Nightmare Shuttle

Inside the cave, a young elf sat on the edge of the stone wall and eat the dry piece of black bread in her hand slowly. When her mother was taken away that year, she was left alone to fend for herself. The elves claim to be a pure and untainted existence but when she had to feed on the bitter bark and gnaw on a few pieces of grass just to be able to live a day longer, she realized the elves were just a delusional bunch. 

She swallowed the black bread piece by piece as if savoring the most delicious delicacy, her throat burned painfully and she could feel the cracks in her splitting tainting the dry wheat in her mouth with rusty blood but she refused to spit it out.

Knowing she couldn't see the sky from here she still stared up at the ceiling, as if she could penetrate the sky and see her mother's gentle face staring down at her with love. 

When the last piece of bread was swallowed, the light in her eyes was unyielding and firm. The cave was dark, the other Women had slowly fallen into numbness, not even the faint sobbing could break up the depressing silence. She looked back faintly, catching sight of the cold eyes gazing at her back, there wasn't pity nor sympathy in those eyes but inexplicably Ning Ning felt a surge of courage in her heart.

The torches hanging on the stone wall outside were burning, and the fire shone on her face. There were sounds of people chanting, sounds of gongs and feet crashing, and the sobbing sounds still ringing from time to time.

She lifted a hand and slowly placed it on the ear that would never have feeling again, when she removed her hand, the pointed tip that signaled a pure-blooded elf had disappeared leaving only the jagged edge of her ear that had been sliced off.

They were soon hoarded out, roughly bathed, and shoved into the crimson red dress and a black cloth pulled over their head.

She didn't know how long they had walked for when suddenly, there was the sound of a huge metal door opening, and a ray of light shone through the gap between the black cloth in front of her.

Ning Ning felt the black cover off her head being rudely removed, and then she was pushed hard into the dazzling orange light.

A plethora of sound resembling a tsunami that crashed down in huge waves, came from all directions. Ning Ning raised her hand to block the harsh light in front of her.

Her eyes squinted uncomfortably, and filled with physiological tears, before her body could react a strange Gong sounded in her ears and her eyes shifted unnaturally. When she looked up again, the bright light in her eyes was replaced with a dull trance-like glow and in her hands, the elven warriors placed a golden dagger. But what no one could see was the small dagger clenched under her tongue, as if a silent hunter waiting for the perfect moment.

***

A dark figure shuttled through the forest with heavy steps. Dark clouds had long since taken over the sky and the occasional flash of lightning would illuminate the woman's stumbling figure briefly before falling into the darkness once more.

She could feel, that her feet were completely bloodied and her chest stuttered with every breath, only her willpower prevented her from collapsing at this moment.

When she left, she knew she could not come back but she still did it without regret. For all the women that never came back, just like her sister, for all them.

She didn't know long she ran for when her lungs could no longer take in air and her body trembled with every step, she finally felt the signal. 

Without hesitation, Be Xiu raised a hand and ruthlessly tore a large piece of flesh from the middle of her palm! Scarlet blood instantly spurted onto the forest soil. Her fingers drenched in her blood sketched onto the ground, they did not shake.

Her eyes were so focused that even if the cold sweat leaked from her forehead and slipped down her brow bones, she didn't even bother to blink the sweat off-as time went by, complicated blood lines appeared little by little under her fingertips, and an ancient totem slowly revealed its true and complete features.

The pattern that she drew resembled the roots of the guardian tree!

When the final stroke was placed, Bei Xiu slowly closed her eyes and walked to the middle of the totem. A silent wind slowly rose from her feet and surrounded her. Those viscous blood seemed to be absorbed by some invisible force on the winding and smooth lines.

Bei Xiu suddenly open her eyes, when she opened them, the whites of her eyes had been completely overtaken by a dark green! Her mouth opened, and strange language gushed out of her mouth as if an existence from ancient times was using her tongue as a medium to set off an ancient spell! 

The elegant and gorgeous tone melted into the cold darkness, and the lines of the circle exuded a faint red fluorescence. As the chanting continued, the red light gradually became brighter and brighter, almost completely dispelling the darkness in the forest and Bei Xiu who stood in the middle of it was shrouded in red! The wind whipped up around her and the thunder in the sky rolled.

The elements that shouldn't be here were catalyzed by her blood and were now surging and spinning frantically, rushing and colliding chaotically like boiling seawater, with a sharp, ear-piercing whistle.

Thick clouds circled frantically, gathering above her like a tide, blocking all the light in the sky, the heaven and the earth seemed to change color, and the wind and clouds surged—

Be Xiu finally spoke the last tone, in an instant, a bloody light violently gushed out from the formation, and the harsh bright red light seeped from the thick earth and shot towards the sky. From a distance, the entire forest seemed to be flashing red in the center of the storm. 

The red light seemed to collide with a faint dome above the forest for a second but with an unstoppable force, the light smashed through the invisible barrier and rushed out to the sky!

Be Xiu's thin figure that was being slowly swallowed by the red light, seemed to slowly lift her head, a single tear fell from her eyes and smashed into the forest floor. It wasn't a tear of sadness but relief, she had don't it.

Sister, she had done it.

Her figure slowly disappeared, the blood-painted magic circle on the ground seemed to have received a heavy blow, lost its luster, cracked, and turned to ashes that drifted away with the wind.

At this moment, there was a sudden sound of horse hooves in the distance. The wet soil splashed onto the horse's calves as they rushed through the forest, a few horses briefly paused at the spot where Bei Xu dissipated into ashes and the riders bowed before nudging their horses forward.

The Fan Clan had arrived.

***

"Gong!––"

The river crashed and jolted violently as if boiling oil had been poured into the water. There was even faint steam forming on top of the river! The blood continued to be poured into the water and the red glow underneath grew higher and higher. From the black chain lodged into the walls, Chu Yi could hear faint crackling noise as if at any moment, the creature underwater would rush out. 

The bonfires on the suspended platform seemed to shift. It was the moment the blood flowing down the winding glyph touched the bottom of the bonfire, and before the black robe elf's with their hands raised to the sky chanting loudly, it rushed towards the ceilings and burned fiercely!

An extremely subtle shadow that no ordinary person could feel appeared in the fiery flame.

The chanting stopped abruptly, and the black robe elves looked at the black shadow in the flames and shuddered with excitement. Elder Ling who had been standing by the side of the river suddenly trembled and raised his head sharply.

For the first time–for the first time in such a long time–he felt the breath of the God he was serving with all his heart.

Even such a slight presence made him giddy with ecstasy, the cool bearing of an elf was lost on him and with frantic eyes, he motioned to the guardian warriors on the side.

"Prepare the second offering!"

"Bring them up!–"

He knelt before the river and kowtowed piously.

"God!––

The God of Creation!

After such a long time, you have finally woken up from the abyss of death once more!

Did you see, did you notice the plight of your children––

Your humble and loyal believers will give you everything——

Bring us back to the wealth and prosperity, restore the guardian tree, make the elves whole again–"

Chu Yi had an ominous premonition and sure enough he soon understood what Elder Ling meant by second offering.

He glanced at the elf warriors who were suddenly walking towards them, it seemed that he couldn't escape this crisis today.