Wen Reian

2019 years after The Long Night

Sanlín City

A’Jun couldn’t stop smiling. She hadn’t stopped since they’d left the palace and there didn’t seem to be any sign she’d stop soon. Wen Reian was gazing fondly at her from a little ways away, as the newly turned sixteen year old girl zigged and zagged through the trees. They had just passed through Sanlín City and had begun their several day journey toward Xibù Shataar…

If only Yi-jun and Songcai could see her now, Reian mused thoughtfully. She’s so happy to be out, exploring! Just like how Yi-jun was. They really are so alike-

“Uncle Wen!! Look, what kind of bird is that?!”

Reian frowned, staring at where A’Jun was pointing.

Perched lightly upon a low branch of a nearby tree, a small ebony starling sat, blinking bright blue eyes down at them. Of course, Song-jun was mesmerized.

Wen Rei stopped for a moment, more admiring his niece’s fascination with the little creature than the bird itself… if he had been paying more attention to their surroundings it would have been obvious that something was amiss. The sounds of the forest had grown still, the faint breeze carrying with it the scent of strangers, causing the animals to all scurry away.

As the young starling’s sweet melody rang out, Reian finally heard the faint echo of other’s breathing aside from their own…

Suddenly, like darkness descending on the day, Reian and Song-jun were surrounded by rusty swords pointed at their hearts. Wen Reian heard the crackle of branches under the feet of the strangers, and then felt panic rising in his throat watching A’Jun take a few steps toward him. The dozen or so men, all in black, all sporting heavy strips of cloth that hid their faces from view, had cornered them in the middle of the clearing.

“We’ve happened upon royalty, boys!” One of them called, the others never swaying their gazes from Wen Rei and the Princess.

“And they’re unarmed-”

Reian watched A’Jun’s fists tightened and the shimmer of the Assassin's Cord that was twined around her wrist. Reian froze as he felt the sharp tip of a blade press against his shoulder blade, and everything in him slowed until he wasn’t even aware anymore of his own breathing. Only A’Jun’s protective stance, guarding me-

One of the strangers sneered; “Well that’s not very smart of them!”

Wen Rei opened his mouth, prepared to bargain or beg them, when A’Jun suddenly attacked first.

Reian watched as with a quick flick of her wrist, she had struck the swords from the hands of two men, recoiling quickly and moving to face Wen Reian. The healer blinked, seeing the familiar shine in the young girl’s eyes that was just as fearsome and protective as her fathers’.

Before the girl could strike out again, Reian was gasping in surprise as he was being caught with an arm around his neck and yanked back.

“Let him go!”

Song-jun nearly lunges forward as Reian flailed and struggled to detach the strong arm but all he could do was barely strangle out a warning for A’Jun as five of the strangers ran towards her.

Ah! Curse myself for not taking up Yi-jun on his offer of defense training… I know I’ll never hear the end of it now-

Reian cried; “A’Jun! Behind…”

She sensed them just as he spoke and the healer felt tears stinging his eyes as he continued to be dragged through the dirt and leaves by the strong man, trying with everything in his body to get free and help the Princess.

She was doing well, he thought.

Song-jun dodged and avoided every slash of the stranger's blades. She was far too quick for them, and even had most of the men disarmed by the time Reian finally got free and managed to get his hands on some skin-

Pain. Just pain, think pain…

“Arghh!”

The man who had been holding Reian groaned, the healer’s powers flowing from his core into him and probably feeling like stinging needles throughout his entire body.

“Uncle!!” Reian jumped back from the man’s writhing form as he crumpled to the ground, spinning and freezing again when he saw A’Jun being held by one of the men; his blade against her throat. No-

The man in question was glaring at Wen Rei furiously, his mask having been pulled down to reveal his broken nose, likely the Princesses doing.

“Don’t hurt her,” Reian begged.

He felt his whole body tense as he watched a thin trickle of blood spill from A’Jun’s neck, and her terrified expression.

The man holding her only tightened his grip, and Wen Rei swallowed as panic made his stomach churn. Something burning and painful grew inside his heart, seeing A’Jun slowly mouth the word; “Run.”

Never, I’ll never leave you-

As the feeling inside him grew stronger, Wen Rei became aware of the handful of men who’d recovered their senses and their weapons, gradually converging on him.

“I was just going to help myself to your valuables,” the man holding Song-jun gritted his teeth.

“But perhaps I should just take my time, and get my reward out of her!”

Song-jun cried out in pain as the blade dug deeper, and a sickly rage bubbled up from Reian’s heart, watching the man smile at her.

It was a strangely familiar sensation… that fury. And Wen Reian knew that if he could just get over there alive, the stranger would die the second he got his hands on him!

Just then, a commotion behind him alerted Reian to the presence of others. Hearing the sounds of a fight between the bandits and the newcomers, Reian took the chance, the few moments of confusion to sprint over to A’Jun, who’d done the same; breaking free of the man’s grip and quickly going about knocking his sword from his hand while he stumbled back in shock. Wen Rei cared little for whomever or whatever had come to their aid, sending a surge of power into the cruel man's body, making his face contort in pain as he fell.

“Uncle!” Song-jun gasped, and when Reian at last turned to the mess behind them, his eyes widened at once…

What the-

All but three of the bandits had been killed in the last few seconds while they had their backs turned. A young boy was grappling with one of the remaining men, while a strikingly tall and oddly dressed stranger fought off the two others.

Reian held A’Jun’s wrist tightly as they watched in silent astonishment; the tall dark man, fluid as a shadow as he plunged two pointed spears directly into the hearts of the bandits, then returned the bloody things back to the straps across his back…

His every move was strangely unbothered, yet the brutality of his kills was inexplicable. Reian wondered why he was more afraid of him than the bandits.

It all happened in a flash. The last of the masked men, tossing the young boy straight into a tree; his skull knocking against it and making a horrible dull thudding sound. Then the tall man placed his gloved hands around the bandits neck, twisting as easily as one would unscrew a lid. The man died instantly, falling to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

To Reian’s wonder and also horror, A’Jun didn’t react at all to the ghastly sight. The healer’s stomach on the other hand clenched, and then he ended up freezing when he spotted the tall man’s piercing eyes upon him…

Danger! Everything within Wen Reian was screaming it as he took in all the blood spattered across the stranger’s dark clothes. The man with the two crossed spears upon his back, who seemed to be scanning them with sharp, unreadable eyes.

Song-jun was still wild-eyed, struggling in Reian’s to run over where the boy had fallen. Web Reian squeezed his hand on her shoulder and stopped her. The Princess began to plead...

“Uncle! Look, he’s hurt-”

Still, Wen Rei’s concern was not for the boy, but his companion. Reian couldn’t be sure if his fear was solely because of the man’s brutality, or if his strangeness had anything to do with it; his tattoos, one drawing a line down his lower lip onto his chin, and the other odd things… tokens and rings of metal woven intricately into thin braids scattered throughout his hair- the color of his eyes which made them look as if they were glowing.

Where is he from? I’ve never seen anyone like him in my life...

As Reian searched deeper inside those eyes, a small shiver of alarm ran through his body as he located something, or… the absence of something. He has no soul!?

Wen Reian, who had spent so many years learning the intricate details of auras and how they behaved and changed, couldn’t locate a single spark inside this man to distinguish him from that of a stone, a gust of wind, or a lurking shadow.

There is nothing...

Inside the man’s every breath, there was nothing but emptiness, coldness. Similar to Xie Yi-jun all those years ago, when once upon a time the King had sealed his own aura, except where Yi-jun’s suppression had in turn caused the man to weaken and grow sick and frail, this stranger didn’t appear at all affected by what Reian assumed to be the most intense case of soul-repression he’d ever seen.

That is, if this man is even alive-

“Uncle, please! You have to heal him!”

Song-jun’s begging finally tugged at Reian’s heart, who hadn’t broken eye-contact with the tall man in what felt like ages, more than a little afraid he might suddenly decide to turn on them.

Against his will, Wen Rei found himself tugged by A'Jun all the way to the tree that the boy had been thrown against. The tall man watched as Song-jun bent and checked the boy’s pulse… Reian could already feel that the boy had a nasty head wound, but he would be okay. Feeling his fingers twitch, the urge and compassion inside him to ease someone’s pain surfacing as per usual, Wen Reian managed somehow to tear his gaze away from the other man, kneeling beside the boy and taking his wrist-

“What are you doing?”

Reian’s breath caught in his throat, a coldness seizing at him and running down his spine at hearing the dark man’s voice for the first time. Beside Reian, Song-jun was frowning, clearly distressed. So Reian answered the man as if he was trying to console the Princess instead.

“He will be okay,” the healer nodded, having already sent enough of his energy into the boy to begin the healing process.

Wen Reian was the best healer alive, second only to Jin Songcai, and that being the case, Reian was able to continue spiritually and physically healing someone without touching them, seeing them, or even being in the same room. It had taken many years of trial and error and studying, but with Songcai’s instruction, now it came as easy to Wen Rei as breathing.

Back then, as he’d learned, he’d taken advantage of his connection to Yi-jun and Songcai, their bond allowing Reian to sense if the two were fatigued or in pain, though Songcai very infrequently… Wen Reian would always send a little piece of his aura to them, pathways opening between their minds and bodies that started what Songcai called ‘conversation’ of healing. Reian could mend people’s injuries and anxieties in his sleep. Yet when it came to his own…

A’Jun was already helping the boy to stand by the time Reian realized he needed to address the strangers and what they had done. Bodies lay upon the forest floor, most looking as if they didn’t have a single mark on them, like death had just seized their lives suddenly.

Wen Rei swallowed, truly dreading exchanging any words with the strange looking man, who was staring at him with his arms crossed and eyes suspiciously narrowed…

“Here, slowly…“ Song-jun eased the young boy up and then she sighed in relief.

“Thank you both so much! I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t shown up when you did. Right, Uncle?”

Reian realized he was being spoken to but all he could manage was a slow nod. Endless green eyes striped with gold, sparkling in the sun dripping through the trees, they were his only sense that the stranger was a human being. There was no pulse of life-energy, no movement. It was more than unsettling…

The healer cleared his throat and spoke with effort; Yes. And… and you would be?”

He didn’t like the look of the tall man’s weapons, the likes of which he’d never seen before. And who gets tattoos on their face like that?! Is he some sort of wild animal?

The boy A’Jun was helping groaned softly in pain, and then Reian heard him mumble;

“Master? Master Lan, are you alright?!”

The man spoke to him evenly, while never breaking eye-contact with Wen Reian…

“Yes. We will continue now,”

Reian’s lips seemed sealed shut. He couldn’t keep from feeling like he should take Song-jun out of here as soon as possible. The Princess of course had other ideas.

“Wait a second!” She cried, “You just saved our lives, I must repay you!”

Reian gave her a look that told her to be silent but she didn’t see it, already gesturing, ‘talking with her hands’ as Yi-jun called it, overly-fond and patient with his daughter’s antics.

“Where are you headed?” She said.

The boy answered, and as he did Reian watched in almost a perfect prediction of his fears as A’Jun’s bright eyes lit up.

“Xibù Shataar?! What a coincidence, don’t you think, uncle? Say, how about you travel with us. Only for a few short days… it’ll be safer and we’d love the company!”

A social butterfly. Reian should have expected the girl’s invitation. He desperately wanted to refuse it, citing some made-up claim as to why it wouldn’t work out, but to his surprise it was the tall man; Lan, something? Who approved it first.

“Mn,” he replied. And that was it.