Ash and Honey [BL]

What was once an empty street now appeared to be a bustling shop-side walkway. Wan Yu stood still, his mouth ajar in pure surprise as he clutched the metallic emblem. Men and women, dressed solely in white, passed by the window like they had already decided on a place to be.

"What the?" Lin An jolted and turned to face Wan Yu, her eyes wide in horror. "Why are there so many people?"

"It's a…" He barely knew how to answer. Never in his life had he seen one before, because he'd never left the city where he grew up. "...It's a Passing Rite Festival." And despite his tone remaining somewhat flat, his eyes widened, the subtlety of intrigue and excitement burning into hues of amber.

She didn't seem to understand his words and stared at him with a look of heavy confusion. "A Passing… Rite Festival?"

He didn't answer her immediately. The proof was in how everyone here dressed. Men, women, and children alike wore white mourning robes. And each one bore the uncanny discoloration of ghastly white skin. Even if one had never seen ghosts before in person, it was clear.

Wan Yu froze, and his fingers tightened on the windowsill. "...But it's not summer," he muttered.

Something's wrong.

These festivals were only held in summer. So why now, on a random day in spring?

He stiffened when the house creaked further in. An elderly woman hobbled out of the back door with a yawn. She barely minded the children inside her store and headed to the front door.

"Is it that time again?" she muttered, as if she were in a sleepy daze, and stepped outside into the crowded streets.

In a haste, the two children followed. Wan Yu's eyes had grown almost twice their size. The dull streets were lit, almost like the large city he could see in the distance. It was so reminiscent of his home, but they lacked masks and fancy clothes.

The Faceless City wasn't swallowing up Bei Zangli anymore. There were red lanterns hung on every corner of every house and building, each one made of near-translucent red paper. Only now that they were lit could Wan Yu notice a damning feature.

They were each delicately carved with a person's name.

They were ghost lanterns—set up right before, during, and after a Passing Rite Festival. A guide, or someone chosen from the city, would walk near the gravesite and lead them back to town. Since the town would be decorated in preparation for the festivals, the spirits could then wander as they pleased until they vanished at sunrise.

An ominous red ribbon blanketed the sky like a web, and lanterns floated just out of reach.

The festival was beautiful—but something else caught his attention.

At the end of the street, there was a man in long, flowing white robes. With every step, they moved like water. The man had hair down to his ankles, straight, stringy, and inky in color. In his hand, there was an iron staff that extended the entire length of his body. A golden lantern hung from the end of the rod.

Wan Yu's heart shattered.

The ghostly man wore a solid white mask over his face, obscuring his identity. But the figure was unmistakable. A slender form that looked like it could break, accompanied by pale features with noticeable dark marks around the ankles and wrists.

He opened his mouth to call out, but Lin An beat him to it.

"Shizun!" she happily called.

Wan Yu startled at her excitement and quickly moved to grab the back of her clothes, but she ran before his fingers could touch. The crowds of people made it difficult to catch up, and his voice was so small in the back of his throat that she couldn't hear. The repeated calls of "Shijie!" were completely drowned out by the sound of festivities.

"Don't go, this is too strange!" He tried to be louder, but his body just couldn't physically produce the strength.

She couldn't hear him.

In moments, his vision was completely blurred by passing people. Rarely did he feel negativity, or anything at all, really, but he hissed, "Move! You're all in the way!"

Wan Yu struggled past them, bumping into the ghosts like solid forms.

By the time he pushed through the crowd, he barely caught a glimpse of white robes escaping down an alleyway.

And yet—by the time he made it, neither his Shizun nor Lin An were there.

He was grasping at straws, trying to figure out what he should do. Suddenly, he was alone in a ghost city, without either of his martial sect siblings. If having no information constituted a failure of a mission, then how bad of a failure would it be if he went to the meetup place all alone?

For the first time in an entire year, Wan Yu stood frozen in disbelief. He gripped his training sword, and it shook between his fingers. He tried to swallow down the anxiety, but he didn't know how long he stood in place.

Only when a small boy threw out his hand toward him did Wan Yu jump. Carefully held between two fingers was a wrapped mooncake. Wan Yu was distraught, but he solemnly took it from the boy's sickly pale hand.

"Thank you…"

"Everyone says no one should frown," the boy beamed. "At least not during the Eternal Spirit Festival!"

Wan Yu startled and opened his mouth, but the boy took off before he could ask questions.

Eternal? he thought.

He eyed the emblem and a mooncake in his hand for a few minutes too long before tucking them away into a sash. 

***

A few passing minutes had turned into dozens, and the tenseness had shifted.

The faces of strangers offered smiles and looks of pity as Wan Yu tore through the streets. He panted heavily, feeling like such a burden on his feet. Where? The city itself had turned into a giant clue, and yet Wan Yu was still missing his teammates.

Wan Yu was enraged, despite the fact that his face didn't show it. "Whoever sent us this mission was clearly mistaken. These are not walking corpses," he huffed. "They're ghosts!"

To Wan Yu, the problem was evident. It lay not with the fact that there were ghosts in the street. The problem lay with what that ghost boy had said:

Eternal.

He thought about it for a few minutes before he moved from his spot. Eternal sounded wrong. Even if Bei Zangli had decided to have some festivities early, there was no reason to associate that description with it. If anything, a Passing Rite Festival should have been fleeting. It was supposed to be a small moment to meet with the dead; that's all.

No. Something like that shouldn't last forever.

He could only think of one possible reason for such a descriptor. It had been going on for too long. And if it continued…

Wan Yu knew exactly what he was looking for. He wanted to find his Shijie and Shixiong. Really, he did. But right now, that man who looked like his Shizun was the target.

He turned the corner too fast, and he nearly slipped.

A pair of hands reached toward him.