Paper Dreams: Four Hundred Years in the Study

[Cringe-worthy early work. Don't read! The author's humble beginnings!]

I guarded the Book Pavilion for four hundred years, waiting for someone who never returned.

Only after my savior left did I realize he was the young man I'd missed in my previous life.

I entered the books with Yun Mo and the others to seek souls, enduring life and death. Only when I looked back did I understand that the young man had been silently by my side for all four hundred years.

The young man removed his “mask,” revealing his true form as the King of the Underworld.

“I ferry your departed soul, and my own lovesick heart as well.”

I became his consort. Enamored with the mortal world, I would now wager with him for a night of lanterns that would never end, somewhere between the River of Forgetfulness and the world of mortals.