CHAPTER 6: SURVIVED

The woman didn’t even glance at the waterfall but walked to the other side of the waterfall and shortly a large cave came into view.

The woman carried the other in her arms into the cave. The moment she stepped inside, the lamps lit on their own, brightening the path for the other.

The woman walked deeper into the cave and took several turns before arriving in an open cave with a large stone bed.

Without stopping midway, the woman walked towards the bed and when she reached it, she gently put the girl with a weak pulse on the bed.

Seeing the other looking so pale as if she had been stuck in the mortuary for days, the cloaked figure shook her head as she pitifully said, “Your fate is truly ……. You are a pitiful one, child. You should thank your ancestors for this blessing!” wondering how one’s life could be so bad.

Even hers was more colorful than this little girl’s.

With the girl lying on the bed, the woman took off the cloak she was wearing, revealing a mature woman with a head full of bloody red hair, which was in contrast to her pale white skin.

With the lamp light illuminating in the cave, she looked like a vampire. The kind that would suck one soul away.

With the cloak out of the way, the woman started getting busy. She was running all over, picking herbs, pounding them, brewing them and then feeding them to the dying girl.

She also wiped the girl’s body, changed the wet clothes and gently wiped the stab wounds while sighingly dejectedly.

“How can a person be so cruel? Unfortunately, these children weren’t meant to come to this world. You will heal, but at what cost? I can’t help but wonder!”

With the wounds dressed, she dressed the girl in new clothes before covering her with something warm. The woman lit up an incense which made the cave have a refreshing atmosphere before she left the cave.

“Let me get a good night’s rest. There is so much work ahead!” she aggrievedly said, her tone filled with complaints for the future that awaits.

***

Hours turned into days, and days turned into weeks before they turned into months.

So much had happened in that period. The woman was very dedicated, with each day that passed. The dying girl didn’t wake up, but her condition was getting better with each passing day, which made the woman feel more at ease.

The wounds were scabbed, and both the inner and outer injuries were completely healed. It’s just that the patient herself was so traumatized, she was being stubborn and wasn’t waking up. However, that didn’t make the woman feel pressured at all.

After all, even though the girl wasn’t waking up, at least she was healing properly. Moreover, it was better for her to help her in that state. That way, when she wakes up, she wouldn’t need to go through counseling with anyone. She was too busy for that.

While the patient was unconscious, as the current guardian and doctor of the other, she made it her job to find out what truly transpired with the little girl.

As a result, through divination and physical investigations, what she found was truly shocking. It was no wonder why the girl was refusing to wake up.

She was so angry when she found out the truth. How could a person be so inhumane?

However, the revenge wasn’t hers to take. She was going to leave it to the poor girl.

Thinking about getting rid of the trauma of the patient and making her wake up strong, the woman began sly making some moves and preparations.

As a result, three months later, she saved the little girl. The woman prepared for a ritual.

In the cave where the girl was lying, there were strange drawings on the ground as well as the girl. There were black and red candles flickering against the wind, which was coming from god knows where.

The woman was wearing a dark ink robe, her lips painted black, and that smoky eye work made her look quite unique. If the girl was awake, who knows if her heart would have jumped out of her rib cage?

Standing in the middle of a circle, with candles flickering around her. The woman was holding a small incense holder while mumbling an inaudible chant with her eyes closed.

The atmosphere inside the cave was sombre and tense. The woman was very serious with her chanting and the more she chanted, the more the girl lying on the bed shook as if people were shaking her back and forth.

Her brows were frowned one second and the other, her face would contort as if someone was inflicting pain on her.

That continued to happen, interchanging now and then until the woman stopped her chants with a smile on her face but with the blood dripping from her lips, she looked like a ghost that had been wronged.

“Child …. Don’t let me down!” her voice croaked as she weakly looked at the girl on the bed, fatigue visible on her face.

Feeling tired and weakened after performing the ritual, the woman jumped out of the circle and left the cave without looking back at the girl at all.

The moment she left, the cave’s entrance seemed to be shielded by an inviable wall and an echo blew inside. A beaming light seemed to move with the echo before exploding once it touched the girl.

When that happened, the girl suddenly lay still on the bed and a strange red lotus flower mark appeared on her forehead.

As that was happening, a red and golden light which turned her into a cocoon enveloped the girl.

Inside the cave, there seemed to be ancient hymns being chanted, and they were so loud that the woman who was weakened performing the ritual earlier was startled and rushed back to the cave. Only to be denied entry by that invisible wall.

She gasped and exclaimed wondrously as she stood on the other side, while that girl floated in the cocoon. The scene was quite unexplainable. It made her heart race wildly, as tears streamed down her cheeks and she couldn’t help but burst into a hearty laughter.

“Haha! Who would have known that I, Hazel would meet the sacred one? Haha, Juniper, just wait for me!” Hazel laughed hysterically, a sinister and calculative glint in her eyes as she looked at the beautiful scene inside the cave.

‘I didn’t waste my powers for nothing!’ for once she was proud of her sentimentality.

If she wasn’t sentimental that night, would she be having such a day?

NEVER!