*Season's P.O.V.*
This is the first time that I was defeated in my astral form. I mean, when Quinglong and Zhoque came out, I emerged victorious. Maybe because my enemies back then never knew anything about me. But now, this couple, my grandparents, they practically prayed for someone like me to exist. Hence they must know how to tame me. And tame me they did. In the place of my siblings I can only hold back a cry of pain when my grandmother used her power to bind my limbs into chains that seemed to prick my skin and my grandfather dragged my helpless body from that area where we dueled into a much more intact chamber in the ruins. He tossed me to a raised platform while he and my grandma cackled as they prepared some artifacts which they are going to use in whatever ritual they want to do involving me. My breathing turned heavy as I looked around me, trying to find an escape route, which I didn’t find. I turned behind me and saw a statue of a man sitting on something like a throne. I’m amazed at how intricate the sculpture is and how well defined his features are. Behind him, four other statues stood in a semicircle and they look awfully familiar. Maybe because they are animals. Animals I’ve connected with, also known as the astral symbols of the seasons as well as the cardinal directions. I started to shake in fear at the thoughts that started occurring in my mind.
“Now, now dear.” My head whipped into my grandmother’s direction when she suddenly spoke. “Be a good girl for us, will you? This won’t take long.” She said in a sickly sweet voice. Such a tone that reminded me of the woman who called me Xia on my dream during my 20th birthday. It must’ve been her, calling out to my mother. She made me sit upright into the steps of the platform and my grandpa pulled down a lever from a post. Parts of the ground opened, some lowered, the others raised and I can only watch until a brewing stand appeared right in front of me and my grandma placed her caldron on top of it. I also looked around to see mini canals connected to where the brewing stand is and they are running all over the ruins up until the outside.
“Let’s begin.” Grandpa simply stated and grandma nodded.
“What are you going to do to me?” I finally asked, finding my shaky voice. They smiled, which only worsened the feeling of fear inside me.
“We are going to raise an army with the use of your blood darling.” Grandma Wu Jie, I guess that’s her name, stated as she skimmed through a thick, witchy-looking book, probably looking for the procedure of the ritual.
“I already know that.” I said as a matter of fact, Master Cheng told me, it’s just that he doesn’t know the exact procedure. “Why do you want that treasure so much anyway?” I asked, in hopes of distracting her and buying myself time. I silently sent a prayer to all the gods out there to let Master Cheng come back for me as I don’t really know what would happen to me now. He’s my only hope.
“Who wouldn’t want to live forever darling?” My grandpa, Quin Xian, yes I like his name, asked in a mocking tone.
“I wouldn't, if in order to do so, you’d have to hassle many and even harm the innocent. Plus, this short life already has a lot of problems, I wouldn’t really want to extend it only to solve more problems that would come along the long long way to eternity.” I pointed out.
“Your mind is shallow, just like your mother.” He sighed too and I glared, noticing that grandma just turned a deaf ear at us because she is concentrating on the task at hand. Damn this! “When you have power and treasure for eternity, it would sound less problematic.” He countered.
“And what power do you have exactly? Donated sorcery? Your empire has fallen centuries ago, what power do you have now?” Now I’m the one using a mocking tone. Grandma chuckled, hearing this while grandpa seemed provoked.
“Silence!” He said in a booming voice but I only smiled.
“Come on now Xian, she does have a point, China is not the same now, you know.” Grandma shrugged. Heh, is she on my side now? Gosh, if this was a normal grandchild-grandparent discussion, it would really be fun, I mean I wasn’t able to bond with these people after all. Even if they look younger than what a grandparent would look like, gosh.
“Really Jie? And what if the world would run out of virgins? Would you want your body to succumb to age and rot to death? Such beauty would be a waste then darling.” I gasped at what grandpa revealed. So the reason why they remained this young is because they drank a virgin dry? OH MY GOSH!
Grandma glared at him. “No, now prepare her, I found the ritual.” Shit! Why did Master Cheng not come back for me yet? “First of all, raise my blockade, raise! Let no one find use even if we are already right before their eyes.” Her chanting produced a huge bubble that consumed the entire chamber and my hopes went down the drain as it also assures that Master Cheng won’t be able to find us anymore. If only I can move, but damn she immobilized me!
“Qinglong? Zhouque? Baihu? Can any of you help me?” I pleaded inside of my head aas grandma is now preparing the ingredients in the caldron, mixing them with a dagger, instead of a spatula.
“We can’t…” They said in unison but their voices sounded weak. It must have something to do with these magical chains that are binding my limbs.
I was pulled out of my thoughts when grandma started chanting in a language that I am not familiar with, perhaps Chinese? I didn’t bother to ask as I felt something stir inside of me. The three astral spirits that already communicated with me all writhed in pain and it’s making my head pound as if I’ve drank too much liquor. “What’s going on?” I asked out loud but nobody listened. Instead, grandpa knelt behind me and took the dagger that grandma passed to him. I saw how they removed my hands’ binds but I can’t move them at all. He thrust my right wrist forward so that it is hovering over the bubbling caldron and with the dagger, he slit the skin very close to my pulse. “AHHH!” I screamed as my blood started gushing out like an opened faucet into the caldron. He took my left hand and did the same as I let go of yet another scream of pain. As if it’s still not enough, he tied both of my wrist in that position, only worsening the pain. Grandma kept on chanting and a purple light appeared from the bubbling blood filled caldron and it exploded! Grandma stopped chanting as she and grandpa watched the blood continuously flowing out of me until the caldron overflowed ith it. The red liquid traced the mini-canals on the floor and I looked at its flow, horrified. My gaze turned to my still bleeding wrists, wondering how much more blood I’d have to loose before I would actually die.
“It’s working! It’s working!” Grandpa cheered as he looked behind me. Fuck it! My whole body hurts so much, starting from my pounding head to my aching toes and my bleeding wrists. I Thought it was going to go on for more minutes to come but it abruptly stopped, making me slump to the ground as they let go of the magical chains that once held me.
I heard shuffling behind me but I didn’t dare to move as my body hurts so much that I only want to curl into a ball as my wrists are still bleeding. I wonder why I haven’t passed out just yet, considering the amount of blood that I’ve lost.
“W-Where am I?” A very hoarse voice said and this time, I actually lifted my head to see who spoke and my eyes widened.
“Huangdi.” My grandparents bowed in respect to the man. Hell, that man looks awfully like the statue that I was looking at earlier. Because fuck! It is the statue who came to life as the four other statues were pulverized behind him.
“Ni shi shei? Wo de nanren?” He asked, this time loud footsteps caught my attention and I can’t believe my eyes. They are the terracotta warriors that we passed by earlier and they are moving! Very much alive and not a statue anymore. When master Cheng told me that they would use my blood to raise an army of the undead, I didn’t know it would be this literal.
“Tamen laile, Huangdi, now it’s time for us to rule for eternity.” And that’s the last ting I heard before I passed out.
"Season? Season! Fuck what happened? Oh no… No!" I slowly opened my eyes when I heard Master Cheng's frantic calls. Because I am laying on my stomach, the first thing that I saw are the mini canals filled with blood. My own blood. I felt too weak to answer but I smiled at him weakly when he pulled me to his cradle. Finally! He's here, and how did he get here after that spell that grandma casted? I looked around and the chamber was deserted, maybe that's the reason. "Hold on dear, you'll be fine, you'll be fine." He said as he ran towards a portal that he opened. He jumped in it with me in his arms and it closed behind us.
As soon as I noticed that we are already back in Gao So Yu's house, I spoke up with all the energy that's left inside of me. "Where are my siblings?"
"They're here darling, they'd be okay once the antidote would fight off all the poison." So Yu answered as Master laid me down on a bed. They were poisoned? Gosh…
"She lost a lot of blood, we should treat her." Master said urgently and his lover nodded and quickly went into action. "Get some rest, we'll take care of everything." I nodded, trusting him. Yes, I do need some rest and rest is what I got, along with treatment.
Half a day, that’s how long I rested and I still felt weak. But I can walk around now, though Master Cheng didn’t leave my side. Like right now, he is making me sit and the maids served some soup. “Season?” My head whipped to the side where my brother stood at the edge of the table looking as weak as I am.
“Sean!” I exclaimed. “What is the matter?” I asked when I saw the disbelief in his eyes. Oh, right. I’m pretty much dead to him because of the events in the Philippines and he probably is still confused about whatever happened yesterday. Yes, that was already yesterday because we managed to get back here at about midnight and now we’re having breakfast.
“Aren’t you supposed to be dead? Sean told us.” Sheena voiced out. Even if I’m not close to the twins, I did notice the worry in their faces. So they still care about me after all? Who am I kidding? I care a lot about them as well.
“Aren’t you happy to see me alive then?” I mocked as they finally took their seats.
“We would be if we would understand everything that is going on.” Sheila pointed out and I looked at Master Cheng. He nodded, understanding very well the meaning of my gaze. My siblings deserves to know the truth as well as I did.
“I will explain to you later on.” He simply said as So Yu arrived and we started our meal.
Right after we finished, Sean spoke up. “Tell us now.” He has a very serious look on his face and I clearly understand why that is. I’ve been there after all. Master Cheng didn’t waste anytime as he told them in the way he told me everything. I on the other hand, assessed their reaction which is dominantly of disbelief. Right, I mean we grew up in a world where magic is just a myth and now that the truth is laid in front of us, it seems to sound like a fable. Especially to the twins who had no previous encounters with mythical creatures.
“I ummm, I think we need more time to process this information.” Sheena said after Master’s narration, accompanied by the events displayed on the magical hologram that he made.
“I understand. Take your time dear.” Master said.
“I need to speak with my wife.” Sean said and we nodded at him as he left.
“Sister, I know we have our differences but ummm, I just want to tell you to take care of yourself as you are literally not an ordinary being. I wouldn’t want to be you though so please just be careful.” Sheena said.
“I agree with her Season. We never want to loose you.” Sheila seconded and a tear rolled down my cheek as we shared a hug.
“I will.” I said and they nodded to leave too. “But I couldn’t promise.” I muttered under my breath when they disappeared round the corner. Now alone with the master, I turned to ask a more significant question. “Master, now that they’ve used my blood to raise an army, where would they be heading?”
He sighed heavily. “To the Philippines Season. To the tribe where the treasure is.” My heart thundered in my chest at his answer.
“The Philippines? Where in the Philippines?” I just have to inquire as that country already held a special place in my heart. I mean he did mention before that it all started in the Philippines but where exactly, I still don’t know.
He took out a map and laid it in front of us. “I am not so sure since it is not in the mortal realm, but in the mythical ones.” He pointed out a route, tracing it with his fingers into something like an X mark, probably the spot of the treasure. “Here, it's a place called Lumayan.”
That’s it! My world stopped spinning because it exploded. Why must this misfortune happen to me? Why must my blood give rise to the horrible creatures that can harm the ones that I want to protect?
But I guess the master didn’t notice this, too engrossed in the map as he continued. “Apparently there is this gem that has been passed down from generation to generation. It can do a lot of things, from opening portals to granting eternal life and this is in the crown of their king. If Quin Xian and my mother would have possession of it, they will use it so that they can live forever and in order to ensure their possession, they aim to eradicate that race entirely. So that no one would try to get back at them.”
“They are horrible!” I just can’t hold it down anymore as tears streamed down my face, alarming the master. Why must I learn all about this too late? How am I supposed to explain this to him? How am I supposed to say that I don’t want that to happen although my blood caused its potential to happen because the man that I love is the king that he is speaking of? “Master, this can’t happen, we need to do something.” I begged.
“Season, although there’s something we can do, we can’t do it now. We are still both weak from the events of yesterday. It will only harm us. Sad to say, that race would just have to face their fate.”
“No! You can’t just say it like that, you don’t understand! I don’t want anything to happen to that race, and their king. Master I love him. I love him and it tears me apart to know that my own blood, my o-own blood would cause them to perish. I can’t no… Master.” I’m sobbing right now and Master Cheng looks shocked at my revelation. When I came to that ruins, all I ever wanted to do was save my siblings and I succeeded, I thought the price to pay was that massive blood loss after that ritual but I can’t believe that there would be more. Why must this happen to me? This all started with my mother, hadn’t she ran away… And now I’m the one who has to suffer. MOTHER! WHY MUST YOU RUN AWAY AND PUT SO MUCH BURDEN ON MY SHOULDERS! IF IT WASN’T FOR YOU, MY LIFE WOULD’VE I A LOT EASIER!
“Hush now dear… We can ummm… We can try-“
“Try? No master, I have to fix my mistake…”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“I did something wrong when I didn’t fight harder to not let them have my blood. That’s why I am going to go in there and warn the engkantos. I will fight with them as well.”
“Season, you don’t know the intensity of your words.” He warned.
“Oh I know very well master. All my life I have suffered the fate that my mother unintentionally passed down to me, without even knowing it. Things had been intense since I set foot in that country, if you only knew what I’ve been through, so all that I ask from you now, is your support.” This is absolutely the first time that I’ve said something like that to my second father. It surprised him yes, but by the look in his eyes, I can tell that he understood and needs no further explanation. One thing that I like about him is that, he truly believes in me and that he never questions my potential. I gave him a tight hug, still sobbing. I knew he’d be on my side.