"I was tasked with one thing" Wu said calmly, looking at them "Keeping both of you safe."
Ren didn't know what to say, his throat was still dry from all the smoke and river water, even his legs barely held him up. Wu's sudden appearance made him strangely calm, realizing they were not alone.
"You.....you were always here?" Ren finally asked with a hoarse voice..
"Not always, I left only after getting tasked by your parents."
The way Wu said it was deliberate, measured, like he was choosing his words carefully.
Mei stirred, "So you're not dead huh."
Wu showed a faint, unreadable smile. "I've lived through worse."
"But the beas--------"
"Won't follow in here." Wu's gaze turned to the grove's edge, where the trees were thick like a wall. "Not unless it's foolish, or like us....desperate."
He didn't elaborate further, he didn't need to, the way the groove was quiet, filled with heavy, eerie energy, was clear enough.
"Why?"Ren asked, "What is this place?"
Wu didn't answer immediately, he stepped away from where they stood, and headed towards a crooked tree with bark layered like scales, placing a hand against it before saying.
"It was here long before us, it remembers more than it acts. That's all I can tell you...for now at least."
Then he turned back.
"We can't stay here for long."
"Why not?" Mei asked, standing up with effort, "it's calm and safe he-------"
Wu looked at her. "Being safe doesn't mean being welcoming. This place doesn't care about you, whether you live or die, it only lets you rest...if you don't ask too much."
Ren swallowed whatever was left in his throat.
For the first time since coming here, they felt a gust of wind. It passed by their ears, brushing the trees. And Ren, for a moment, saw the shadows bend towards them, listening.
Wu's voice cut through the silence.
"Come. Follow me, there's a place deeper in, forgotten by most...but not me."
The two children started following Wu in silence.
The deeper they went, the heavier the air felt. The moss was thick, trees were wrapped into unnatural shapes, roots curling like claws, branches twisted as if reaching for something unseen.
Mei leaned against Ren, her uneven steps a result of their struggle, but she didn't complain. Neither of them had any energy to speak.
They followed Wu, who walked ahead, neither fast nor slow, as if he knew exactly when they should reach their destination.
Ren's hand tightened unconsciously.
He couldn't shake the feeling of something off, something was wrong, he could feel it in him. It wasn't just the grove, no, it was something deeper. Closer. He didn't know what it was.
Then, he felt it.
A pulse, not from the earth under him, nor from the grove, but from some place ahead. The threads were trembling, faint but sharp, as if the very fabric of reality had been struck.
"You felt it." Wu said quietly, not looking back.
Ren stared at his back, "What's that?"
Wu exhaled, taking a long breath, "Something... Something you weren't meant to feel.....yet!"
He paused.
"But I suppose it's time."
Before Ren could ask more, the trees became less.
A slope appeared ahead, covered in mist. From beyond it, the sky wasn't the blazing orange from before, it was dark, storming with unnatural clouds. Distant rumbles echoed through the ground.
Ren's eyes widened.
Above the slope, barely visible through the mist and smoke, there were two figures.
One cloaked in flames, the other wrapped in shadows so dark, they seemed to swallow the flames.
And between them, his parents, Mu Qinglan and Ren Xuanyin.
He only saw them for less than a second, facing off against those unknowns.
The sky cracked.
The sound was like a mirror breaking.
Ren took a step forward, heart throbbing, "M-Mom?!!?D-Dad?!!?"
But before be could go forward, Wu grabbed him.
"You can't."
"Th-they're there!! I-I have to help!!!!"
"You..... can't." Wu's voice trailed off at the end, like his heart was heavy.
Ren shot back at him, eyes wild. "But why?????????!!"
"You cannot help them. Not yet."
"Let me go! I have to go! They're fighting.....why are they? Who are those people? Why didn't they tell me???!!"
"You weren't supposed to see this."
*Crack*
The sky above them ripped wide open, light poured down like a flood, spade distorted, air howled, the wind whipped across Ren's face, almost lifting him from the ground.
The battlefield was collapsing.
Light, shadowz the sky, all folded inward, like the world was being devoured.
Ren stumbled forward.
He didn't think, he moved.
"No--noo!!!!"
His legs scraped against the stones and mud, slipping, sliding, desperately crawling for grip as he tried to move closer. The gale was howling in his ears, nearly tearing him from the ground. His voice couldn't be heard in the storm, but he still tried to scream anyways, desperate.