Black Feather Society

It was another day for Li Ning. A quiet and event less day, with no one to accompany her but the painting before her. 

She saw the man again... this time even clearer than before. His eyes... they were like red plum blossom in the winter snow... his pupil sparkle like a jewel. His sharp brows and pointy nose... His every thing.... With each movement of her wrist, she was adding more light to the art she was working on… Adding more life into the inanimate white sheet.

By the time she was done, she was lost in the eyes of her own art.... Lost in his eyes... Her wishes were for the person to miraculously come to live, out of the paper… and maybe… say a word to her… encourage her… Call out her name. 

But it was just a wish… One that would never come true. She knew that it could never happen. Cause the epitome of elegance and beauty she had painted, existed only in her dream. He, who came to tease her heart every night, only lived in her dreamland. Maybe it was the starting of her schizophrenia and delusional disorder.

Li Ning's life had been filled with misfortune even before her birth. Her scumbag father left her mother after getting her pregnant with her. At the young age of nine, she lost her mother to cancer. And recently, she lost her maternal grandfather who was her only family even after she tried her best to give him the best medical facilities that a college student like herself could.

She unwillingly went to her father, who had been absent from her life. To beg him to save her grandfather. But what she gave her was a check of 1 million. Saying that it was the best he could do for her.

She laughed at herself… She was so desperate for someone's care that she created a person in her mind. A man who appeared in her dreams. And the funny thing was that they man was an ancient man. Li Ning traced the art she had made, her fingers just hovering but not touching it. His hair silkier and longer than hers. Those eyes into which she got lost every time in her dream. Even now… She was getting lost in them.

And if not for the mocking laugh that came from behind her, she would have gotten lost in them for hours.

"Wow…. Would you look at that? Miss Li Ning is no desperate for a man that she sketched an ancient man to keep her company."

"Hahaha…." Came the laugh from the friends of the girl who just mocked Li Ning.

"Say. Li Ning. Does this man even exist?"

"…"

"Don't think so. If such handsome man really did exist, he'd have been all over the internet in this 5G world."

"Miss Li Ning is so desperate for a boyfriend that she had to make a charcoal painting of an ancient man to keep her company."

"Hahaha…."

"I'm curious though. Why an ancient man? Can't it be a modern man?"

"I have to say. Her timid nature could be more suitable for an ancient man instead of a modern one."

"But with her background, all she could be is a concubine."

"Pfffhhh…."

"That's so bad…."

"Hahaha….."

Li Ning did not reply to the sneer. She instead, started to pack up her things. Specially wrapping the canvas to take back home.

"Hey! Are you also deaf now?" Another girl asked. Not pleased with Li Ning's action of treating them as air.

"What do you expect? There's no one to teach her manners. Her father's unknown and her mother is long dead."

"…"

"…"

"…"

Not to mention, Li Ning. Even the two other friends of the girl were shocked at the blunt and unempathetic words of their friend. Li Ning paused for a second. She bit her lower lip, trying hard not to let stinging sensation of her eyes get to her and breakdown.

She paced up and quickly left quickly with her stuffs. It was only after her footsteps could no longer be heard any longer than the silence in the room broke.

"Hey! Xiao Yan. Don't you think that was a bit too much?" One of the girls accused the one who gave the unempathetic comment to Li Ning.

"Yeah! Talking about one's parents is too low." The other one also agreed to the accusation.

"You!... You guys were also doing the same. You also said those stuffs before. Why are you accusing me now?"

"Yeah! But we never said that in front of her. But did."

"I… It just slipped out okay!"

It took Li Ning more than a few minutes to reach her destination. Today, she did not return to her dormitory. It would be another round of mockery if she took her art back there. She took a long ride of two and half hours to get to her home.

"You're back…"

Her grandfather weak but warm voice filled with affections for her always used to welcome her whenever she returned home. Now. It was just a silent that welcomed her. The dusty living room that was eerie did not feel like her home anymore.

She took out the wine bottles she had bought on her way back. Not caring that she was sitting on a dusty couch, Li Ning took her seat and drown down the string wine. She had hoped that getting drunk would make her forget how miserable her life was. But the intoxication only made her dive deeper into her emotions, making her more and more aware of her sorrow and misery.

Whom to blame? Her father who did not even turn back after he left her mother pregnant with her? Maybe she should blame her mother for falling for a heartless scumbag. For being a fool to get herself pregnant. For leaving her in this miserable world while she escaped in the embrace of death.

Why didn't she just abort her? Why did she have to bring her to this world? To show her how dirty and unsympathetic the world of human is?

She did not need that. She was only with being when she was nothing but a lump of blood. At least she wouldn't have been living in this circle of misfortune if she had just…

The drunk Li Ning stood up and walked to the display rack and grabbed a lump of black that was about the size of a small melon. It was the treasured heirloom that had been passed down for generations, her grandfather said.

"What heirloom!" Sneered Li Ning.

It was a meteorite. Yes. But it was nothing special. Just a lump of metal and stone.

Angered, the girl threw the black thing down on the floor. Hard. It broke to multiple pieces. The sound of the meteorite breaking shocked Li Ning. Almost made her sober.

"Why did it break?"

She questioned to herself.

"Are meteorite supposed to be so fragile?"

She knelt down to look at the pieces. There were multiple small black pieces of random shape. But Li Ning's eyes was caught by a glint in the darkness. There, under the couch was a piece that seemed to be glowing in a weird black glint. It was something she had never seem before. She reached out for it and brought it up right before her eyes to observe it.

It was oddly, an even sphere. A perfect one. And so black that it seemed to be absorbing all the light into a void. Yet it was radiating a cold glint. As Li Ning carefully felt the black sphere which as big as a marble at most, she felt the uneven surface. There was weird inscription carved into the sphere.

Then suddenly, it happened.

The sphere suddenly released a blinding light. It was so bright that Li Ning had to shield away from it with her other free hand. And by the time the light was dimmed, there was no more sphere in her hand.

"Huh!!!... Where did it go?"

The drunk girl began to crouch down to search for the black marble. She looked at every hook and crook of the room, every corner and gap into which it could have rolled into. But it was to no avail. There was not even a sign of the sphere away where.

If it were not for the black piece on the floor, she would have thought that she was seeing things then. And that everything that happed was just an illusion or hallucination. Maybe it really was that.

A hallucination.

After all, she had too much alcohol in her blood.

The intoxication made it easily for Li Ning to get distracted. She dropped the issue without giving much thought into it, blaming the alcohol for all the weird thing she saw. She looked out the window and saw the light house, the hot spot of the town.

What Li Ning missed, was the sight of the coal lustrous marble being absorbed into her palm.

After about a fifteen minutes walk, Li Ning reached the usual spot she used to go with her grandfather. The cliff was the perfect spot for watching the raising and falling waves. And in a particularly bight moonlight night like tonight, it was an ethereal sight to see. The sound of the waves hitting the shore was like a music, a sweet yet bitter lullaby to her. It was both a nostalgic harbor…and a song of sorrow, reminding her that she could never have now, what she once had.

Her naive and lively self. That was shielded from the harshness of the real world. The love and care from her dear ones. The hope she had for her future. Everything had been deshelled from her… snatched away mercilessly… Leaving her on her own.

As she watched the waves which was becoming more and more turbulent as the sea level rose. The sound of the waves crashing on the cliffs woke Li Ning from her trance. She even felt a few sprinkle when a particularly huge wave hit the cliff. Deciding it was best for her to return, she stood up. Brushing off the little dust and grass that got on her behind.

"Let's go…" She cheered to herself.

She was about to take her step forward. But what she felt next was the sense of loosing balance. As though the surface she was stepping on disappeared. Li Ning lashed her hand around instinctively, wanting to get a hold of something. But all she saw was the vision of the top of cliff becoming more and more distant.

And within seconds, she felt it. The chilling and wetness that enveloped her as a whole. She was submerged into the sea. Li Ning tried her best to resurface above the water. But the current seemed to have red her mind. The feeling of herself getting pulled deeper and deeper into water something she had never felt before.

Her breath could not support her any longer… She felt her nose and lung burn as she breath in the water. But in the end… Her mind was either not working or overworking. Cause she saw her whole life and thought of nothing at the same time. Maybe that was wrong. Because there was one question in her mind.

'Is this it? Is this how I end my miserable life?'

She finally lost her consciousness… Falling deep into void slumber….