Chapter 10
It’s been hours, and the door was still locked, I just don’t get what is going to happen to me. I was hungry. I had water in the room, but mom was supposed to come back. I didn’t know what to say beyond that.
I’d just been sitting down mulling everything all day as though this prison was now my reality. Somehow this curse is a bad thing, and no one wants to touch me except my mom. They dress everyone around me from head to toe, completely covered up.
The door is opened and mom comes in with Elder Liu behind her.
“Son,” she said. “Mommy is back, mommy is back!”
She instantly moved to me and hugged me tightly, lifting me up off the floor. I was in her arms and couldn’t do a thing. Even if I didn’t like her using the word ‘mommy’ to refer to herself, I really was nothing more than a toddler in her presence.
“Mom, please, put me down.” I gasped in. “I can’t breathe easily.”
“Mommy is sorry,” she said. “Mommy is sorry! You are mommy’s child. You will always be mommy’s child!”
“Mom, can’t you stop using that way of speaking to me? I’m an adult.”
“No, son!” Mom looked at me. “You will always be a child, even when you’re an old man. You are mommy’s child. You can’t be anything more than mommy’s child, do you understand? Mommy will take care of you like a child for the rest of your life. You have to be a child by mommy’s side!”
“That’s not fair!” I now protested. “That’s not fair. I want to be able to live my life too. There has to be a way to stop the curse? Isn’t there?”
Mom became silent and stared at me for a moment. I wasn’t sure what to think. She then quickly left the room and locked the door from the outside, once again leaving me there.
I went to the door and tried to push it open. I hit it a couple times.
“Why?” I yelled. “Let me out! I need to know what’s going on!”
Why did she suddenly say I’m a child when before she was talking to me about how I could be an adult? Also, I’m hungry right now.
—
Elder Liu walked with Risless until they went into a room alone. They communicated with each other using a low voice so that no one could hear them.
“What was all that about?” Elder Liu asked. “You treated your son strangely suddenly. What happened with the Progenitor?”
Risless quietly told Elder Liu everything, which made her gasped. She couldn’t believe the solution and realized Risless was really trapped.
“What happens when he dies of old age?” Elder Liu now questioned.
“If the solution isn’t done before, then I will go mad,” Risless said. “I will be unable to carry out my duties as a Sect Master, so if that happens I ask you to find a way to help me take my own life.”
“No, there has to be another way,” Elder Liu said and hugged her. “You’re a precious daughter to me. I raised you and I watched over you. This can’t happen to you!”
“Elder Liu, I know you cared for me and loved me as your own even though we aren’t blood related,” Risless said. “Can you imagine how I feel about my son who is blood related?”
Elder Liu kept quiet about it as she mulled it over. Risless was in tears and unsure of what to do. Despite her life that had existed for thousands of years, Elder Liu was also at a loss.
“Is that why you told him he is only to be a child at your side?”
“It’s the only way,” Risless said. “Even if I desire that— “
“You can’t!” Elder Liu interrupted. “That is— “
“I know!” Risless said.
There was a blush on her that was slightly noticeable under her mask.
“I know…” she repeated. “It’s just I can’t face him right now. There is a full moon coming up. Please tell him to lock himself in the room to avoid the evil spirit. After the full moon is over I’ll show him around the sect. I don’t want him in the room if possible but he can’t touch any other woman but me or the curse will affect them as well.”
Elder Liu was solemn. “I understand, Sect Master. I will help in whatever you wish to do.”
Leaving her presence, there was water coming out of Elder Liu’s eyes. She also didn’t know what to do.
—
Elder Liu came back but kept her distance from me. The servants that came in were covered from head to toe as they brought food in for me.
“Dong Chen,” Elder Liu called to me.
“Yes, Elder?” I respond respectfully.
“There is a full moon that will come in a few days, when that happens I will give you the key. Make sure you lock the room and don’t leave until daylight. There is an evil spirit that will come after your life on those nights. After the full moon, your mother will show you around the Sect and try to help you have a life beyond the four wall prison you’re currently in. I promise your mother loves you.”
“You mean she loves me so much she can’t come see me after treating me like a toddler?” I was angry at this.
This is pathetic. I don’t even know what’s going on. No idea why there is a sudden change in the mood. I mean I get it, I’m in a prison but something changed there to the point where she is now treating me like I’m nothing but a child.
“Don’t question your mother,” Elder Liu said. “This is for your own good.”
For my own good?
“Why don’t you just tell me what’s going on!?” I mean, really. “If you don’t tell me, then why do I have to keep listening to you?”
“It is a secret that only those in the sect qualified may know,” Elder Liu said. “Some secrets are not for mortals.”
“Even if that secret seems to involve me? Even if I’m at the center of this crazy thing? Really? Don’t I at least deserve to know? I mean this concerns my life, doesn’t it?”
“I cannot reveal it to you, you’ll have to ask your mother when she sees you,” Elder Liu now said before locking the door and leaving.
I eat the food; it didn’t taste bad at all. Most of it was good, but still this whole thing happened just irritates me to no end. What was I supposed to do? I can’t even get information on anything myself.
If I’m an adult, I should be able to weigh my option as an adult… is that why she called me a child? A child can’t make choices on their own, right? This is pathetic.
If I’m going to be a virgin the rest of my life, then at the very least I want to know why! I at least deserve to know, don’t I?
—
“Did you talk to him?” Risless looked up to see as Elder Liu returned.
“I did.” Elder Liu had a stern look on her face. “He didn’t like not knowing.”
“That’s what I expect of him,” Risless said. “He’s my son, after all. He won’t like not knowing, but I can’t tell him. If I tell him, he might kill himself. I can’t tell him… if he kills himself I won’t be able to live either… I can’t… I want him to live… I don’t know what to do…”
“Calm down,” Elder Liu said. “Calm down and think this through. The curse is coming to attack him during the full moon. After that you can try to think it through some more. Nothing comes without patience. Understand my child… nothing comes without patience. There is always a chance you can do that.”
“Do that?” Risless was surprised at Elder Liu’s suggestion.
“Aren’t your feelings intense enough that you would do anything to save him?”
“Yes,” Risless said.
“Then think about it,” Elder Liu said softly. “You’re the most beautiful woman in this generation and are even with the most beautiful women who ever lived. The curse you have should be understandable and what needs to be done can be told to him in time.”
“I was never there with him when he grew up,” Risless said. “I don’t think he would trust me. I only saw him once every year… I… I…”
“Calm down,” Elder Liu said with a gentle voice. “Rest now, go to sleep. Even if you don’t need to sleep as a cultivator, resting still resets the emotional clock. It is why we cultivators sleep when we don’t need too or we become too grouchy. You have a son, he is not well versed in cultivation but he is still your son and every child desires to please their parents.”
“Even if he wishes to please me, something like that isn’t right or good,” Risless said.
“No, you can’t think that way. If the curse can be lifted by doing that, then it is something you have to talk to him about.”
“I can’t talk to him about that! If I talk to him, he would think I as his mother was insane! This curse for failing the ritual is too harsh. I cannot imagine how horrible the fate can actually become when I must betray my son that way!”
“Please… sleep Sect Master,” Elder Liu said. “Sleep and think about it honestly. Don’t see him for a few days. Get your emotions back. I did not teach you to be someone fearful. Are not cultivators those who defy the heavens?”
“Yes… Elder.. I will rest now,” Risless said.
Elder Liu left the room and Risless went to her bed. She sealed the room and took off her mask and her long robes that covered her lustful and beautiful figure. Under the moonlight she that shown through her window, the moon itself paled when compared to her. Yet no one could see this body or this face lest they lose their minds.
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