The prison beneath Shenhui Academy was carved from cold mountain stone, it smelled of damp iron. A boy around 17 to 18 years old was chained in the deepest part of the cell.
Spirit metal cuffs cut into his wrists and ankles, etched with suppressing runes that flared with the slightest movement. He couldn't move without feeling the heat through flesh, straight into his soul.
He stared into the emptiness and laughed hoarsely.
"Shenhui's hospitality is worse than rumored." He muttered to the emptiness. "Can't even give a guest a cushion?"
No one answered. The guards outside the barrier pretended not to hear anything. Their eyes were trained on the floor, and their shoulders were stiff with fear.
As time went by, the suppressants sank deeper. The talisman at his chest peeled itself off with his skin and reattached in the exact same place, leaving a ghost-burn that refused to fade even with his incredible healing ability.
The door slammed open above and boots echoed down the stairwell. Before getting closer, a cold voice ordered: "Bring the demon over."
Someone stepped forward and grabbed Ye Cheng by the hair and yanked his head back. Ye Cheng didn't resist, he knew resistance would only provoke them, and honestly… he was tired.
After years of careful planning, he lost control, burned a village, revealed his bloodline and Shen Yuan,... he wasn't sure whether he was safe. His breath hitched and his chest tighten, he laughed mockingly at him. His situation isn't much better, how is it that he still have time to worry about others?
"Move!" The guard snarled, shoving him forward.
He stumbled, barely catching himself before falling. The metal scraped painfully across his ankles. His body was weak, his demonic energy was sealed, and his spiritual veins were damaged from the outburst.
The guards dragged him into an interrogation hall. Several elders from the academy stood in a semicircle.
They questioned him for an hour, asking about his origin, his relationship with the blood moon, his past and the crime he committed by burning an entire village. He answered half of it, ignored most, and insulted the rest.
Eventually, the elders lost patience and sent him to Cell Zero. Ye Cheng was dragged down deeper into the forbidden section. The walls were lined with runes meant to keep demons restrained. The air itself felt suffocating.
He was strapped upright to a vertical stone slab. His wrists and ankles were spread, locked in cold iron. The door slammed shut and all the sound of voices was carried with it.
"...Shen Yuan…" He shut his bloody eyes: "Please be alive."
🪷🪷🪷
Shen Yuan opened his eyes to sunlight. His eyelashes fluttered, his vision blurry as he stared up at a white ceiling.
"He's awake!! Everyone, call Elder Su!" Someone rushed out of the room shouting.
Shen Yuan blinked slowly, his throat was dry. His body ached, but all of that paled compared to the fog in his mind.
"Where… am I…?"
"Infirmary," said a familiar voice.
Hu Jianyu stood at his side with relief: "You fainted after the battle. You've been asleep for five days."
"…Five days?" Shen Yuan sat up belatedly, and pain shot through his ribs but he ignored it: "Where's Ye Cheng?"
Hu Jianyu fell silent. That alone told him everything.
Shen Yuan's voice dropped. "Where is he?"
Hu Jianyu lowered his head without answering.
"Jianyu… where is he?"
Hu Jianyu clenched his fists. "…The academy arrested him."
Arrested… Arrested?
Why?
"On charges of demonic infiltration," Hu Jianyu continued: "He drew demonic power over a mortal settlement and annihilated it."
"He also saved you." This statement was said mostly like a whisper.
"I saw," Shen Yuan said breathlessly. A wash of cold crept under his skin, so swift it made his teeth ache: "I saw him."
Then the memories returned.
The villagers that corrupted demonic force, and his own blood spilling on the dirt. Ye Cheng's voice calling his name… And then…
"Demon, a demon… how could this be?" Shen Yuan murmured to himself absentmindedly.
Something in Shen Yuan cracked and old memories surged in. A courtyard filled with bodies, his mother's scream, his younger sister's small body covered in blood, the crimson shadow that tore his family apart.
A demon, A demon, A filthy demon… Why do you have to be a demon???
"Yuan," Hu Jianyu said softly, trying to calm him: "Listen to me. Ye Cheng, he's not—"
"Not what?" Shen Yuan asked, staring at him with empty eyes: "Not a demon?"
Hu Jianyu flinched. "He is. But he's also…" his eyes widened as he noticed something was wrong.
"Shen Yuan!!" Hu Jianyu stepped forward. "Hold your breath! Your qi is destabilizing!"
But Shen Yuan couldn't hear him anymore. The darkness swallowed everything. His inner demon he'd surpassed for years, had consumed him.
Voices was echoing in his head:
He lied to you.
A demon. All along.
Your family died because of his kind.
And you protected him, trusted him, wanted him.
Shen Yuan's eyes snapped open! Pitch black eyes, twisted with hatred and confusion. He stood up, snatched his sword, and walked out.
Hu Jianyu tried to block him, but the spiritual force that blasted out of Shen Yuan sent him crashing into a wall.
Shen Yuan didn't look back.
He descended the prison stairs with slow, heavy steps, he was like a walking dead who'd lost his soul.
🪷🪷🪷
The Cell was cold. Ye Cheng shivered slightly, his forehead resting against the stone. His hair fell over his face, partly obscuring his dim eyes.
The sound of footsteps made him lift his head. He froze when he saw Shen Yuan standing at the door.
Ye Cheng's lips parted. His eyes softened instantly, filled with relief: "…You're okay…" Ye Cheng whispered, voice trembling. "Thank the heavens, you're alive."
Shen Yuan unsheathed his sword without a word.
Ye Cheng's breath caught in his throat: "…Shen Yuan?" He stares at Shen Yuan in confusion.
Shen Yuan stopped just outside the barrier. His eyes moved over the burns on Ye Cheng's body.
"Why?" he asked. The single word cut deeper than any blade.
"...Why what?" Ye Cheng wasn't sure he heard right.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Shen Yuan's voice cracked: "You're a demon. All this time…"
Ye Cheng swallowed hard: "Would it have changed anything if I told you?"
Shen Yuan's eyes shook: "It would've saved me from…" His voice was emotionless: "...from trusting you."
Ye Cheng's heart twisted: "But I never lied to you," he said softly: "I just… didn't say everything. Because I didn't want you to look at me, the way you're looking now. "
Shen Yuan's fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword: "The villagers."
"They were gone," Ye Cheng explained: "Whatever you thought you saw, it wasn't real. Something was using their bodies. If we had hesitated longer, you would've died. All of us wouldn't have made it out."
"Over hundreds of mortals, you killed them all." Shen Yuan said, looking at Ye Cheng like a stranger.
Ye Cheng lowering his voice: "I'm not asking you to forgive me. I'm only glad you're alive."
He was really tired today.
"Why?" Shen Yuan asked again, It sounded like: Why do I have to find out this way? Why did you deceive me?
"Ye Cheng… I cared for you. I was willing to give everything to you."
Ye Cheng's lips parted but no sound came out.
"But you killed innocent mortals, men, women, and children. My family was also slaughtered by demons. I took this ruthless path to get rid of every single demon." He walked closer with the sword in his hand: "And when I look at you… I remember everything."
Ye Cheng felt his throat tighten: "Yuan… I'm not—"
But Shen Yuan's already made his move before he could finish his words. A flash of steel pierce through his flesh.
Ye Cheng gasped and stared down at the sword in his chest. Blood dripped from Ye Cheng's lips. He lifted his eyes, slowly, to Shen Yuan's face. His expression was blank with disbelief.
"…You…"His voice trembled: "…You really stabbed me."
Shen Yuan pulled the sword out, and Ye Cheng fell.
His chains rattled as his knees hit the stone. Warm and sticky blood pooled beneath him.
He looked up one last time.
"Shen Yuan…" His voice was barely a whisper.
"All those times you looked after me… Was any of it real? Were all your affections fake?"
Shen Yuan just stares at him blankly without answering.
Ye Cheng smiled weakly, tears finally spilling from his eyes: "That's… enough, then."
Who said love can change everything? How is it possible for mortals and demons to coexist? Who can erase hatred accumulated since childhood with just sincerity and affection?
Those were all hopes of a naive youth.
His body slumped. The light in his eyes faded along with his heartbeat.
Only then, did Shen Yuan woke from a nightmare he didn't know he entered. He looked at his hands in shock, threw the sword away and rushed to Ye Cheng's body like a mad man.
"No—No… YE CHENG…!!!"