The guard captain was standing just to the side and in front of her, with his saber drawn and pointed toward the ground with a downward diagonal angle. He hurriedly recovered from his slash and lifted his saber in front of himself. The long pink ribbon tassel swayed in the wind, which caused the small chain and connecting ring to tinkle softly. His eyes shot to the left and right as he searched worriedly for the blue eyed man.

At the same time the woman also looked around, “What was that?”

The other three women were furious. The one that had her arms crossed earlier had to be held back by her two friends. She had rushed forward, crying out, “You dirty scoundrel! Get back here and take a proper beating from this Lady!”

Before the confused woman could figure out what was going on, the top of the stick of incense in front of her flew into the air. She looked to her side and saw a black iris. It was a color of black so deep she had never seen anything like it. It seemed even darker than the blackest shadow. As she was wondering just what it was, that blue eyed fellow leapt out of it. The space tear closed up neatly behind him and something clattered onto the ground in front of her. She looked down and saw it. The Swift Horizon Arrow.

“Impossible! How did you do that? The Swift Horizon arrow can fly a hundred miles and moves just slower than thunder.”

That blue eyed man had a cocky smile on his face as he spoke, “Hahaha! You think that’s impossible? It was child’s play. That little arrow can’t even move faster than sound? Too easy for me.”

He swung his saber again, this time not towards the woman or the guard and another black rip appeared. The iris-like shape was in a diagonal orientation this time, but he didn’t seem to care, leaping forward and diving into the widest part of it. His body went completely horizontal to fit into the small gap, flattening himself out and disappearing into that dark space. Almost instantly, the crack closed and another appeared a hundred yards away beside Sage. The blue eyed fellow dove out and sheathed his saber at his hip with a flourish. Well, he made the gesture of sheathing it, at which point it disappeared into thin air.

From the back of his lion, Sage smiled at the woman and then moved his gaze over to the second of the four women. Seeing this, the woman understood his meaning and grumbled loudly. She kicked over the halved incense stick that was still standing and then walked over to the other three ladies with a huff. Two of them were still holding back their friend, but at this point the angry woman pulled her arms free. She pushed her friends off, “I’m next!”

The other two exchanged a reluctant glance and then gave up. They focused their efforts on consoling the first woman that had returned and ignored their furious friend.

Said furious friend was actually pleased to no longer be held back and rushed up to where the first woman had been standing. She glared at Sage upon the back of the lion, looking like she was trying to burn a hole through him with her stare. Sage felt quite uncomfortable with this gaze upon him, sensing some sort of power within it. Then she broke her stare and examined the three men standing on the ground in front of Sage’s lion. Her eye twitched slightly and then she snorted, “You must dance to please the heavens!”

Two of the men instantly lost their arrogant looks. Blue and silvery eyes met and a hint of fear flashed across them. Then they turned back to look towards Sage with trepidation. The furious woman started to smile, but then her face froze. The third man stepped forward. Unlike the other two, he had a visible weapon, the hilt of a sword poked up over his shoulder. He had long fiery red hair, the top half of it was pulled into a bun on the back of his head, while the lower half hung freely behind and over his shoulders. He also had some longer bangs that covered half his face, which combined with his refined demeanor lent him a mysteriously confident air. Of course, this feeling was somewhat disturbed by the fact that this man was abnormally small, both in height and overall size. With half his face covered by his long bangs, the other half was dominated by a very large mouth, one which now opened to answer the woman, “Start the music.”

The woman was caught off guard, she wasn’t expecting one of these gruff fellows to step forward so quickly. Even so she recovered from her surprise in just a moment and then waved to her friends. They rolled their eyes and then musical instruments appeared in their hands. A two-stringed Erhu appeared in the hands of one, a table with a zither in front of another, and a flute appeared in the hands of the third. As for the angry woman, a large drum appeared on either side of her. The other three had stools appear behind them and they took a seat, but the furious woman in front did no such thing. Instead, she pulled out a sash and tied her long sleeves back, then a striker appeared in each of her hands and she swung them out to either side. There was a loud ‘boom’ from each of the two drums, and she looked like she was trying to furiously hug the sky.

That initial thrum of the drums signaled the start, and when the echo of the drum faded, she spun to one side and struck both sticks against the drum in front of her with a rapid pace. The rumbling drum set the beat for the others and they used it to join in seamlessly. The four of them hadn’t discussed a thing, but they played together like they’d done it thousands of times in the past. The song had a harrowed feel to it, giving the listener a sad and haunted feeling, interspersed with the urgency of worried percussion.

Without any sign of nervousness or hesitation, the short red haired gentleman stepped forward and leapt into the air. He twirled in the air, performing a spin reminiscent of a figure skater. As he spun through the air, the sky dimmed. The trees and plants dotted around the front courtyard of the Zhu Clan suddenly wilted. Their leaves darkened and wilted, and a cold wind blew across the dozens of guards and the hundreds arranged in columns outside the gates that had followed Sage here. The leaves dropped from the trees, carried away by the wind and creating a beautiful red, orange, and brown landscape. The red haired man touched down upon the ground and then swept forward. The sword over his shoulder was drawn with a smooth and slow motion, then the tip of it drifted down to make contact with the packed earth of the path. He spun again, tracing a circle into the ground around him. The sword kept moving in wide slow circles, spinning up into the air and carrying him into more spins.

The sky continued to darken and cold winds blew, matching the sad and haunted tone of the song that was playing. Then the sword fell back to the ground, no longer sweeping around beautifully in time with his spins. Instead, the tip fell tiredly to the soil. The dance suddenly lost all its energy, he slowed down and slumped forwards. The sword dragged across the ground and he stomped forward with forced steps that looked like he had lost all hope.

A chilling breeze swept across all of those gathered, and the sky turned grey. Thick clouds formed above them and cold sunk into their bones. The previously bright and sunny spring day was broken by the bleak winter. Snow fell from the sky, swirling around them and shocking those of the Zhu Clan. Unknowingly, the song’s haunting melody turned darker, bleaker, slower.