 | Room Number: 35 Resident: Egao Chan Certified SS Member Since: Jun 14, 2022 Egao Chan is an Eastern fantasy author. Check out more from Egao Chan here: https://linktr.ee/egaochan |
“Bridges"
by Egao Chan
by Egao Chan
Right outside of a patient’s room in an eerily empty hospital, stood an old man in gray daily clothes. Standing face to face with him was a pale woman in a long red dress and a full head of long black hair. The hem of the woman’s dress was stained and wet, almost dripping, while the old man’s clothes had many dirt marks, small tears, and even some blood spots on them.
“You cannot see him.” The old man said, with his right hand extended forward in a “stop” gesture, and a sword entirely made of peachwood with red threads tucked into his left sleeve. “If you get entangled with his life, his vitality and his qi will be fully expended, and he will die a young man. This will be in no way good for you, either.”
“Shifu, I just want to see him one last time,” the woman in red begged. “After that, I will leave him be, and I will hide. The Malice Daemon can have me, should he find me, and no one will come for the young man anymore.”
“I care not for that. All I care about now is him, and I’ve tried all I could to convince him that this path is for neither of you.” The old man shook his head, “If he knew you were here… he would not be able to let you go.”
“Years and years, decades and decades, have I lingered, while the light escapes me.” The woman gently bowed to the old man. “Can I just wait here for another moment and see him in his sleep? He wouldn’t even know I am here.”
The old man sighed, and after a short moment of silence, he relented: “Fine, I will check on him. You shall have a short moment with him, if he’s asleep…”
Before the old man could finish, the lights in the hallway started flickering, and a strong, cold, and foul wind gushed towards him and the woman in red. A faint but chilling laughter came with the wind, alongside a foul smell and darkness. As the old man and the woman in red looked towards the other end of the hall, they saw a dark cloud of fog floating about, taking the rough shape of a human face with a number of scars on its chin, forehead, as well as its nose, while staring with two uneven eyes.
“He’s here.” The old man said, as he immediately whipped out the peachwood sword and raised it before him.
“You should take him and go. I’ll stall him.” The woman raised both her arms, her fingernails turned red, long and sharp. Blood seeped out from her eye sockets and nostrils, and the skin on her face became wrinkled and cracked.
“Too many people here,” the old man sighed. “We should warn everyone and buy them time …”
“My bride, and my vessel.” The human face made of dark fog said in a coarse and whispering voice: “What a terrible betrayal.” And the next moment, it shot towards the old man and the woman, with its dark tendrils waving around in the air. The lights in the hallway bursting or shutting down as it glided by. Darkness followed.
The old man ran his left palm along the edge of his peachwood sword and drenched it with his blood. The woman stuck her fingers in her dress, pulled out dozens of threads, and let them wrap around her fingers.
“Poof!” The human face, made of dark fog, disappeared right before it could collide with the old man or the woman in red. And yet, before either of them could react, countless pale gray hands and arms covered by broken skins and exposed muscles, crawling with dark veins and exposed bones, appeared on the walls. These hands grabbed both of them by their clothes and hair. Even with no mouths or throats, the arms and hands let out moans, cries and curses like they were vengeful and grudgeful souls in pain.
The old man let out a grunt as the disembodied arms pulled at him, but still kept his composure, and only when three hands tried to grab him by his neck did he make the first move with his sword to slice them cleanly off. The woman in red, on the other hand, pulled out more and more red threads from her dress and tied them around the wrists of those arms as fast as she could, while looking around trying to find the one who conjured these hands - the actual position of the Malice Daemon.
“Here!” After having his shirt torn and pulled apart by the hands, the old man thrusted his peachwood sword.
The peachwood sword shook as if it connected with a moving animal. Fire and electric sparks burst from the blade, and a dark shadow appeared right above the old man - it was a spider-like creature, with six arms as its limbs, a human-like torso, no legs and a head embedded in its chest area. The tip of the peachwood sword had sunken into the creature’s stomach, and was not able to go any deeper.
Just when the spider-like creature tried to bend its body down and attack the old man from the back, the woman tossed out a batch of her red thread and bound the creature's limbs up and tried to pull them upwards like a puppet.
The spider-like creature let out a deafening scream - it was a scream with many voices in unison, some higher pitched, some hoarse and gurgling, and some even child-like. And with this scream, both the peachwood sword and the red threads began to crack.
“Careful!”/“Watch out!” The old man and the woman called out to each other at the same time.
“My bride!” The spider-like creature laughed as it ripped the red threads and broke the peachwood sword with a violent twist of its body: “You’ll not escape me this time!”
Tears of blood poured from the woman’s eyes, her eyes became completely white, her face became pale and cracked, like an old wax statue, and her fingernails grew long, sharp, and started dripping blood. With an ear-piercing scream, she launched herself at the spider-like creature.
The old man hit his own chest with his right arm with full force, then he blew out the blood that filled his mouth onto the broken peachwood sword. The broken sword lit up in orange flames. He lunged at the spider-like creature with the sword firmly in hand. His palms were still bleeding, and his breathing was hoarse.
The spider-like creature laughed, its body grew to thrice its size, and the arms on the walls shot out from the walls at the old man and the woman in red all at once. Dark fog filled the hall, and almost no light could pierce through.
“Boom!” The door to the patient’s room blew open, a young man in a hospital gown leapt out. Both his eyes were covered by blood-stained gauze, and in his right hand, was a short sword made of one whole piece of blood-red crystal.
Before the creature could react, the short sword impaled its body. A bolt of golden lightning shot into its dark, foul body made of dark fog and lit it up from the inside. The burning peachwood sword and the claw attack from the woman in red came right after, and the creature was instantly turned to shreds.
The lights in the hallway lit up once again. Dark ashes and foul smell filled the air. The young man fell towards the ground, his short sword shattered and turned back to blood and splashed all over the floor. Luckily, he was caught by his Shifu. The color in the woman’s eyes returned, and her skin went back to its former pale state. Her entire figure was flickering, and her body had become noticeably more transparent than before.
“My fool of a pupil…” The old man’s voice was shaking.
“I’m sorry, Shifu.” The young man spoke with a weak voice but with a smile on his face, his breaths getting shorter and shorter: “I’ll be your pupil in the next life.”
“Stop talking.” The woman in red tried to come closer, but quickly stepped back: “Let the doctor come help you.”
“I’m sorry, Ling.” The young man turned his head towards the woman in red: “Next life - I’ll wait before the Bridge of Forgetfulness for you, til you shed your red dress…”
The old man held the body of his pupil close into his arms and wept silently. The red in the woman’s dress slowly dissipated as she finally mustered up the strength to reach out to the right hand of the young man.
Their hands met, and their fingers crossed for the first time.
“You cannot see him.” The old man said, with his right hand extended forward in a “stop” gesture, and a sword entirely made of peachwood with red threads tucked into his left sleeve. “If you get entangled with his life, his vitality and his qi will be fully expended, and he will die a young man. This will be in no way good for you, either.”
“Shifu, I just want to see him one last time,” the woman in red begged. “After that, I will leave him be, and I will hide. The Malice Daemon can have me, should he find me, and no one will come for the young man anymore.”
“I care not for that. All I care about now is him, and I’ve tried all I could to convince him that this path is for neither of you.” The old man shook his head, “If he knew you were here… he would not be able to let you go.”
“Years and years, decades and decades, have I lingered, while the light escapes me.” The woman gently bowed to the old man. “Can I just wait here for another moment and see him in his sleep? He wouldn’t even know I am here.”
The old man sighed, and after a short moment of silence, he relented: “Fine, I will check on him. You shall have a short moment with him, if he’s asleep…”
Before the old man could finish, the lights in the hallway started flickering, and a strong, cold, and foul wind gushed towards him and the woman in red. A faint but chilling laughter came with the wind, alongside a foul smell and darkness. As the old man and the woman in red looked towards the other end of the hall, they saw a dark cloud of fog floating about, taking the rough shape of a human face with a number of scars on its chin, forehead, as well as its nose, while staring with two uneven eyes.
“He’s here.” The old man said, as he immediately whipped out the peachwood sword and raised it before him.
“You should take him and go. I’ll stall him.” The woman raised both her arms, her fingernails turned red, long and sharp. Blood seeped out from her eye sockets and nostrils, and the skin on her face became wrinkled and cracked.
“Too many people here,” the old man sighed. “We should warn everyone and buy them time …”
“My bride, and my vessel.” The human face made of dark fog said in a coarse and whispering voice: “What a terrible betrayal.” And the next moment, it shot towards the old man and the woman, with its dark tendrils waving around in the air. The lights in the hallway bursting or shutting down as it glided by. Darkness followed.
The old man ran his left palm along the edge of his peachwood sword and drenched it with his blood. The woman stuck her fingers in her dress, pulled out dozens of threads, and let them wrap around her fingers.
“Poof!” The human face, made of dark fog, disappeared right before it could collide with the old man or the woman in red. And yet, before either of them could react, countless pale gray hands and arms covered by broken skins and exposed muscles, crawling with dark veins and exposed bones, appeared on the walls. These hands grabbed both of them by their clothes and hair. Even with no mouths or throats, the arms and hands let out moans, cries and curses like they were vengeful and grudgeful souls in pain.
The old man let out a grunt as the disembodied arms pulled at him, but still kept his composure, and only when three hands tried to grab him by his neck did he make the first move with his sword to slice them cleanly off. The woman in red, on the other hand, pulled out more and more red threads from her dress and tied them around the wrists of those arms as fast as she could, while looking around trying to find the one who conjured these hands - the actual position of the Malice Daemon.
“Here!” After having his shirt torn and pulled apart by the hands, the old man thrusted his peachwood sword.
The peachwood sword shook as if it connected with a moving animal. Fire and electric sparks burst from the blade, and a dark shadow appeared right above the old man - it was a spider-like creature, with six arms as its limbs, a human-like torso, no legs and a head embedded in its chest area. The tip of the peachwood sword had sunken into the creature’s stomach, and was not able to go any deeper.
Just when the spider-like creature tried to bend its body down and attack the old man from the back, the woman tossed out a batch of her red thread and bound the creature's limbs up and tried to pull them upwards like a puppet.
The spider-like creature let out a deafening scream - it was a scream with many voices in unison, some higher pitched, some hoarse and gurgling, and some even child-like. And with this scream, both the peachwood sword and the red threads began to crack.
“Careful!”/“Watch out!” The old man and the woman called out to each other at the same time.
“My bride!” The spider-like creature laughed as it ripped the red threads and broke the peachwood sword with a violent twist of its body: “You’ll not escape me this time!”
Tears of blood poured from the woman’s eyes, her eyes became completely white, her face became pale and cracked, like an old wax statue, and her fingernails grew long, sharp, and started dripping blood. With an ear-piercing scream, she launched herself at the spider-like creature.
The old man hit his own chest with his right arm with full force, then he blew out the blood that filled his mouth onto the broken peachwood sword. The broken sword lit up in orange flames. He lunged at the spider-like creature with the sword firmly in hand. His palms were still bleeding, and his breathing was hoarse.
The spider-like creature laughed, its body grew to thrice its size, and the arms on the walls shot out from the walls at the old man and the woman in red all at once. Dark fog filled the hall, and almost no light could pierce through.
“Boom!” The door to the patient’s room blew open, a young man in a hospital gown leapt out. Both his eyes were covered by blood-stained gauze, and in his right hand, was a short sword made of one whole piece of blood-red crystal.
Before the creature could react, the short sword impaled its body. A bolt of golden lightning shot into its dark, foul body made of dark fog and lit it up from the inside. The burning peachwood sword and the claw attack from the woman in red came right after, and the creature was instantly turned to shreds.
The lights in the hallway lit up once again. Dark ashes and foul smell filled the air. The young man fell towards the ground, his short sword shattered and turned back to blood and splashed all over the floor. Luckily, he was caught by his Shifu. The color in the woman’s eyes returned, and her skin went back to its former pale state. Her entire figure was flickering, and her body had become noticeably more transparent than before.
“My fool of a pupil…” The old man’s voice was shaking.
“I’m sorry, Shifu.” The young man spoke with a weak voice but with a smile on his face, his breaths getting shorter and shorter: “I’ll be your pupil in the next life.”
“Stop talking.” The woman in red tried to come closer, but quickly stepped back: “Let the doctor come help you.”
“I’m sorry, Ling.” The young man turned his head towards the woman in red: “Next life - I’ll wait before the Bridge of Forgetfulness for you, til you shed your red dress…”
The old man held the body of his pupil close into his arms and wept silently. The red in the woman’s dress slowly dissipated as she finally mustered up the strength to reach out to the right hand of the young man.
Their hands met, and their fingers crossed for the first time.
©2022 Egao Chan, presented by Live Free Live Rich Entertainment
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