"Gege, get a basin, quick!" Jia cried as drool began to drip out of Ehuang's mouth yet again. She dabbed at her lips with her handkerchief.

"Here," Shing placed it just in time to collect garnet coloured blood.

"Ren..." A trembling Ehuang whimpered. With a heaving lurch of her stomach, another mouthful of bile dribbled from her pale, quivering lips into the waiting pool of vomit.

The siblings busied themselves in massaging warm oil onto the freezing soles of her feet and her palms. Shing sat upright in the lotus posture and joined his palms together. After a few deep breaths, he began to transfer spiritual energy to her.

"Ge.." Jia called him. Her eyes glistening with tears, she held out Ehuang's slender hand. Dark lines of demonic resentment were steadily crawling up the bluish-green veins.

Shing clenched his eyes shut and bit his lips to stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks.

"Gege, why isn't this working?"

"Wait, let me try something else," He pulled out his dagger. The tip of the blade began to sparkle and he brought it close to Ehuang's arm, tracing a gleaming healing rune with it.

"It was powerful. No average demon would have survived the impact of my palm strike," Jia spoke.

"That just worsens the whole issue. We know nothing of its powers, except for the fact that it's a high-rank devil. Neither of us has seen its true form, other than the black, shapeless form that any demon can easily take up. Besides, what was Ehuang even doing outside? Did she go out on her own? Or was she lured out into the ominous mist?"

His query was answered by a horrified gasp. He looked at his sister. Jia had a hand clasped over her mouth and tears were rolling down her cheeks. Following her gaze, he too looked down and the sight blurred his vision as well.

The black, resentful marks had completely engulfed the healing rune. The skin in that area was now purple and inflamed with toxins and pus.

Shing buried his face in his hands.

A knock on the door brought them out from their despairing reverie.

The innkeeper's head peeked nervously from behind the door. Noticing the two pairs of reddened coal-black eyes staring at him, he shuffled in and looked down at the ground, not being able to meet their gaze.

The heavy moments of silence, only interrupted by Ehuang's groans, soon became unbearable and the innholder blurted out, "Please forgive me! Please forgive me!"

Shing and Jia said nothing.

"This place is cursed. Every other day, evil things plague this area. We dare not go outside our houses after dusk. Nobody ever comes here because of these hauntings. I have to make a living, Master. I know that I did you wrong by not telling you to flee, but please Master, I need to feed my family!"

"Why haven't you informed your Sect Leader? Or at least the guards at the watchtowers?" Jia enquired.

"Sect Leader? Pfft." He shook his head. "It's useless. He's pathetic. He has no time to listen to us. He lives a life of luxury and here we spend days when we don't get two square meals a day. He only comes out of his mansion when his supply of exquisite wine is depleted, and when he does, he looks like a walking heap of spirit warding talismans."

After a pause, he added, "There are no watchtowers, or rather there are no guards there. All of them fled within a few days."

Just then, a woman burst in through the door. Her long hair was in messy tangles like she hadn't combed it in days. Her face was pale and drawn, her eyes were sunken and lined with sleeplessness. Her outer robes were undone, revealing her thin inner robes which accentuated her contours.

Shing closed his eyes and lowered his head.

"Dear, why are you here? Weren't you sleeping? Come, let's go back."

The woman who had curled her lips in a wild smile suddenly shoved him away. "SHUT UP!! YOU FORGOT A-MING'S BIRTHDAY!! HOW COULD YOU?! MOVE AWAY FROM ME!" With that, she waddled towards the siblings. The same wild smile was again on her lips. "Today is our son, A-Ming's birthday. I've cooked for all the guests. Please do come," she asked.

The innkeeper began to wipe his tears.

"You know, my son is seven today!" the woman exclaimed, swelling up with pride. She sat down in front of Jia and took her hands in her own. "Please come," she requested again.

Jia was at a loss of words. In the meantime, the woman, who was the innkeeper's wife had busied herself in convincing Shing, who still had his eyes closed, to attend the feast.

"I lost my only son, A-Ming, to the ghouls a few months back. She's been like this ever since, please..." he folded his hands. He held his wife by the shoulders, "A-Bao, our guests aren't well. They'll come to the feast some other time, alright?"

"You'll come, right?" The woman looked at them with pleading eyes.

Both of them nodded.

The innkeeper led her to the door and called for a maid. They could hear the woman claim proudly that she had cooked mushroom soup, which happened to be the dead boy's favourite.

The man came back and sat down. He rubbed his face on his sleeves. "A-Ming... His body was fully drained of blood... Chunks of flesh were bitten out of him... No one did anything to save us... Nothing at all... There are so many dead and dying. Scavenging vultures and ravens soar in the sky by day and murky spirits prowl by night... The neighbouring sects do know about this, but no one comes to help us."

He lamented, "My mother used to say, that the days of her marriage were the best days of her life. Back then, this area was under the supervision of the Yao Sect."

The name struck a chord in their hearts. Both the siblings knew this surname too well.

' XingXing...'

"When Yao Dishi was the Sect Leader, the fields were golden with the harvest. People were prosperous. And most importantly, they were safe. Dark beings didn't even dare to graze along the territorial boundaries. And if something amiss did happen, all it took was one call for help. Either the Sect Leader himself or his second daughter.."

Shing's eyes trailed over his ivory flute with the name Nuòyán engraved on it.

' "You promised me! You promised me that you will help me name my flute. You promised..."

"I'm sorry. I failed to keep my word to you, A-Shing."

"XingXing, why did you go? Where did you go? Please come back..."

"Since I broke my promise to you, and promises should always be kept once they're made, why don't you name your flute Nuòyán?" '

"Gege? Are you alright?"

Shing snapped out of his thoughts.

"Master, I think I know of someone who might able to help you," the innkeeper said eagerly.

Shing cast a distraught look at Ehuang, whose face now sported a death-like pallor. He could feel the heat of her body burning through the robes and the iciness of her hands and feet fill his heart with cold trepidation.

"Please come with me, Master. I'll get a carriage."

******

The sky was a negative image of its daytime beauty, midnight blue with clouds swirling like spilt black ink in water. The stars in the sky were nonexistent. The clouds which were of the hue of ash and soot blanketed the sky and hid the moon behind them. The low sky imparted a claustrophobic tension, giving it a hazy, ominous feel.

The innkeeper held a flaming torch in his shivering hands. "Master, please take it from here, I-"

At the unexpected pause, Shing peered at the shorter man beside him and then looked in the direction where he was looking.

'A shack?'

Suddenly the innkeeper ran towards the cottage, crying out his dead son's name frantically.

'What?!' Shing was perplexed for a moment, as he looked around for the cause of the innholder's sudden frenzy.

It was a troupe of lovely maidens capering on the dewy grass. Their swaying forms glimmered as they gracefully danced in a circle.

"WAIT! DON'T GO ANY FURTHER!" Shing shouted as he raced after him.
"Stop! Stop!" He blocked the man's way with his body, not allowing him to go further.

"My son! A-Ming is calling me! Oh, he's right there! My son!"

After all his attempts to try to reason with the innkeeper failed, Shing slapped him.

"Snap out of it!" He shook the dazed man by his shoulders. He turned and faced the ring of dancers which kept appearing and disappearing. "Look. Look carefully. There's nothing there. Now, look at me." He made the other face him.

"If you join the nymphs in their fairy dance, you will keep dancing till you die. Go back to your family. Run for your life!"

The shocked, gaping innkeeper scampered away.

Shing walked back towards the carriage. He opened the door and lifted his wife's limp body into his arms. With Jia at his heels, he walked towards the hut.

Taking a deep breath, he called, "Anyone home?"

As the door creaked open, the spine-chilling hiss of snakes reverberated from within.

******

The sickly sweet smell of antiseptic herbs filled their nostrils, giving them a mild sense of calm.

An old woman stepped slowly away from the cupboard, letting the light from the flames in the hearth touch her face as if it was supposed to appreciate her presence.
She stood quite tall and slim, her grey hair neat and styled in an old fashioned way. Her lips looked like they had been painted red. If she were any paler her mouth would look garish, but against her sun-kissed skin it looked just right.

Ehuang lay as still as a corpse on the couch, the only signs of life being the slight rise and fall of her chest. The healing rune had been destroyed long back, and neither of them dared to draw it again. The demonic marks had spread to her legs, and it wouldn't be long before the poison would reach her heart.

The knife in the woman's withered hands slowly cut along one of the black marks on the skin, making blackish blood ooze out. Holding the blade firmly in her hand, she waved her hand in the air. A pretty maiden appeared at the door and bowed low to her.

They spoke to each other in a tongue that neither of the siblings could fathom. The maiden took the knife and scrutinized it. As she muttered something under her breath, the blue of her irises spread across her corneas, leaving no whites at all. Purplish coloured runes, which had been invisible even a few moments back, appeared on her arms.
She brought the blade to her nose and immediately turned green in the face.

After her conversation with the old woman, she turned to Shing with an alluring smile. "Hey, handsome," she winked flirtatiously before she was sent away.

"Let her die. Why are you so keen on prolonging her misery?" The old woman spoke in a nasal tone.

"WHAT?" Both of them yelled, her words slicing through their hearts.

"Are you both fools? Everyone dies one day. Let her die. Be wise, human."

"No!" Shing shook his head rapidly. "No! This can't be true! Please help me. Is there no way to save her?"

"When there's a will, there's a way, human," the old woman sat down at a table, grinding herbs to make a paste. "I can save her. I know a way, it isn't that hard."

"Then why are you telling us all this?!" Jia cried. "Save her!"

"Fool," the old woman glared at her. "She will die of this anyway, sooner or later. What's the point of saving her and keeping her alive now, only to lose her to a gruesome death later?"

"Of this? Of what?" A tearful Shing enquired.

The old woman regarded him with contempt and shot back, "She was attacked by a demon. I hope you know that much."

"Yes, of course."

"Your wife has been attacked by the demon named Cursed Longing."

"WHAT?!!"

"Stop shouting, human. Are you planning on bringing the roof down?"

"Cursed Longing... I've never encountered this creature before. How come..."

"That's because this particular demon hasn't visited the mortal realm in millennia. Someone must be tampering with the Doors Between The Worlds. So as I was saying, there's no point saving her."

"Look," Shing stood up, torment evident on his face. "You said that you can save her. You will save her. I don't want to listen to anything. Please. Please save my wife."

"There's no point saving her. Giving her life now is useless, as she will die young sooner or later." the old woman replied, with a nonchalant shrug, crossing her legs as if she was merely speaking about the weather.

Looking at her brother's face, Jia knew that she would never forget his eyes, how the fire of those words burnt him to ashes. This inferno was more than what his heart could manage.

Shing fell to his knees in a plea for her to stop. Every word stung, fuelling the fire that burned inside him.

Finding the atmosphere unbearable, Jia said, "Whether she dies young or not, who are you to decide that? Besides, how are you so sure? Please cure her. We do not wish to know anything else."

"Huh," the old woman chuckled, adding a potion to the mortar filled with the crushed herbs. "Naive, stupid humans. You have no idea as to what will happen to her if I allow her to live."

"No, and we don't want to know either!" Jia gritted her teeth. "Why are you so reluctant to do this? You said you know the means. So why are you not healing her? Or should I assume that it's you who has been tampering with the Doors?"

"Quiet, girl!" The woman bellowed, her black orbs flaming with fury. "Idiots. You humans always get on my nerves. If I had so much power, then I would have given you all up to the devil already. But neither do I have the heart to do this to you, nor do I wish to involve myself with wretched creatures." She tossed her head with pride.
"Since you dare to question my honesty, I'll tell you. Cursed Longing is a high-rank demon. When it appears before you, it takes up the form of a person whom you yearn to see. So momentarily, it fulfils your desire. But for that, you have to pay a price. The immediate cost is damage to the core, i.e. the state she is in now. Her core isn't that admirable, so that's fine."

Jia heaved a sigh of relief. "That means you can still save her right? There won't be any complications, will there?"

"So impatient. You're very annoying," the woman huffed. "How dare you interrupt me while I'm speaking?! No one even dares to think of doing that, don't you have any manners?!"

' "Madam, please be careful," the innkeeper whispered. "She is completely nuts." '

'She is crazy,' Jia thought. 'She's behaving as if she's a queen. Do we look like menial servants to her? How arrogant!'

"I pardon you for your insolence."

"I'm so grateful, Your Highness," She rolled her eyes, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Please," Shing interrupted, feeling that the conversation was going nowhere. "Please help me. Please save my wife. I beg you. Please."

"The immediate impact on coming in contact with Cursed Longing is damage to the core. With proper treatment, it can be repaired."

She made an incision on Ehuang's arm right where the healing rune had been drawn, and as the poisoned blood and pus were discharged, she applied a green herbal paste on it.

"Your wife is doomed, boy. That's why there's no use saving her."

"No, that's impossible. It can't be," Shing shook his head. "It can't be." His eyes brimmed with sparkling salt drops. "She is such a pure soul, why? No, no, it's not true."

"Believe me when I say it, boy. We do not lie."

"No, I refuse to believe this..."

"The form of the person that the demon had adopted in front of her, that person will be her undoing. Her nemesis."

"No, no way. I'll go to the ends of the earth to protect her. I'll take down anyone who tries to harm her."

"What about death? How are you going to battle death, boy?"

Tears rolled freely down his cheeks.

"It can't be that bad... I won't believe this... I'll keep Ehuang safe... No one will be able to even touch her... I won't let anything happen to her," he kept repeating.

"That person, intentionally or unintentionally, will be the cause of her tragic demise."

Shing couldn't take it anymore. He exploded with rage.

"NO!! NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO HER!!" he roared. "I WON'T LET ANYTHING HAPPEN TO HER!! EVERYTHING, ALL OF THIS, IS A COMPLETE HOAX!! THIS CANNOT BE TRUE!! I REFUSE TO BELIEVE ANY OF IT!! YOU ARE LYING!!"

On hearing what he said, the woman stood up from where she had been lounging on her seat, her jet black eyes ready to spit fire and her teeth bared in a snarl.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY, YOU SCUM?!?!" She screamed in fury, shaking a finger at him.

"I SAID THAT YOU ARE A GODDAMNED LIAR, YOU HAG!!" Shing yelled back, with equal wrath.

"How dare you," the old woman took a step backwards. "HOW DARE YOU!!"

The sound of an ear-splitting crack, followed by the sound of ripping of thick fabric, echoed throughout the room. Instantly everything around them metamorphosed. Gone were the thatched roof and rough-hewn walls. Walls covered with formidable martial weapons and bookshelves beamed at them.

"What on earth-" both the siblings began. Things were just getting crazier by the minute.

'Where did the hag disappear?' Shing wondered, just before he found himself slammed up against a wall with a honed cutlass at his throat.

He came face to face with a maiden who was a couple of inches shorter than him. As he watched, the black of her irises spread over the whites of her eyes, covering them completely. Her white skin was flushed with outrage. Her whole body, which was now clad in orchid and cream- gold-coloured robes in contrast to the dull grey she had been wearing earlier, began to glow. Her bare arms were soon covered with shimmering, golden runes.

"HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A LIAR, YOU FILTHY MORTAL?!!" she screeched. "WE, THE FAE, THE FAIR FOLK, NEVER LIE!!"

The identity of the hag, or rather the maiden who had just cast away her disguise of a hag dawned on him at once.

He gawked at her, shocked.

'Queen ZhiRuo? The queen of the Fair Folk? What is she doing here?'

Right then, her voice rang in his ears.

'Someone is tampering with the Doors Between The Worlds.'

The Queen smiled at both the siblings and removed the blade from his neck.

Warning alarms went off in their heads. 'Never ever trust the Fae.'

"I'll save her, your wife," she said, twirling her long, golden strands in between her fingers. Her forked tongue left her plump lips glistening. "We, the Fae, never lie."

'She wants to see us pinned and struggling like butterflies.'
Jia thought, a cold feeling in her chest as if she had swallowed ice water too fast.

"The herbs will draw out the demon poison. She will be alright. I'll give her life."

Her smile, both beautiful and terrible, was laced heavily with inhuman loveliness that was more like the loveliness of hard crystal than the beauty of a human.

"But don't you forget, charming boy, that the person who will be the direct or indirect cause of her death, later on, might be..." she paused, her black pupil-less eyes boring into him.

Shing froze, blood draining from his face.

"You."

†******†

ZhiRuo- This name is composed of two Chinese herbal plants: Zhi (angelica) and ruo (pollia). The ancient Chinese likened beauties to herbal plants, plus the name has a pleasant sound.
Here she is the proud Queen of the Fair Folk. And obviously, she is gorgeous, hence the name. But I'll quote from one of my favourite fantasy novels The City Of Ashes, book 2 of the Shadowhunter series written by Cassandra Clare, just so you know;

"It was something immortality did to you, he'd often thought: dulled your senses, your emotions; the sharp, uncontrollable, pitiable responses of human beings were to faeries like fresh blood to a vampire. Something living. Something they didn't have themselves."

Is that all that's there for her? Or is there something more? Uh-huh no spoilers, stay tuned for more!

And oh, this is what Queen ZhiRuo looks like when she blends in with humans and yet has to maintain her beauty.

Once again, thank you so much for all the love and support you all have shown me throughout the last year! I love you all and can't thank you enough. *sends tight hugs*

Stay safe!! Love you!!

Yours ever,
Erus555.