Chapter 21
Death: The Greatest Obstacle
Big G: "The thing I want to know most is what is your secret?"
Swally: "... My? What secret?"
Big G: "The secret you wanted to tell me before you were about to die."
Swally suddenly pulled his hand back and went silent, "You still haven't forgotten that, even now?" he said laughing.
Big G smiled, "Alive or dead, I would never forget that."
Swally went silent again, "But now, I don't feel like telling you anymore," he said slowly.
Big G: "Why not?"
Swally: "No reason, it's just that... just that..."
Before he could finish his sentence, a faint, glimmering bluish light suddenly appeared from the endless darkness ahead.
A spirit!
There seemed to be a human like form surrounded in a faint bluish glow.
Maybe it wasn't human, but the shadow of a devilish spirit.
It appeared to be floating there, stuck between heaven and earth.
"Are you human or a ghost?" Big G couldn't help yelling.
There was no answer, it suddenly started to float towards them, it was impossible to tell if it was human or some kind of spirit.
Regardless of if it was human or a spirit, it was the only source of faint light in this never ending darkness.
Even a little bit of light was better than complete darkness.
"Can you move?" Big G spoke in a low voice.
Swally: "Yes."
Big G: "Lets chase after it."
Swally sighed, "Whatever happens couldn't be worse than our current situation."
The light seemed to be floating there intentionally, as if it was waiting for them.
Big G found Swally's hand, grasping it tightly, "Hold on, don't let go for anything, no matter what happens we need to stick together."
They hadn't regained their strength yet; their bodies still felt a little numb.
They managed to stand up regardless and walked towards the eerie light.
What was in front of them?
Was it heaven or hell?
They didn't know, and they didn't care, because at the very least they were walking forward together.
They gradually quickened their pace, but the eerie light also started to move faster.
Like a shooting star, the eerie light suddenly extinguished.
Complete darkness returned.
There was no light, complete silence.
All they could hear were their own hearts beating, beating rapidly.
They could feel their palms sweating against each other.
Big G: "There is no reason to be afraid, if we really are already dead, what's left to be fearful of? If we are still alive, then that's an even better reason not to be afraid."
When someone tells another person not to be afraid, it means that they themselves are terrified.
Swally: "Should we keep going forward? Or retreat backwards?"
Big G: "Are we the type to retreat?"
Swally: "Fine, we might as well charge forward."
They held hands even tighter and charged forward.
"Stop!" A voice suddenly shouted.
The moment the voice rang out, seven or eight eerie lights suddenly flared up in the darkness.
The gloomy flickering of lights was just hanging in the middle of the air.
They could see a large table in front of them.
There was a pot of brushes on the table with what looked like piles of notebooks or ledgers.
There was a person sitting behind the table flipping through one of the ledgers.
They couldn't see the face of the person clearly but could vaguely see the outlines of a long beard, with an ancient crown sitting upon his head.
The eerie lights were floating beside the table, suspended between heaven and hell. There seemed to be wooden signs hanging from their hands.
Were these wooden boards for binding spirits?
Had they actually arrived at the Hall of Darkness?
Was this the Lord of Hell?
They didn't know, nobody had ever returned from the Hall of Darkness or seen the Lord of Hell.
But they certainly felt a creepy sensation that made their hairs stand on end.
The Lord of Hell spoke.
"Their time has not come, why are they here?" a gloomy voice spoke in a haunting manner.
"For they have sinned," replied one of the eerie lights.
The Lord of Hell: "What sin?"
"The sin of Gluttony."
The Lord of Hell: "To what degree?"
"Gluttonous men are thieves, and gluttonous women are whores; their sin is of the seventh degree, they should be sent to the seventh layer of hell, to forever live unfulfilled."
"Lying is a greater sin, which deserves the hell of pulled tongues," Big G suddenly declared loudly.
The Lord of Hell slammed the table, "Insolence! How dare you in such a place," he shouted angrily.
Big G: "Whether you're a spirit or not, since you have treated me unjustly, this is exactly how I will act."
"What injustice?"
"You know perfectly well whether or not you are the Lord of Hell," Big G said loudly.
"You should at least be aware of one thing," Swally suddenly added.
"What?"
Swally: "Real or not, you can forget about finding out where Forest is."
The Lord of Hell seemed a little surprised by this, "Even if I'm not the true Lord of Hell, the two of you are definitely going to die," he finally replied quietly.
Swally: "Oh?"
"Do you actually think you two will ever get out of here alive?"
Swally: "Life and death is an entirely different matter, selling out our friend is not the same thing."
"You two would rather die?" he asked in a grave voice.
Swally: "Not saying anything means not saying anything."
"Fine!"
With that one word, all the lights extinguished returning the room to complete darkness.
Big G grabbed Swally's hand and charged forward.
They charged forward at the same time and fell to the ground at the same time.
The Lord of Hell, the eerie lights, and the table had all disappeared.
There was nothing but darkness.
There was only two people.
These two people didn't appear very smart, but very foolish.
× × ×
They were surrounded by stone walls on all sides.
The stone was harder than steel.
They had already come to the realization that this place had become a drum of solid stone.
So, all they could do was sit down.
After a long time, Big G started to laugh, "You also realized that the Lord of Hell was fake."
Swally: "Of course it was Madame Wei."
Big G: "But she doesn't have a beard."
Swally: "The beard was fake too, it was all staged."
Big G suddenly laughed loudly, "What a comical person, trying to trick us with such a stupid act."
Swally: "Indeed, extremely amusing."
Although they were laughing, there was a hint of nervousness, even crying sounded better than this kind of laughter.
There was nothing funny about the situation they were in now.
And it wasn't just a stupid act.
If you had eaten a poisonous bun, and all of your limbs suddenly went numb, and you fainted unconscious after seeing your friend's face turn black; by the time you came around, and realized what kind of place you were in, with eerie lights floating in the darkness, and the Lord of Hell with a long beard and an ancient crown on his head, would you find that very amusing?
Big G wasn't laughing anymore, "Although the act she put on was rather comical, there wasn't anything funny about what she said," he said with a sigh.
Swally: "Which part?"
Big G: "Sure it wasn't the real Lord of Hell, but we truly are waiting to die."
Swally: "Are you afraid of death?"
Suddenly, there was flare of light, and they could see a pile of something glistening gold.
Gold.
It was rare for any living person to witness such a large amount of gold.
A gloomy voice sounded in the darkness, "If you two are willing to talk, I will not only release you immediately, all of this gold will belong to you as well."
Big G quickly jumped to his feet, "Not saying anything, not a word," he said loudly.
A sigh came from the darkness, and then darkness and silence followed again.
"So, you aren't afraid of dying," Swally said after a long pause.
Big G sighed, "I'm not that scared, it's just that... Even though we are dying for Forest, he doesn't even know, maybe he will never find out."
Swally: "No matter what you do for your friends, that is your decision, them knowing about it isn't necessary."
Big G smiled, "I thought you were worried about dying unjustly, sounds like you're an even better friend than I am."
Swally sighed after giving it some thought, "Perhaps I'm not a better friend, I just have thought things out more clearly than you."
Big G: "Thought what out?"
Swally: "It seems that she is willing to sacrifice anything in the pursuit of finding Forest."
Big G: "It appears so."
Swally: "How could she not be driven to such lengths unless there is some deep hatred towards him?"
Big G: "I just find it strange that Forest is so young, how could he have wronged someone like this so profoundly."
Swally: "It must be from his father's generation, and she needs to kill Forest in order to wipe out the entire family line."
Big G: "Makes sense."
Swally: "Since she knows we're his friends, there is no way that she is going to let us go; so even if we tell her where he is, we are still dead, she would probably kill us right after telling her."
Big G took a deep sigh, "When you put it like that, I guess I'm not as good of a friend as I thought I was," he smiled bitterly.
Swally: "You thought about that as well?"
Big G: "But if you hadn't reminded me, I would have forgotten."
Swally: "How could you forget?"
Big G: "If you intentionally don't think about something, isn't that as good as forgetting all about it?"
Swally: "Why don't you want to think about it?"
Big G: "Because, it will make me feel better about myself, I can die feeling that I was a great friend."
Swally laughed, but there was a tinge of bitterness in his voice.
"Actually, you are a better man than most," Swally said slowly after a long pause.
Big looked like he wanted to jump with excitement, "I'm a great person? You also think I am a good person?"
Swally: "Nobody is born a hero; great men rise to the occasion. Although most people understand that logic, most people are content with deceiving themselves. But you..."
He sighed, "You not only think it, but actually say it out loud," he casually added.
Big G: "This... Perhaps that is just because I have such thick skin."
Swally: "This has nothing to do with thick skin, it's..."
Big G: "What?"
Swally: "Courage! That is courage, not many people have that kind of courage."
Big G smiled, "I never thought I would hear you praising me. Are you trying to make me feel better, to put me heart at ease?"
Swally didn't reply but held his hand tightly.
Their ice-cold hands gradually became warmer.
A long stretch of time passed before Big G spoke again, "We haven't actually known each other for very long, but if feels like you have always been my best friend. Dash is also my best friend, but our relationship feels different," he said slowly.
"What is different?" Swally asked quietly.
Big G: "I don't really know, it's just that... if Dash wrongs me somehow, I will just forgive him; but if you do something wrong, I get mad, like really angry."
Feelings are indeed complicated, so there's nothing strange about not understanding them completely.
The tips of Swally's fingers seemed to be shaking, as if he was greatly moved by what Big G had just said. Unfortunately, Big G couldn't see the emotions on his face, otherwise he might have understood what was going on.
But not understanding wasn't bad.
Sometimes vague and lofty sentiments were better that way, more intriguing even.
It's too bad that they didn't have any time left to enjoy these kinds of emotions.
"There is still something I want to know, but am not sure how to ask you?" Swally suddenly said.
Big G: "Say it. You can say anything you want to me."
Swally: "What if Madame Wei really let us go, and actually gave us all of that gold. Would you tell her where Forest is staying?"
Big G didn't give a direct answer, "All I know is that sooner or later your gold will be spent, and there will come a time when each person passes away, but friendship and righteousness will exist forever," he replied casually. He smiled, and then added, ""Because friendship and morality exist, only then are we anything greater than beasts."
Swally took a long breath, "I rarely hear you talk like this, you always seem to be laughing and smiling, I never imagined that I would hear such a philosophy coming from you."
Big G: "Some principles don't need be expressed through words."
Swally: "But if you don't say it, then how do other people know what kind of person you are."
Big G: "I don't need other people to know, as long as my friends know, and you know, then that is enough. But right now, there is something I really need to know," he suddenly grinned.
Swally: "You want to know about that secret that I still haven't told you about."
Big G: "That's right."
Swally: "You... you still haven't forgotten?"
Big G smiled, "I already told you, alive or dead, I would never forget that."
Swally went silent for a long time, "I have actually wanted to tell you numerous times, but I'm worried that there will be regrets," he said faintly.
Big G: "Regret? Who would have regrets?"
Swally: "Me."
Big G: "Why would you regret it?"
Swally: "Because... Because I'm worried that once you find out, you won't want to be my friend anymore."
Big G squeezed his hand, "Don't worry, no matter what kind of person you are, regardless of what you did in the past, I will always be your friend."
Swally: "Really?"
"If I go back on my word, then I might as well..." He started to proclaim loudly.
Before he could say "Die," Swally covered his mouth, "Fine, I will tell you, I have always been a..." he said softly.
Lights suddenly broke through the darkness again, illuminating another strange object.
It looked like a metal pipe propped up on a wooden frame, it was dark black, nearly the same size around as a large bowl.
"Do you know what this is?" Madame Wei's voice broke the silence.
Big G: "No idea."
Madame Wei laughed, "You're not only ignorant of the past, you haven't learned anything from history."
Before she finished speaking, a sundering explosion suddenly shook them.
Big G felt as if his eardrums had exploded.
Some time passed before he could even manage to open his eyes, all he could see was smoke hanging in the air, and the stone wall across from the metal pipe had a large hole blown through it.
"You should know what it is now," Madame Wei said.
Big G exhaled heavily, "Is that really a cannon?"
"You're not that stupid after all," Madame Wei chuckled.
The mouth of the cannon moved, it was now aiming directly at Swally and Big G.
"Would you like to have a taste of this cannon?"
Big G: "Nope."
"Then start talking."
Big G: "Nope."
"Perhaps, you need to learn how deadly this cannon is," she said casually.
Big G: "I'm aware."
"What are you aware of?"
Big G: "I've heard that no matter how thick a city's walls are, they could not withstand such a force."
"Since not even a city's walls could take such a blast, do actually think you could withstand it?" she laughed.
Big G laughed loudly, "That's what you don't understand, I have always had thick skin, it's even thicker than city walls."
"You really won't say anything?" She said furiously.
Big G just ignored her, all he did was turn to take one last look at Swally.
Swally had a gentle expression on his face, but his voice was full of determination.
"Including yesterday, I have already died eight times, where is the harm in dying again?" he said decisively.
"Death," has always been a terrifying obstacle to overcome, but it didn't seem like such a big deal to them.
Big G suddenly sighed, "I only regret one thing" he said, grabbing Swally's hand.
"I know, but whether I live or die, one day I will tell you my secret," he said softly.
Big G's face lit up, "When you put it like that, then what is there to hold me back?"
"Fine, then you two can die," Madame Wei said coldly.
The mouth of the cannon was aimed directly at them.
BOOM, another sundering explosion came from the cannon.
Through the thick smoke, you could make out two bodies on the ground, they had fallen together...
× × ×
Some people say death is hard, some people say death is easy.
What do you say?