The Devil's Flute Contract

Over a thousand years ago, in a small town in country N.

One hundred and thirty children followed a young man playing the flute,

through fog-shrouded streets,

out through the city gates and into the forest, where they vanished.

People said

he was the pied piper who stole the children,

a villain who had made a pact with the devil.

He sacrificed the children to Satan

in exchange for favor and magic.

More than a thousand years later,

Bu Mei gets lost during a class trip to the South Mountain to enjoy the spring scenery.

Just as she doesn't know what to do, a lilting flute melody comes from a tree.

She looks up and sees a breathtakingly beautiful face among the branches.

The young man's lips curl into a smile, his eyes gleaming like stars.

He leaps from the tree and lands in a clearing,

as light as a butterfly, his clothes sewn together from countless scraps of colorful fabric.

He smiles at her.

"I'll lead you out. In return, you have to make a pact with me."

"Don't be afraid. I'll protect you."

His words stir something deep in her soul, as if someone had said the very same thing to her a long, long time ago.

Much later,

in the joy of having survived a calamity, she throws her arms around him,

only to find that it's like embracing the wind.

Beneath his robes, there is nothing.

2024.9

Theme: As long as you've finished writing it, it's the best it can be.