The journey to Greece had now lasted three weeks. The weather improved with each day they approached the warm south. Soon they had left the icy cold behind and could pursue some activities during the day outside on the deck. Which were mostly a few games that had been quickly "invented" by the crew of the Junk to keep the paying passengers happy.

While Youn, Ali and "Uncle" Rouhan were on deck playing chess, go or card games, Wei Ying and Lan Zhan had stayed below deck. They were putting together their traveling route, which they planned to take once they reached Greece. And the rest of the time, Lan Zhan tried to sleep. Because for the past few nights, Lan Zhan had not been able to sleep well.

Strange dreams plagued Lan Zhan. They were the same dreams over and over again, with the exception that in each subsequent dream he managed to get a little further.

His dreams always began the same way. He suddenly found himself on a long tree-lined light path that seemed to be made entirely of fine little gray stones. Neither in front of him nor behind him did he see anything other than this path and these trees. Everything looked the same. Above him in the cloudless sky shone the sun, which always remained in the same position.

For hours he walked along the path, incessantly searching for something, of which he had no idea what it should be, that he was trying to find. That it was a dream he knew because even after many hours of just walking straight ahead, he was never exhausted. Never felt hungry or thirsty. All he felt was this extraordinary inner pressure to find something. And without having found it, he woke up.

In his next dream, after what seemed like days, he reached a fork in the road. Two wooden arrows were attached to the paths. But there had been nothing to read on them. No words, no pictures. Only the arrows whose wood was already so old that it had become cracked and quite gray. And both arrows pointed to one path each. And each of the two paths resembled the one he had followed until there.

But since he couldn't decide on either path, he stopped where he was and waited until he woke up on his own. The following night, his dream started again with the long path, where he ended up at the wooden arrows. But now there were not only two arrows and two paths, but three! And on each arrow was written a word.

Much to Lan Zhan's chagrin, the same word was written on all three arrows: "Forward." In the end, Lan Zhan shrugged his shoulders and just walked straight ahead, continuing on the newly created path. It didn't matter anyway. Because if he was on the Wrong Way, he would surely be able to Begin anew in the coming night and try another way. But somehow he believed anyway that it would not matter which way he took. After all, the arrows indicate that all paths lead to the same destination.

Again he walked along the path seemingly for days without a break and woke up before he had reached his destination. Since he wanted to know where this path would lead him, he had tried to sleep during the day and continue dreaming. But the attempt failed. He fell asleep, but he did not continue dreaming, but had an erotic dream about Wei Ying that made him wake up and ask Wei Ying to teleport them both to the temple, where he pounced on Wei Ying like a starving lion and had to sleep with him three times before his body was satisfied.

The two finally spent the night in the temple and this seemed to help him a lot with his dreams. Because as soon as he fell asleep at night, he began to dream again. But this time there was not only the bright path, the trees and the sun. This time he saw rocky mountains with snow on their tops. He saw birds happily chirping in the trees or flying around them. He saw a white bunny in front of him on the path, which, it seemed, wanted to accompany Lan Zhan on his way.

Lan Zhan walked along the path with the white bunny for about an hour before the path ended abruptly. Suddenly, a huge mountain grew out of the ground and opened up in front of him. A large cave entrance appeared. Without knowing why, Lan Zhan simply walked into the cave. As soon as he and the white bunny were inside, the cave entrance closed behind them.

Instead of being in complete darkness, torches lit in the cave room and a cave passage. Lan Zhan lifted up the white bunny, placed it in the crook of his arm, and walked toward the cave passage. However, before entering the cave passage, he stroked the white bunny and whispered, "You know Bunny, somehow you remind me of my sweetheart. His name is Wei Ying and he's just as cute as you are." Then he kissed the bunny on the head and walked off.

Lan Zhan didn't have to look for paths in the cave. Because every cave passage he had to take was lit with torches. And with every further cave passage he got deeper and deeper into the cave. After hours and many more cave passages, Lan Zhan stopped for a moment. He pressed the white bunny to his chest and whispered, "I really wish my sweetheart was here with me now. Maybe then he could tell me where I actually am here. I think..." Lan Zhan paused. Something could be heard. Something very big.

Startled, Lan Zhan retreated into the shadows, listening and trying to use his vampire senses. But his vampiric senses failed. For the first time, the demon in him failed. He could literally feel the monster inside him retreating. >>Come out! What are you afraid of?" He asked the dark being inside him. But he received no answer. Instead, it only retreated further until Lan Zhan could barely feel it.

Since the sound didn't repeat itself again and nothing else happened, Lan Zhan slowly continued walking. This time, however, much more concentrated and careful. And only after he had taken a few steps did he notice that the white bunny was no longer there. He really thought he was alone now.

No sooner had Lan Zhan resigned himself to being alone now in these eerie cave passages, while somewhere near him must be some angry and dangerous creature, than a rat, almost as big as a cat, with two heads, ran across his feet. It was followed by a hybrid of a large wild cat and a wolf. Lan Zhan got goose bumps when he saw this creature.

For a moment, the hideous mixed creature stopped beside him and stared at him, growling and snarling from its red eyes. But after three or four seconds, it continued to run after its prey. Lan Zhan didn't waste any time looking after this gruesome creature and hurried off. He just wanted to get out of the cave passage of horror.

After about 200 meters, he reached the end of the cave passage and arrived in a large cave room. Unlike the other cave rooms, this one was not deserted. In this room there were several creatures that could not be stranger. Lan Zhan saw all kinds of creatures. One of these creatures was a woman. She was a breathtaking beauty. Her long flowing hair hung open over her naked, shapely breasts.

When she saw Lan Zhan, she jumped up and revealed her triangle. She slowly walked towards Lan Zhan, smiled seductively and immediately put her hands on his shoulders. "You're a really handsome vampire. What are you doing here? Looking for company?" She asked him, sliding her hands over his chest.

He grabbed her hands and pushed them away from him. "I don't like being touched. And I'm not interested in you." He replied.

"Leave the vampire alone!" A man who looked like a barbarian snarled.

"Are you jealous?" She asked him, giggling.

"No. Because I'm not into succubi. And neither is this vampire, apparently." Replied the vampire.

"Succubes?" Lan Zhan asked.

"Yes. She's a succubus. There are a lot of them down here. You'd better not get involved with her."

"Thanks. But I wasn't planning to anyway." Said Lan Zhan.

"Hey vampire. I don't know why you're here. But let me give you some advice. Be careful down here and don't just walk around mindlessly." Said the barbarian and walked away.

Lan Zhan looked after him for a moment, frowning, and then started moving again himself. He felt the urge to move on and looked for the next cave passage, which was quickly located. He had just entered the cave passage when he woke up. Once again he had to wait a whole day before he could return to this place at night.

When Lan Zhan started dreaming again, he had arrived at the exact place in the dream where he was before he woke up. In a hurry, and still not knowing where to go, Lan Zhan made his way through the cave passage and once again came to a large cave room filled with creatures. But this time he did not stop, but continued to run to the next cave passage. And so he did several more times that night before he stopped in front of a huge two-winged door.

A giant gatekeeper who looked like the Grim Reaper stepped out of the shadows and asked Lan Zhan, "What are you doing here vampire?"

What should Lan Zhan have answered? He didn't know the answer himself. So he just stood there and stared at the Reaper. When he asked Lan Zhan again what he wanted there, a harsh voice rang out, almost as loud as a roll of thunder: "Let him in!"

Reaper nodded, stepped to the door, and pulled it open. "Go." He said to Lan Zhan. After a moment's hesitation, Lan Zhan stepped through the gate and onto a path. He saw something at the end of the path that reminded him of a palace. Only he had never seen a palace as gloomy and eerie as this one.

Slowly, counting his steps in his mind, Lan Zhan walked toward the palace gate. When he arrived at the gate, it opened by itself. He entered the palace and looked around. At least as far as he could in this darkness.

The large windows were covered with thin black curtains that were blowing, and this despite the fact that Lan Zhan could not feel any breeze. The few seats were made of solid stone and did not look very cozy. "What are you looking around for so long? Come join me in the throne room!" He heard the booming voice.

"And... and where is that?" Lan Zhan asked in an almost whisper. Suddenly, candles lit all by themselves and formed a path, to an open door. Lan Zhan stepped through the door and saw a large throne seat standing at the end of the huge room.

"Come in." Thundered the voice. And then Lan Zhan saw to whom that voice belonged. It belonged to a man who Lan Zhan estimated must be nearly 10 feet tall. His body was very muscular. On his skin he had many tattooed runes. His long hair was as black as the night. His eyes were as black as his hair. But when Lan Zhan came closer to him, his eyes shone an ice blue. And on his back, this man has two huge black wings.

When Lan Zhan was only two meters away from him, he gasped, "Wei Ying?" But he realized his mistake. Even though his Wei Ying looked similar to this man, it was not him. Wei Ying was not as tall, not as muscular, nor did he have black wings.

"No. Not Wei Ying. Teremun is my son." Replied the man.

"Then... then you are the god of the underworld?"

"I am. And since you do not know our customs, I forgive you for not kneeling before me and fixing your gaze upon me."

Lan Zhan immediately knelt before him and lowered his gaze. "I am sorry high God."

"Stand up. I allow you to stand and look at me. How else are we going to talk?"

"Thank you."

"Let's sit down." Said the God of the Underworld, pointing to two large chairs. Lan Zhan sat down and felt like a little boy. His legs were hanging in the air because the chair was so high. "So, you can probably guess why I called you to me. Can you?"

"I assume it's about Wei Ying?"

"Yes. Although I prefer his real name, Teremun. So it would be nice if you talk about him using his real name in front of me. After all, I didn't give him that name for no reason."

"Of course. If that is what you wish, I will respect that."

"Good, now about why I brought you here. It's about my teremun. I know that you two are a couple."

"Well, that's right. We love each other."

"But you do know that you are just a simple vampire, right? A lowly creature created from a weak human. While my Teremun carries the blood of a god. Even though his mother was only a human, I his father am a high god and that is why he is half god."

"I am aware of all this. But it still doesn't change the fact that we love each other."

"How could I allow such a lowly creature to be with my son? Tell me!"

"I don't think you can forbid it. Or do you want to lock Teremun up like his mother? You love Teremun. So then can't you accept who he loves?"

"Locking him up wouldn't make sense. He could just teleport out. He's always done that when he's been punished as a child and should stay in his room." Said the high god with a grin. And suddenly he laughed harshly and patted his thighs. "No sooner had I locked him in his room and locked the door than he was standing next to me again, grinning, shrugging his shoulders and then teleporting to his big brother."

"I can very well imagine him doing that." Lan Zhan really could. And just imagining his Wei Ying just teleporting out of the locked room and then looking cheekily at his father made him laugh.