Everything hurt.
Zizi hadn’t realized this level of pain could exist. His mind had been trapped in an echo chamber of darkness and memories until a voice broke through.
Stay alive—for me.
That voice... it was Rui’s. TheactualRui. Even though it didn’t make any sense, he was absolutely certain of it. The mere thought of her was a charge lighting him up. From the moment he’d laid eyes on her that fateful night when she was bleeding out on the road, he knew there was no turning back.
It felt as if his soul had whispered to his heart,I’ve found her.
At first he’d thought he was being silly, but time showed it wasn’t just a random crush or a passing infatuation. It was much, much more. And when Ten hauled him to the underworld, Zizi still believed his feelings for her had begun when he’d saved her.
But the memories that had returned to him in this dark cavern proved otherwise. He knew his true identity now. He knew that he and Rui had been entangled for centuries: their souls had known each other from past lives, when he was Four and she was Lei Ying.
Madam Meng had spoken of yuanfen. How it bound some people together, the connection never breaking even in a new lifetime. It seemed overly poetic, like something you only read about in sad romance stories or saw in tearjerker TV dramas. While Zizi acknowledged he was a romantic, he’d never believed inmeant-to-bes. Never believed there werepeople or soulswho would always find each other no matter the circumstances, no matter the cost.
It sucked to be proven wrong under these circumstances, and he didn’t fully understand it. How could he be both the mortal boy who had given his heart to RuiandFour, the immortal who had done the same with Lei Ying? How could he have fallen in love with the same soul in different lifetimes? But maybe there was nothing to understand. The heart wanted what the heart wanted. No logic or reason could explain that.
Your story will not end well. The girl must be left alone.
Funny how Madam Meng had tried to warn him, but he’d ignored her in the end. She often said that fate repeated itself, and that sometimes, two souls were destined to meet but fated never to be together.Youyuanwufen.
It was clear to Zizi now that Rui’s and his stories were entwined, the same way Four’s and Lei Ying’s were.
Star-crossed. Doomed.
Rui’s face appeared in his mind, the corners of her lips downturned.
The end?
That’s all the story there was.
I thought there’d be a happy ending.
Not all stories have happy endings.
Four had inevitably caused Lei Ying’s death by doing the impossible. He had fallen in love with her, and that immortal love, so pure and true, had turned into a twisted curse. But Zizi had avoided that fate for Rui inthislifetime, hadn’t he? His decision to leave the mortal realm for the unknown, to leave Rui, no matter how much it hurt—it had saved her, right?
The debilitating tug-of-war in his mind had finally stopped, and he felt perfectly clear-headed. He would not repeat the mistakes of his past self. His desire could not come at the expense of the realms, or at the expense ofher. He would not show himself again in Rui’s presence. Hewould remain here in the underworld, filling the role he’d willfully abandoned, bringing stability to all the realms. And Rui would live the life she deserved, free from the curse that was his love.
This time, things would be different. He would make sure of it. He had changed the ending; this was the conclusion of their story.
Gingerly, Zizi wiggled his fingers and toes, rotating his wrists and ankles. His muscles loosened. He straightened his back. There was a satisfying crack as the tension in his spine released.
He glanced around. There was little light except from the soft sheen of the rock itself. This had to be the legendary Obsidian Cavern. It was said to be the darkest place in the underworld. Not literally, but in all other ways. The cavern took your mind and twisted it. If it could, it would take your soul.
Zizi didn’t blame his siblings for what they had done. The other Kings had to have been desperate when they decided to throw him in here. And he could only think of one thing they feared enough to make them act.
The Nothing.
The ravenous dark between the human realm and the edges of the underworld was a liminal space that sucked out all hope from the souls that were sent there by the Mirror of Retribution. Those souls were doomed for eternity. But they weremeantto be there as punishment for their mortal sins. Without the power of all ten Kings keeping everything in balance, the Nothing would consume all in its wake, regardless of innocence or guilt. And when the Fourth King went missing, it did just that.
But he had returned. The underworld and his siblings were safe now.
A draft from above ruffled Zizi’s hair. He stretched his stiff neck upward. There was a fracture in the ceiling. Which was... impossible. He was in a place where ancient forces resided. Even now, he could feel the immense spiritual essence permeating the air, derived from the Divine and unknown universe. It seemed impossible that he could’ve broken part of the cavern just by waking up.
But maybe he’d underestimated the power of a King. Or maybe the scary tales about the cavern were wrong. The Kingly power had surged inside him when he was trapped in his dream state, threatening to overwhelm him. But now that he had embraced it, it was calm and comforting, like the soft purr of a cat.
Mao.He missed his silly little feline.
