"Have you completed the task?" A man asked, swirling the wine in his cup. His eyes were glinting, cold with redness deep within it.

"Yes, master." A figure replied, a magnificent sword by his side, his body bowing down. His face was covered with a white cloth, but his eyes were dull, his face cold and hard.

"Good job, were you able to find anything out?" The man asked once more, a smirk on his face.

"The Dark Lord has met a girl. From what they were saying, the girl said that she was his sister, it seems like the Dark Lord believed her. I also met some other people on my task, another girl was there, most likely someone else who is going to be helping him."

The man froze before he resumed the smirk on his face. He took the final sip from his cup, setting it down as he walked towards the figure.

He smiled, a smile that wasn't a smile, and reached for the white cloth, pulling away from the figure's face.

"You have done well, ShuYan." The man said, his hand leaning towards ShuYan's face and fixed a slip of his hair.

"Thank you, master," ShuYan replies, his eyes still dull and gray, as if he had no control of what was happening.

"You may get up, I want you to accompany me for something," As the man said this, he grasped ShuYan's hands, pulling him up to stand. The man walked side by side with ShuYan, his eyes never once leaving him.

The man led him along a path, walking past flowers and trees, across a pond before they stopped by a gate. The man pushed open the gates with one hand, his other hand still grasping onto ShuYan. As they set foot into the courtyard, they entered a path that led them to a room. The man pushed open the door, pulling ShuYan with him to enter a room with elegant decorations.

The room was not a gloomy type, it was neat and settled. No amount of dust was piled, as if it had been cleaned everyday. Though it did have some priceless treasures in the room, it did not make the room seem flashy.

On the table, a guqin sat upon it, a pure white with one streak of darkness running across it. ShuYan did not show any emotion as he stepped into the room, his eyes still hard, his face still remaining cold.

"Do you know what this is?" The man asked once, looking carefully to see what ShuYan's reaction would be. His hidden tension faded away when ShuYan did not seem to show any remembrance of the instrument.

"I do not. Is it of any importance?" With the same monotone voice, ShuYan replied and asked a question at the same time.

The man showed a smile, reaching for ShuYan's face and pulling it towards his own. His eyes were no longer glinting, instead, a calmness seemed to creep in, seeing as how ShuYan didn't seem to be having any trouble with what he had told him.

"It is. This instrument was something that I had taught you how to play, this was your most powerful weapon. I had taught you everything needed for you to learn how to equip this instrument and turn it into a weapon. It is a shame that the Dark Lord had taken you away from me, that he had sealed you away from me. I was able to unseal you, but you have forgotten a big chunk of your memories. After you were sealed, I was able to find the Dark Lord and seal him too. Now, he has return, and he will do everything to destroy this world." The man said, his eyes turning red with sorrow.

"ShuYan, tell me that no matter what, you will stay by my side like before. Even if the worst is to come, you must never betray me. I will do everything in my power to protect you, along with you, I will be stronger than anything." As the man said this, he pulled ShuYan and hugged him. With his face out of view from ShuYan, he smiled. His smile was evil, and his eyes were filled with hatred.

He had never expected for it to be this easy. To get ShuYan to become his own weapon, he had used a forbidden spell on him to seal his memories, at least the ones with the Dark Lord. With that, he worked on entrapping ShuYan's soul and turned him into something like a puppet, but not quite like one. ShuYan was still his own being, he was just loyal to him now. Unless told to, ShuYan would never betray him. ShuYan followed only him now. The Dark Lord may not even be able to go up against the ShuYan now.

Along with making him loyal, he also worked on improving ShuYan's power. Using some of the most rarest treasures in the world, ShuYan had become an existence dangerous to all. As long as he controlled ShuYan, ShuYan would be able to help him climb to the top of the world. After all, ShuYan was now being fed lies to him.

Even though he didn't want to, he still had to lie to ShuYan about their relationship. This way, the Dark Lord wouldn't be able to tell ShuYan anything and ShuYan wouldn't believe him even if he says so.

"Yes, master, I will never betray you." ShuYan replied, his thoughts in a whirl now. All he seemed focused on now was to protect this man. He must protect him, he must become the most powerful weapon by his side.

The man pulled away from ShuYan, his eyes now soft as he looked towards ShuYan.

He didn't need to worry. There was no need. He had already replaced the Dark Lord's figure in ShuYan's memories, and replaced it with his own.

"Do you remember the instrument now?" As he asked this question, he waited for an answer.

As ShuYan thought, an image popped up. A man with a guqin, his fingers playing it elegantly as waves of beautiful yet deadly music was playing off of it. Just as soon as it came, it went away. ShuYan looked up at his master.

"I do. I...I believe that I know how to use it now." ShuYan seemed sure, but he was wondering what that memory was. Was it just his master? But it also seemed like it wasn't....Just who was that man?

The man smiled, "Good, that is perfect." With that said, his tension disappeared, his mind only focused on revenge now.

Now, even the Dark Lord won't be able to stop him.

And once he was done with him, he was going for ShuYan next.