The Distant Shore

[Huangquan, Hidden Dimension]

Two delicate thin red petals fluttered in the light winds of the foggy shore against the streaming translucent bodies of human, animals and many creatures, walking in one direction enthralled by a mysterious force guiding them.

Like a river flowing, they only kept in their path by the endless tall blood red spider lilies lining on both sides to no end.

A pale white hand reached out from the red spider lilies and the palm opened to let the red petals land. A slender figure emerged from the red spider lilies and watched three shadows walking through the path from the First Court of Hell.

She whiffed the air and savoured the taste while the tip of her tongue slid slowly across her crimson red rosebud shaped lips and her long curled eyelashes fluttered at the tantalising scent of the newcomer in the group while her eyes glowed a malevolent red.

The corners of her lips lifted into a smile.

Her eyes narrowed on the three and a soft gasp escaped her lips - the last two primeval beings she'd expected to see were Kanghui and Arahabaki. Yet there they were, Arahabaki in his guise of a young punk-like charming self, and Kanghui, in the form she loathed the most, a young woman of an alluring look.

Her eyes wandered to the newcomer beside Arahabaki.

The newcomer was in his true form with long dirty blonde hair, and exotic features, especially those pair of green eyes, a rare sight to behold. The pair of eyes were as green as the leaves of her spider lilies, luminous and yet dead.

A whole human soul from Earth, accompanied by two primeval beings who never liked that world, she thought, uncertain of their reasons to accompany him.

A rustling of the leaves and she turned her head. Another hapless translucent leftover of a soul had stumbled into the bank of the red spider lilies. As the leftover opened its mouth, the petals of the nearby spider lilies stretched out and pulled the hapless leftover into their fold.

A bioluminescent pastel shimmer in those spider lilies signalled the tragic ending of yet another who was foolish enough not to stay within the safety of the long path.

Another elongated red petal floated towards her and she reached out with her palm to let it land, and glanced at her palm to find a plain black circle, the old mark of the destroyers.

Her smile vanished from her face. With a graceful wave of her sleeve, the wind strengthened while she laid back into the bloody sea of spider lilies, sinking in their midst.

***

"I expected a flowing river," Alex mumbled as they enter the path of moving spectral bodies so transparent that he can see through the other side. "Not a shit ton of ghosts."

The thick eerie white veil of the gossamer mist swaddled the entire Huangquan's path weaving in between the background of vermillion, like a blood of sea.

A strange melodic chanting wafted through the air, like a mixture of suffering moans and miserable groans mixed into a gloomy yet symphonic music. No sound of anyone talking - Alex's ears heard no coherent words.

Arahabaki opened his palm where a bright yellowish wisp slowly swirled around, forming a small but bright, illuminating the dimly lit path a few paces around.

Then he closed his hand around the orb and reached out in front to release it. Alex watched with fascination as the orb levitated in front of them, as though aware of their steps behind.

In his absent mindedness, Alex followed the ball until Arahabaki pulled him back. Kanghui waited in front, with her head turning as though scanning the area before them.

"Careful." Arahabaki pointed to a faint reddish background in the mist which lined the path like a barrier. With a finger, he directed the orb above the reddish background, revealing an endless sea of red spider lilies idly billowing in the wind's direction.

Another direction by his finger, made the orb cut across the translucent bodies, revealing another endless sea of red spider lilies, which did not surprise Alex any more than what he saw of the translucent shapes.

The shapes belonged to several humans and odd looking humanoids, along with farm animals, wildlife with even the occasional small translucent rat scurrying around their feet while ducks waddled through.

All continued their onwards journey without paying attention to Arahabaki, Kanghui or him. The bodies faced forwards and never turned to their side, like an otherworldly factory processing conveyor was pulling them.

"What the fuck, cows and pigs?" Alex raised his eyebrows. "And rats?"

"Animals which are slaughtered en masse. They have souls too," Arahabaki replied. "Every physical form needs energy to give life to them. This is only the Xitian side."

"I ate them… well, not the rat."

"As a human, you would have eaten plants too, those have souls too," Arahabaki pointed out and then shrugged, "way of the world."

"Yeah, but the animals can feel pain." Alex spoke with a pang of guilt.

"And you think a plant can't? After meeting the flower spirits, you should know better," Arahabaki chided.

"Well, they did experiments to show that the trees and plants have no…"

"Human experiments with human assumptions," Arahabaki muttered in disdain, making Alex shift uncomfortably with heavier burden of guilt.

Arahabaki gestured his head to the red spider lilies, and added, "Don't touch the higanbana."

Alex knew that the red spider lilies, or higanbana, were toxic to humans, but Arahabaki appeared wary of going too close to them. The plant shouldn't affect a primeval being so much.

"Why?"

"The higanbana are deadly to souls." Arahabaki gestured ahead at the human shaped legs being dragged into the red spider lilies, making Alex cower in fright.

"What happens to that ghost?"

"Higanbana, their progenitor, devours all the energy that those plants drag in," Arahabaki replied gruffly. "Same way when we eat soul stones."

It finally struck Alex why Arahabaki and Kanghui appeared so reluctant to enter Huangquan. Whoever Higanbana was, her way of feeding ran efficiently with the endless source of wandering ghosts and remnant energy waves, which would strengthen her than them.

"Is she like you, a primeval being?"

Arahabaki nodded and pulled Alex to the middle of the path with ease through the bodies, which made way for them. Kanghui had halted with her hand, signalling for them to stop.

Alex could make out the shape of a woman in the mist, walking gracefully towards them as though against the eerie flow of translucent bodies.

"Bi-an," Kanghui greeted her politely with a nod.

"Higanbana herself," Arahabaki whispered nervously. "Why has she emerged from them?"

"Why is Kanghui addressing her as Bi-an?"

"Chinese name, duh. Don't you know that Japanese and Chinese share some imported beliefs and even language in your studies as a human?" Arahabaki gave him a light smack on his head.

The soft feminine voice spoke in an almost melodic tone. "Welcome to the distant shore."