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It's been a while since Wuxian had an all-together pleasant day. Yesterday was a blessing he never knew he needed. Being out and about without a care or worry in the world has been a privilege he didn't know was missing in his life. But, when life creates something beautiful it has to balance it out with something less fortunate.
When the perfect day ended with their safe return to Cloud Recesses, Wuxian found himself unable to sleep well that night. He had a healing session the next day but that was not what kept him awake. His chest felt congested and he ended up waking up from time to time to cough. Wangji was startled awake each time, fretting over the painful sounding coughs coming from his soul-bond. By midnight, Wuxian snuck out of their room to spare Wangji's sleep while he sat outside, looking at the stars until sunrise. By the time morning came, Wuxian was tired and supporting dark rings under his eyes from lack of sleep. He was able to sneak back into bed before Wangji woke up and played along through their morning rituals.
He was going to meet Liwei in the morning, have his healing session at noon then deal with whatever happens from that afterwards. Each session so far came with it's own set of side effects that is hard to predict or plan anything for days after until the deed is done.
Wuxian coughed while waiting for Wangji to finish combing and tying his hair. Wangji frowned at him: "I don't like the sound of your cough."
Wuxian rubs his neck tiredly: "No one likes the sound of coughing."
Wangji lets go of Wuxian's hair and moves to look at his soul-bond: "You look sick."
Wuxian coughs a few more times and swallows painfully: "I'll be fine. I'm meeting Healer Shi later today anyways. She might have a tea or something to make this go away."
Wangji stares uncertainly at him for a few seconds before resuming his hair brushing.
If Wuxian thought he was convincing, he was mistaken. Wangji insisted on following him to the Treasure Room where he's supposed to meet the finder. Wuxian sighs at his clingy soul-bond just before they went into the main hall: "Stop following me! Go do your work. I promise we won't talk about you behind your back.. much."
Wangji stares blankly at him and follows him anyways. They found Zewu Jun waiting inside the main hall. Wuxian smiles at him: "Brother! What brings you here this early?"
Zewu Jun: "I heard we have a visitor this morning."
Wuxian frowns at him: "How did you know? Who told you?"
Zewu Jung smiles at him: "I've been manning this place for many years, brother Wei. Nothing goes around here that I don't know about."
Wuxian narrows his eyes: "You command the snitches around here, don't you?"
Zewu Jung chuckles and nods: "You can say that.."
Wuxian takes a seat in his chair and leans forward a little to cough.
Zewu Jun frowns and asks Wangji: "Is he sick?"
Wangji nods and looks sadly at his struggling soul-bond.
Zewu Jun stood beside his brother-in-bond and rubbed his back until the coughing fit subsided. He nods to one of the guard disciples and they hastily left to follow the silent order.
Zewu Jun: "Wei Wuxian, don't you know that sick people need rest to recuperate? Why are you here if you're sick?"
Wuxian: "It's just a cough. I'm fine."
"You're fine when I say your fine!" Healer Shi says in a loud voice before she bows to the men in the main hall and makes her way to check Wuxian's pulse.
Zewu Jun turns to his worried brother: "Wangji, you have duties to attend to. We will take care of him."
Wangji reluctantly nods and leaves.
Wuxian looks surprised at Zewu Jun: "How did you do that? I've literally said exactly what you said a million times this morning and it didn't work!"
Healer Shi interrupts them to grabs Wuxian's chin to look into his eyes: "Did you sleep well?"
Wuxian clears his throat and shakes his head. He promised her while drunk that he wouldn't' lie about his condition. She sighs and says: "It seems like a normal cold. I will have a warm tea made to soothe your throat. Whatever brought you here better not be taxing!"
Wuxian shakes his head: "Just a meeting. All I'll be doing is talking."
Shi turns to look at Zewu Jun who nods to confirm Wuxian's statement. Shi says to Zewu Jun: "I would appreciate it if you made sure he doesn't overdo it until the healing session this noon."
Zewu Jun smiles at her and nods.
Wuxian bite his lips to stop himself from teasing the couple.
A disciple announces the arrival of Liwei and ushers him in. He was not alone and this time around he knew who he was addressing.
Liwei steps into the main hall followed by a few young men and women wearing the same mismatched patterns of clothing. They all kneeled and Liwei says: "Divine Oracle, thank you for inviting us. I hope our talents serve you well."
Wuxian was not expecting this type of formality: "Liwei, why are you being stiff? Any friend of my soul-bond is a friend of mine."
Liwei stood up but kept his head down: "I wasn't informed of your status yesterday. I apologize if my behavior was out of line."
Zewu Jun steps close to the finder and smiles: "Master Liwei, it's been a while."
Liwei bows to him: "Zewu Jun, it's been a while indeed."
Wuxian was puzzled by his behavior. This is nothing like the carefree man he met yesterday.
Wuxian points at the people behind Liwei and asks: "Are these your disciples?"
Liwei: "Over the years, my reputation has spread over the continent. My talents were in demand so I chose to expand my business by developing my own sort of clan. We call ourselves The Finders."
Wuxian smiles at the gang of people who're gawking at him with admiration then turns to look seriously at Liwei: "I expect that your services come with discretion?"
Liwei nods so Wuxian continues: "I am looking for something but I don't want you to retrieve it. I just want you to find information about it and who has it."
Wuxian takes out the prophecy page and hands it to Wen Ning, who in turn passes it along to Liwei. Wuxian: "This is a page from a book called 'Darkest of Days'. We assume it's a book of prophecies written with spiritual energy similar to the one emanating from this page."
Liwei examines that damaged piece of paper then his eyes widened when he reads the visible content: "This is.. a prophecy?"
Wuxian nods: "We are not sure but the energy coming from it confirms its validity."
One of Liwei's followers takes out a book and a brush and starts writing things down. Liwei hands the page back to Wen Ning.
Wuxian: "I want you to find the person who has the book this was torn from and, if possible, any information about the content of the .."
Wuxian trails off as the world around him starts to lose its colors.
'From one moment to the next, the people present disappeared and his main hall was engulfed in flames. This time around, he was not transported to another place. He was sitting right where he was in the main hall. He can hear swords clashing and people screaming outside but what grabbed his attention are the people lying on the ground.. in his main hall.. surrounded by flames. Lan Wangji, Zewu Jun, Lan Ran, Healer Shi, Liwei, Yuxio and a couple other people were all lying around, weapons out with no evident injury to justify how they were incapacitated. Wuxian walked to where his soul-bond was and kneeled to look sadly at the tear tracks down his lax face. What happened here? Who did this? Wuxian head snapped around to look at the open door when he heard a child's cry: "NO! MAMA!" He ran out into what seems like a war zone. Lan Clansmen fighting with bloody clothes against men wearing green robes. His disciples were struggling to contain the intruders and putting ooutthe fire around his room so they could go in. He walks among them only to stop when he sees Wen Ning trapped under a net unable to free himself. Wuxian steps near it to take a better look. The net was made out of talismans, braided together and pinned down with magic filled daggers. He hears the child cry once again and follows it all the way to a place near Cloud Recesses's gate. There he sees the little girl he met yesterday, Lan Hweiru, pulling a man's robes with all her might, trying to stop him from moving. She shouts: "YOU CAN'T TAKE MY MAMA! NO!" Wuxian watches her try to stop the big man in green robes. He pushes her a couple of times but she gets up again and grabs him. Wuxian moves to take a better look at the man and what he is carrying. He didn't recognize the brute but he was carrying someone who seemed passed out or dead, covered in a white fabric. Wuxian steps closer to figure out who it is but gets distracted when the man grunts, losing his footing and turning angry eyes at the girl who just stabbed his calf with a white dagger. He places the person he's carrying gently on the ground and turns to grab the little girl by the throat. Wuxian gasps and ducks his head, refusing to see what might happen next. At the corner of his eye, he sees a golden strand of hair peeking from under the white fabric covering the body on the ground. He heard the little girl kick and struggle for breath and couldn't take it anymore. He covered his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, repeating in his head: 'This is not real. This is not real. This is not real.'
He felt someone gently remove his hand from his ears and whisper: "What's not real?"
Wuxian opens his eyes cautiously and when things are back where they belong, he lets out a long sigh of relief. Zewu Jun frowns at him: "What did you see?"
Wuxian coughs a little then shakes his head looking at the people before him who just witnessed his Oracle powers and were showered with sparks of golden energy, gracing them with a strange fulfilling feeling.
Liwei looked with wonder at Wuxian: "What was that? I've never felt like this before.. I don't even know how to describe it!"
Zewu Jun turns to address the occupants of the room: "The Divine Oracle has many skills. You've been blessed to witness one of them."
Liwei was baffled by the vague response but when Zewu Jun glared at him, he chose to ignore it. Wuxian goes into a coughing fit, causing everyone in the room to cringe at how painful it sounds.
The finder takes out a small pouch from his robes and walks towards the coughing man. Wen Ning blocks his approach and grabs his extended arm in warning. Liwei looks warily at Wen Ning and leans around him to speak to Wuxian: "Divine Oracle, these are cough candies I received as payment from a loyal customer. It will help calm your breathing."
Wen Ning grabs the pouch and eats a piece of candy. After tasting it for a few seconds, he passes it along to Wuxian. Wuxian rubs his aching chest and says: "Thank you." He pops one into his mouth and is surprised by the sugary lemon taste. Liwei was right, it did help soothe his throat and expand his lungs.
Liwei turns to look fearfully at Wen Ning. Wuxian watches the exchange and after putting another candy in his mouth asks: "Did Wen Ning threaten you?"
Liwei, still watching Wen Ning warily, nods. Wuxian looks amused: "Pray tell, what did he threaten you with this time?"
Liwei's eyes widened: "This time?"
Wuxian chuckles: "He threatens everyone. I'm starting to think that's how he makes friends."
Liwei: "Friends don't threaten friends with graphic descriptions of how they are going to kill them!"
Wuxian shrugs: "To each their own. He's my soul-brother, that's his way of showing love."
Wuxian winks at Wen Ning and receives a smile in return. Liwei looks between them and cringes when he remembers what the pale man promised to do to him if he betrayed Wuxian.
Liwei steps back and says: "If that's all you have for me, I will take my leave."
Wuxian stood and said in panic: "WAIT!"
He walks until he's near enough to whisper into Liwei's ear: "I need you to find out where the Shenhua clan sect is. This is more important than the book."
Liwei: "Shenhua Clan?"
Wuxian: "They wear green robes, use spears and daggers instead of swords and claim to be my rightful guardians. I need to find where they're based as soon as possible."
Liwei nodded his understanding and The Finders bowed with respect to Wuxian before they took their leave.
Zewu Jun stood next to Wuxian when the main hall was emptied and asked: "Brother Wei, what did you just see?"
Deep concern settles into Wuxian's face and he whispers: "Trouble."
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