Chapter 13
The storm
There was a violent storm in the mountains lightning and thunder And rain pouring down on the search party That cave that sa.e very cave a shelter from the tempst outside no one could leave while the storm rage on At a same simultaneously in the other dimension a storm raged
The Kiso Mountains, usually a sanctuary of serene beauty, were now a cauldron of fury. The sky, a bruised and angry purple, unleashed its wrath. Lightning, jagged and violent, ripped through the heavens, followed by thunder that rattled the very bones of the earth. Rain, a relentless torrent, hammered down, turning the mountain trails into treacherous streams.
A search party, their faces etched with grim determination, huddled beneath an overhang. The storm had caught them unawares, a brutal interruption to their desperate quest. The cave, the very place Li had vanished into, now offered a meager shelter from the tempest’s onslaught. No one dared venture out, trapped by the raw power of nature, their hopes for finding Li dwindling with each deafening clap of thunder.
Miles below, in the village nestled amidst the rice paddies and cherry blossoms, a different kind of storm brewed. The air, once soft with the scent of blossoms, was now heavy with an unsettling stillness. The same violent sky that raged in the mountains mirrored itself in the hearts of the villagers. A simultaneous tempest, not of wind and rain, but of fear and foreboding, swept through their homes. Sun-jin, cradling her newborn son, felt the shift in the atmosphere as acutely as any physical tremor. The universe, it seemed, was holding its breath, caught between two worlds, two storms, two desperate longings.