Wei's heart sank.
He was certain of it. Someone had deliberately thrown a stone the size of a palm into the water beside them.
Whoever it was meant harm.
There was no time to think about it now. He knew this alone was enough to draw the hunters in.
Wei and Chun burst out of the river at full speed.
"Run along the riverbank!"
Wei trusted that Chun understood. Staying close to the river was the best way to avoid the traps.
From the forest across the water came a series of sharp sounds as traps were triggered one after another.
Some only slowed their pursuers for a moment.
Others would be enough to leave someone there forever.
...
The trees ahead grew thinner. More light crept in.
Chun could not help herself. Her voice lifted with hope.
"I think… I think we're almost out."
Wei felt his own breath ease.
But the footsteps behind them continued, steady and unhurried, like death itself.
Chun suddenly stopped.
"Oh no… it's a cliff."
Wei froze.
The wind died.
Even the insects fell silent.
A thin crescent moon slowly slipped out from behind the clouds. Its light was pale, the color of washed bone.
The path ended abruptly before them, as if something had bitten it clean in half.
Beyond it lay a valley.
So deep it could not be seen.
Darkness pooled there, unmoving.
As if the very air had been seized by the throat.
-----------------
Wei and Chun stood at the very end of the broken road.
Ahead of them was darkness, a vast hollow where the earth had collapsed and swallowed everything. Behind them came footsteps, no longer distant, no longer uncertain. They were close now. Too close.
They stood there in silence for a moment.
A conclusion neither of them wanted to say out loud rose slowly between them, like icy water creeping up the skin. It was cold. It was unavoidable.
"We…" Chun began.
Her voice was so light it almost vanished into the night wind.
"There's no way forward…"
Turning back was already impossible.
Charging into the forest was no longer an option either.
Along the edge of the trees, shapes began to emerge. One after another, blurred figures took form, as if they were growing directly out of the darkness. The hunters had sealed every path. There was nowhere left to run.
The clouds shifted, opening just enough for a thin crescent moon to peek through.
Pale moonlight spilled down, cold and lifeless, like ash scattered over old bones.
Chun slowly turned her head to look at Wei.
Wei looked back at her.
Under the moonlight, Chun's eyes were wide and bright. They were beautiful eyes, but now they held something else. A deep, quiet gentleness. Beneath that gentleness lay despair she could not fully hide.
At that moment, a memory surfaced in Wei's mind, sudden and entirely out of place.
It was from long ago.
A day when they had fought. A real fight, loud and bitter.
The cause had been ridiculous.
He had secretly eaten the small wild berries she had been saving.
Chun had stood there with her hands on her hips, cheeks puffed out in anger."Didn't you see the words on the basket? Those were for the little rabbit."
Wei had argued back without thinking."Rabbits can't read. Writing on it doesn't help."
She had been stunned into silence. Her face flushed red in an instant.
After a few seconds, she stomped her foot hard, her voice rising sharply."Can't you be a little nicer to me?"
It was the first time she had ever raised her voice at him.
The moment the words left her mouth, she froze.
Then, as if she suddenly understood what she had just said, she lowered her head. Her voice dropped, soft and uncertain."I'm not really angry. I just… don't always do things like that."
Back then, Wei had not understood what those words carried.
He thought she was just sulking.
Only now did he understand.
Was it already too late?
Reality crashed back down on him.
Ahead of them, seven figures spread out in a wide arc, moving closer at an unhurried pace. Their silhouettes sharpened under the moonlight. So did the hunger in their eyes. So did their excitement.
Wei did not even need to lift his head to see them clearly.
He could feel it.
He could feel the cruel smiles forming on their faces, growing clearer with every step they took toward him and Chun.
-----------------
Wei and Chun exchanged a glance.
No one spoke.
There was no fear between them. No hesitation.
Wei smiled, as if something heavy had finally been set down.
He swept a contemptuous look over the dark figures slowly closing in, then turned his gaze back to Chun.
"Sorry," he said lightly."I've always been the kind who would rather break than bend."
Their hands met in the night wind. Their palms were cold, but their grip was tight, fingers locked together, knuckles paling from the force.
Chun smiled next. It was a small smile, shallow and quiet, yet so real it made the heart ache.
"Wei, I believe in you," she said."You jump, I jump!"
Side by side, they walked toward the edge of the cliff.
Loose gravel shifted under their feet. Pebbles were kicked free and tumbled down, making faint, brittle sounds before vanishing into the darkness below.
They did not look back.
They did not pause.
The wind rushed toward them head-on, lifting the hems of their clothes. Moonlight stretched thin, fragile shadows behind them, shadows that lasted only an instant.
In the next moment, they stepped forward together.
The ground disappeared.
Their bodies lost all support as the night sky opened wide beneath them.
Below the cliff, darkness swallowed Chun's piercing scream.
Yet their hands never loosened.
The suddenness of it all caught their pursuers off guard.
They approached the cliff edge cautiously. Cold wind howled up from below, carrying with it the sense of endless depth.
They stood there in a daze for a long moment before finally turning away, their interest gone.
"Let's go. We've wasted enough time," someone said.
Several figures turned away and melted back into the forest.
One of them lingered.
He slipped into the shadow of a large tree and slowly sat down, positioning himself so that his line of sight rested squarely on the cliff.
He casually pulled up a blade of wild grass, placed it between his lips, and began to chew.
It was clear he had no intention of leaving anytime soon.