Chapter 2: The Beginning of the End (1)

"Sell my soul?", Ai replied.

"Yes."

"Does that mean that your master will kill me and take my soul away?"

"Who knows? That depends on his mood. But, don't you think this is the best offering? Your soul will be valued at 75,000$. Far better than die in vain."

That's right. Even if in the end its master will kill her, or maybe eat her, at least her death will be useful. She perhaps will die but her family will be saved.

So without hesitation, she answered, "Very well then, I agree. Please take me to your master, Mr. Snake."

"Good girl. Now, be ready, my dear."

"Hmm? Ready for wha-- AAAHHHHHHH!!"

Suddenly, a very wide black hole opens on the ground where she stood. She falls into the very deep and dark pit. Her heart races so fast until it almost exploded. She can only shut her eyes and mouth tightly. She doesn't know when will she reaches the bottom of the pit.

'BOOM!!'

Finally she landed on a steady ground. She started to open her eyes and trying to stand on her feet.

"Where... am I?"

"I thought it's gonna be a hard fall, but my whole body is perfectly fine. Not even a scratch on my skin.", She said, as she scanning her hands, body, and legs.

She lifts her head up. In front of her eyes is a very big fancy manor. The architecture represents old Chinese manor. There are red lanterns hanging on the roof of the front gate. The door is so big and tall, but its already rusty.

She suddenly remember, and scans her surrounding, "Mr. snake? Are you still with me?"

"Yes, I'm down here."

She looks down, and the snake was beside her left foot, "Where are we? I thought this is the bottom of the pit."

"No, my child, we are in a different realm."

"Different realm...?"

Her surrounding is so dark, there are hardly lights to be found. Then, she heard the eeire of an animal cries. It was like a pig, or maybe something else that she doesn't know. But it really gives her chill.

"Is this... the underworld?"

"We called it the demon realm."

"Demon realm?", Her voice trembling.

"You may ask me anything, but not now. Hurry up, let's get inside. His Majesty is waiting for you."

'CREAK!', the sound of that rusty door screeching gives her more chill. The inside of the manor was so dark, she could barely see anything. She is wondering what kind of beast inside that manor that she will be faced. The imagination of her being murdered pops up in her mind, but there is no turning back. A promise is a promise, so she started to move forward, entering that opened door bravely.

When her right foot step in, suddenly those red lanterns that are hanging on the roof glowing brightly, she can finally see what's inside the gate. There are 3 big buildings, one on the left, one on the right, and the center, the main building, is the largest, the three of them are connected. In the middle of those building is a courtyard with a very wide pool, and above it there is a big bridge that connecting the land from the gate to the center building. There are more red lanterns that hanging on each roofs of each building, they are also glowing brightly. The scenery is quite beautiful.

"HUMAN... A HUMAN"

"HEHEHEHE IT'S A GIRL! A LITTLE GIRL!"

"I'M HUNGRY!"

She is actually terrified by those voices. But she doesn't dare to turn her head back. She doesn't want to see what kind of creatures behind her. She tries to focus on following the snake, afraid if she is being left behind. She is walking on the bridge, and takes a peek on the pool. There are some pink lotus flowers floating on the pool. But, the more she looks the water, the more she recognizes that the water is different. It has black color, and there are some creature living inside it, because sometimes there are air bubbles popping on the surface of the water.

Finally she arrives at the door of the main building. This main building is the fanciest, the door is big, so big until almost can be said as a gate instead of a door, and it was made with high quality of wood that painted with red color. There are two golden dragons with some shining gems stick on their eyes. The red pillars that supporting the roof is wrapped by realistic golden dragon reliefs.

"OPEN THE DOOR!", a loud voice come from inside the door, and in a short time, that door opens.

"Come." The snake enters the hall.

Ai Lie follows the snake. After she entered the hall, her eyes were widened.

"WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE, LITTLE GIRL?"

"Hihihihi it's a human! a human! His Majesty brings a human!"

"It's been a long time I saw a human! Maybe about 500 years ago?"

This hall is full of ghosts. But fortunately, these ghosts appearance are human-like. They still have human bodies, but their faces are hidden behind masks. There's a big fat man who uses a pig shaped mask. There's a woman who uses a half cat mask on her upper face, while the lower face of hers that is exposed represents how beautiful she is. There are two young girls, one uses red fox mask, one uses white fox mask, they both are twins. There is an old man that his upper face is wrapped by bandage, covering his eyes, but the lower part of his face is already wrinkled and have a very long beard. And the rest uses weird shape masks.

There are around 20 ghosts in this hall. They all lined up, forming a 'fence' with an empty path in the middle, as if someone was going to pass by and they were getting ready to welcome him. That empty path led to an altar covered with a thin red cloth like a shawl, and behind those cloth, there is something. What Ai Lie can see is a man-like silhouette, sitting on something like a throne. There is a young man standing near to that altar that isn't wearing mask, his face is handsome, he tied his dark brown hair in a high ponytail, but his eyes are closed. There's a sword on his waist, Ai Lie thinks that maybe he is a guard. Yet oddly, as a guard he doesn't wear iron armor or whatsoever, he wears a casual brown garments with no outer and narrow sleeves.

"You are back, Hei She.", A deep voice coming from the silhouette.

"Yes, Your Majesty.", The snake bows to that man. Ai Lie is confused, so she bows at him also. Everyone in that room is giggling, as if her act is wrong. But to show some respect to the man that will help her, she doesn't lift her head.

"Raise your head, little girl."

Ai Lie finally lifts her head, and throws her eyes straight to that silhouette in front of her.

"I have known your intentions coming to my territory."

That silhouette stands and walks near to the red cloth.

"You are still very young, are certain that you aren't going to regret this decision? Ah, and if you are giving your life to me, your whole family, everyone you know, or everyone that you've ever met will totally forget that you've ever exist. Are you still certain?"

".... No, Your Majesty, I won't regret." Ai replied without hesitation.

"Very well. A girl who is prioritizing her family's fate more than her own life. Tell me, what did they give to you until you come this far just for them? Were they give you enough love and affection?"

"..." Ai Lie couldn't reply anything. Love? Affection? Her family is cold as an ice, far from those words. But it's already in her nature to put her family first before her own needs. Maybe, it was because her family was always making troubles, and she was always be the one who resolves them.

"Hahaha... Whatever, I don't care. You are just a pure innocent child after all. Come closer, little girl."

Ai Lie walks closer to the altar. She starts to climb up the small stairs that leads to the altar. Finally she reaches the altar on the upper ground, but seeing the guard standing near to that silhouette, she doesn't dare to walk any further.

"Closer, so I can see your face clearly."

The guard that was standing on her path finally moved away. His eyes are still closed. Then, Ai Lie starts to walk forward and stand near to the layers of thin red cloth. In front of her, there's a man, standing very close to her. He is so tall compare to her height. If Ai's height is only 150cm, this man's height is perhaps 200cm. Ai Lie doesn't dare to lift her head up, to see that man's face.

'Gasp!', Ai Lie is surprised when that cold hand reaches her chin and pinches it softly, forcing her head to raise. She raises her head, and finally their eyes meet. This man is actually very handsome, but he is clearly an unalive creature.

His lips are thin and the color is bluish, his skin is extremely pale, like there is no blood inside his body. His eyebrows are high and thin, just like frowning. His nose is pointed, and his eyes are glimmering red like crimson gems, and the pupil shapes are similar to that snake's eyes. He wears an elegant black robe with some silver attributes and accessories all over his upper garments. His hair is black, straight, unraveled, and very long, and his left ear wears a long silver earring with crimson crystal on the tip.

He smirks at her evilly, but Ai Lie is still lost in her mind, admiring the beauty of this man's in her sight.

"Hey, little girl", He snaps his other hand's fingers.

"H-huh?"

"Hmm... By looking at you and your lovely familial deeds, I will give you these 8 gold bars."

A young woman who wears a the half cat shaped mask shows up from nowhere handed out a tray with 8 shiny gold bars. Each bar weights a kilogram.

"This!? This is too much, Your Majesty!" Her chin is still being pinched by that man.

"Sell all of them to a jewelry store. I have already put a spell to those bars so they will be easy to be sold. You will have Hei She accompanies. After that, use the money for whatever you want. But remember, I will only give you 6 hours to take care of your bussiness. If more than that, I will forcely drag you back to this place. Understood?"

"U-uh... Y-Yes!", She is still amazed with those gold bars.

"One more thing, go back to your home. Pack your things, make sure nothing left behind. When you enter your house, there will be no one, don't be confused." He releases his hand from her face.

"Y-yes, Your Majesty, Thank you very much for your kindness! I will never betray you!", She immediately bows to him.

That woman hands over that tray to Ai Lie, but Ai Lie is very hesitate to accept it. In this life, this is the first time she sees shiny gold bars like these, and especially these are 'gifts' from someone.

"Go on, take it. Don't be hesitate, your family is waiting for their 'savior'." Hearing this word, the other ghosts are giggling. His sarcasm is no joke.

She took the tray and walked back to the point where she arrived . Hei She and Ai Lie take their leave from that manor, preparing to teleport back to human realm.

"YOUR MAJESTY, ISN'T HER FAMILY'S DEBT IS WAY MORE CHEAPER THAN WHAT YOU GIVE? WASN'T THAT TOO MUCH?", Ask the pig masked fat man.

"Definitely. But it's a test for her."

"A TEST?"

"She is family oriented, but the human's heart can change in one second. Who knows after seeing that amount of money, she will betray her family."

"HAHAHAHAHA... YES, YES, HIS HIGHNESS IS VERY SMART! HUMANS ARE SO WEAK, THEIR HEARTS ARE ALSO WEAK! HOW UNWORTHY! HAHAHAHAHA", after that hard laugh, the other ghosts starting to laugh and chattering to each other.

"Weren't you going too far, Your Majesty? She is only a human, and we also don't need her. She is too weak, she will only become a burden to us! Just what's actually your plan to her?", Ask the guard boldly, with his eyes widened.

"Relax, Yin Ling. I just want to have fun with her. It's been 500 years since the last time we met humans. I'm sooo bored! Please understand me.", Replied that man with joking voice.

"You are always like this! Huft, whatever... Just stay out of trouble! And don't ever think about eating her!", he sounds so worry.

"Hehehe no need to worry, I really am aware of what I do."

"....", that guard isn't replying anymore. He is closing his eyes again and frowning, trying to calm down himself.

In the middle of the noises, that man murmurs to himself and smirk, "Finally, I found you."