The nature of the Netherworld.

"Young Master... It's time to move on. There'll be no end to the stares if we keep lingering here in the middle of the street. So open your eyes, it's time to keep going."

Lan Yun was the first one to open her eyes, a fragile smile still adorning her face as she looked at the pair of closed eyes right in front of her. His eyelids trembled with every word she uttered, the lips that her fingers forced upwards twitching weakly. He didn't look like he wanted to open his eyes, but how could he possibly refuse a request from her?

So his eyes opened again, the light of the world flooding in. The surroundings returned to his sight, but his gaze was still locked on her, she could see his black eyes looking at just her, as if they were trying to reject the world around them. She quivered at the sight, forcing her lips to curl up further as she stepped aside.

"Let's go, Young Master. There's surely lots to see here, so let's search every nook and cranny for the others."

Her fingers intertwined with his as she positioned herself at his side. Yin Long clenched his hand slightly, taking in the warmth of her hand as he let out a single laboured breath. He closed his eyes once again, keeping them shut for a handful of seconds before he opened them again, his expression returning to normal as he flashed a small smile.

"You're right, there's bound to be lots to see. Besides, we... I never really did take the time to wander around with you and just take in the sights anywhere we went, did I? It'd be a shame if I just kept repeating that everywhere we went, so let's see as much as possible."

His hand felt warm where it touched hers, and his nose fluttered every time it caught a whiff of her scent. He had to smile, he had to take this chance to do what he neglected in the past. That was part of the reason he raised his feet and started moving again, continuing down the street that the streetside cook had directed them towards.

His steps were slow, but too measured to be considered calm or casual. He allowed his gaze to roam about, chatting with Lan Yun as they looked at the various buildings. Some had similarities, but most were clearly built by different people, small unique touches to the architecture setting them apart.

One day, in an age long gone, some person had probably arrived here and built their own house. And as more people died over the years and ended up here, more and more houses were built, everyone just looking for a small place where they could rest and hide away from the rest of the Netherworld. And this place, this mixture between a city and a village, was the fruit of their labour, a mismatched collection of unique homes where people simply did what they wanted.

Some people displayed trophies from hunts, things they had harvested, furniture, figurines, and raw material to make your own furniture. They scrounged up what they could get their hands on or make and presented them to the wider world, some giving them away for free while others wanted to barter for what they wanted.

It definitely looked anything but secure, it would be easy to just take something and run. But no one seemed to be worried about that, and it quickly became apparent why. They had nothing. The people here had nothing, only what their own two hands could make. There was nothing of value here, nothing that would be worth stealing or fighting over. That was the only reason they had peace, they had nothing so there was nothing to fight over. At the very least, not from what Yin Long saw as they walked.

The streetside cook said that it should only take them about twenty minutes to reach a house that would give him some rooms, the Resting Station would also be quite close. But due to the slow pace Yin Long had adopted it ended up taking them close to an hour before they arrived in front of what should be the Resting station.

"This seems like the most likely spot, I think? What about you?"

Yin Long's head cocked slightly as he looked at the building, his gaze drifting towards Lan Yun. She inspected the building in much the same manner as him, eventually coming to the same conclusion.

"Gotta be, no? There haven't been any other buildings that carried a similar air so it is the most likely answer."

The house that rose up in front of them had two stories so it wasn't the largest building in the city, but it was still a bit more unique than the rest. It was made from earth and seemed to have been formed in one go, it was as if the earth rose up and moulded itself into this shape, there was even grass and moss growing on the walls and roof.

There was one more unique aspect about this building, the air around it felt different from anywhere else in the city. It almost felt cold and clammy, like a hand stroking the back of your neck. It didn't feel like an aura of death, everyone here had already died before after all, it felt more like empty hopelessness.

"Let's go then, Young Master. She said that it won't be pretty, but it's nothing you haven't already had to bear before so it should be fine."

Lan Yun clenched Yin Long's hand as she tugged on it, pulling him towards the open entrance. She was warm and comforting, to him she was the direct opposite of the building that welcomed them. And that was why he allowed himself to get pulled through the entrance, stepping into a small square room. Another open entrance was a few steps ahead of them, leading into a large room that seemed to fill the entire building. To their left was a stairway that led to the second floor, but when Yin Long's senses stretched out he saw that the second floor was basically an exact replica of the first floor.

"Welcome. Which desire will you be laying to rest today?"

A voice reached the two as they stood there, seemingly coming from the room itself. Shortly after, the shadows that stretched across the walls detached and clumped together, forming a black humanoid shape without a face, just two empty spots where its eyes should be.

Yin Long's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the shape. He was looking straight at it, but he could swear that it wasn't there. He couldn't feel it at all, neither through the surrounding Qi nor through his connection with space, it seemed as if it didn't exist at all. It felt extremely unnatural so he couldn't help but tense up somewhat.

"What are you?"

Yin Long had seen strong people before, people so strong that it felt suffocating. But he could always feel them, even if they were many magnitudes stronger than him. After all, every living thing had to touch upon space, had to occupy it. But the shade simply glossed over his question with a wave of its limb, its empty eyesockets drifting across his body.

"Just a remnant from the pre-bloodwind era, nothing worth remembering. Now, the desire that has come to rest?"

The empty gaze slid up and down Yin Long's body almost as if it was trying to appraise him. The shade didn't have eyes to show any emotions, but Yin Long could swear that he felt a twinge of hunger from it. The empty gaze eventually traced the hand that was holding onto Lan Yun's, the shade slowly turning towards her. A light shiver ran down his back so Yin Long quickly stepped in front of Lan Yun and changed the topic.

"There isn't one. A streetside cook recommended that we go to the Resting Station to check it out. This is the Resting Station, right?"

The shade's empty eyes swivelled back onto Yin Long, the blank face seeming to twist slightly as it tried to mimic an expression. It was probably trying to smile, its body sliding to the side so that they had a clear path to the large room that it previously blocked off.

"Yes, that is what they have started calling us in this age. Very well, please enter. But do not disturb the resting."

The shade melted back into the darkness after it delivered the warning, not even that motion producing anything that Yin Long could sense. He let out a lungful of air, his breath a bit heavy. But when he turned to glance at Lan Yun, she maintained her smile, her eyes gesturing towards the room ahead of them. So what if the opposing side was strange or dangerous, they were here together, were they not?

The two entered the large hall, rows upon rows of simple earthen beds stretching out in front of and around them. The beds rose directly from the ground, a layer of moss providing some cushioning. The two started to walk between the rows, one looking at the people on top of the beds with sympathy while the other had a strange frown at the appaling scene.

"Is it your first time seeing it?"

The shade rose from the darkness again as the two moved, its voice not betraying a hint of emotion as its empty gaze turned towards the people laying on the beds. Each earthen bed housed a single person, be they young or old, man or woman, everyone had the same bed and the same moss. But while they had the same beds, their states were all different.

"How are they still alive?"

That was the main question Yin Long had as he looked at the people, the bodies, sprawled out on the beds. One was a young man missing half his head, it looked as if a rock had smashed into his face and dug out most of the right side. Another was an older man with a fist-sized hole in his chest, looking into it you could see what remained of his tattered heart. A third was a young woman, her body so shredded that she didn't have a single patch of untouched skin left.

Their states were horrible, but somehow they were all still alive. Their eyes moved, their hearts still beat, and their chests rose and fell. Their gazes followed Yin Long whenever he walked by a bed, each person sharing the same emotion as they looked at him, despair. They were in pain, their wounds ached, and their existence was pain. But they were alive, they wanted to die but could not so they were suffering.

The shade followed at Yin Long's side, the smooth limb that should be its arm stretching out and tracing the beds as it moved. It traced the beds, but it made sure not to touch the bodies. Just as it had said, don't disturb the resting.

"You already died to come down here, didn't you? So why should death affect you the same here as it did above? Or as your kind would say, do you really think the Netherworld would be so kind as to let death be your end?"

Death was a prerequisite to reaching this place, those who came here already didn't have any lives. Those who had no lives, why should they die even when their hearts or brains were pierced?

Yin Long continued to look at the bodies, his steps slow since Lan Yun stopped by each and every bed, taking a minute to quietly look at the suffering souls. And because he was looking at them, he could slowly sense something. The bodies, they were leaking. Something was seeping out of them and into the beds, it was just that it was happening so slowly that it couldn't even be called a snail's pace.

"You're taking something from them. What is it?"

The Netherworld, a place where the supposed sinners were sent to suffer for their sins. This state of undeath certainly seemed to fit the suffering part, but if the Netherworld really existed to make them suffer, why go through the trouble of providing a place like this? Why not just leave them in the wilds where they got hurt? They wanted something from the bodies, they gained something from this suffering. The blank face of the shade twisted again as it tried to form an expression, its limb moving away from the bed.

"Not I, the realm itself. And it is desire."

Desire. This wasn't the first time Yin Long had heard that word since he came here. No, he had heard it so often that it was strange. Even this shade had at first asked them what sort of desire they had come to lay to rest. It couldn't be a coincidence, and indeed, it wasn't.

"The core of this realm is desire. Wishes, hopes, wants, and needs, are irreversibly entwined with the land, they are its fuel. Those who live here have nothing but their desires, so this realm ensures that they will stay true to them, that they will never forget them. But over time, it will reclaim them all."

Desire. Ambition. Wishes. Those abandoned, those lost, these things would be all they had left, it would be the only thing they brought with them down here. And when that was all they had, then that was all the land would take from them. The shade turned back to the closest bed, gently stroking its edges. The pupils of the woman resting on the bed trembled desperately. She seemed like she wanted to scream, but her voice would not escape so her scream was caught within her, drowned out by the silence of the world.

"A wound that would kill someone in the Human world, here it will just incapacitate them. They're conscious but unable to move, to do anything really. And then the realm just waits. Time is a merciless monarch, if there is never any change then it will grind down even the strongest desire. The desire to live will fade when all you have is despair, the desire to eat will vanish when starvation has become part of you, the desire to drink will vanish when dehydration has stolen your throat, and the desire for strength will fade when all you're left with is lonely hopelessness. One by one your desires will fade, becoming fuel for the realm and its future inhabitants. And when your last desire has faded and you're empty, then you will be allowed to properly rest and reincarnate."

Stagnant waters breed only rot, this land was one that testified that fact. Once you could do nothing but lay there, allowing hunger and thirst to become part of you, any desire you had to eat or drink would eventually fade. Those stuck at the same level of strength for countless years would eventually just stop wishing for more strength, they would just feel despair.

That was the Netherworld, a place where desires went to bloom and die, where all your hopes and wishes were only fueled and fed so that they could become fertilizer for the land. The shade's gaze slid away from the bed and landed on Yin Long again, its empty eye sockets momentarily drifting towards the hand that held onto Lan Yun's as its empty face once again twisted into an unseen expression.

"Here, in these... Resting Stations, we merely provide a quiet place for your desires to depart and gather. Visrama, Visrama, Ananta Visrama. A final bit of grace and peace for the lost and abandoned who fuel us all."