The Thing Watching in the Dark

"Hui Se Ying?" Looking all around the spirit, Paoxiao didn't see a trace of Nastasia anywhere. Concern filled his chest as worry caused him to his clenched fist. "Hey, where is she? Didn't you manage to rescue her?" His eyes then narrowed in on the bundle clutched under Hui Se Ying's right arm. "Why are you... carrying a pile of sticks?"

While Paoxiao agitatedly rattled off all those words, Hui Se Ying cleared the distance between them. He would have gotten closer earlier, but the golden-eyed demon had let his energy run wild. He could only shout and throw a stick at him to get his attention. The minute the energy was pulled back, he closed in and grabbed Paoxiao's sleeve to quickly drag him along.

"No time for that! I need you to use your ability of creation to make something that will keep her warm. The bark of the Ice Forest trees burn for only a moment before dying out and her fever is only getting worse. Lu Se Ying's energy cleansing pills don't seem to be helping, either."

Paoxiao didn't fight being pulled along nor did he complain when low lying branches grabbed and tugged at his orange and black streaked hair in passing. "You let her get hurt!?" The words tumbled from his mouth harshly as he tugged his arm back.

Acting as if he didn't feel the tugging, Hui Se Ying kept a sturdy grip on the cloth and continued leading him along. With such a directionally challenged guy, he couldn't let him go for a second. This demon was like a little kid, especially when upset. He'd probably think something like, "I can find her on my own," and then if Hui Se Ying let him go, even if he kept his eyes on him, who knows where that guy would end up.

Well, it probably wouldn't end up like that, but he didn't dare take the chance. Thus, he maintained his unbreakable grip. If that girl wasn't able to recover and something bad happened here, he couldn't even begin to imagine how his master would react. This guy was needed and so he couldn't have him getting lost.

"She was bitten by the Shaqi back on the boat," he had noticed the blood as he followed them into the Water Sky of the Ice Forest. "So stop struggling, be quiet, and follow. We can talk later."

Agreeing with this sentiment, Paoxiao ceased his struggles but was unable to quiet his mouth as he asked. "Where did you leave her? Not out in the open, I hope?"

Of course, he wouldn't. He wasn't stupid. Hui Se Ying knew to hide the injured and place wards to keep away predators. Though he felt a bit insulted by the suggestion, he ignored it. He understood that Paoxiao was worried.

So, without getting upset, he answered in the hopes that the demon would be dragged along much easier. "I've never been to the Ice Forest, but I'm rather certain it's a cave at the base of Cloud Frost Mountain."

"Cloud Frost Mountain...?" He murmured to himself softly, almost sounding nostalgic. In a louder voice, he said, "you're going the wrong direction."

Hui Se Ying scoffed at that claim, his gray-speckled eyes rolling at such a directionally blind demon trying to lead him. As if he would ever be so lost that he would need it. So, with that thinking, he ignored those words while continuing in the direction he came from.

Paoxiao's peach lips kicked up at the corner, creating a bitter grin. "I know I'm no good with directions, but Cloud Frost Mountain is the one place I can always find." Before he had been taken to the village his father had placed he and his sister for refuge, they had hidden in the Cloud Frost Mountains. It was the perfect place to hide, as it was difficult to get to.

While it made the perfect place to hide, it was the worst place to be in all of the Ice Forest.

"This mist around us messes with a person's sense of direction. It's been theorized by someone," his sister, though he had no intentions of mentioning that part, "that my lack of directional sense was being cleared by the mists." Yet, the actual truth was that it was a mere illusion. After leaving the reaches of the mists his sense of direction fell even lower.

Paoxiao hadn't realized it at the time, but after hearing Cloud Frost Mountain being mentioned, he suddenly understood why he felt that he could find his way. Why it was he could glean the possible direction Nastasia could reside.

"Since you can ordinarily find your way, you're only going to get lost. If you want to ever get there, then we need to go left starting here. The direction you're headed in would lead us out of the mist's reach. At that point, it would be very difficult to find our way back in."

Paoxiao couldn't remember how he and his sister had been secreted away within Cloud Frost Mountain. If they left the area he wasn't sure he or Hui Se Ying would have the ability to get back. There was something, like a barrier, that prevented entry.

Its what made this place the perfect hideaway. Though spirit beasts, on occasion, could find their way in around the edges. Though, because of the mist, it was impossible for them to reach the parts closer to the mountain. The more humanoid creatures could find their way to the to its base, but it required the humanoid or beast to be rather strong. In some cases, there were those like Paoxiao, who were so incredibly directionless the mist somehow worked an opposite effect.

What made this place into a bad hideaway was the negative effects of remaining for to long. Although many tried to make their way here, with most failing, to cultivate within the dense energy of the mountain it was a double-edged sword. The few that managed to make it through the outer barrier and mist would find themselves being devoured by the mountain.

The Cloud Frost mountains were a living entity.

The dense energies that surrounded it and made it such a desirable place to cultivate came from the many lives it's managed to consume.

So, while it made a good place to hide for a few days due to its difficulty and rumors, it was also a dangerous place. Thinking about this, Paoxiao suddenly recalled his older sister's relieved words the day they left for the village that would be their new home.

"Finally," she had released a shaky as she wrung her hands together, "it was difficult to sleep with that monster watching me."

He was little so he hadn't thought about it, but as the words suddenly surfaced with her fearful tone of voice, it felt as if his heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. His steps suddenly gained momentum as he raced off even faster than before. He and Hui Se Ying had come to an understanding after a few more words. It had been agreed for Paoxiao to take over leading the way. It helped matters that Hui Se Ying could recall hearing similar rumors of the Cloud Frost mountains.

Unlike his normal wandering steps, his lead was sure and focused. The quick flight forward rising in speed while a climbing worry surmounting his heart, to cover it sickeningly in dread. Paoxiao remembered, all the days within Cloud Frost Mountain, his sister never slept well. Though he was a child at the time and didn't really question it, his sister was always uneasy and never let him wander off.

Did those watching eyes still exist here? Were they malicious or did it only make his sister, who was young at the time and facing the unsettling crisis of needing to run away, uneasy?

As they came up to the cave, that was hidden a bit behind trees and bushes and made vague by the heavy mists, Paoxiao swallowed down a lump that beginning to form in his throat. As they came up to the cave, able to see inside, the only things to cross their vision was a recently burned fire and Hui Se Ying's outer robe crumbled next to it.

Nastasia was nowhere in sight, she was gone.