From afar they see the white columns that stand in the walls of the city, they walk closer and two soldiers notice them, Fenhua makes two steps back to see them clear and they open the tall door, as the door opens they see people wearing white, green or red robes, women wearing them too or wearing red and gold dresses that reach the ground, having their hairs tied together or short, having their faces pale and their skinny fingers decorated with rings or chains that get attached to their robes sleeve and one of the fingers.
They walk inside and the people bow their heads, some giving them flowers or food as they go to the white tall building at the center of the city, the pointing roof being taller even from the walls, soldiers come and ask the name of Lixin, he gives them a letter and they let them pass as they rush inside.
Klaeben goes beside the general whispering "you do not plan to give the sword to the emperor do you?" The general looking forward and waving at the people says "I will give no explanation to one of the forsaken" Klaeben grabs his shoulder and push him closer "you cannot tell anyone about this weapon" the general slaps Klaebens hand "the emperor shall learn about this weapon" "for what reason? To call us heretics and take our titles? We don't even know what this weapon can do or who this man in the cave was" "it doesn't matter who he was, what matters is that the emperor must know about this weapon" they reach the white stairs and soldiers greet them in lines, they walk up and as they enter they see the white carpets on the floor, large paintings and statues with the name of the emperors beneath them, Klaeben eyes wide open as they continue from corner to corner and then inside a big hall with a large golden door with snakes, dragons, clouds and a deer in the middle drew in it, the gates slowly open revealing the golden silhouette of the emperor and his young wife, looking much younger than the emperor with no wrinkles and her eyes full of Life, the emperor raise his hand and the general goes forward
He kneels and bows with his head almost touching the ground, the emperor says "you can now talk general Lixin" Lixin raise his head and looks with awe at the emperor, speaking slowly and clear "my emperor, we have assist Grega and they accepted our demands to assist us on military campaigns and trade with us"
"My counsuls have informed me about this, I want to know if you revealed the identity of the foreign army" "no my emperor, this language is foreign to everyone" the emperor look at him silent before he says " we will find them sooner or later" he makes another pause "General as for your achievements and your great victories, the nation and I will grant you the mark of the snake along with the offer to become one of my five pretors" Lixins heart skips a beat and says "my emperor, I will gladly follow you as a pretor"
"then it's settled, tomorrow morning you will come back" the general bow lower and the emperor says "rise and come to claim your marks" they rise and a soldier comes forward with the marks of the snake along with pouches of gold,
The others come closer and the general grabs the marks and gives one to each of them, finally giving one to Klaeben and looking at him with disgust and Klaeben looks the same way at the mark.
The general kneels again and says "thank you my emperor" the emperor says "now leave and continue your devotion"
The group leaves and goes outside, they all stips their shoulder armor and place the mark on their skin, feeling a burn but going away quickly, they all look at each other with general still looking with disgust at Klaeben.
Klaeben look at the general the same way and says " you didn't tell the emperor about the weapon" "I believe we must understand it better before we tell him about kt"
They wear their armor again and from inside light comes, showing the mark.
Lixin gove Klaeben three pouches of gold with the others taking more and Klaeben says "I will depart for now, I will see you all at night" the general cross his hands and murmurs "better not come again" Ai look at everyone and says "don't you have any relatives or friends to see?" Anjian answers nothing The general then says "I have my duty to be here" Fenhua asks "Ai what about yours?" Ai grow a sad face "my family is dead" Fenhua grabs her from her shoulder and says "don't worry mine been dead for tow hundred years" Ai look at him with an emotionless face and Fenhua says "bad joke, sorry" and they continue with the general leading them to a blacksmith and then to a woodcutter Taking a chest and going to the stables, Fenhua says "why are we here?" The general
reply "we have to hide the weapon somewhere away from the eyes of the people" Fenhua says loudly "I know a very good spot" the general sign to him to lower his voice "I know an old abandoned house some miles from here, I can guide you right now" the others agree and they follow fenhua, mounting away from the road and up ln a mountain with thick trees everywhere, finally reaching the old small cabin with the planks ready to fall, Anjian asks "how do you know of this place?" "I was living here for a while, selling things to the people to make some money" he makes a pause "and here I learned to play the flute" he brings out the flute from his back and starts playing, the others go outside and Fenhua continues playing as he walks outside, riding their horses and going back to the city.
They go to one of the large inns, looking at the soldiers and traders chatting at the large tables with skinny women bringing them drinks, the general moves to the bar and look at the owner "how much for four rooms?" The owner says with a light voice "I'm sorry but we are full" the general moves back to the others and the man notice the snake on his arm and quickly shouts "wait, im sorry for letting you leave with empty hands, plaease sty for a while and i can offer you the best rooms" the general wait silent and sees the man talking and waving his hands at a group of soldiers and soon coming infront of the general and one kf them shouting "who do you think you are to come here and take our rooms?" The soldiers then draw their eyes on the mark and their faces quickly turn into harmless ones and the soldoer says "I'm really sorry for this sir, I will gladly give you my room, even order food for you and your comrades" the general says "raise your head, I do not intend to take your room you so hard earned" and leaves, saying to the others "they have no room left, let's go and we will eventually find one" Fenhua sigh and they continue.
Klaeben mounts outside the city towards the east, he reach a large city with broken houses and some still standing but with thin wood and almost touching each other and many people outside carrying whatever they can find, Klaeben leaves his horse outside of the village and ties it to a tree with thick flora to cover him.
He walks into the village with his head low, looking with the edge of his eyes people looking at him, some making no emotion and others with wrath and some children coming with rocks tied in silk and saying "mister would you like to buy a set of diamonds?" Klaeben throws him some money and the children smile bright, as he walk he sees some soldiers patrolling or taking some people with them, mostly teens and young adults, Klaeben look closer at the soldiers spitting at the people or their food, with them not hesitating to eat it, Klaeben look at the people walking with torn clothes and some with no boots and swelling stomachs and dirty everywhere.
He continues walking seeing soldiers chaining men and children mothers taking sharp glasses and attacking the soldiers only for their swords to cut their fingers and kicking their bodies, Klaeben look for some minutes and he continue to a path down with the buildings diluting until there is non on his sight
He reach down to a small brook And follows it until he find an open space with tombs colliding with each other, he raise his glooming face at the unnamed stones,
walking past each of them with his thoughts elsewhere suddenly he hears a scream and snap back and look over his shoulder seeing a man with flowers getting pushed by two Huagjin soldiers, Klaeben for a moment look at them pensively and then grit his teeth
walk in front of them and give his hand to the man, helping him get up.
The soldiers look at him and shout "why are you helping this pile of shit?" The soldiers push Klaeben and they look at his shoulder the mark with the snake and they swiftly fall to their knees and say "I'm really sorry sir, I didn't want to disrespect you" "just leave already" the soldiers leave quietly and the man look at Klaeben "thank you so much for helping me" Klaeben extend his arm and gives him a pouch with the coins ringing "go and feed your family if any money or food remains give them to the ones in need"
The man's eyes glisten and he leave with his eyes looking at the ground and holding the pouch close to his chest
Klaeben continue to wander around the cemetery and after the wind stops he stand still a forced smirk comes out and then again the glooming face and leaves, passing through the city and throwing money behind him with the people taking it kindly.
He takes his horse and looks back one more time and goes back to the city with the sun almost above his head.
The general and the others go inside a small inn and find two empty rooms and divide it between the genders.
They rest for a while and Ai look at the edge of the window and the sun almost setting and gets up, going into the wooden halls and meets the general at the room before the stairs "where are you going?" "To the theater, I can still watch a last play before the actors leave or at least a conversation from the actors" "just be here at night, remember we will go feast today" Ai smile and continues, after a while Swaiwan pass the general "where do you think you are going?" "To the theater" the general says the same words to Swaiwan and he walks to the stairs.
Ai pass through lines of people, most of them stepping besides her to let her pass, she look at them with a worried look, feeling discomfort at her chest, she pass the white stairs looking at the thick walls with the widows beneath the stairs and the city and going inside the theater, watching lines of people sitting at the white tall stairs and at the center of it women and men wearing masks
Ai look with her eyes open and one man and woman look at her closely, looking at her shoulder as the mark of the snake shine beneath her clothes, they get up and Ai makes them a sign to sit back, she takes her eyes on the actors again, a man with a golden mask and a green talisman showing a deer.
She sees the man and drops of water start falling on the stage, raising again and falling, the man walks to the stage and a deer comes from the open way at the right, the man place on his hand's food and
Goes towards the deer but the deer run away, be follows it and reach it again with his hands slowly approacing, abruptly a mannequin monster comes from the back of the stage, having its eyes on its knees and the body of a bear with sharp teeth like shark, the deer step further and the monster approach and attacks, the people gasp and shout and suddenly the man comes a place his body infront of the deer, the monster bites but the man slays the monster with a single strike of his weapon, drops of blood fall on the stage, the man falls down and the rain becomes black and expands from his wounds to his bodu, the deer comes close and place his head at the mans wounds and a light shine bright and as it eclipse the black water turn clean again and the man gets up and bow on the dear, after a heartbeat the deer bow its head and the man place his hands on the deers head revealing a mark, a circle with lines meeting at the middle having another small circle, the man look at it and its mask gets on fire and drops of water fall from the sky along, dividing them at the floor and using them again as rain, the deer scream and lights come from it, the fire then extinguish and the mans mask becomes bright, the rain stops and the deer stands besides the man amd then walks to the back of the stage and the man and the rest of the actors stand still as the crowd clapped, then one by one go back with a man standing forward.
A silence surround the theater And the man shouts "you have seen the story of our great protector and how the emperor manage to make it stand on his side, how he gave prosperity to his village and expanding it to create the most powerful nation, while all the other people have been borned from different ground but we have been borned here and we stayed pure with the guidance of the emperor while the others have been borned from the harsh and naked grounds finding meaning to their heresy and loosing their purity that's why we are the ones who should rule the land, sea and skies.
The people watch with great interest and Ai look with no emotion, from the crowd she watch Swaiwan being forward and writing in his notebook, she takes her eyes back on the masked man who steps back, a woman with a mask with horns and fur comes forward and points her finger on a group of children "that's our story of the nation that we must pass on the new generation, because if we don't show them the mistakes and achievements of the past they will destroy themselves, like helping people like the forsaken who took our kindness and used it to harm us
The people cheer them and clap hard, shouting "for the emperor"
Ai's ears start buzzing and she leaves and goes back to the inn, going inside her and Anjians room and soon hearing the generals voice outside her door, she opens it and sees Lixin, Fenhua and Swaiwan, she asks "do you know where Klaeben is?" The general place his hand on his eyes "let's go and he will find us" "I will wait for him and then we will come finding you" Fwmhua says "we will be at the tavern beside the statue of the great deer" and walks with the others, Ai almost close the door and suddenly hears a crack on the floor and the door opens and sees Anjian looking at her with a cold stare and Ai asks "Anjian won't you come with us?" Anjian walk past her and look out the window "it doesn't have any meaning to go with you" "can I ask you? Why are you so negative most of the time?" "I'm just looking at life as it is, right now we are a bunch of people stuck together because we are the only ones who remember their previous lives and have no clue what to do, Some crazy people try to do who knows what and kill everyone and most importantly us and we have a weapon that we don't know its capabilities " Ai eyes lower a bit "it's hard but we will find more answers with time" Anjian lets a small unpleasant sound and she continues to watch outside at the window.
From the stairs heavy steps are heard and a knock on their door, Ai opens and Klaeben is shown with his glooming eyes "can you wait for a minute outside?" Klaeben nods his head and Ai close the door "do you want me stay here and keep you company?" Anjian look at her with her cold eyes "go with the others" Ai sigh and opens the door, taking Klaeben and leaving the inn and Anjian staring outside the window, looking their figures go inside the crowd, suddenly she hears her door knocking, she gets up and slowly walk towards the door, hearing no voices from the other side, she slowly opens it and sees a tall man looking at her with red and black clothes wrapping aroundbis body she look his at his face wearing an orchid mask with two large pink eyes and a small black pupil at the middle,and she slam the door, the man catch the door the the wood bruns in an instant, Anjian goes to geabs her weapon and as she takes it and swings it to the man he place his hand foward and flames start coming out, melting the sword without leaving a trace, Anjian the tries to hit him and the man look at her eyes, saying with a deep voice and almost theateical "you are still young" fires starts expanding and they burn Anjian before she could talk, leaving no ash behind.
Ai and Klaeben walk among the crowd, they continue to a large building with its walls paint blue, they enter inside and find the others sitting at a large table ordering food and drinks, they sit beside them and stay silent, abruptly Fenhua gets up and says "I will be back in a minute" Ai nod her head and watch Swaiwan writing, she look around her seeing mostly soldiers and some traders and people from other countries, having colorful clothes and grey and green ores shaped in animals or items from their homeland close on their neck, Ai stare at them watching man y people passing through the doors and suddenly snaps back and look around for Fenhua, she gets up and says "I'm coming in a while"
She goes besides some soldiers and asks "I'm sorry to interrupt you but have you seen a soldier with a mark on his shoulder?" They point at the upper floor and Ai walks at the stairs, seeing the glass doors with people drinking at the balconies
She then look at another one and sees Fenhua leaning forward on the balcony and holding a glass full of wine, Ai opens the door and says "Fenhua is everything alright?" Fenhua drink from the glass and turn at Ai with his cheeks red and the glass empty, grabbing the bottle and filling it again and drinking it at once "everything is alright Ai, you can go inside and I will come back in a while" Ai slowly grit her arm "I can wait till you are ready to go" Fenhua drink again and his pupils slowly start shaking "well you have the stubbornness of a jorogumo when she hunts a nice man" Fenhua turn his gaze back at the moon and Ai stand beside him, seeing fenhuas eyes looking pensively at the crowd beneath them, she then sees his hand and the glass slowly falling from his hands.
She lean to grab it but the glass falls and Fenhua laugh for minutes "do not worry, that's what taverns are for, to break shit and have fun" Fenhua laughs a bit more with his eyes closed and when she opens them she sees Ai looking at him with worry, his face becomes serious and walks to the door opening it "I'm sorry for this, let's go with the others" Ai look at him and says "what is the problem?"
Fenhua turn his head to the door "I'm fine, let's just go to the others" Ai continue to stare at him and Fenhua goes inside with Ai following him, they go down the stairs and look at everyone gathered along with Klaeben staring at the general, Fenhua try to keep his balance and shake the chair back, making a noise loud enough for the people to draw their eyes on him, Klaeben greets Ak and Fenhua look at Swaiwan and says "hey give me a bottle" Swaiwan look at him with a tone of anger and
Of fear, he slowly grabs the bottle and Ai grabs Swaiwans arm "do not give him he already drank enough" Fenhua look at Klaeben "can you give me some of yours?" Klaeben push the bottle and glass further, the general lightly hit his fist on the table "Fenhua restraint yourself"
Fenhua respond with a laugh "oh the dog of the emperor is talking, what are you gonna do? Order me to stop?"
Lixin look with a threatening look and Fenhua shouts "please, you think this shit can get me? Motherfucker" Ai grabs the bottle and says "it's enough Fenhua" "shut up Ai you always try to help people here and there and you don't know when to stop, just go with Klaeben in a dark alley and fuck"
Klaeben eyes wide open and in an instant his muscles tighten, he extends his elbow and lean towards Fenhua and punching him in his face making him fall, Klaeben gets up towards Fenhua and Ai and the general grabs Klaebens arm, Klaeben sits down taking a deep breath and Fenhua gets up laughing "did I hurt your feelings for your girlfriend?" He leans forward at Ai and kiss her ai pulled herself back and slaps him, Fenhua look at her for a moment and his lips curve downward and his free arm turns into a fist
he look around him seeing men and women looking at him and drinks the bottle on one slip and takes another one,
Lixin cross his arms and look at him with anger.
Ai goes in front of Fenhua "Fenhua please just sit and stop"
Fenhua freeze for a second before he takes the bottle and starts drinking and walking on an empty table and as soon as he rest his head on the table he whispers in a broken voice "fucking assholes" Ai look with sadness while everyone else look with wrath,
The others drink making intense eye contact with Fenhua from time to time.
Fenhua continues to drink and he sees a beatiful lady with short blonde hair almost reaching her shoulders and open green eyes sitting beside him, Fenhua drinks another glass and he walks towards her, barely holding his balance, he lean his forearms at the bar and orders a drink, he look at her and she raise his eyes at him and she brings him a wave of emotions, warmth, coldness, her look one of great joy and great fear, Fenhua heart skips a beat and he says "I've never seen you here" she says with her soft and cold voice "It's likely you have seen me again, it's just impossible to remember everyone" Fenhua smile with his eyes loosening "a face this beautiful cannot be forgotten" The woman smirk and Fenhua asks "so what do you drink?" "I'm not fond of alcohol" Fenhua laughs hysterically "that's something new" the woman asks "nice mark, you must be very brave to get the mark of the snake" Fenhua open his mouth but the woman raise her hand gently at his and starts rubbing his arm, saying with a pure voice "and you seem to be a very interesting man" she walks at the door with her pulling her fingers towards her and Fenhua follows, they go outside and Fenhua follows her in one of the alleys opposite of the tavern, Fenhua look around the buildings that can make a nice spot for no eyes to see them, he goes beside her and grabs her arm and brings her to his lips "you have a weird taste for places" the woman backs down and Fenhua suddenly feels a hand on his back, his eyes open wide and as he shake his elbow he feels flames expanding on his body and before he could make a noise his whole body burns.
Swaiwan gets up saying "good night to all of you" and leaves.
Klaeben lets his bottle down, making the table shake says "Lixin I have some demands" Lixin stare at him without saying anything and Klaeben says "now that you are pretor I want you to give more rights to my people" Lixin lets the bottle down making a loud noise and says "I will not accept such foolish demands from one of the forsaken and neither will the emperor" "my people have suffered for three hundred years because of you" "and they deserve it, we gave them a home and they repay us with sickness and loss even though they knew it can spread and then demanding even more just like you now" "we needed help and all of these are in the past, why should my people and I pay for this treatment" "do not make the fool, you know you must pay" "we owe you nothing"
"You hinder our progress as a nation we lost our land, our people and we lost xing lu" he makes a pause "we had to sacrifice many things to turn the tides in the span of hundreds of years "
"This is cruel" "this is justice for what you did to us and until you repay we will keep you chained" Klaeben lean towards the table extending his arm towards Lixin's face with him dodging it and Pulling Klaeben to the table "I will not tolerate forsakens to try and command me" Klaeben shakes his hand and Lixin leaves
his hand and Klaeben raise from his sit and leaves.
He walks outside and Ai follows him, walking together at the side of the road with Klaeben staring intensely in front of him "we can discuss it again with the general, maybe we can come to an agreement" Klaeben continue to stare infonr of him, Ai pull his sleeve and he look at her "let's go back, we don't need to discuss it further"
and as they walk they hear faint footsteps behind them, Klaeben turn to see the man and he sees his thin and long arms almost reaching them, Klaeben push Ai away and rush and kick him and he steps back, the man look at Klaeben and Klaeben shouts "Ai go and inform the others or even a guard" Ai says "and you will stay here alone?" "The others should know, now go" Ai rush and turn on the corner screaming.
The man tries to grab Klaeben and he builds walls in front of him, only to burn in an instant, the man haste and Klaeben create more but the man almost reach him, Klaeben evades him except one of his fingers and fire starts spreading on Klaebens body, he turn his head at the corner Ai was and he runs towards it and sees the woman having Ai on her hands unconscious, the man burns her body and from their left they hear guards coming, they look at them and say "citizens, have you heard anyone screaming?" The woman responds "no" the guards pass them and continue to look around and the man and the woman walk away with slow steps.
The general look around him, looking at the almost empty room, he raise and leaves.
opening the door and seeing the tall man looking him inside his eyes, the man walks at the right and the general pass, the general pass by him and the man goes inside, the general continues to walk and sees the blonde woman following him, Lixin look at her and as the woman approach she reveals a knife, Lixin turns, grabbing her arms and twisting them and drops the knife, the woman grunts and above her shoulder the general sees the tall man approaching, He says with a swift voice "what do you want? Who sent you?" The woman says nothing and Lixin grabs the knife and swings it towards the woman's throat but the man grabs him and burns his body.
Swaiwan walks at the inn, seeing no one inside, he sits alone writing and after many filled pages he close his notebook and look outside, seeing people still walking in the city, he goes to other room and knocks on the door and nobody answers he goes down and look at the tables and then outside drawing his eyes from one side to another, his heartbeat starts rising and his breath becoming heavy, feeling hostile eyes looking him from behind, his eyes instictly look at everyone who pass close to him, sweat starts flowing and his heart beating even faster, from the corner of the inn he sees people standing and staring at him, he sees eyes again looking at him, he starts running bashing everyone and shouting "leave"
He runs at the door and finds two old guards, he reach his hand at them and yells "guards someone tries to kill me" the guard look at him for a moment before they see his mark on his right shoulder, they shout "sir please tell us who is hunting you?" "I haven't seen his face but I know he is here, please let me get one of the horses and run away" the guards bring him a horse and
He mount his horse to the gates and outside, looking behind him and taking heavy breath, he reach the dark forest with no one watching him and he leaves the lane going right and up the hill and to the house,
He opens the door and kneels, ripping the planks and looking at the grey chest and sees the locker is still intact, he place it back again along with the planks and he look at his sword, he takes it out and walk outside the house, looking at the complete darkness, he place the blade towards his heart and he grit his teeth and palms, his heart becomes heavier and with open eyes he push the blade before touching the blade, he screams and he throws it away, looking at it for a moment before he raise and leaves with his back curving and his eyes flowing with tears.
