Unwilling Death

He lay on his back, staring at the boundless night sky.

But no matter how much he strained his eyes, he couldn't see anything.

Maybe it was better this way, he comforted himself.

He feared that even the Heavens would scorn him for what he had become, it was truly too disgraceful, the things that had happened to him.

Despite that, he still yearned for even one last glance at the stars, to recall his happiest memory.

Or was it his only happy memory?

He wasn't so sure anymore, his mind had become mostly blurry. Maybe it had only been a handful of years since he had last seen the sky, but to him, it felt like centuries had passed.

Through shaky breaths he sucked in the cold night air, pretending not to hear the excited cheering above him or the occassional sobs and howls below.

Just thinking about what rested below him almost made him shake uncontrollably.

He didn't have to see to know, that he was on top of a pile composed of both corpses and the living haphazardly mixed together. This, combined with the noise, was enough to create a nightmare that not even purgatory dared replicate.

Considering this, he felt that he was actually quite lucky, at least he wasn't being suffocated by corpses and he didn't have to see this scene.

He shook his head slightly, he should stop these thoughts.

He had once heard that, the more at peace you are at your death, the more satisfied King Yama and Meng Po would be with you. They might even improve your luck in the next reincarnation slightly!

"Please, Oh Gods! Take this accumulated Qi as sacrifice and grant us the strength to fight against the calamity!"

As he heard these words, he knew that the ceremony had officially started.

A smell of burnt flesh slowly spread, entering his nostrils. The ones that still could, screamed in pain as they were burnt alive, while the dead remained silent. But regardless of the response or lack there of, he could feel Qi of various elements gathering above their heads.

What a magnificant last act of cruelty, he thought to himself while gritting his teeth. Even he wasn't spared, the flames spread to him, and climbed up his leg. But he at the very least didn't want to scream in pain, this was his last bottom line.

As his muddy thoughts tried to remain clear, a familiar voice entered his ears.

He was stunned for a second, his already weak heart began to pound a bit quicker.

The source of this voice must be very near, he listened again, slowly crawling into the direction of the voice that was still sobbing.

A stinging and sour sensation filled his heart as he heard the continuous sobbing. A kind of hot liquid ran down his deathly cold cheeks, almost scalding him, but he continued onward.

Finally, he reached the source, an uncontrollable but weak smile spread on his lips as he lost his strength and slumped on the person before him.

"Now, we have finally met face to face..."

His happy mood could be heard clearly despite his scratchy and weak voice.

The sobbing subsided, a quiet sniffling remained, the chocked response that followed was full of supressed emotions. At least, that's how he hoped it was.

"...Hello."

His smile widened.

"I promised I'd show you this special, secret trick of mine if we ever met like this..."

He lifted his bony arm and spread his hand, he imagined that between his long fingers the few remaining strands of inner Qi from his almost entirely destroyed Dantian gathered. It took a few tries and just as he thought that he would fail, he felt the inner Qi manifesting in his hand. Carefully, he manipulated the form, before presenting it to his dear friend, whom he had grown to love over the long time they had spent together.

"Here." His weak voice was filled with pride.

As he waited a while for his friend's answer, he felt his inner Qi silently dying out, so he slowly dropped his arm.

Suddenly, he felt a soft touch fall down on his cold cheek.

He was stunned speechless.

He had experienced all kinds of kisses in these years, but this was the first time a kiss felt so... sweet.

Tuck!

Something struck him abprubtly in the back and he knew that he would die now, but despite this, his heart was full.

"I hope... in our next... life,... we can be... together in... peace."

Like this, he closed his blinded eyes, even unable to catch the violet flash directly in front of him.