Pita-pat...
Pita-pita-pat...
The near-silence of the Arches Staircase was constantly disturbed by the slow, rhymic sounds of tears hitting the floor.
It was a quiet sound, but in the otherwise silent air, it was loud.
This was moreso the case for the girl whose eyes were shedding tears; each droplet was like thunder in her ears, and this noise converged with the throbbing heartbeat in her chest to create an especially torturous sensation.
"Wei Zi... Oh, Wei Zi..."
She muttered under her breath, adding another layer of pain to the atmosphere as she staggered up the steps.
In her absentminded grief, she was using the wall as support to keep herself steady as she walked up these stairs.
Which is why she almost stumbled to the side when her hand made contact with air and not the wall's solid surface.
She had landed at the top step, the end of the Arches Staircase.
The disappearance of the wall was odd, too sudden, when it should have been gradual.
But just like before, when the first body fell from high above and splattered across the first floor, it was too sudden; the loss was too sudden.
It's just that this time, she has nothing to keep her stable.
"Oh Gods... Why...?"
She couldn't help but collapse under the grief, and that one aforementioned hand now came to the floor to push weakly, desperately trying to keep herself up.
Her other hand was too busy clutching a fistful of her own robes, grasping the fabric over her heart.
Hong Liu, one of the youths who bore Her Hallowed Visage's 'love' and challenged the First Detriment, was the second person to rise to the second floor.
She was not the second person to challenge the First Detriment, however.
Wue Xue Yue was the first, then a boy named Wei Zi was second, and two other boys challenged it thereafter, each before Hong Liu.
However, she watched all three following youths fall.
Wei Zi splattered before her, the first of the other two fell while she was ascending, and the cries of the other boy still seemed to echo in her ears.
She was the second to succeed, but the fifth to ascend. She would certainly not be the last to ascend, and those fallen youths, too, will not be the last to fail.
After what seemed like an eternity of sobs and whimpers, Hong Liu finally raised her tear-ridden face and looked around.
Surrounding her were the myriad of stone statues that populated the second floor; All Beautiful Bodies.
But she did not scrutinise them at all.
With a filmsy arm, Hong Liu pushed herself off the ground. She raised herself, but still hunched over a little.
"Why did you fall...?" She questioned the empty air, and so, the air responded with silence.
"Why did you fail...?!" She pleaded again, and yet, her plea still went unanswered.
"Why...? Why? Why!?" She beckoned aloud, as if asking her silent stone observers, the countless statues surrounding her.
"..."
Hong Liu's voice did not echo through the dark expanse, but only resounded within her own ears.
"..."
With a heavy heart, Hong Liu merely whimpered again and walked forward.
...
...
...
"Xiao'Liu!"
A hearty laugh cut through the spring winds and rustling leaves.
The hanging branches and drooping leaves of a willow tree swayed in the breeze. Under the bright light of the Starlit Sky, the tree's shade danced over the youthful visage of a delicate girl.
"Da'Zi, you're back already! C'mere. Come here!"
She happily called out. She was sitting between the roots of the willow tree, patting the ground beside her.
But even as she smiled, she couldn't help but worry,
"I heard that you went out to hunt the beast group down the mountain... You aren't injured, are you?"
"Of course not! Even if I am still mortal, I wouldn't be born a 'Wei' if I were so soft!"
As the boy sat beside her, joining her in the shade as he boasted happily, she couldn't help but sigh helplessly.
"Even so, why do you have to join your father during hunting expeditions?"
"Because... I am a man! When I was little, I could only admire my father and his strength. But now, I'm finally getting close to the age where I can also become strong, just like him."
"Honestly, every boy like you wishes for the same thing."
"Heh. But how many of them can actually become strong? Who else has a father who's the Hunting Camp's Leader? Who else is born a Wei?"
But even as he boasted, he gradually softened his tone and drew a smile with his lips.
"Who else besides me? This is a path that I have chosen... no... It was a path given to me by the heavens...!
"The Cultivators of our people all claim that one must have a Way to Cultivate. If that is true, then my Way will be of strength! The heavens have blessed me with the surname Wei.
"I will walk down the path of strength and become someone like my Father!"
He paused, turning to the girl beside him.
"But... if I am strong, then I can assure you that I will come back. After every expedition, after every hunt, I can return.
"If I am strong, then I can come home to my family and siblings, to my clan. If I am strong, then I can come back to this willow tree and see you sitting under it.
"As long as I am strong, I will always be here, by your side."
A faint crimson tint warmed the girl's cheeks,
"When did you get so good with words?! You couldn't have come up with this..."
"My Sister helped me put the words together."
"I knew it...! It didn't sound like you at all!"
"But you liked it, did you? It sounded pretty poetic, right?"
They bickered, but even as they bickered, they couldn't help but laugh.
It was laughter full of youth and innocence, a string of laughter that fell back in one's memories.
...
...
...
Hong Liu collapsed once more.
Under the strain of her throbbing heart and the intense heat in her stomach, she fell to her knees.
She hadn't been keeping track of her steps, much less the dark expanse around her, but even as she wandered close to the statues, she was never lured to them.
Her stomach was not burning for the embrace of these stone statues, but her heart continued to burn with every step she took.
What brought the girl to her knees was the pain in her heart.
So... after taking a little over thirty-six thousand steps, she stopped.
'Damn it all...!' She cursed in her heart.
Only whimpers and sobs could leave her mouth; Hong Liu's words could only be formed in her mind.
Each and every thought she formed during her emotional turmoil turned into a series of questions and curses,
'Why do we have to do this? For what reason must we do this?
'Receiving Love...? I couldn't care less about this 'love'! I don't give a damn about her love!
'Why did you have to take him from me? We were promised to each other!
'Why did he have to die? We could have saved him... so why...?!
'Why did you fall...? Why did you fall? Why did you fall?!
'I should have fallen with you... but I didn't... I didn't fall...'
She was voicing her questions in her mind.
Although it may seem that she was pleading to 'someone else', she was mostly asking herself, desperately trying to come up with reasons or answers on her own.
Her pleas were silent but echoed like thunder in her mind.
"Will you not embrace me?"
"...?!"
With her hands pressed against the 'floor', Hong Liu found another pair of palms pressed against her own.
She found a woman kneeling on the ground, mirroring Hong Liu's kneeling figure; like a reflection, but this woman's demeanour seemed rather mocking.
This woman had no trace of the sullen tone in Hong Liu's own demeanour.
"Why, I figured that after losing your beloved, you would turn to me."
"You...!"
"Still, this outcome isn't bad at all."
Hong Liu stood up in shock, but she found that the 'floor' was 'rising' to meet her face—she had fallen over as an intense dizziness caused her vision to blur.
The unfamiliar woman, the reflection in the ground, was rising to meet Hong Liu, face-to-face, and her calm, lackadaisical tone resounded in Hong Liu's ears,
"You will have your answers soon."
...
...
...
In another area of the second floor, yet another youth reached the top of the Arches staircase.
"I made it... Haha... I made it...!" A sense of pride and contentment flooded the boy's mind.
He wore a smug expression, dismissing the heat and pain in his heart.
As he let out a light chuckle, the boy gradually composed himself and looked around.
"This must be the second floor... but what is up with this place?"
Willing his foot to step forward, the boy moved and felt an intense desire within his stomach.
"These statues... could these all be of Her Hallowed Visage? They must be! Look how many there are, only Her Hallowed Visage would deserve such a grand display of reverence!"
Glee and hot emotion twisted the boy's lips. He smiled as he looked in the direction of a statue posed elegantly.
Without hesitation, the boy carried himself with zeal in his eyes and quickly knelt before the statue.
As he stood before it, he couldn't help but feel the need to prostrate himself.
"Oh, Her Hallowed Visage, you are as beautiful as any maiden... No, you are more beautiful than any maiden!
"Up close, I can see the immense beauty captured in your eyes, and the softness of your skin... even as it is depicted in stone!
"With such fine care put into the statue's intricacy, I must appreciate it somehow..."
He kowtowed, his hands and his brow pressed to the floor.
Silence...
One breath... two breaths... And upon the third breath, the stone statue depicting Her Semblance had moved its hand.
The statue extended its delicate hand to the kowtowing boy.
"Maiden...!"
Feeling the watery veil building over his eyes, the boy couldn't help but shed a few tears in happiness.
And as he stretched his own hand out to take Her Semblance's hand...
Everything rose, and he fell beneath the ground, submerged in the endless dark of the second floor.
"...!"