asian, was all Yuan Ji thought at that moment.

His lips, tinted with crimson red; his lashes, long and dark; the golden rays of sun only added a sense of ethereal to his figure; fallen deity found himself admiring the other.

Every now and then, dark-skinned little girl would walk past the hut, glancing inside as she passed it. Her moon-like pair of eyes caught a scene, two males in love—one waited for another to open his eyes. Everytime she saw it, in her heart only one feeling could grow—pity.

From what the girl had heard, the unconscious boy seemed to be a decent, kind, and honest person. A lonely soul whose smile could brighten up the world. What a shame, if he were never to wake up anymore.

•

Clinging to the last hopes, the deity had his wish granted by the star of blessings.

Yang YueChen's lashes fluttered; dark, dull eyes gazed unfocused to the ceiling before blinking a few times.

Voice hoarse and crispy, he managed, "...A-Ji?"

A firm grasp on his right hand, "I'm here, XingXing."