"Heaven is high, and the emperor is far away"
- Zheijang Proverb, Yuan Dynasty
The chirping of birds - a gentle breeze.
Such was the morning of that peaceful day in the quaint village of Fenghao - though the word village understated the rather impressive sprawl of buildings that had been built along the outer valley walls of the Gunkhai Region. It was an calm village, devoid of violence, where the several thousand mortal peasants that there lived continued their lives under the eye of the Sect of the Honorable Path - who in that village had made their teaching place, protecting the locals in exchange for their services. Indeed, it was a peaceful day in Fenghao.
Amongst the outer bastions of the earthen walls that surrounded the village, a group of several watched as two figures dueled across the small circle marked on the floor. Their arms covered completely by handwraps, the two duelists - two men, young in appearance, swung at each other with fervor, each attack parried by the other. Their small 'crowd' cheered and jeered with each blow, cheering for one or the other. Yet growing ever more frustrated by the length of the fight, one amongst the participants threw himself too strongly in his attack, leaving himself open as his opponent deftly hit him across the chest, sending him rolling out of the circle. As the crowd exploded in cheers, they swarmed the winner.
"Amazing, Senior!"
"You defeated him but with a single blow!"
"No less could be expected of our senior!"
"You truly are the strongest of us, big brother!"
The young man in questioned rubbed his head awkwardly - he did not enjoy being treated with such reverence, knowing he was far from the titan some of the other disciples thought him to be. "There's no need to say stuff like that, brothers! I have much to learn, still."
"How humble you are in victory Hao." spoke a voice, far from the crowd, dripping in disdain - the loser of the bout at last stood up. "I wonder if you would say the same had you lost."
"There's no need to feel insulted, brother. You fought valiantly!" replied Hao, earnest in his compliment "For one two years my junior, your prowess was respectable indeed!" His rival, however, seemed to only become more incensed. "Why, thank you for such kind words, Senior. Truly, you are a pearl amidst the sand!" he continued, sarcastically. "You may have entered the Inner Sect earlier than me - you may have trained for longer than i have, but it was only done so because our elder had taken pity on you!"
Suddenly, a hand gripped his shoulder - one amongst the crowd had stepped forward! He began to speak rispidly against Zhan. "How dare you insult our Senior Brother like that!" Yet before he could act, the man found his word spinning! Thrown into the ground with a resounding thud, Zhan delivered a kick to his aggressor. "Have you forgotten your place?! I still remain an Inner Disciple! I should break...your..." he trailed off - he had heard something. Locking eyes with his rival, he knew he had too. Walking through the crowd, the two cultivators wordlessly reached the parapets of the village walls. Gazing upwards, they looked into the ever-stretching grey horizon of the sky.
Though their brethren - their bodies hardly honed enough to call themselves cultivators had not heard it, they did - faintly. A sound as bizarre as it was ominous.
It was a horn.
And it was growing louder.
Immediately, Hao turned around to the crowd of disciples. "You must warn the sect! Now!" his voice thundered, lost of the joviality he had previously shown. Frightened, the group of disciples stumbled backwards as they began to run. Now alone, the rival continues to speak, all poison from his voice vanishing. "You know they have no idea of what you are talking about, Hao."
The young man smirks. "No, but they'll start running somewhere safe. However..." he turns back to his former enemy. "You must warn the Elder. I will remain to serve as a distraction"
"I shall not stain my honor by fleeing!"
"Then you will stain it by leaving our sect open for this attack!"
The two remain silent. Zhan clenches his fist - he knows he cannot waste more time arguing - something must be done. Turning back, he breaks into a sprint. t seems he has lost again...
Hao, at last, is alone. Wind flowing behind him, he gazes as the cloudy sky. The horns grow louder - a clarion call for the encroaching danger. He, too, recognizes the horn - the Elder had been sure to teach all of the Inner Disciples the threat of this apocalyptical call - to emphasize its threat. He turns back, towards the village where he had been born - where he had been inducted into the Honorable Path. He can already hear the confusion and yelling - the villagers have most certainly begun to evacuate towards the safe confines of the sect grounds.
"Grandfather...will you be able to stop him?"
"Oh, I doubt it."
He freezes. For all his training, Hao was but a mere boy - a young disciple. Though strongest amongst his peers, he had yet remained insulated from the horrible dangers of the world under the careful wing of the sect. And now, for the first time in his life, Shi Hao felt true killing intent.
"Where are your manners, whelp? Face me when i talk."
Quietly, the young man complied, slowly turning to face the voice. His first thought, then, was paleness - the sheer paleness of this man's skin - almost rosy, in fact. Indeed, there were many weird things about this man - his unnatural size, the length of his hair, colored like gold as it flowed all the way down to his waist. Hao had seen many strong men in his life - his senior brothers, visitors from other sects to whom his own musculature was like that of a child. Yet in the face of this man, he feels they would have felt as he had. He noticed, too, the strange symbols, etched on his chest, and wondered what they meant.
"You southerners are far too easily impressed..." stated the stranger, his voice slow and sardonic - it was clear he greatly enjoyed this situation. "I assume you're one of the disciples of the local coven of...what did you call yourselves? Cultivators?" he continued, tapping his finger against his cheek. "Well? Are you not going to attack me? I am waiting, whelp."
Hao was frozen. Although he was never one to be boastful of his abilities, he had always thought that in the face of danger - in the face of a threat to his people, that he would continue to fight - to stand bravely against the odds. Yet even as he tried with all his might to move, he did not find himself able to, like an animal unable to move even as the predator closed in. He tried to scream - to insult the man, to declare he would protect his sect until his last breath. Yet when he opened his mouth, all that left was air - as if his words had bee stolen. This man had utterly crushed him - without having to so much as move a muscle. *"That's it? All that training, and when i finally get to use it, i just quake in fear? Have i been defeated so throughly?"
"No."
"They still haven't evacuated the village...the Elder must not have been warned yet. I need to stand! I need to buy them more time! I need to move! I need to stand! Even if it's just to make him laugh at how pathetic i am...I can't die without trying!"
And so he moved - even as every muscle in his body screamed for him to stop, to fall on the ground and close his eyes, he continued - forcing himself to raise his fists, forcing his legs to enter a fighting pose. He stared at the man, who seemed to stare with delight as the young disciple made his stand. His voice hoarse and shaky, Hao began to speak.
"I...I am Shi Hao...."
"I am a Disciple of the Honorable Path!"
"I shall stand by those unable to do it themselves! And i will not allow you to hurt my people!"
"So cross me if you dare!"
He finished, shouting with all his might. The barbarian, watching, simply stood in silence. After a few seconds of deadly silence, he began to smirk.
"It seems you are one of the brave ones... i am certain you would have achieved much, had it not been for this unlucky scenario. Very well!" he states, clapping his hands as he enters a fighting pose, much like his own. The aura of his killing intent - which had oppressively surrounded him, like a plate of armor, seemed to dim in Hao's very own eyes. "I've supressed my strength - as much of it as is possible! I could not be weaker even if i were dead."
He lets out a chuckle.
"Try to give me your best fight! We both know you can't beat me - but maybe you can damage me enough to let your dear elder finish me off."
Hao stares, incredulously - he has felt the man's aura dim - yet even now, what Chi he can detect continues to tower above his own, like a dragon facing a newborn pup. "This is his weakest form...? He cannot be telling the truth, can he?"
The thought terrifies him.
But he knows he has to push forward - even if it is a mere scratch, every second spent is a second gained for the village. "Grandfather...why are you taking so long?"
"I do not have much patience, boy. Take your last swing and go out as a warrior. "
He would oblige him. From the depths of his Tao Heart, Hao drew out everything he could - he steeled every ancestral bone in his body, every acupoint he had unlocked. He drew out everything! All his might and energy, into a single strike. Slowly, he began to move towards his enemy. Slowly, foot by foot, each step faster than the last. "Alright, then! If you want me to go out like a warrior, here it is! Take what i have!"
He leaped, and drew back his fist.
"Take it all!"
He let loose his punch - and struck the man across his face! And as if in a miracle, the man was sent reeling backwards, curving towards the floor! Immediately, he opened his eyes, as if confused by this sudden power. "What is this?!" he exclaimed, voice straining out. "How can a mere whelp wound me?!" he continued, screeching in pain as Hao, suspended in the air from his effort, continued his attack, pouring every last droplet of energy into this final blow. "I c-cannot believe it!"
"Believe that you would fall for such an obvious trick!"
Time slowed down to a halt for the young disciple as the ma he had thought to have overpowered struck out a wicked grin from ear to ear. As he felt a sudden, unassailable grip on his throat, he realized at last what had happened. Bursting out in racuous laughter, the invader stood upright, his face clear of so much as a blemish or scratch from his ultimate attack. "Did you truly believe such a pathetic little strike could wound me?" he declared between guffaws. "How pathetic must your clan be, if you are considered its disciple. I truly had suppressed my power - and yet you were not able to so much as inconvenience me!" His chortling ceasing for a moment, he raised the squirming disciple to meet his ice-blue eyes, his neck held just short of cracking beneath his iron grip. "You have outlived your amusement. I am done with you."
And then, as if disposing of litter, the barbarian threw the disciple away, flinging him at a nearby watchtower with ridiculous force. The disciple smashed through the wall, bringing the stonework collapsing down upon him. Exhausted by his previous attack, squeezed beneath the enemy's grip and now thrown with such abandoned, Hao's mind was surrounded in a haze of pain. His blood beginning to pool around his body, buried beneath the rubble, he accepted his fate, and embraced the darkness that began to surround him. As his mind slipped into the darkness, Hao wondered whether his friends had made it out, and hoped he had given them enough time...
Gyldenwulf was disappointed - he had hoped this whelp would have been able to give him some manner of entertetainment, to tap into some hidden potential he could have used to injure him, but alas, the sum of his energy like that of an insect compared to his own. "I suppose it was too much to expect of such a clan so pathetic as to live alongside mere mortals. It would seem that my sources greatly exaggerated the abilities of their leader." Running his hand down his voluptuous hair, the barbarian scoffed. *"It has been too long since i've had a good fight..."
His contemplations were broken when, from the shadows, a monstruous snarl erupted.
Immediately, he turned his head, his expression lively yet again as he looked upon the newcomer - a giant beast, standing at twice his very own size. Like a monster out of a huntsman's tale, the light gray-furred lupine beast approached him, its maw tinged red with the ichor of its newest victims. Yet rather than attack him, the creature bowed its head, like a loyal beast meeting its master. "There you are, my dear Lupa." said Gyldenwulf, as he began ruffling her head. "I take it you have dealt with the remainder of this sect, mhm?" The she-wolf growled in response. The invader smiled. "As usual, of course. I hope they put up an interesting fight, at least!" She growled yet again. "Well, there was little we could expect out of such a minor sect. Alas, my catch were no less disappointing!" Another snarl. Turning around suddenly, he clapped his hands.
"Well!" he exclaimed, his voice as jovial and sardonic as ever. "Let us check, then, if there were any treasures worth our time." And so, the odd duo began to walk towards the now empty husk of Fenghao, leaving behind the broken body and buried dreams of the young disciple.
They vanished into the darkness.