[April 16] [Yitian Dulong Ji] Once I Knew Someone...

[lilacfield.livejournal.com]

Title: Once I Knew Someone...
Day/Theme: April 16 - Time
Series: Yitian Dulong Ji
Character: Xie Xun
Rating: G
Yitian Dulong Ji © Jin Yong, et al.


When he was young and less feared than he would become, he spent a night in a wayward village, one that brought forth images of retired pugilists spending their final days in luxurious solitude. The village was nothing half as romantic - it was a very mundane collection of dwellings inhabited by honest, hard-working folks whose lives revolved around their cattle, vegetable gardens, and families. They shared a fondness for lore and legends, and even told him some. "I know a man who knew a man who met a man," they stated with the complacence of people who had gleaned exciting news firsthand, "that went to a place so far into the sea and so shrouded with mist that you could only see it on an exceedingly clear day. This place can grant you each and every secret wish, or return to you your lost loved ones. It's as if the moments when your life was broken into pieces can be revisited and mended. In exchange, you'd have to give up one of your five senses." He idly picked his nose while listening, half mesmerized, half scornful - only a simpleton would be weak enough to offer a price for having his desires fulfilled.