Journey In A Fantasy World
He's Not Dead

I opened my eyes, my surroundings were still dark, up there was only a black rock that occasionally dripped water from the cracks.

I wiped off the edge of my eyes, tears were unstoppable. I didn't see it, but I already felt it.

The feeling of someone leaving us. Like that is.

I remember the last time Neo fell while sending his magic power to Rui. And maybe that time ....

"You're awake, Jian?" I heard Neo's voice.

I immediately sat up. Neo looked smiling as he looked at my anxious and frightened face.

I immediately hugged her, "Neo, I don't think I'll ever see you again" I murmured softly.

"Just calm down, Jian. I am in no hurry to meet God. I still want to be with you guys longer" Neo smiled wider.

I looked around, like we were in a big cave. Snow as far as the eye can see. Above us was a charming looking stone roof.

There is lighting in between the loose cave rock crevices on the north side of the cave. It was about tens of meters from where we were sitting.

Not far from us sitting down, I saw Rui lying down. There were a lot of blood on his clothes. But his face looks clean.

"I just cleaned your bodies, but I can't change your clothes. It looks too—"

"Thank you, but there's no need to explain" I put my index finger on her lips. I walked closer to Rui.

"He was expending too much energy, Jian. He still hasn't woken up since the labyrinth was destroyed and—"

"The maze's ruined?" I looked at Neo in surprise. That labyrinth was completely destroyed?

Neo grinned wide, "You're right, Jian. Sincerity can destroy anything that stands in our way. All this time we've been lying to that map, if we understood our sincerity in the first place, we might have found the Candle of Eternity just now."

"Eh, have you found the Candle of Eternity?" I remembered something.

Neo nodded, he raised his hand, popping chunks of ice in his hand. Inside the box was a candle that was burning.

"Eh, is that a real candle?" I put on a puzzled face seeing the candle lit up inside the chunk of ice stone that was so coldly piercing the bone.

"It's real, Jian. That was why he was named the Candle of Eternity. Because the fire never goes out even if it's drowned in water."

"But shouldn't this block of ice be melting?" I tried to hold it, and it was really a chilly chunk of ice.

"This is the second seal, Jian. I don't know if this is a real iceberg. But when the labyrinth was destroyed, until it melted into a pool of water there," Neo pointed at the pond with a diameter of ten meters on the east side, it was probably the same pond where our map sank, "Only this chunk of ice wasn't destroyed. When I saw it with my Gold Card, this chunk kept the Candle of Eternity in it. So we still have to break this ice first."

"Eh, why don't you destroy it now?" I stared at him innocently.

Neo shook his head, "I can't afford to," Neo coughed slightly.

"Huh, just smashing a chunk of ice this way says it can't," I chided, snatched it from Neo.

I stood up, about to smash it down by slamming it down.

Will the candle in it be destroyed?

Never mind, an heirloom that is stored for thousands of years will not be destroyed easily. I slammed it hard downstairs.

But that ice cube is too creepy. Never mind being crushed, he just clang and bounce like throwing iron balls.

Neo laughed, shook his head, he no longer cared what I did to this chunk of ice.

I tried to destroy it with magic, but still couldn't. I even threw it tens of meters away, but let alone being destroyed, he didn't even blister.

"Already, Jian. Don't waste your energy in vain. Just wait for Rui to wake up, see if the fireballs can bake this chunk to a scorch or not." Neo reached into his little pocket.

"I've taken our map from the water thank God it doesn't fade let alone disintegrate. The spell inside was fine as well. When Rui wakes up later, we will still rest for a few hours to recover physically." Neo took the map out of his pocket.

I checked, the map was fine, I returned it to Neo.

"You're okay, right, Neo?" I asked to make sure, "The last time I saw you, you hit a wall so hard it was bloody, I thought you—"

"I'm fine, Jian. I don't know what medicine Zhi was given, but when my body was hit by something, even any pain would go away when I took the medicine. But when I forget about it for just one day, my body crumbs and can't even speak" Neo chuckled, "But it won't happen again, aka it only happens once."

"Is the cure still there?"

Neo was speechless, "The medicine, will run out in five days," Neo looked down, he looked sad.

I understand his fear. Although he had never seen how Neo would be in pain if he did not take the medicine, but he would have been very afraid if he would experience it again.

I patted her on the shoulder, smiling broadly, "Just calm down, Neo. If I pay attention, your body will be fine if it doesn't cast too much magic. In the past five days, I promised not to make you fight," I smiled wider.

I walked up to her, "You're up, Rui?"

"No, Jian. I was just delirious," Rui chuckled softly, hugging me tightly, "You guys looked so serious just now, so I could only listen to you."

"Thank you" Neo said.

Rui and I smiled while looking at her. We have not found the happy ending of our journey in Pubu City.

But we always feel happy every day when we get together with each other. There may not be a happy ending, but there is only happiness until the end.

...----------------...

I sat opposite Rui, in front of us is the Candle Seal of Eternity. Neo just watch, we don't allow him to help us to break this seal. With his weakened body condition, it was too risky.

I linked my hands with Rui's hands, our eyes closed, we began to concentrate on pouring our strength into the seal. We are working on absorbing this seal energy. The cold aura from the seal entered my body, I shivered as it started to feel my entire body as if it was freezing.

I don't know what happened to Rui, but her palm still felt warm, inversely proportional to my palm that hardened like ice.

My breathing began to roar, I felt like I could not open my eyes anymore, everything seemed to freeze, only my energy remained actively absorbing the energy of the seal, I was like unable to control this incoming energy.

My body trembled with coldness, I gripped Rui's hand tightly, hoping that the heat energy from his body could flow into my body as well.

Suddenly I felt something hugging me tightly, there was a special energy surrounding my body, it started to feel warm, I felt my body was not as cold as before. I can control my power more.

I held my breath, insisting on absorbing even more energy. Although there had been no visible results, but it felt not too impossible to remove this seal.

Bruk!

I opened my eyes, my concentration collapsed instantly. I looked back, Neo collapsed behind me.

"Stop it, Rui!" I exclaimed, immediately laying Neo down.

"Bas stubborn, I told you there was no need to interfere," Rui looked annoyed.

"Sorry, Rui. It seems to be my fault, my body froze as we tried to unseal this. Perhaps seeing me so cold, Neo hugged me while flowing his energy into my body. So it's not Neo's fault" I decided to defend Neo. She must be worried because of me.

Rui sighed, "I'm the one who doesn't care, Jian. Your body isn't like me, even if it absorbs so much ice energy, I won't be cold.. I should have thought of you before we started." Rui felt guilty.

"That's it, we all make different mistakes. Let's give Neo first aid. The matter about this seal, the first way has failed, we need to find another way again."

Rui nodded to my advice. He stood up, said he would check how big this cave is. Maybe we'll find something we can eat. I allowed it, Rui accompanied by her magical dog.

I looked at Neo's pale face, I let out a long breath, "You're stubborn, Neo."

"You let me down, Jian."

I'm silent, is he awake? "What are you saying, Neo?" I looked at him annoyed.

"You should just ignore me, Jian. If you continue the formation, the seal may already be open."

"You think I can keep concentrating on seeing my friend pass out? Even if I tried to continue, the formation would still fail. We're not strong enough to destroy it."

Uhuk!

"Neo!" I called out in panic.

Neo again spewed blood, his body suddenly shivering with cold. This symptom looks similar to when we just came out of Dixia Academy.

"I'm fine, Jian, don't worry about me." Neo brushed off my hand that was about to help wipe the blood off his lips.

I reached into his pocket, "Take the medicine again, Neo. You should be fine we're taking this medicine."

Neo's taking. Then swigged three times. But a few minutes later, nothing happened, Neo's body just got worse.

"Neo, what should we do?" I panicked more and more, Neo didn't care about me anymore, his breathing roared, he didn't sleep, but his eyes kept shut as if losing consciousness.

Argh!!

I heard screaming from far away. When he turned his head, Rui was already lying on the snow bed. His body no longer moved.

"What's that?" I stood up, about to run towards Rui, but something like a black shadow looked creepy, something was dragging Rui's body to nothing more.

"Yes, Jian. We meet again."

A rux?