The Awakener in Gelu

A high black shadow stood between the ruins of a stone pillar, emitting a cold aura that froze the blood to the marrow. A pair of glowing red eyes stared straight at him from the dense everlasting darkness.

"Who's there?!" cried Lai Sha, her voice shaking violently amid the roar of the hot wind and the terrible moaning that echoed from all quarters.

The shadow raised its hand slowly, pointing toward the sky that was split in two. From the crack of the split, a blaring sound immediately struck his head with a force that crushed the soul: "Sheol awaits you, Lai Sha. The fate of your blood has long been outlined by the womb that gave birth to you, long before the world knew your name."

The little girl with the face of an oriental woman screamed restrained, trying to escape, but her legs seemed to be fixed on the burning ground. The red-eyed figure stepped closer, until just when the cold hand in black robe almost touched his face.

***

The little girl with soft hair unraveled a thin blanket whose thread had been peeled off from the path due to time consumption. Lai Sha quickly rose from the hardwood bed at the corner of the back warehouse.

The old wall clock in the kitchen ticked slowly, showing four o'clock in the morning when Lai Sha opened his eyes, long before the morning alarm went off. Actually Lai Sha doesn't need that timestamp. His body was trained to wake up before sunrise.

For a moment Lai Sha looked at the reflection of her face in a dull little bronze mirror. For some reason, the girl found the display tilted against the wall. It's weird and it's weird. There's no one there but himself.

That mirror is the only thing worth having. The results he found from a pile of abandoned antiques in the family's warehouse.

The room isn't exactly a proper place. A modestly transformed storage space has been home since he was ten years old. The walls were damp, and the chalk paint peeled off. Not to mention the smell of incense left over night mixed with the thick dust that always greeted him whenever he opened his eyes in the morning. It's hard to breathe freely. Even his cough is always heard accompanying him in a stressful silence.

"Welcome a new day, a new hope?!" he inwardly repeated a feisty sentence and hoped for a miracle to come on that day.

***

That morning, Lai Sha's face still left a tremendous amount of tiredness, but she still forced a thin smile for herself. A little habit that's been maintained for a long time. Because that's the only way Lai Sha's sanity remains intact under the roof of this big house.

The large European-style royal house with oriental ornaments is filled with threatening sounds. Yeah, especially the voice of the woman who gave birth to him. From him is the most horrifying figure for Lai Sha in this place. This house belongs to Madam Su Tian. Her own birth mother. Ironically, the woman who gave birth to him became the cruelest executioner, who treated him much less than the hunted animals. Lai Sha rushed to the main kitchen, barely making a sound on the cold marble floor that froze the soles of the feet.

His hands have memorized the sequence of work that needs to be done before everyone wakes up. Light a charcoal stove, cook rice, cut fresh vegetables, and prepare warm herbal tea that each householder has memorized. Although none of them ever bothered to ask what they liked.

"Lai Sha! Why haven't you delivered my morning tea upstairs?! No way! Put it in the usual place?!" Ling Yin's shrill voice echoed from upstairs, breaking the morning silence with a threatening tone. The jolt forced Lai Sha's daydreaming to stop instantly.

"Just a moment, miss!" he replied quickly as his hands moved more nimblely, pouring fragrant tea into Ling Yin's fine porcelain cup. Yep, even the whole furniture eats and drinks all the special requests. A blue-and-white ceramic cup whose rules of use are not interchangeable.

Like the day before, Lai Sha never got a warm hug. Nor is there a gentle caress from Madam Su Tian. His daily life was nothing more than mental torture, sharp insults, and horrific threats that were looming all the time.

Madam Su Tian is a woman in her early fifties, with a strapping posture with a high-collared kebaya encim who is always tightly buttoned. Yes, clothes that reflect the dignity of the family are distinguished.

In her face still leaves the beauty of her youth. Chiseled with lines of ruthless assertiveness is unforgiving or merciful to everyone he hates.

Madam Su Tian has no other children from her womb. Lai Sha is his only blood. Unfortunately, it's both the most hated and hated. Her current husband, Gu Ye. Wealthy merchants who are rarely at home because they spend more time managing textile factories in different cities. The man with semicircular hair has two biological children from a previous marriage. Fan is twenty-five years old, and the last is twenty-year-old Ling Yin.

Sometimes Lai Sha often wondered why the millionaire preferred the legacy of Fasyad. And not buying your own house or building a future house together. Of course it was done by Madam Su Tian to keep her property from being robbed by her ex-husband. Once again this is just an assumption from Lai Sha's mind.

Madam Su Tian gave them special treatment in that big house. Starting with imported silk clothing facilities, expensive jade jewelry, and full power over servants. While Lai Sha, Madam Su Tian's own daughter? Always full of pressure, isolation, and being treated like a dirty slave in the darkest corner of his own home. Ling Yin stepped down a few minutes later; her hairline was adorned with a green jade conde tusks that sparkled under the veil of an oil chandelier, and she was wearing a silk robe embroidered with gold thread. "Why is this tea getting a little cold? Hurry up and change a new one!!" grumbled Ling Yin, tasting a little tip of tea with her lips, and then just spilled it on the floor. "You just don't take care of trivial things, do you! No wonder your own mother was disgusted to see you!" "Sorry, miss. He will soon replace it with a new one," replied Lai Sha, obeying, bowing down, and hiding vibrations in his lips. Lai Sha stopped arguing all those hurtful words for a long time. Not because he lost his pride, but because he knew that the objection in front of Gu Ye's children would provoke Madam Su Tian's anger. The result was that the punishment that ended up sleeping in the airless room in the warehouse was much worse and locked until the madam's mood began to improve.

Fan went down a little later, wearing a dark modern Chinese-style long robe, only glancing at a glance with a contemptuous look without saying a word. The cold treatment felt the same stifling, as if Lai Sha's existence was just a piece of trash that littered the scenery. Just by glancing, Lai Sha is aware of his position.

Madam Su Tian appears last, walking gracefully down the old teak wooden steps, sitting at the head of the main dining table in a rigid posture that radiates an aura of death. Her eyes looked at Lai Sha with a flash of hatred so intense that the air around the girl felt suddenly heavy and difficult to breathe.

"Lai Sha," said Madam Su Tian finally, her voice as flat as ice from the depth of the tomb. "Don't expect you to be able to eat this morning before the entire main room and backyard are shiny and clean. And remember my warning! Don't you ever dare show your f*ck*ng face in front of important guests from Su's extended family next week. You're a rotten stain on this family."

"Yes, madam," replied Lai Sha while bowing his trembling head, holding back the urgent tear from coming down under the sight of his deadly mother.

***

The journey to a women-only private school in the city center took nearly an hour on foot, a routine that Lai Sha has been going through every day under the hot sun or cold wind, while Madam Su Tian forbade him to use any facilities.

At school, things were not much different. Lai Sha sits alone on the backstool by the window overlooking the high brick wall. No student but Ai would play with him. On the contrary, Lai Sha indeed kept a distance from all the students in her school except for the one named Ai.

If it's a friend, for Lai Sha, it's not completely. Ai often uses Lai Sha's cleverness for all schoolwork. But for Lai Sha, there is a similarity in Ai's family background that makes Lai Sha still think of her as a friend. Ai was born to a biological father from Indonesia. A country that Lai Sha is dying to go to.

When the break came, Lai Sha chose to sit under the shade of a peach tree in the corner of the school's backyard, opening a simple provision of hard rice and a slice of salted radish. His gaze looked up at the gray sky that began to be shrouded in thick fog, letting his mind drift on the fantasy world in his often-read storybook during his free time.

After school, on his way back home to a rocky road in the old Chinatown area, Lai Sha's steps stopped in front of a small antique shop. Behind the dusty wooden display case, a roll of old manuscripts covered with crimson brocade caught his eye.

Ancient gold letters were engraved on the cover, forming a title that felt like a call. "The book of the dark lord's inheritance." Lai Sha smiled slightly, then continued his steps towards returning home.

But when Lai Sha arrived at the gate of the house, she immediately felt a much more tense atmosphere than usual. Servants were seen running around small with pale faces, while Fan stood in the middle courtyard with a strained face, rolling up a piece of newspaper with her hands shaking violently.

"Madam is calling you in the main office right now," said Fan sharply in a horrible whispering voice, watching Lai Sha pass by.

With his heart racing, Lai Sha stepped into the workspace filled with the smell of sandalwood and death incense. Madam Su Tian stood behind him, staring at a large window leading to the inner courtyard in a rigid, threatening posture.

"You're home," said Madam Su Tian without looking back, her voice sounding so cold, creeping like a venomous snake in Lai Sha's ear. "Starting tonight, never come out of the back warehouse, no matter howling or screaming you hear from outside. He is certainly trying my patience.

That night, after finishing all the exhausting work without a proper sip of water, Lai Sha lay in her narrow bed in the back shed. The air felt so dense with the smell of sulfur, and the darkness in the room seemed to crawl alive, keeping him in extreme fear.

Lai Sha closed her eyes, but her consciousness suddenly s*ck*d into a very fast and deadly vortex.

***

The cupboard is hidden behind a yellow cloth eaten by age. Lai Sha believes he's been cleaning this warehouse his whole life under the threat of a whip. But the cupboard felt strange, as if it had just emerged from nothing to retrieve its destiny.

Lai Sha didn't get too dizzy and stayed focused on cleaning the back warehouse according to Madam Su Tian's cruel orders. Both hands were busy dragging dusty boxes one by one to the other corner to make them tidier. Unfortunately, his views still haven't switched to wooden cabinets.

With a throbbing heart, slowly begin to open the door of the squeaky closet because it is rarely touched. Inside is a medium-sized antique urn in the style of an ancient dynasty. Its golden color faded with elaborate carvings it did not recognize. The urn radiated a faint warmth, calling him approaching. A voiceless call that can only be felt in the heart.

His hands moved by themselves, drawn close. And as you've outlined, a little acciden