The Voyage In The Blizzard - Chapter 82

After hitting his head on a rock, feeling nausea and pain all over his body, Lei, holding on to the walls, walked towards a strange light that was far from him. Not knowing what kind of light it was and whether it was just an illusion, he simply moved his feet. He was afraid to stop, because once he stops the fear overtakes his mind completely.

Having already spent several hours on empty walks through the strange labyrinth, he had long lost hope that Longwei was somewhere here. As for Yun Qi, he was calm for some reason, as if he knew that everything was fine with her.

Brushing away the sweat from his forehead, from his face and the clotted blood that froze on his face, he panting hard tried to calm this feeling of nausea that literally choked his throat.

Plunging into the night, the labyrinth which seemed to have no end foreshadowed something dangerous ahead.

Through the deathly silence, hearing only the sounds of his empty stomach, Lei slowly began to lose touch with himself. Pain, images before his eyes and extreme fatigue, he felt like he killed millions of beasts.

Licking dry and chapped lips with his tongue, he fell thirsty.. Leaning against the wall, he raised his eyes and the bright night with a hint of moonlight gently touched the high rocks.

Seeing the light in the distance, he considered it a star, and stretching out his hand to dispel those visions before his eyes, he clenched his fist and grabbed something.

“Longwei.” he whispered and his own whisper echoed loudly in his head, thus waking up waves of pain.

Taking off his waistcoat, heavy belt, he unbuttoned his shirt and took a deep breath.

The warm wind wrapped around the skin.

Having let down his hair, which was covered with mud, he stood up and smiling to himself said, “I must go.”

“What is the meaning of your life?” suddenly he heard the same voice that they heard in the forest.

Grabbing the sword, he looked around but only stumbled upon another rocky wall.

“Who is there?”

“What is the meaning of your life?” someone repeated the question.

“I’m going crazy.” he told himself.

“You’ve lost your mind long ago.” said the voice. Now the voice sounded right under his ear.

Looking around, Lei suddenly began to feel suffocated and the rocks around him seemed to begin to approach, wanting to squeeze him until the atoms split.

“I have not lost my mind. I have not lost my mind.” Lei repeated until his voice sounded so loud that somewhere in the distance the flapping of the wings of birds was heard.

“Are you so sure about this?” again the question.

Walking quickly forward, Lei did not notice how he walked completely barefoot, he looked like he spent an eternity in a desert forest.

“What is the meaning of your life?!” the voice repeated its first question.

Covering his ears, Lei tried to ignore the fact that someone was walking around him who was definitely a figment of his imagination. But knowing, feeling that his imagination will not leave him just like that, he replied, “The meaning of my life, meaning, there is no meaning.”

“What about love? Lei, what about love?” a voice asked him and Lei could hear a certain laugh that was fraught with mockery.

“Leave me alone!” Lei shouted, waving his sword around.

“The meaning of your life is love. The meaning of your life is love.”

“Shut up!”

“The meaning of your life is Longwei. His soft skin, his red lips, his beautiful eyes in which you see the whole universe. The meaning of your life is his breath, his arms that wrap around you when you are so close to him.”

“Stop it! Stop it!” Starting to run as fast as possible, Lei bumped into the rocks and fell to the ground. Standing up, he kept running until the maze penetrated his whole mind.

“The meaning of your life is another person. But what a pity. What a pity.” the voice spoke incessantly. Sounding from the front, then from the side, or even somewhere far away.

Stopping, Lei closed his eyes and tried not to think about anything, thereby remembering the words of the spell.

“Three roads, a turn. Three roads. I need to find three roads.” he kept repeating to himself.

Suddenly feeling the icy, but not the usual cold winter wind, Lei felt someone’s presence behind him. Not daring to turn around because knowing that if he does that, he will certainly see someone, he whispered, “What do you want from me?”

“You made another person the meaning of your life. But what a pity that this person will soon die.” said the voice.

And then, inside Lei, something clicked, something changed, and he rushed forward without wasting time showing his anger.

Leaving narrow paths behind him, he seemed to know where to go.

“The meaning of life. Longwei. Life. Three roads. Road.” He repeated so as not to hear that voice.

Not paying attention to the pain in his feet because of small stones stuck directly into the skin, he ran, ran as fast as possible.

“Three roads!”

Seeing in front of him three perfectly flat paths that were sprinkled with smooth stones, Lei suddenly heard Longwei’s voice somewhere far away.

“Longwei?”

“Lei! I’m here!”

“Longwei!”

Not knowing where to turn, which path to take, he hesitated in his choice until he remembered the words from the spell, “Turn.”

But which way?

“Longwei, where are you?” he asked but there was no answer.

“Turn. Need to turn.” Looking at the paths that were to the left and right of him, following his instinct, he chose the turn that led to the left.

“You chose love. This means that your life will be difficult.” this was the last time he heard a voice that now sounded far behind.

Walking at a brisk pace along a path around which strange plants grew, Lei finally saw someone at the end of his journey. Although the road was long and there was a feeling that the further he walked, the longer the path became, he still knew that at the end Longwei was waiting.

“Yun Qi.” he whispered upon seeing a graceful figure in the fog.

For the first time in his life, feeling a sense of peace and complete happiness, he suddenly wanted to fall asleep. Looking at Longwei and Yun Qi who have become his home and now returning to them, he realized that, the meaning of his life was love. Love in all its forms.