Chapter 24 - 24 - Pathways

Xia che woke up on the rugged floor. "What is happening? Where am i?" he thought out loud. After yawning and stretching his back, he stood up from the muddy floor. "Ahh, i had a very nice sleep. I never knew cake can make you sleepy" he mumbled as he patted the dust off his clothes.

"Little long, did i crush you in my sleep," he said patting his small snake filled scarf. The little snake wiggled around in the small pocket.

"It's okay, let's get out of here," Xia che said and moved forward into the small pathway. "Hmm it's too dark here" he mumbled and took a small shining pearl out of his bag.

'Yukiya had given me this'

With longing inn his eyes, he looked at the little pearl. When he was young he had always been scared of the dark, but Yukiya always used to hug him and say, "Darkness is also another form of light. Don't think of it as evil. It just exists so you should learn to adapt to it." Saying this he kept walking inside the dark pathway.

From then on, he learned to adapt to darkness, so this strange little pathway did not scare him much.

After just five minutes, he came across a forked pathway. "Hmm which way to choose, left or right?" With his eyes closed and finger pointed out, he twisted around and came to a stop. Stumbling a little, he opened his eyes; his outstretched finger was facing the right pathway.

"Right it is." He said and happily skipped into the dark pathway. After twenty steps or so, he stepped on a small rock which inturn activated a small mechanism. Unaware of this Xia che kept walking ahead.

Xia che saw a bright light coming from ahead of the pathway. "Wow, we made it," he gleefully jumped. By chance he turned back but the pathway behind him had long disappeared.

"Amazing, someone kept a transportation trap on the way. Ohh this is super exiting," he squealed and walked into the bright light.

The bright light cleared and a small Azure room came into his vision. Its walls were decorated with blue sapphire which shined with the thousands of luminous pearls attached to the wall.

"Hmm, how elaborate? If it was me, I would have sold all this and tasted many delicacies for a few centuries," he said touching the sapphire floor.

The snake in his scarf suddenly started twisting vigorously. He slightly touched it but the snake did not calm down.

"Do you want out? Here" he said carefully removing the little snake out of the scarf. He placed him on his shoulders but the he rolled down. The little golden snake was continuously rolling on the floor. Its body rolled into a ball and was constantly twisting and turning

*****

The thugs came into the inn's foyer and shouted, "Hey is anyone here?" a slight shuffling was heard from the floor above. "Innkeeper I know you are there in the 1st floor. Please come down," the scar faced man said in a hoarse voice.

The Innkeeper shuffle down quickly. Wiping his wet forehead, he whispered, "Kind sirs, please don't disturb the other customers. Tell me what you need."

"Dad, they know that we have the Yin constitute. Give him to them quickly or they might kill me," he cried pulling away from the thugs holds.

The innkeeper started sweating, "We don't have any such person," he said with his lips twitching.

"Dad, why are you lying? my life is on the line here," he shouted and rushed towards his father. The thugs held him back with a sneer on his face. Pulling at the guy's collar, he put a small dagger on his neck. "Are you both playing with me?" he smirked.

Turning towards the thugs he cried, "That guy is on the top floor second room." With snot running down his nose he cried, "Please don't kill me."

The drop of snot landed on the thugs hands, "Ew, throw this disgusting thing out," the thug screamed throwing the Innkeeper's son out the door.

"You," the thug pointed towards the guy with a long moustache and said, "go upstairs and bring that guy."

"Yes, boss," the guys replied and rushed up the stairs. The innkeeper just smiled at this, 'these idiots, they will never be able to find him. After these people leave I am going to take that guy to my house and enjoy him all i want.' He thought with a lewd expression in his eyes.

The thug noticed this and was sceptical about this guys claim. 'Did he hide that person somewhere?' he thought scratching his etching scar. "Hey, one of you bring that disgusting wimp inside."

The moment he heard this, the innkeeper's eyes widened. 'I knew it. This crafty guy is hiding him somewhere,' the thug thought with a smirk and rubbed his shark knife.

The innkeeper started sweating buckets but still kept the smile firm on his face. 'I hope my stupid son does not say anything' he internally prayed, wiping his sweaty hands on his shirt.

"NOO, Don't kill me," the inn keepers son screamed as he was dragged into the room. With nasty smirk the thug held his head in his palms, "Hmm, tell me insect. Are there any hiding spots in the first floor?"

The kid panted and said, "ye.... yes here is. The wall in that room leads to some pathway." he whimpered when the thug laughed out loud.

"Hey, did you know your son was this stupid?" the thug shook his head and threw him on the floor.

"Let's go search the walls," he smirked and ran upstairs.

The innkeeper collapsed to his knees mumbling, "All that gold. We could have had so much gold."

'All his plans failed because of this stupid son.'

He kicked his son that was shivering on the floor.