Chapter 2 The Prodigal Hero

The scent of charred bamboo coiled through the wind like the hiss of a dying dragon. Smoke spiraled into the heavens, mourning the lives not yet lost. Li Mei's hands trembled as she heaved the heavy branch from Zhou Wen's battered body, her breath catching in her throat with every grunt of effort.

He groaned barely conscious, blood painting his robes like cruel brushstrokes across snow-white silk. The arrows had missed, but the gash across his chest was deep, too deep for a man to stand again unassisted.

"You're not dying on me," she whispered through gritted teeth, her voice trembling like a reed caught in a storm. "I didn't come all this way for you to bleed out under a damn tree."

That's not happening but what can I do, the damn book that brought me here didn't gave me any menu.

She didn't understand how she could feel this much this protective toward a man whose name she'd only learned moments ago. But the scroll had brought her to him. That had to mean something.

The roar of hooves thundered through the forest like the wrath of an angry god. The soldiers were coming. She could hear them barking orders in a language she somehow understood old Chinese, formal and sharp like polished jade. They were close.

"No time," she muttered, looping her arm beneath his shoulders. "You're either going to walk or I'll drag your stubborn, beautiful ass."

"Beautiful...?" Zhou Wen croaked, one eyebrow twitching.

Li Mei startled. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes," he murmured, lips twitching into a ghost of a smirk before pain ripped through him again. "And I must be dying... because that almost made me want to live."

She cursed softly in English, hauling him up with strength she didn't know she possessed. Somewhere between the smoke and the blood, they stumbled into the hollow of a fallen tree. The hiding place was crude, but hidden. The enemy passed like shadows, shouting and snarling, unaware that the man they sought now lay inches from their swords.

The forest fell into silence again, broken only by the ragged pull of Zhou Wen's breath and the thunder of Li Mei's pulse.

He stared at her as if trying to unravel a puzzle only he could see.

"You're not from here," he said quietly.

"No." it's that obvious "

"You're not even from this time."

Li Mei stiffened.

Zhou Wen's eyes closed, and for a moment she feared he'd lost consciousness. But then his lips parted and he whispered:

"Then why do you feel so... familiar?"

Her heart skipped a beat. How I wish I can answer you this question she said in her mind.

She should've told him the truth about the scroll, about the future, about the fact she knew things she had no business knowing. About how his story ended. But the weight of destiny sat heavy on her chest, pressing her tongue into silence.

Instead, she busied herself tearing a strip from her robe to bind his wound, trying not to shake when her fingers brushed bare skin taut with muscle, warm with life, fragile with mortality.

"You saved me," he murmured. "No one's done that in a long time."

"Get used to it," she replied, but her voice wavered.

Because saving him once wouldn't be enough.

According to the novel she'd read-Zhou Wen would be dead within a fortnight.

Slain by betrayal.

Buried in dishonor.

But she was here now. And she wasn't going to let fate write the ending this time.

He fell asleep leaning against her shoulder, exhaustion claiming him. His breath was shallow. But alive.

Li Mei allowed herself a single exhale of relief until the scroll, tucked into her robes, burned like fire against her skin.

When she reached for it, the parchment had unfurled without her touch.

New characters had appeared characters that hadn't been there before.

And her name... was now inked into the corner of the story.

The future has begun to rewrite itself. Li Mei was never meant to be part of Zhou Wen's tale yet now, the scroll says she is. But every action she takes twists the threads of destiny further, and something ancient... something dark... is waking in the shadows to stop her from changing what should not be changed.

Li mei was confused and I have no idea the danger she has gotten into,

" I hope I won't die here" I haven't completed my studies yet and haven't even fallen in love yet " she was still talking to her self when.....