HEARTS OF THE BROKEN

A woman in her mid forties stared frozen at the wall across from her. Atop the wall was a simple, wooden tablet, holding a particularly small, but well-carved jade stone. Just a moment ago, the jade had been glowing in silver, illuminating the wooden tablet lightly, yet now it had cracked and split in half, falling onto the floor like broken glass. The woman’s hands were shaking as she gestured forward, caressing the place jade stone was a moment ago; her eyes grew watery and her lips trembled. A pain expression was soon seen as she lowered her head, retracting her arm. She then got up, her silken night-gown trotting the glazed floor beneath as she walked back, leaving the room and heading towards the balcony.

The balcony was rather small, its fence plain and simple, but it happened to be lingeringly high, overlooking a city beneath. The sun was yet to erode from the sky, and it was empty of clouds. She sat onto a wooden, rocking chair as she glanced up, tears streaming down her cheeks. She didn’t bother wiping them, nor did she tried to conceal her sorrow. A moment later, her lips parted and a beautiful, angelic voice sounded as she began singing; a peerless beauty, concealed within the shadow of age, gently sung, as if it was the last song she will ever sing.

“She bore empyrean…

Her shoulders askew…

Heart borne the pain…

Soar the mighty rue…

Gentle winds and howls…

Beasts of yore elate…

Woeful whelps construed…

Scarlet, the midday rain…

Her voice perished so…

Her wings caught ablaze…

‘Till sun had changed the hue…

The hearts of wicked swayed…

Mothers ripply cry…

Their voices of decay…

For words are a vow…

And death is the day…

Judgment is done…

No more smiles to bear…

Winds and rains they lie…

For lies they awake…

Farewell one I love…

I have failed your way…

For you I have fought…

But it was all in vain…

I will fight some more…

‘Till sinners are away…

‘Till shackles bind the wrong…

And wronged are saved…”

The woman then gently strode her hand over a piece of jewelry; it was a rather crude and novel necklace made out of oaken wood, and the first signs of age appeared on its surface. Yet, the woman held it against her bosom as if it was her most precious treasure, humming lowly a melody as she rocked in a chair.

**

Roughly at the same time – within the same building – a middle-aged man’s face froze and his already wrinkled features aged even more. Her eyes steamed anger and hate as his hands clenched in fists. His gaze immediately found a black-clad man in the corner; there were currently twelve people seated around a rectangular, stone table. All of them fell silent, but it was clear they were all on alert, waiting for man’s reaction.

“Forgive us, Old Yun,” black-clad figure spoke rather nonchalantly. “It was an unavoidable sacrifice.”

“…” the man stared at him, saying nothing. His body was trembling, his heart cracked; the only reason he was sitting here was so he could protect his daughter when the appointed day appeared. Yet, his daughter died. He had betrayed his ancestors, had lost the respect and love of his wife, had even slain his own younger brother… all for this simple sake; yet, it all came crashing down. “Get out.” he said lowly.

“What?” the black-clad figure’s eyes narrowed, a cold glint flashing through his eyes.

“ALL OF YOU, GET THE F*CK OUT OF MY HOUSE!!!” the man suddenly stood up, his fist punching the table which immediately crumbled, startling everyone present. “Out!! OUT!!! Out before I have you all f*cking beheaded! OUT!!”

“Old Yun, calm down--”

“Calm down?! CALM DOWN?!!” the middle-aged man actually spat in the face of the man who tried to change his mind. “My daughter was just butchered, and you’re asking me to calm down?! Get out!! GET OUT NOW!”

“Is this how you conduct business, senile far?!” the black-clad figure, clearly fearless, mocked the man. “We’ve all sacrifice many great things for this cause, yet you’re willing to abandon everything because of your daughter? Were your convictions really that weak?”

“My convictions?” the middle-aged man looked at him coldly, his eyes full of burning hatred and agony. “Let me tell you of my convictions. You,” he pointed at all eleven people currently standing. “All of you are willing to betray your country, your ancestors, your children and your people… as was I! What for?! What for I ask? Because they threatened they would kill us? Here is my conviction: f*ck you. The only reason I’m standing here is because of Anna. Not only did you force me to banish her, not only did you force me to send her off to some backwater sect, not only did you force me to publicly cut all my ties with her, not only did you sentence my wife to lifetime house arrest, not only did you ask me to kill my own brother, and now you even killed my daughter. Yet, you still have balls to question my conviction?” he suddenly took a step forward, after which he appeared in front of the black-clad figure. Old Yun grabbed the figure by the neck and raised him up in the air.

“Old Yun, what are you doing?!” the black-clad figure’s calmness disappeared, as he clearly never expected the middle-aged man to react this way. “If you kill me, none of your countrymen will be spared! We will massacre your entire lineage!”

“Ha ha,” Old Yun suddenly laughed. “You – a lowly dog – dare threaten me? After informing me of my daughter’s death?! HAHAHAH!” there was a brief sound of cracking, and life faded away from the black-clad figure’s eyes. His neck snapped directly, his head leaned left, almost at a perfect, ninety degrees angle. As others saw this, they immediately began leaving the room, for fear of living through the same fate.

“Little An’…” Old Yun’s face grew solemn as he let go, a light body crashing onto the floor. “How can I even ask for your forgiveness?”

**

Elynal had finally found a relatively isolated mountain and carved out a small cave. He had been traveling for full two days without a stop before finally choosing to rest. As he gently put Lynne down, he couldn’t help but shake his head again; Lynne’s situation didn’t improve at all. He was still just skin and bones, and he hadn’t woken once during the past two days. Elynal checked his pulse, and it was still there. Although Lynne’s breathing was silent, it was still here. However weak he looked, he was alive.

Elynal then crashed back onto the floor, his entire body growing limp. The scenes of Anna’s death were burned into every corner of his mind, and he couldn’t forget them, or ignore them. They replayed, over and over again, while he helplessly hoped to wake up from the dream. Yet, the dream continued, growing increasingly cold. This was supposed to be an adventure, where the three of them experienced world. He didn’t even bother wondering where Thalia went; he knew perfectly well that Thalia was an enigma. Even though she was technically a part of Immortal Magus Sect, she rarely – if ever – stayed there. She had her own Master, and it was probably her Master who saved her. He would be lying if he said he didn’t feel any hate towards her; yet, he couldn’t muster enough strength to divide his hatred. He wasn’t like Lynne, who didn’t know anything about the world’s affairs. He knew rather well the background of most of the characters who appeared two days ago. He knew their ties, he knew how deep their roots were. Yet, regardless of his knowledge, there wasn’t anything he could do to change it.

Just a moment later, the ground beneath him shook gently; he immediately grew alert, but his body didn’t listen. He couldn’t even move a finger, just stare at the spot where earth began cramping up. A mere moment later, round and haired head veered out, looking around curiously. As the monkey spotted Lynne and Elynal, he prompted upwards, reaching his hand back into the hole, dragging a bird from it into the cave. Elynal finally relaxed as he recognized the two; although they lost the bird within the sect’s grounds, Elynal never feared that the bird died.

“Holy crap, what’s wrong with Lynne?!!” the monkey suddenly exclaimed when he noticed shriveled up body situated in the corner.

“Most-likely a severe backlash,” Elynal sighed; he knew many Forbidden Arts himself, yet, no matter how much he pondered, he couldn’t remember what type caused such a massive backlash. “Usually, the aftermath wouldn’t be this severe… I haven’t a clue what he did…”

However, after a brief inspection, the bird and the monkey immediately understood. How couldn’t they? They were both aware that Lynne possessed the Gift of Infinity, and he most-likely went overboard with it. The bird and the monkey had hid away underground during the battle, so they didn’t witness Lynne’s eruption. Nonetheless, they were clear on the issue. The bird then gestured the monkey as the two began talking mentally.

“Although he had a major burnout, it’s actually within the relative rules,” the bird explained. “There are quite a few herbs that can reverse his situation in a day or two.”

“Hm,” the monkey nodded, knowingly. “The best one is definitely Mountain Ice Lotus. Problem is, though, that it is extremely rare. If we lower the requirements, we might leave some cracks in his foundation. We definitely can’t allow that.”

“Damn brat, did he really have to go and nearly kill himself?” the bird cursed.

“Did you notice?” the monkey said in a rather serious tone. “Anna’s not here.”

“Ah, it’s true! What happened? Ah…” there wasn’t really a need to ask, as they both could understand from Elynal’s expression.

“I’ll go and look for the lotus,” the monkey said. “You stay here and gently infuse your Mana with him. Since your Mana has ice property, it should help soothe his burned body. Don’t inject too much though, as there’s no way his body can actually circulate any Mana at the moment.”

“Hurry up,” the bird said. “I can at best keep him steady for two weeks or so. Anything past that and his condition will worsen.”

“Ugh, I’ll have to rush North then,” the monkey grunted as he thought about the journey. “I remember seeing a Lotus Tree a few decades ago there. I might be lucky enough to find it. Don’t move from this cave, as I have no way of locating you afterwards.”

“Good luck.”

“Yeah…”

“I’ll go and look for a herb that will help Lynne,” the monkey then explained to Elynal. “The bird will be keeping him afloat for the time being, so you can just relax here. Don’t move out, and wait for me here.”

“Alright…” Elynal said simply.

The monkey then burrowed back into the ground and disappeared, leaving behind solemn silence. Elynal didn’t dare look into his spacial pouch; he felt a sense of urgency to deliver Anna’s body back to her parents, as he knew that any delay might result in him being too late. Knowing Old Yun’s and Lady Lan’s temper, there’s a chance the two might die before he gets to them. However, he still couldn’t abandon Lynne; in his eyes, Lynne was an innocent bystander who got caught up in the whirlpool of political intrigue and splendid betrayal. Yet, he still risked his life for the strangers.

However, what Elynal – and as the matter of fact Lynne himself – didn’t know, that the shriveled up and fragile youth was one of the major causes for the continental shifts, and changes that are yet to come…