Chapter Text
Wei Ying’s heart pounds in his ears. He feels the hot air, like a fire whirlwind, burn his lungs, while his chest rises and falls erratically, achingly. And staggering, he barely can stand upright.
He’s running.
He can’t think about anything else but to run.
To be fast.
To avoid staying in the same place for a long time, or they’re going to catch his scent, follow him and catch him — and Wei Ying has always been so athletic, so fast. But feral alphas on the run are just… fast enough and it is such a hassle to keep outracing them. Right now, he feels very exhausted and easily short of breath, more than before. He used to run long distances and hold his breath for a great amount of time underwater. But this, this makes Wei Ying’s performance seem so pathetic in comparison from how his athletic ability usually tends to be. Damn. Now he can say it with certainty: It’s his fucking heat’s fault.
He’s hot. So fucking hot. Exhausted, bothered and easily short of breath. His palms, his back, his neck, forehead… Even his ass is so sweaty. Tch.
Water droplets still cover him, making the fabric of his robes stick to his body, heavy and uncomfortable like a second skin. Making Wei Ying feel doubly sluggish, cold and pretty much sticky.
Fresh rain droplets still cover his white skin and his robes, making them stick to Wei Ying’s skin, making him feel as doubly sluggish, doubly cold, and very much uncomfortable.
The silvery moonlight shines over him after the light rain that assaulted him while he had left the academy’s central library roughly half an hour ago. At least, he can now see better where he’s going, with the faint light guiding his every step. He crosses the big training grounds, running towards the small arboretum of penjing pines elegantly laid and arranged tastefully in the middle of the garden, with some tall eupatorium herb bushes and hydrangeas, surrounded by black rock paths. His destination is west, on the far right of the campus.
Yes, his first thoughts in the face of this problem have been either
- Hide in his quarters.
- Sneak across the rooftops of the large auditoriums in the center of the campus with an invisibility cloak. head east and go to the Nie contingency's chambers. There, at least could be several other omegas and betas gathered around and the access would be prohibited to alphas (if he has the amount of spiritual energy and strenght to activate such a talisman) until he reaches his destination.
- Or run and hide with Huan-ge in the Hanshi.
But right now, this is a DISASTER ! Wei Ying has been punished for it, feeling forced to take into account a new location.
His first three options, sadly, are too far out of his reach.
Wei Ying would be caught by any feral alpha right before arriving (and he cannot think a lot about anything else rather than leave Suzhou Lan’s academy territory behind, going down into Caiyi. All of this crazy bullshit must’ve already gotten there by now! Damn!)
That’s why he must center himself in a third option, one that is the closest and more secure.
He grits his teeth, ready to continue advancing through the pain, stickiness, wetness, and the itch under his skin that makes him want to go nuts.
Behind a set of several rows of trees in the back mountains of the academy, there’s a field for fencing and some benches carved out from white stone. There are slightly worn out and covered in overgrown weeds form time passage, wildflowers, surrounding them and all that. This place was used sometimes by students who wanted a quiet space alone and the other community places, such as the library or lecture halls were occupied.Thirteen or so steps further into another tree row is a small meadow. It is well hidden from view, unless you know what you’re looking for. In that meadow are several black jade and granite stone structures. And among them is a large archway leading down to a slight subway stream. These are the farthest cold springs in the entire academy.
These springs mark the edge where the back of Suzhou Lan Academy ends, right where the magic protection wall against any intruders is. It is a place for betas to take a bath after a hard day at work/studies or take advantage of improving their cultivation and even practice some wound healings.
Wei Ying has to move fast and to pull all his last remaining energy into getting there.
Even if he doesn’t really know if he can make it or not.
‘Shit, shit, shit’.
Now with his heat cycle kicking in completely by now. His second heat ever!!! In his entire life!!! And at a terrible, inconvenient time like this!!! Wei Ying barely suppresses a full-body shiver and the urge to gnash his teeth in utter frustration.
‘Damn it!’
Why didn’t he recognize the symptoms any sooner?
For two days before, he had felt like death: So unbearably hot over his whole body, an excessive amount of tiredness and a hellish fever like heat (but without being one. He hadn’t been in bed with a cold since last winter). He also had felt unbearably dehydrated and very irritable, crying over everything and every single thing in one moment, and then feeling so happy and energized at the other. And then, he would be very angry and tired. He’d had a persistent headache that wouldn’t go away, making him pinch his brows in pain and irritation almost the entirety of the day, added to some cramps coming to him from time to time… And so, so unbearably… Horny.
How was it possible that he hadn’t connected the dots before of what had been happening to him with his first heat symptoms!?
His legs begin to protest, trembling and resenting the strain on his muscles. Shit. How long has he been on the edge, and running? Around two and a half hours give or less?
The omega wobbles on his feet and stumbles, around seven times, landing on fallen leaves, dry twigs and soggy grass. Rainwater, still fresh, trickles down his face, catching in his loose, soaked hair. On his white, immaculate training robes, the wet fabric leaving very little to imagination. Strands of his bags stick to his temples, while the longer hairs framing his face become one with his face. His hair is messy and way in an unkempt, tangled fashion, clinging to the back of his neck. His red leather ribbon must have fallen off at some point during his mad dash, perhaps having tangled among one of the many lower branches he had passed through. These had left some cuts and scratches on his face, which stinging, burning sensation he had decided to ignore — there are some priorities first, after all.
He stumbles again for the eight time and ignores the dull ache in his knees and his right ankle. He must have tripped on his way over a root dug out of a tree that was left there and must have a twisted ankle now, oof. But in truth, it is actually hard for him to see through the fog of his heat and to stay one hundred percent alert on his senses.
He is nauseous. His body shivers from a mixture of the cold air, from rain water still on his skin and from the fever that makes his blood feel like liquid fire on his veins. He stops momentarily on his tracks, pressing his back tightly behind the trunk of an old sauce tree. He is sure the alpha (or alphas) chasing him right now won’t find him for a while.
He closes his eyes, grieving his poor decision making that has gotten him into this precise instant.
(***)
(Roughly two and a half hours before):
“ Aw, man. Such a pity he’s not here”, someone groaned, sneering jokingly. “I wanted to get the big fat prize.”, The person’s tone and their word selection made Wei Ying have a panicked, full body-clench (and it wasn’t the pleasant type).
“Don’t be stupid. You’ll die even before being able to sink your fangs in that little neck or before touching one single hair of his. For some reason, the golden omega is the main family’s best and favorite, even though he’s not the eldest”, Second stranger declared, trying to deter the first one.
“What is it that the two of you like so much about him anyways? His only good things are his face, his thin waist and his perfect, round ass. Everything else about that wench is unattractive, insubordinate, reckless and disrespectful. You wouldn’t want to be with him and good luck if he lets any of you mount him and fill him up”, said someone else with disgust or disdain on their voice.
“Hah, yeah. Good luck convincing old man Lan to give him to you”, the fourth interjected.
Wei Ying briefly listened as there was a snigger, followed by a groan coming from the same person. Apparently, someone didn’t find the comment funny, since probably the person had received full force, an elbow to their ribcage.
Wei Ying remained completely silent and still. He wasn’t breathing. He couldn’t allow himself to do it. He thought the guys would notice him or hear him out if he did.
“C’mon”, Stranger number one said again, “I’m pretty sure there will be more omega first years at your league inside the main floor rooms. Haha”.
Another laugh reverberated, seconding the first one. It was a nasal voice. Somehow, it seemed familiar to Wei Ying. Maybe it was someone with whom he had crossed paths often while growing up? Or maybe they were an older external disciple? But, as much as Wei Ying tried to match a face to that plain and nasal voice, he couldn’t come up with anybody to match with it.
In the event that Wei Ying had seen them before, did the fact that he couldn’t attach properly a face to that voice meant that the person had been born with an average, flat, easily forgettable appearance in the first place?
Yes. Maybe Wei Ying had just been thinking about it too much and it wasn’t really necessary to remember their appearance in the first place.
Putting some effort into his agitated and fuzzy mind, he tried again to listen to them in complete silence.
“I wonder if there must be any difference between being with a masculine or feminine omega. I’d like to feel those soft, milky white thighs; sink my teeth in an omega’s tender and vulnerable sides. I want to be inside one to know how it feels like? They say it's fucking heaven. Maybe omega women are so much better?”
“...Some even say knotting one is awesome too. Poor, little sweet things squirm and squeal under your teeth, but we all know that in the end, they enjoy it all the same. What whores they are”, Stranger number three interjected and there was more demeaning sniggers and disdainful laughs, full of amusement.
That was disgusting. Seriously. Those irritating voices and callous words really left the omega shocked with indignation and horror. Wei Ying wrinkled his nose. That didn’t sound at all like a pleasurable experience for the poor omega (or omegas) that were going to have the displeasure of being the unfortunate prey(s) of these damn perverts.
(And since Wei Ying knew what was best for him, he forgot — conveniently — the fact that these lewd and horrible bastards had been thinking of him, of all people — less than a half minute ago).
An unpleasant shiver ran down Wei Ying’s spine as he felt the horrible gnashes in his belly and the lump clogging his throat.
“Who cares¿ I just want to feel young and alive, like a teenager our age. It’s the only time of the year when we can do this. All of this life full of rules, more rules and such monotonous practices will make me get depressed and die before our other disciple peers” Stranger two declared.
The voices and laughter echoed in a faint hiss. Gradually, they faded away along with the accompanying footsteps, indicating that the perverts were finally leaving; And with them, strong, putrid odors faded away too; so powerful that they would irritate anybody’s nose who were to stand too close.
Alphas. These were not inner sect disciples. Their scents were very diverse and were neither fresh nor cold; they didn’t have the Lans’ classic floral and woody notes from around here. They really had very unpleasant smells: stale wine, wet dog. And another one of vinaigrette and eggs. Or rather, chokecherry? Anyway… When they were about to enter a rut/feral state, alphas’ scents rose up with the characteristic smell of old musk. They reeked of rottenness, rancidity and noxiousness. And since Wei Ying had a certain added sensitivity to smells in general — because, apparently his biology hated him so much — , these scents were four times so strong and unbearable to him, compared to how they were with others.
When he no longer heard voices or footsteps in the facility and believed there was no more danger, Wei Ying slowly peered through the slit he found available between the sliding bamboo doors.
What he saw through the crack at first, appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary. The sun had almost completely set, turning the sky into a dull bluish-orange color while the horizon tinged in a dark blue hue was visible. Barely a few stars shone right now above the heads.
Paper lanterns were beginning to be lit one by one in rows, illuminating the main hallway and gardens. From where he stood, it didn’t look like anyone was going to find him any time soon, which gave Wei Ying a small chance to calm down. With trembling and sweaty hands (Tch), Wei Ying slid the doors open with difficulty and carefully excited the compound.
In fact, there didn’t seem to be anyone on this side of the campus. He let out a sigh, relieved. He ran the large door behind him to close it and leaned his back against it, sliding down to sit on the hard floor, with a slight thump.
This was a mess.
His head was exploding.
He felt feverish and if he had a horrible hangover (which was very inusual because, although Wei Ying drank sparingly though not very often, he had alcohol tolerance. He had almost never had a hangover, except for the first time, when one of the senior disciples had enthusiastically put Emperor’s Smile in his glass mixed with water. That day, it had been super hot, and the training had left him exhausted and thirsty. So, he hadn’t thought a lot about it).
Anyway…
Above all, he felt a hot knot forming in his lower belly; it was like a cramp that hadn’t left him since earlier that day during wushi… Before all of this happened. He had been too stressed and engrossed these past few weeks in trying to design the perfect talisman, along with Lan Xiansheng, to reverse the Aquatic Abyss’s effects he had forgotten it was already that time of the year.
And in the middle of a very important moment, to boot!!!
Wei Ying couldn’t afford to be distracted by something like this. They had to quickly think of a solution regarding this mighty aquatic beast that had appeared practically out of nowhere one morning. And he, moreover, still had important work to do for the first yao’s attraction flags prototype for the innovative invention fair Lan Mingzhou, the Academy’s talisman and spells headmaster had recommended he applied for. Wei Ying had been somewhat hesitant, but he had done it anyway, trusting his teacher’s good eye for this sort of things. It as a good opportunity, as she had said, to let more people in the cultivation world know about his geniality and innate talent. He would even be able to sell many more things in the future. Or even become a super solicited headmaster, someone who could become soon in no time a pioneer for advanced cultivation artifacts. Many would want to use him. All of this would have a great impact in helping both, cultivators as well as common folks.
Another cramp assaulted him in protest, this time with greater intensity and insistence. He also began to feel an unusual warmth in his lower belly, radiating from his golden core to his fingers and toes.
Shit. He tried not to react too much, but the pain didn’t subside.
He contorted his face a little bit with discomfort and pain, as his breath caught in his throat while feeling another cramp assault him. He looked around, through the haze in his eyes. He was probably just getting sick from the amount of overtiredness, the several hours without sleep and the slight fever he had been accumulating now for a few days.
Was he finally exhausted and falling sick enough from having overdone himself so much with his health? Most likely.
Far away, guttural grunts and the desperate cries of someone could be heard. Wei Ying’s stomach tightened into several knots, dread filling him at the realization: It was that time of the year again. And not a single place on the Academy — or in Suzhou, as a matter of fact— did seem to be safe from alphas roaming around, with ruts and in an almost-full feral state, eager to mate any unlucky omega they found in their way. This was the moment when all of Suzhou’s Lan Clan disciplines and regulations were set aside and everybody gave in to their dark, immoral side.
Of course, it had been a tradition encouraged and put into action very recently, just a year ago, due to the emergency the entire country was in. In the past, this tradition would have been frowned upon by several of the Lan elders due to how presumptuous, very undignified it was, as well as how wild it was and how it led everyone to indulge in their baser, more primitive desires.
However, the Nie had assured that, according to their traditions, something like this worked for younger people, inviting them to eventually seek mates and create a mating process accordingly as their biologies would demand so. This especially gave opportunity to people like the Lans, who were not like the other youngsters. They were always uptight, square-minded and reserved. They didn’t live together with boys from other sects as might be appropriate, being reclusive, private and locked up, meditating, or practicing cultivation or studying academic texts. Nor was there anything wrong with their courtship techniques, to say the least. In their mating and courting processes, the Lans generally just took too long to reach a formal mated status, with a tone of ceremonies, clan rules and formalities to be taken into account (And whatnot), until the bonding process had finally happened and the pair was bonded accordingly. And there was a lot of talk from the Jin and Nie clans speculating that by the time the Lan’s supposed heirs (or heir joined to an appropriate omega) birthed their next generation of leaders after an “painstakingly slow process” of courting and mating, following so many Lan traditions and timing, hypothetically, all of the great clans would’ve already passed away in any hostile scenario.
There would probably no longer even be a world in the future, having been burned and in the Yinying’s clutches by then…
(Yes. Of course, none of the prominent sects would balk at the idea that the Lans needed to continue to reproduce themselves, because wartime said it was a must. But this was a widely-known truth).
Anyway, this was taking things too far.
It was that season during the entirety of the year in Suzhou that every Lan sect disciple or guest disciple external to the sect, invited by extension to Suzhou Lan Academy could do whatever their deepest desires and instincts dictated. It was the moment when the authorities wouldn’t reproach alphas for publicly taking as many omegas as they wanted and when they pleased. However, there was a specific rule to follow to make things more permanent: Only one alpha could knot and bond to an omega, claiming them. Then, their participation in the mating ritual would officially be over and others would stp seeking to bond themselves to that omega.
This region’s alphas were left completely in a semi-feral (or full feral) state, also a tiny step before getting into rut. They were completely left starved of food and any medium to alleviate their carnal desires and sexual needs. And it was at that moment that the scarce seven omega percent population in the entire region were surrounded by crazed, feral, and horny alphas.
Tcp. It was a last-minute countermeasure thought for re-population purposes only. And honestly, Wei Ying hoped that whoever had thought first place of something like this, could have a big FUCK YOU, get bald, ugly, old, fall in a ditch by accident and die. He had never really liked the idea of it. It seemed barbaric, and terrifying to him. Disgusting and inhuman, even.
He had heard a few horror stories about omegas who had been forcefully knot-broken against their will and having had to give birth to several pups at once out of wedlock. Alone, on the streets. He had heard stories of displaced omegas with no homes, suffering abuse after abuse. He had heard about omegas dying from extreme poverty and starvation, being undesirable to anyone of their former mates because they had been raised and used as cum dumpsters by other alphas in various complicated love-affairs outside of their married lives or with a mate (mostly by horrible, lustful alphas who had been passing through and only used them at most once or twice to vent a little of their frustrations and sexual impulses, defiling and ruining them). He had heard many horror stories where alphas and omegas would revert to their baser instincts, going feral and doing countless things that would tempt against their own safety and the safety of others.
He tried to avoid all these horrible stories he had heard. He decided it was better to concentrate on what was happening right now.
And well, shortly thereafter, another group of young men had found themselves wandering around. They were all alphas and Wei Ying had to walk right past them, trying to sort himself out. He didn’t know why. He wasn’t the cowardly type, turning tail and running off. He didn’t let himself be intimidated so easily. But there was something in his belly, telling him it was better to avoid them for the time being. So, Wei Ying had decided to let his instincts guide him this time. After all, he still had them for some reason.
First, he had to get past the Rushi and the training grounds so he could go to the wing where the dorms were. Once he got to the Rushi, there was no one there. But he was met with the second most horrible surprise of that night: Jin Shitzun and his bunch of useless alphas.
“Oh, what do we have here?” Said that horrible Jin cousin (who, to Wei Ying’s distaste, was a horrible, cheap, low-quality cup of the pathetic peacock, Jin Zixuan).
Wei Ying tenses his teeth, in a slight snarl. He had told them to cut the crap and let him pass through. That he had no business in these parts of the camp —none of them, actually—, when the guest disciples had their own access grounds, specifically meant for them.
Of course, the response was a loud, booming laugh and a punch to Wei Ying’s stomach.
Wei Ying lost completely his balance, spine and head hitting strongly the floor. His air was knocked out of his lungs and he felt lightheaded, coughing painfully. But nothing could ever come out. Not even a forced wheeze. Another cramp decided that precise moment to attack. It grabbed him by the guts, like an iron vice-grip. Dazed, the omega blinked a little bit, small black smudges appearing in his vision.
Damn insolent bastard. Wei Ying frowned with clouded eyes.
“Stand up, little slut! You look pathetic sprawled on the floor like that!” one alpha sneered, laughingly.
Wei Ying took a moment to put two and two together. This voice… He was so sure of having heard it before… Somewhere.
He was still searching his memory when he realized something. Widening his eyes, his horror was so perceptible. This was the group of alphas —or mostly alphas— that had been in front of the library just a short while ago.
Damn, here they were, back for him. Shit.
Wei Ying shakingly stood up, trying to pull one of the talismans left on his qiankun bag out, which had ended up on the floor earlier from the blow. But his movements were very slow and clumsy. He didn’t see the alpha who threw themselves on him, pinning the younger omega into the ground, making Wei Ying stumble forwards face first into the roots of a tree. (Ow, that had hurt too much. Both his face and pride).
As he felt the hot pain exploding through the right side of his face, another one of the Jin’s companions, who was not the hated Jin Cousin himself, picked up the discarded pouch. “Hey, what’s this? Your toys?”
“Don’t—touch that…” Wei Ying growled.
The alpha snorted laughingly at him. “You’re really a pretty useless little wench without them, aren’t you? You think ya stupid cheap magic tricks disguised as talismans can help you at all? Ha! Look at you. You’re so weak. You can’t even fight properly”.
And then, as to prove his point, he plucked Wei Ying’s cheek forcefully while he still tried to stand up, causing the omega to fall face-first onto the hard floor and root again.
More laughter boomed in his ears, squeezing his lungs. Or… that was the person seating a top of his back.
“Get… Off!” Wei Ying growled breathlessly and in desperation, his voice low.
“You’re pathetic. After all, you’re not immune to things like heats either…”
Wei Ying’s eyes flushed at that comment; a nerve having been so touched and pulled out of his skin barely in two minutes. He stilled at those words, which weighed him down even more, somehow.
Then, he realized it.
Yes. He was a fool.
He hadn’t taken scent or HEAT SUPPRESSANTS! And surely, had been filling the library entrance with a heavy, laden cloud of pheromones that had reached the nearest alphas’ noses. He had made such a careless move as to lure them in like an obvious smoke signal saying ‘Here. I’m here. Come and get me!’
He wanted to smack himself internally.
Silly, silly Wei Ying.
This was all his fault. That they were here in the first place was due to Wei Ying himself.
It was a very long journey to his quarters. Really, even that place wasn’t guaranteed to be safe.
“If you want your stupid qiankun pouch for your silly talismans and toys, come and get it”, said another of the alphas, holding the pouch in front of him.
Wei Ying stirred, trying to shake the alpha off. But no matter how hard he moved or how hard he tried to push himself up with his elbows and core, he was weak, feverish and sore. He couldn’t breathe properly. The alpha also seemed to weight a lot. What was he? A pile of gigantic boulders!?
Laughter sounded raucously all around him, as he watched. Vision still swimming, the alpha’s distorted faces and their overgrown silhouettes around him, with yellow-glowing eyes, full of disdain and amusement. Almost like a pack of shadow hyenas.
Although the weight wasn’t on him for too long.
“Enough, enough guys. Remember what we came here for”, said someone else above Wei Ying. Though their voice didn’t sound convincing, because they still seemed to be holding back their laughter and the movements above him told the omega that they were perhaps wiping tears from their eyes.
Several arms pulled him to his feet and Wei Ying immediately stepped back, on guard. There were about five alphas, surrounding him. Perhaps at most a year or two older, though some looked the same age as him.
“We want to put a smug little bastard like you in their place. Because, once a lowborn servant, you’ll always be a lowborn servant, no matter how many luxuries you try to bathe in”, had said one of them, but the guy’s face wasn’t very clear.
“Once a bitch always a bitch” said another of the ugly bastards.
“Doesn’t it feel great, being humiliated in front of the disciples who once admired you?” hissed someone else, laughing disdainfully. Though this last snippet had been accompanied by a gesture towards a group of Lan sect’s outer disciples looking at them wide-eyed and shifting uncomfortably, unsure of where to rest their gazes.
Oh…
Wei Ying pursued his lips tensely.
Stupid bastards! Wei Ying stifled a furious howl. Harassing innocent juniors like this to witness something so… Was! It was— A new level of atrocious behavior!
You can think of yourself as the best omega out there, just because you have the direct protection of the entire Lan family behind you, you little whore”, Jin Zixun laughed loudly. “Well, you asked for it yourself. Today, we’ll give you something better. Something you always were created to take and will remind you of your place.”
“Stop this! Don’t come any closer to me!”, Wei Ying snarled, baring his omega fangs at the group of ten or so disciples surrounding him against the old willow tree.
Su Minshan and two other alphas laughed at him.
**Content Warning: This is where the s*xual assault unpleasantness begins. Please, proceed with caution, or if you like, come back when the **in bolds have disappeared**
***
“Look at him. Aww, you’re so cute, Wei Ying. I think we kind of understand why the Lans love you. But, who are you trying to impress or threaten with that? Hm?” said the alpha named Cang Fei, smiling sickly. The alphas closed in on Wei Ying more, leaving him nowhere else to go, crowding him with his back pressed against the willow trunk.
A firm hand gripped his ponytail tightly, tugging at it, interrupting Wei Ying’s thoughts. A cry of pain erupted from the omega’s lips, making him feel the stabs of pain and discomfort all over his scalp. His immediate instinct was to turn his head and snap his teeth at the hand, to pull it away from his hair. But another pair of hands was quick, pinning his head painfully in an awkward position that made his neck muscles sore and tense, while preventing him from moving them freely…
“Quick, put him down”, he heard someone bark, as an order.
‘Stupid bastards’.
Wei Ying barely had a second to think about this as, from one moment to the next, he felt another heavy blow aimed at his stomach, which forced once again, the air out of his lungs. Wei Ying gasped, without much force or air so that it could be turned into a shriek. It was more like a tiny, airless gasp. And the omega’s sensitive skin found itself being pressed once again against the cold, hard ground.
“Tie him up by the hands. Quickly. That bastard might try to struggle to break free”, the same voice from before continued barking orders.
Two ugly other alpha’s faces, blurred out, swam in Wei Ying’s line of vision, appearing in front of his face. Wide and terrifying smiles plastered on their lips, they held him firmly. Wei Ying growled and tried to remove his body furiously, just as the other alpha — who seemed to be the group leader — had predicted. And then, he was immediately punched across the face. Pain exploded, raging hot on Wei Ying’s left side of his face, causing his vision to go black for a wild second. It radiated rapidly, throbbing in his neck and temples. He felt what might have been drops of blood coming out of his nose, hot and iron scented. Wei Ying blinked, disoriented and dazed as he felt his wrists be tightly gripped and pinned above his head, while his arms protested from the strain and from being bound.
“L-Let me… Let me go! Stop!” Wei Ying could very barely muster enough strength to mumbles as he felt a cloth strong as an iron link restrain his wrists together. Wei Ying tried to remove them. His range of motion had been terrifyingly reduced to only a tiny space between his restraints and his skin. It wasn’t enough to cut off his circulation, but it was enough to squeeze him so that he couldn’t move. This easily had about five dead knots or so to secure him. The omega could already feel his skin turning red and white around the fabric, becoming chafed and sore. The same firm hand from before pinned him down like this. Two other people held him tightly by the torso (some damn bruises would form in no time in that area ), while a third person pressed themselves between Wei Ying’s legs. This was a threatening and scary position for the omega.
“Tch. Open his robes and pull down his trousers. Let’s see what he’s got down there between his legs — Will it be a cute little pussy or a cocklet?” he heard a disgusting voice chuckle, a little breathless from exertion, right around Wei Ying’s elbows were suspended in the air.
“Hehe. I think it’s a tight, pink pussy”, snorted one of the nameless alphas, as the other made a noise of agreement at his comment. “After all, look what a pretty little thing he is. Lethal and inappropriate, but pretty and ready to be bred. He could easily be mistaken for a girl”. The comment was remarked by greasy, ugly fingers running through Wei Ying’s short locks of hair that framed his face and tracing the intact side of his neck with their fingertips.
His skin prickled at those words alone, hackles rising, and the omega bared his teeth at the alpha. Then, he stirred strongly, flailing wildly, trying to bite the alpha’s head off or shift away from the contact. But firm hands stayed in place, gripping him tightly there, digging nails and fingers in his flesh, painfully. It was frustrating.
The three Lan juniors being mostly betas (or alphas not yet fully developed) shifted uncomfortably.
“I—I think it’s enough, young master Jin”, one interjected (Who Wei Ying thought he remembered as Guo Cangye, a very calm, quiet, studious boy, despite being very tall for his age). “That’s been enough of a scaring tactic”, he added, fidgeting with his hands as he eyed the precarious state in which Wei Ying ws.
“No… No, we’re far from being finished right now”, Jin Zixun shook his head. And his eyes twinkled under the moon’s glow with something dark and dangerously entertained.
“Leave right now if you’re going to interfere. Or we’ll force you to leave the fuck off” Su Minshan growled (though, to Wei Ying’s delight, his little “alpha milky teeth were still more pathetic- infantile looking than intimidating as the alpha himself thought they were. Seriously, were many omegas and betas so easily cowed by a trashy, useless waste of alpha scum like him!? Oh, also that awful bastard, was in the lake with him barely more than a year and three months ago!? Spineless, sore loser).
As it had been expected, that seemed to be enough to make the “valiant” efforts of these poor junior betas cease in their opposition to the harassment.
Yet, Wei Ying couldn’t find a single fiber in his body to be really upset with them. They were still children, after all. It was understandable that they couldn’t do too much in this situation. Let alone, having sect Shixiongs — external to the Lan Clan and sect, besides— so shitty but seemingly stronger than them, on the verge of virile ferality and with immense hunger fostered more by days of going without food and with very pent-up sexual frustration and anger.
(Ugh, they stank horribly, for real).
But the young omega boy still couldn’t suppress the anger and disappointment he felt as his perpetrators and himself for being so stupid. So innocent. And for being off guard.
Absent-mindedly — and in the midst of his still anger and fear-addled brain, — Wei Ying thought of a certain large, broad back dressed in Lan Clan elder’s robes . He thought of a forehead ribbon with the billowing clouds— the insignia of the Lan family— embroidered on the white cloth. He thought of obsidian black hair, long and silky, flowing elegantly amidst the mountain breeze, and of pale golden eyes, like two pools of molten gold.
‘ If he were here, he wouldn’t let any of this be happening’, Wei Ying’s hindbrain supplied him, weakly.
If he were here, he wouldn’t let them lay a single hand on Wei Ying.
And if he were here, he would have already punished these guys until their fucking deaths and until they were nothing but sacks of bones and a tangled bush of white hair.
“I wish it was a really cute, pink pussy. That way, maybe the two of us can fill both of his holes at the same time”, Wei Ying heard someone else grunt teasingly, sounding as if they were underwater, distant and muffled. Then, the disgusting and ugly mug of another smiling bastard appeared near him.
Wei Ying felt fucking disgusted at the thought of these alphas coming from prominent cultivator families. Dishonor to their parents, who had raised them to be obscene, classist and undignified bastards.
Realizing how he had slowly gained finally some breath back and a little bit of strength to stop his head from spinning and his vision from swimming, he gritted his teeth. Wei Ying tried to fight back, kicking his legs, trying to wiggle the dudes off from himself. But they doubled him in size, outnumbering him and his heat was a big setback here.
It was already too late for him to diminish his heat’s effects. Once it began, Wei Ying’s heat cycle moved fast.
And honestly, he wanted to beat his own self to a pulp for having been too careless about this sensitive subject!!!
Then, he felt large, lecherous hands tugging his trousers down and grabbing him by the robes. Wei Ying hissed, stirring as he tried to kick anything he could make his feet connect with in any close range. But those hands were strong, determined and nimble, tugging at his garments and untying his sash. A fragment of a second later, his outer and inner robes had been ripped open, leaving the cold breeze to hit his chest fully. His nipples hardened at the sharp and sudden change in temperature.
“Stupid bastards, stop it! Stop!!— I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, FUCK!” Wei Ying heard himself scream furiously above the sound of obscene laughters, crass sneers, and his own heart pounding like a scared rabbit in his ears. He could see those hideous faces closing the circle around him more, slightly distorted as they moved in slow motion. He heard himself growling and hissing at the sounds of garments being ripped open.
His nether regions also felt cold right now, hit directly by the night breeze outside. But worst of all was the fact that his wrists were still bound and someone was holding them firmly over his head, while two more people held him by the waist. The individual between Wei Ying’s legs immobilized the omega firmly by the ankles. Wei Ying could not lower his hands to cover his own private regions with his garments and wide sleeves, nor could he close his legs to regain some human decency and dignity. He felt exposed, humiliated and utterly vulnerable. Like a tiny, exotic bug, pinned inside an observation glass case, scrutinized by curious prying eyes, ready to be put at test to some of nonhuman research object.
No, but it was actually worse than that: He was already ready to be pinched, torn apart piece by piece and be punctured back whole for these barbarian’s enjoyment.
“Ah, man. It’s a dick”, Obscene Alpha Number One growled, disappointment tinging his voice.
“Don’t worry. All omegas are sluts and have holes that self-lubricate. He’s an omega, so he needs his dripping, wet ‘Boycunt’ filled too”, Jin Zixun’s Cheap Lew Imitation hissed.
Wei Ying honestly felt like throwing up from utter disgust and anger churning in his guts.
‘Oh, these bastard’s audacity to talk about me like that!’
(And it was always the mediocre alphas with over-inflated egos that went around bullying the poor omegas like this, while they couldn’t excel with excellence in other skills such as cultivation, sword fighting, or having fucking outstanding strategy and tactic brains. God, how embarrassing. What a bore. One wouldn’t see powerful, commendable, refined alphas needing to demonstrate their prowess so poorly like this. Stooping so low into these clowns’ levels. Hah).
Scalding, unfamiliar hands ran down Wei Ying’s exposed torso. Someone bit down hard on his neck and then kissed the tender spot there. It will definitely leave a horrible mark later. Uff. Besides. What were they doing? Were they trying to maul him alive like this? What were they? Fucking dogs?
Wei Ying growled, still unable to turn his neck and bite the head off from the guy who had thought it would be a brilliant idea to grab the omega’s milky, unmarked thighs. Wei Ying could only hiss, wanting to rip this bastard’s throat apart. Through his burning, aching body, the unbearable fever and his dizzy state, Wei Ying couldn’t muster enough strength to fight back. He was so damn weakened and exhausted that he couldn’t even move his arms completely to get one of the guys over his body off him. Nor be able to try to bite the fabric restraining his wrists, which still were bound tightly and already getting burning marks on tender skin.
He couldn’t violently stir and resist to free himself. Fuck.
Shit.
Damn.
How much easier would it have been if he wasn’t under this stupid heat cycle’s influence? If he didn’t have anything of this happening to him right now. Did he have to just lie down like this and take it?
A retch and a full-body shiver filled with panic cemented his decision right then and there.
‘Hell, no! I can’t let them do that!’
But then again, if only he could just get them off of his hair, free himself from the restraints and pull out some of his extra talisman-making papers, which he still had up his sleeve —
‘Stupid OMEGA USELESS, WEAKENED BODY!!!’
When foul, foreign lips traced a line over his abdomen and down into his sensitive regions, so dangerously close to sacred and precious territory, Wei Ying’s skin crawled with goosebumps in alarm and a knot formed in his stomach.
“Let me go! No! Let me go! Fire!!! Somebody!!! Help— Help me!” Wei Ying tried to call out, violently shaking his body in his restraints and between hands grabbing him while still kicking his legs vehemently, but to no avail. He might have been able to connect his left foot directly with the face of one of the other alphas. But he couldn’t have the same success in kicking the second alpha’s jade pillar, who was dangerously close to Wei Ying’s most precious parts. No, because more powerful hands ( Stronger than his weak, feverish body) had come to immobilize him, turning this fight into one against a giant net of impenetrable steel wrapping around his entire body.
Wei Ying grunted in response.
“Haha, try to keep asking for help! No one will come! At best, they’ll join us” Jin Zixun boasted on top of him. “Now, be a good bitch to us and let us teach you a lesson”, he said, with his face being so disgustingly close to Wei Ying’s. The omega still had his mind clouded by fever and found himself teetering so close to the verge of delirium. He couldn’t see well clearly, just blurry. When saliva-filled lips (Yiack) pushed against his mouth, forcing it open and assaulting him, making him choke slightly. They flooded all of his senses with a horrible, putrid stench: grease, rotting fish and vinegar.
Wei Ying grew lightheaded, breathless. Honestly, he had the urge to puke on the bastard’s mouth because of how horribly said mug face was kissing him ( he was pretty sure it must be that Shitty Jin cousin), too close to his face. So much that his features were blurred and out of focus. But instead, the young man held his gag-reflex in place. And taking the assailant by surprise, Wei Ying bit the alpha’s lower lip. Hard.
“Shit, you stupid omega wench, did you just bite me?! Lowest Scum!!” Wei Ying heard Jin Zixun’s grotesque voice growl, while he was still TOO CLOSE TO HIS FACE!
Wei Ying coughed violently, not bothered (for the first time) by the fact that he didn’t have his hands available to cover his mouth. Great, the more germs from his mouth that landed on any unfortunate person near the omega, the better for him, honestly. “Yes, I’ll be happy to chomp off your important body parts too if you dare to bring your fucking lips near me again!” The omega growled, his bawdy, pink little tongue flashing out as he licked his lips, tasting the iron of the blood on them.
‘Slap’.
The sound reverberated loudly through the whole place as Wei Ying’s face was forcefully moved to the side. And immediately then, a sharp, hot pain radiated through his left cheek, that had not yet been recently hit until that very moment. Blinking, shocked and full of confusion while seeing everything red suddenly, he turned to look at Jin Zixun eerily calm and with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.
“... Did you just kiss me and then slap me?” The omega asked, a sudden darkness in his tone. The skin burned around his belly as he grit his teeth together loudly and felt his nostrils ablaze with rage.
(He was going to kill the fucking alpha. Fuck. Eww. But first, maybe he did it after having rinsed his mouth and teeth with bleach. Fucking ewww. This, by itself, was more than enough material for an entire year worthy of nightmares!!!)
“You’re a poor, pathetic excuse for an omega wench, and no alpha would ever want you if it wasn’t for this stupid mating season. I was simply giving you a favor and putting yourself in your place, since nobody else would’ve wanted to do it. Like this, you won’t be missing out on anything”.
“Well, now thanks to you I’ll have to rinse my mouth with bleach eternally! So disgusting! Don’t ever fucking touch me again! Stay away!” Wei Ying growled, showing his teeth — specifically at Su Minshan, to whom was directed that last part. The bastard had also closed in so dangerously to the young boy at that same moment.
“Really, how disapproving. Who do you think you are? Hm? What makes you think you’re so good and perfect for the Lans, so even the great Zewu-jun protects your little ass so much and the know it all, stuck up Old Man Lan grants you so much favor?”
A pause. Then, as he wiped the last drops of blood from his lips, the alpha Jin continued. “Quickly, get him boys. He’s all bark and no bite. Haha, he can’t even give a straight punch in that state. He’ll keep yapping and yelling all about anything at this rate, BITCH BEHAVIOR FOR REAL !” Jin Zixun barked another order.
Wei Ying tossed and stirred violently when he felt a piece of cloth being forced over his mouth, making him open it and bite. The cotton flavor and something sweaty like flooded his tongue. Then, he was incapable of saying a single word, while his sounds and growls were completely muffled by the fabric.
“Now, stay quiet, behave and let us enjoy the little show we have prepared just for you, kay?” Jin Zixun smirked at him, still crouched in front of Wei Ying’s figure, patting the omega’s shoulder.
Wei Ying wanted to growl obscenities and whatnot and send that fucking dude flying so high up and into the stratosphere with a kick to his jade pillar. But something in that voice made a shiver travel through him, rendering him speechless, making the omega’s words —or rather sounds— hitch in his throat. His muscles locked in place, lax and unresponsive, leaving him completely still. That voice had been graver, different, floating all over the young omega boy’s system, from head to toes. Rendering his limbs and senses numb, sluggish. Forcing his muscles to stay reluctantly still. Damn Jin Bastard!!! He had used his alpha commanding voice on Wei Ying!!!
And this STUPID OMEGA BODY IN HEAT OF WEI YING’S felt without enough energy to resist it!!!
Wei Ying’s eyes filled with unshed tears as his throat stung. He hated the humiliation, the helplessness all this brought him. The — the complete loss of control over his own body those bastards were forcing over him. The — lack of autonomy these alpha’s voices would bring to anyone who was too susceptible to them.
It was certain: Wei Ying feared for himself in large quantities. But he decided that his best bet right now was to not allow these bastards the satisfaction of sensing his pain or horror. Not while one of them took a nipple on their mouth and sucked the dark nub, hard and rough, teeth following it, scraping at the sensitive, irritated skin. It hurt like a FUCKING MOTHER, DAMN!! OWW!! What was this guy doing? Trying to bite Wei Ying’s nipple off?! These brutes would kill him, would leave Wei Ying’s body here in the middle of the cold and the wet grass, letting him bleed out till death for how horribly and so unskilled they were as mating partners.
The other bastards had at first seemed unsure of what to do. But now, at this point, they found themselves kneeling each on the side of Wei Ying’s spread legs, holding him firmly by the thighs as they parted them, forcing Wei Ying to open his legs wider.
He wished he could scream his lungs off as he kicked their jade pillars until they went infertile and ripped his heads off.
They put their hands there, between the exposed, milky thighs, groping and feeling his tender skin. Wei Ying sensed the nasty, foreign fingers there, leaving hand and finger-shaped bruises on their wake. He tried not to grunt, scream or let his spiked spicy tangerine and black tea scent leave his body in a dense swirl of pheromones.
(God, he wouldn’t know what to do if the nefarious fools interpreted this scent as arousal and as a green flag to do more!)
To be assaulted in this way, by a group of alphas who outnumbered you and were biologically stronger enough to hold the upper hand here, was an indescribable terror. Especially when your body was in such a degree of underperformance and it was difficult to scream about it or fight off constantly against your perpetrators. It was wrong, threatening… Scary. Wei Ying had never even thought that something like this could happen to him in his real life. But here he was. It was happening to him, right now.
Lips on his neck made him shiver. He shut his eyes tightly, as his chest sunk in panic.
He was completely helpless, reduced to nothing more than a trembling mess of anger, fear, despair, frustration and humiliation! Being unable to resist and retaliate!! Forced to be on a silver platter so this awful alphas could have their way with him!!!
Countless times, Wei Ying had thought, when asked about the subject — by well-meaning disciples curious about other secondary genders to their own— if omegas, like the newly presented Wei Ying himself, had a specific way to respond hypothetically if some attacker (s) tried to do this sort of stuff with him and how would he deal with it. The mega had laughed and bragged about himself; of how brilliant and strong he was and how he wouldn’t let that happen easily to himself. That he wouldn’t be as terrified as other omegas to whom such a nightmare it had been. He had said that he would be sure to give the bastard(s) a piece of his own mind, alone with a black eye and knocked out teeth.
But here, right now, in the nick of time, helpless, and weakened by his heat, he couldn’t think of anything. Nothing at all to counter any of this. Not when he’d never had an experience like this before in his entire seventeen — almost eighteen years of life (let alone at a time as bad as this). It was — terribly frustrating to feel powerless and defenseless. Especially when these scumbags had used something as a FUCKING ALPHA VOICE COMMAND on him to immobilize him!!
Shit.
Damn.
Fucking hell.
Wei Ying hated this. Being rendered helpless, unable to fight for himself and being reduced to only his biology, ruled by it. It was — it was —
‘Fight back’, a deep voice, different from before, rang out a moment, cutting through his spiral of incapacitating terror.
Bewildered and confused, he looked around himself at the same time as the guys moved over his body. Jin Zixun was breathing dangerously close to his neck— where the omega’s scenting and mating glands were . Someone else ran their fingers through the omega’s hair and shoulders in a suggestive fashion. Had it been a hallucination? Apparently, none fo the alphas around him had uttered a single word.
‘You’re allowed to fight. Fight them tooth and nail. I’m coming for you’.
This time, the voice echoed more clearly inside the omega’s head. All the way up into Wei Ying’s core. Vibrating through every single of his nerve endings. And something happened: Wei Ying stirred; he could move. Fluttered his fingers, feeling them return to themselves, no longer rigid or numbed. He could feel his force returning to him slowly, steadily back to his organism. It was enough to shove Jin Zixun away from his body.
“You’re a FUCKING BASTARD! You’re still inclined to fight!?? I told you so—!!” Jin Zixun was in the middle of a furious tirade, but suddenly, he couldn’t finish. For, at that moment, he had disappeared, being thrown ten fucking feet into the air, flying off and slamming himself hard into another tree trunk.
The Jin’s companions had stopped in the middle of their activities, still hovering over Wei Ying’s body, at the commotion.
“Hey, Zixun?” Su Minshan called out to the other alpha. “Stop playing around. Let’s continue”.
Wei Ying blinked, still completely confused and somewhat lethargic from his fuzzy mind. Partly, he was unable to understand what had just happened. But then again, a new adrenaline spike flooded his system, forcing him to seize this opportunity when the alphas were all caught off guard.
‘Run, you gotta move! Now it’s when!’ a small part of Wei Ying’s mind screamed at him.
He shook again with force, throwing his head back against the forehead of another alpha, who had been pinning the omega by the collar and immobilizing his head in place by the sides. They released their grip on Wei Ying out of surprise and the pang that got through their face and nose. There was a sound of someone groaning in pain. Another deaf thud of someone hitting the ground.
It was still shocking and incomprehensible to have seen how one of their own had been lifted ten feet off the ground as if they weighed nothing more than paper and how they had been thrown forcefully against a tree trunk.
Wei Ying released his neck, spitting the cloth from his mouth and biting the fingers off from another alpha who was very close to him in proximity. Deep scarlet red blood gushed by heaps off the affected area as the appenages flew somewhere else, getting lost within the foliage. The disciple let out a cry of pain, which met with another’s muffled grunt as the omega kicked backwards hard, connecting his foot with the other alpha’s exposed crotch.
Then, in a slow movement too blurry to be identifiable, a large, burly shadow, covered in black garments came swiftly, lunging themselves at and tackling to the ground another alpha who had been marking Wei Ying’s thighs with their hands and lips. The omega barely had a tiny fraction of a second to duck, scuttling away as far as possible with his weakened body and still bound wrists, that strength borrowed by him gradually beginning to become scarce again in his body. He finally had some space for himself. Then, began trying to bite off the fabric from his chapped wrists, tugging and ripping and mauling and pulling…
The disciple hit the ground hard, being winded and pinned by the stout figure above him.
There was a feral, animalistic growl that made the hairs on Wei Ying’s nape stand on end and goosebumps rise on his skin, as the growl cut sharply through his ribs, shaking the omega to the core, and echoing in his ears. Wei Ying went completely still as a statue, teeth still full of impenetrable cloth, numb and weakened hands midair and blood roaring in his ears.
‘How dare you touch what is mine!’ it was as if the creature (or the stranger, truth be told it was hard to see clearly through his mud-addled brain what or who they were) said, growling fiercely. Wei Ying strangely could hear it clearly inside his mind.
And suddenly, a realization came crashing on him. It was that voice. The voice that had given him permission to fight. It had lifted Jin Zixun’s previous alpha voice command and had given Wei Ying back (somehow) control over his own body and strength. The owner of that voice had released Wei Ying’s body and now… Were they defending him from his assailants?
Wei Ying’s mind was still a mushy, tangled mess. It was heavy and thick like honey. Hazy. It was hard to distinguish up from down, near from far in this state. Everything around him was moving in slow motion, distorted and in double lenses. Moreover, Wei Ying also felt as if he was going to faint there in place, right now, at any moment.
Still, somewhat shocked amidst alphas fighting each other and the night’s sudden deafening silence, Wei Ying found himself unable to escape, for a moment. His body had momentarily gone limp now that he had completed the newcomer’s order. But through it all, he couldn’t help but wonder: Was the alpha indeed Wei Ying’s savior? A Good Samaritan that had been in the passing, had heard the commotion, had seen Wei Ying’s struggle and had decided to help? It would have to be it? Because, even though Wei Ying had been terrified and frustrated to every cell of his body moments ago, he had found himself begging for someone, anybody, to help him. And he had even been thinking about that older Lan cultivator again. A ghost, really. A mere memory of something he used to have.
Had the heavens above just felt magnanimous enough to grant his wish? The omega could only hope so.
‘Get out of here! I won’t have the means nor the strength to stop, even if you say so!!!’ that special voice pressed, echoing deep within Wei Ying’s core, who knew somehow for sure, those words went for him. It was a warning, most assuredly. They were thinking of doing Wei Ying unthinkable and awful things too…
***
Maybe, the newcomer wasn’t really an ally, then? But why were they bothering to tell Wei Ying to leave immediately if not?
That had also made the young omega boy jump out of his little daze.
Right — he had to run out of here. Right now.
Wei Ying bit his lower lip hard and tried to free himself from the restraints more energetically. However, the cloth did not give way easily, sinking painfully deeper into his red, chafed flesh. Damn, had his performance fallen that much with this fucking heat? His record time from earlier days would have allowed him to wriggle out of this kind of restrain in less than five minutes.
Gnashing his teeth in frustration, he was forced to make the decision of walking away with his wrists still immobilized (Later, he could find something along the way to cut through the cloth and get it loose, finally freeing his hands). He felt his body heavy and on the verge of collapsing if he dared to take even one more step. But Wei Ying knew he had to run. Fast. Or it would be the end of him. He simply couldn’t stand here, watching.
Sending up a silent prayer to the heavens above to let him meet his safe haven that could keep him safe for the rest of the night from any horrible alpha, Wei Ying struggled to his feet.
The calm and quiet atmosphere of the night had suddenly filled with guttural savage grunts, roars and pathetic yowls of pain.
It was also accompanied with the sound of flesh being slashed.
The omega backed away very slowly, taking care not to make a single sound as he retreated, going back the way where he had come from. As he did so, Wei Ying had cursed and groaned in anger and pain. There was a short moment in which only a particular growl sounded, savage. Deep. Animalistic. The young omega’s heat momentarily felt a terrible tremor, going painfully fast like that of a prey animal.
The air filled with the fierce blood scent laced with urine and petrichor. The previous calm, almost non-existent night wisp suddenly began to blow furiously, turning in an agitated wind, making the tree branches sway violently above their heads.
Wei Ying felt cold , despite it being the middle of the summer.
Then, the wind subsided and a moment of silence fell over them. It was the calm of an abandoned tomb that mimicked the stillness of the unvisited dead. An electrifying atmosphere before a lighting storm. And then, amongst all those scents, another distinguishable one appeared: sweet molasses that at first had been faint. But which quickly grew, becoming something agitated and furious, like sulfurous fire, growing in intensity by heaps and bounds. It was immediately like one breathed in smoke from a wildfire spiraled out of control; a dark cloud laden with carbon dioxide and other carbon nitrogens burning and irritating the nose, lung and throats of anybody standing too close, enough to breathe it in directly. A scent that would leave someone paralyzed, with their blood turning to ice in their veins, every hair standing up on end in their body as they feared imminent death.
In all his seventeen years of life (almost eighteen) — and having heard many horror stories about feral alphas going completely insane, Wei Ying had never thought he would ever be able to experience, firsthand, the scent of bloodlust.
An absolute, paralyzing dead grabbed him by the throat, choking him while it cursed through his whole organism. It made the omega want to crawl out of his feverish, clammy skin, tuck it under his arm, turn around and run fast. Hide in the face of this imminent threat, of this unknown presence. Go where no one else would find him, finally getting into safety. Besides, he realized just now, that there were no more screams or painful whimpers. No longer did he keep hearing alphas smashing into each other over the juicy piece of meat that Wei Ying seemed to be for their feral, rut-addled brains. No. There were only guttural, crazed grunts. And jerky, ominous movements. Repetitive. Vicious. Wei Ying couldn’t quite categorize them. But if he could think of the first thing that came to his mind listening to these sounds it was as if someone was pounding hard a coconut against a stone, over and over and over again, due to severe parchment and starvation.
Tas.
Crack.
Crack.
Splash.
That last one sounded like a big bag full of liquid exploding and splashing it’s contents everywhere.
The thunderous cracks and splashes reverberated loudly enough to make one feel nauseous and want to cover their ears in frustration.
Wei Ying couldn’t help but turn slowly to look over his shoulder, feeling the torn and sore muscles from his neck still scream. With a symphony of pops and clicks, he managed to look very barely into the darkness and slightly noticed what was transpiring at that exact moment. The omega, still feeling on the edge and scared, feared for his safety, for his life at the sight of what he almost instantly regretted seeing:
All the bastards, who had previously tried to assault him earlier, laid prone on the ground, traces of blood dripping everywhere over their bodies. There were holes, cracks or parts of their bodies unrecognizable right now, crushed horribly and shapeless, like minced human flesh. The burly shadow had their back facing at Wei Ying. The stranger was over what appeared to be Jin Zixun’s figure (who laid motionless on the ground) , straddling it — but there was a large boulder blocking the omega’s view to where Jin's head, neck and shoulders should be located. So, Wei Ying could only guess. The stranger was growling, snarling and impacting something against the other alpha.
Wei Ying suppressed a shocked shudder. The whole image was a disturbing thing to witness…
And for Wei Ying, a Lan Sect disciple, who was still under training, frankly, it was still somewhat unsettling, making it difficult for him to look away from such a shocking scene as this, as if he was watching an ox cart collision in the middle of the road. A very gore-y and disturbing one, apparently.
No. He was not a wimp when it came to confront scenes this terrifying or grotesque. But he wasn’t completely immune either to them, yet, Something else stirred ever so slightly in his guts. He let out a gasp and then tried to convince himself to keep running.
But then the image became even more terrible the moment the huge, bulky newcomer’s shadow (who didn’t harbor good intentions towards Wei Ying, then) picked up another rock and impacted it heavily on the supposedly deceased Jin’s face.
BAAAM!
The crack and thud were horrible, making his ears ache and his guts shrink with the impression.
Wei Ying began to slowly backtrack without realizing it. But he hadn’t noticed the small slope which hsi feet had slowly lead him towards, backwards. He had lost his balance, stumbling. The fall’s impact was jarring, making fallen leaves and branches rustle and crack. It was practically screaming at this newcomer, ‘Here, I’m still here!’
Good job, Wei Ying. Stupid, useless, he gritted his teeth, berating himself internally.
And indeed the stranger had raised their head immediately, stopping what they were doing, at the sounds and then turning around.
Crap.
Just one tiny twist of their neck and Wei Ying saw, through blurred vision, a piercing, pit-dark blackened gaze like two twin bottomless ravines — pupils almost completely covering the whole orbs— fixing right over the omega’s body. Pinning the youth in place for a moment, just with their eyes alone. The force with which those orbs transfixed over him left Wei Ying breathless, completely unable to move from his spot, blood draining from his body. He couldn’t even turn his neck to break eye contact either. It was all overpowering, overwhelming. Wei Ying regained that feeling of a prey animal at the verge of being devoured by something as enormous as this feral alpha again. Rendered completely helpless, speechless and a frozen mess.
The stranger moved, in a very millimetric, slow and exact fashion that had Wei Ying’s breath hitching on his throat, making him stand still as a jade statue. They straightened their spine, standing at their full height, so they could also have their whole-body facing Wei Ying. They snorted slowly. And Wei Ying felt as if the alpha was checking out every part of Wei Ying (Even his soul) from head to toe, with utter, laser-precision attention.
Large, gleaming teeth glistened in his mouth under the natural night light — although Wei Ying was still several steps away from the alpha and he couldn’t make out a lot about the fangs — neither great part of the stranger, in fact—, because the light was still so dim, almost obscure and blinding, he could know by the was that they shone, that those were prominent alpha fangs.
‘Run, little lamb. If I catch you, I’ll knot-break you’ reverberated the voice from before — graver, urgent, wild.
Terror, immobility and that bloodlust’s smell vanished from Wei Ying’s senses and main attention. The omega immediately darted back the way he had come from, seizing the unusual chance. He had to get out of here, STAT.
He didn’t bother to look back again. He ignored the dull ache in his right ankle, tunned it down by the adrenaline pulsing through his organism to keep him moving, making Wei Ying stronger; helping him regain some of the dexterity in his shaky legs that he had lost before. He sprang, dashing furiously without a care for anything in the world, except to self-preserve himself. To get to his safe haven. He ran so fast, powering up as terror returned to him, making the omega feel again a small animal being chased by a strong, powerful predator.
A true alpha, like he had never seen before…
(But in Wei Ying’s state, he had missed the flawless, smooth-jade white skin details. Or the sandalwood and pine scent slightly and slowly gushing forwards in the atmosphere, making the incensed molasses disappear. Light, fresh, and relaxing. He had missed the stranger’s momentary recognition and a hint of sanity in those dark eyes that had turned suddenly golden).