It wasn't the first time she had killed someone, an old woman who tried to kidnap her little brother, a drunk man in a dark alley. But it was the first time she had killed someone in her own home. She felt it stained the sanctity of it.
It was also the first time she had seen….evil cultivators.
She heard movement outside the door.
She collapsed to the ground as they entered, screaming.
"Help! Help!" holding her hands out. "I don't know what happened," her voice trembled with stress. "But they're dead now! Help! Tell me what's wrong!"
Two evil cultivators had entered, and one approached her, curiously, the other one scanned the room, brows furrowed at the sight.
She kept screaming, grabbing at him, "please, please, help me, maybe, maybe a ghost, it's a ghost!"
The moment she had grabbed him, she kept screaming, as her other hand suddenly revealed a knife, plunging it into his throat, catching his lips with the previous hand to keep him from making a sound, sliding the dagger out, as she let go of his mouth to catch him. He was heavy, she strained just to slow his descent to the floor, she kept whimpering, quieter now, as she slowly approached the other from behind. He noticed her, as she threw the dagger at him, turning around as it sunk into his arm, not too deeply since he activated his inner force in time.
"You!" his face turned fierce, leaping at her, grabbing at her, she slipped on a body, falling was always the fastest way to escape, scrambling back. Now that she was lower, he had to grab his weapon or bend over to reach her.
He reached down, other hand ready on his blade, right then, the dead body underneath him rose up, the sword in its grasp, piercing him in his unguarded stomach.
Shi and her dodged the falling body this time, listening acutely to the situation outside.
They had attacked their slum district earlier that evening, and after taking out any guards on the outskirts, had begun making their way in, going through every home to drag out the residents.
"I'll check to see if there is a route we can take to escape." Shi was 17, almost a man. Hui couldn't help but feel he was quite, quite reliable right now.
She nodded, thankfully.
He went out. The door was left open, all lights off, she scattered some of the pieces of a cabinet that got destroyed from the previous combatant, before hiding in the shadows. An abandoned house, that's all it was.
Shi was good at hiding his presence, slinking out of sight quickly, a moment later, a couple more evil cultivators passed through the street where he had just been.
She sat beside the bed, a hand reached out to touch her's, that had fallen by her side. She took the hand back, squeezing it. Suddenly, she felt less afraid, stronger. Yes, she was afraid, even when he was acting scared, she only acted that well because she truly was terrified. So terrified she didn't dare to go out with Shi earlier with Chai and now they had lost their chance. So weak.
You'll never be strong enough.
A voice whispered through her head, shouting at her the uncomfortable truth. She squeezed chai's hand again. Yes, she was not strong, she was afraid, unlike her brother, but she still had someone who needed her to be so. She couldn't give up now.
A few new screams joined in from outside.
The scent of the night wind through the doorway had changed. And then, the dark night began to illuminate with light.
She could hear it, even five homes down, each crackle as the fire tore apart the dry wood viciously. The wind picked up, blowing the fire to pass its sparks even faster, as if excited to feed this famished fire.
And the fire would not let its appetite be quenched. It was heading toward them, carried by the wind and in minutes, the house next to theirs was alit.
"Didi." She trembled a little. "Do you trust me?"
He crawled out, gazing up at her, his large, beautiful eyes covered by thick lashes. "Not a day I haven't." Her little brother was cute, quiet, and would follow her through anything.
She couldn't let him down.
"Then follow me, don't fall behind." She pulled him up, and they raced out of their home.
Towards those thirsty flames.
Chai didn't even hesitate to follow her. Sure enough, the evil cultivators themselves who lit the flames didn't desire any part of going into the street of burning masses, but preferred to go to the still untouched areas, letting residents run directly to them.
They walked in the road, roofs collapsed inwards, sparks and burning timbers coughed up by their falls, she saw an evil cultivator still standing in the alley. She only noted he had an eyepatch, pulling Chai into a small alley before he noticed their presence. It was too late, she saw him turn one eye toward them, but strangely enough, he didn't attempt to stop them, just stood there, motionless, watching expressionlessly as the buildings on either side of the alley collapsed, covering their retreat.
She grabbed Chai's hand, encouraging him to run faster, as they sprinted through the narrow gap between the buildings, falling to ruins around them. Smoke clouded their sight and mouths, and she finally had to drop to the ground, crawling on elbows and knees, still pushing forward to the desination she knew, but could not see. Chai following suit.
She heard another snap above them, pulling Chai aside, as sparks flew over them, she brushed them off him as swiftly as she could, but they still imprinted a small burn stain on one of his arms.
"Sis, you are forgetting you," he smiled, so brightly, no matter the efforts the fire made to devour the old wood in the buildings to feed its flames stronger, it couldn't even come close.
She brushed the cooled sparks off herself. "Hmph, these, they don't even hurt to me." They really did, now that she took a chance to notice them.
They continued to crawl forward. At long last, the alley led to a larger street, and they got back to their feet, wiping the sweat off their faces, letting their eyes tear up to clear the smoke particles, smiling at each other in relief. It then began to rain steadily, to her and his relief.
She glanced around, no evil cultivators in sight. But she still heard some chaos from other places nearby. They slunk from shadow to shadow, doing their best to always keep something between them and the street.
Sure enough not long down the road, she heard several sets of footsteps, pulling Chai to hide themselves in an abandoned shop.
They were already in the slightly better part of town, compared to the ghetto, and the shop looked like it used to be used for bathing at one time, in hot, heavily salted waters. But it also looked disused as if the home owners hadn't been there at least several months, and after being abandoned so long, the water had naturally evaporated, leaving behind brine that heavily coated the bottom of the pools.
As they walked in, a few droplets sprayed across the room, sizzling with contact with the brine. She pulled Chai away from it. Meanwhile, outside, they finally caught sight of who was approaching..
Three evil cultivators laundered past, with a couple prisoners. At the front of them was Shi, hands bound behind his back, from time to time, as the cultivator's found it fun, he got hit harshly, he was already bleeding from several parts where the skin on his flesh was broken.
It seemed he was still barely young enough that they spared his life, but only just.
She quickly took back her eyes, hiding behind the wall, panting, heart throbbing faster.
No, no, this couldn't happen! She squeezed her hand, a tear dripping out one eye, glancing at her little brother. She couldn't abandon him, just for a chance of saving Shi but…She remembered Shi's strong back earlier, she remembered one time, after a long day of work, as he smirked at the table, at one of Chai's antics. She remembered the way he bartered heavily to get their goods sold at a better price.
No. She couldn't abandon Chai, but she also couldn't abandon Shi.
She stood up. "Didi, I'm going to try to save him, you, stay here." She looked around for a usable weapon, eyes pausing on the old brine at the bottom of the dried pools.
"Didi, help me scrape some of this!"
As they worked, she also remembered the small, invisible smoke that rose up earlier, remembering a time back when a similar reaction took place at the market. Right, water and fire were inherently connected to one another.
She took up an old match, hoping it would still work, hiding in her clothing, and stopped out, running through the rain, huddled over, to protect what she was carrying. She trembled as she went, afraid of the risk she was about to make. But she had to try. She couldn't let Shi be taken like this. She had told Chai to stay back in the shop until they returned.
The cultivator's were suddenly interrupted in their walk, as a shadow slunk out from under the eaves of a building, sobbing.
A woman stood there, weeping endlessly and seeing Shi, rushed over. "Gege!"
The evil cultivator's smirked, as she approached, reaching out to grab her, another readying a rope as she approached. She backed off at their approach, but the third came from behind, then, she smirked, fingering through her belongings. The light sprinkle was letting up a little at long last; she heard the caw of a crow from the top of a building somewhere.
She picked up the several cloths folded over the brine, tossing them out at the men, running out, lighting the match, tossing it behind her.
When the brine contacted their skin and clothes it sizzled violently against it, they felt a violent heat invade their flesh almost instantly, wherever the powder made contact with. Right then, as her match flew behind her, the entire world around them lit up for a moment, in flames, a sharp clap was heard. She grabbed Shi, as they were distracted. "Run!"
"You idiot!" Came the snap response, viciousness laced in the words, demeaning her very existence and every action she had ever made.
"Come with?" She whimpered, pulling at him harder.
"It's impossible!" Right then, five more jumped down from the roofs. Apparently they had been running across rooftops, guarding the large group of women and children while also monitoring them from farther away. No wonder no one had tried to run.
It is over. She had no more tricks. At least Cha…right then, she saw another evil cultivator pull a child out from the darkness. Her little shadow had followed her again. "Didi!" she cried out in terror, poisoned by despair. Shi didn't even look at her, just scoffed and turned away, distancing himself.
She saw as Chai struggle, helplessly, then was smacked across the face, so he was bleeding from his mouth, falling limp. No! No! This wasn't what was supposed to happen!
You'll never change anything.
The same voice she had heard earlier entered her ears again, speaking another undeniable truth. She wept for real this time, as she ran forward, begging the evil cultivator to let her to him, to check for his life. She hadn't cried much growing up. She knew crying got you nothing, instead, if you cried, you were wasting time that could be used to solve the problem.
But now she cried. She had nothing she wanted from the crying, and nothing to gain from it either. She cried, simply, because she was sorrowful, regretful, and enraged, enraged at herself for being so incompetent, and ruining everything, losing everything she had by her own choices. Saddened by the loss.
But instead of getting Chai into her arms, she was grabbed by the arm. She found herself effortlessly whirled around losing control of her own body, as a shriveled man now stood before her, locking the blood out of her wrist. He had a small hunch in his back and his whitening hair made him look even older than his face bespoke of. "How," came a raspy voice, "did you do that?"
She just continued to sob, she got smacked over the face, falling to the ground, beside where Chai lay. She didn't get up. No would come to help her. No one had ever come to help her.
"Stop." A voice came from the side. She saw a familiar man, with an eye patch and jutting chin, and long hair, free flowing but slicked back with wax, "You are going to make her cry more, if you treat her so rudely."
The older man just snickered, and left her be. The man who'd called out for her smiled, a toothy grin, his teeth were the brightest of white, before turning to leave, throwing behind him, "carry your little didi then. If anyone dares to fall behind," his foot stuck out, a young boy who was at the end of the crowd who had been glancing around looking for a chance to run, spat blood, falling to the ground, she didn't see him continue to breathe. The man with a jutting chin, long forehead and a widow's peak turned, smirking, "they're my prey then, hehehehe."
As the crowd left, the one holding Chai, dropped him before her. He was alive! "Dare to carry him?" he snuffed.
She mutely picked up the 9 year old and held him close to herself as she stepped forward with the crowd. The man followed behind them, no one dared to slow down.
They traveled out of town, heading directly northwest. Day after day the landscape got drier and scantier, even the sun seemed to beat down hotter, yet the nights only got colder. They had been roped together in a line so as no one could get away with anything. If they fell from exhaustion or hunger, the meddler, as they'd now deemed him the title, the man with the eyepatch, would jump on them instantly, enjoying beating or stabbing them to death.
He, unlike the rest of the captains, found great enjoyment and not beneath himself in the least to mess with the prisoners. He would even help serve out food, giving portions as he pleased. She found if she smiled and acted smitten with him, she would get a far larger portion. She didn't downplay her acting.
She would take it back to Shi and Chai, offering up some of her huge portion. Chai would usually take it with a smile, and Shi would just glare, before grabbing some too. His original portion was one of the smallest.
They were doing the same as usual one particular night, when suddenly the meddler decided to forget eating his own dinner and stride amongst the prisoners, harassing them, sometimes even knocking their meals into the dirt, hoping they dared to attack him. No one did.
That was when his eye caught sight of her actions, as she poured some porridge into Shi's bowl.
He stomped over. "What is this?" sneering, "giving the food I gave you to others? Is this walk a joke to you?" His hand superciliously floated down towards her bowl. A familiar gesture, what would happen next could be predicted.
"No, i don't think that, and I'm sorry if I offended you, uncle," she quickly got to her knees holding up the bowl, "please, since you gave it to me, I'll give the rest back."
He raised an eyebrow, glancing around, every time his eye hit someone, they cringed, making sure to look smaller, not daring to meet his eye. Those closest, scrambled away.
"You're not scared of me?" He finally asked, almost curiously.
"Should I be, uncle?" She smiled at him, brightly. "You saved me!"
"Ah." He rubbed his chin. "You're right, I did do that."
Another girl saw what was happening. "Uncle!" she cried out, "I'm, I'm hungry too, if by any chance…" She was immediately silenced, his blade passed right through her chest in a moment, not even glancing to check it landed properly, he brought it back, as red, viscous drops slid down the edge, "I don't like to be called uncle," he struck the blade at her. She didn't even flinch, still smiling pleasantly, as it cut through her shirt and skin, stopping right before her heart. Not even her lips trembled. It was a nice blade, long, straight edged, the sharp side did not smoothly flow to the tip, but cornered as a triangle, and the blood grooves were well-placed.
"Then what should I call you?" She asked, sweetly.
"Hehehe." He chuckled softly, and then a little louder taking back the blade, flinging the blood off in one smooth stroke, across her and Shi, sheathing it. "Call me grand lord."
"I await your decision then, grand lord."
He gazed over at her and then those behind her, before smirking again, "since you are messing up the distribution of food, I suppose there is only one solution. His blade was drawn again, she couldn't even see this cut clearly this time. Before, he must have deliberately lowered his speed in order to torment them more. The bonds on either side of her fell to the ground.
"Tie it together." He commanded a low level monitoring guard to the side. "I'm taking the girl."
Behind his now turned back, she felt herself suddenly tremble, realizing what she had just done.
"Chai-" She turned to the side before she left, holding his jaw with her hand, "I will come for you, so wait patiently. Before then, be strong, no matter what happens, you must live through it, because I, Hui, know you are the strongest man alive, and the smartest too."
She then turned to Shi, the meddler had already stopped, she couldn't risk her life to delay leaving any longer. "Shi, I love you, take care."
Then she left, standing up and walking away. Perhaps to her certain death, perhaps to torture, perhaps to freedom. But what was certain, was she was walking away from what she cared for most.