Chapter 10: Rage of a Father

The morning sun shined brightly, signaling the start to a new day. Different species of birds hovered all around as they tweeted their daily song. It was a melody that not even the restless Heian Shan could grow tired of.

"Wake up, Ting!" he commanded. With far more force than was needed, he shook his brother awake.

Ting looked at him with tired, groggy eyes. Ever since he awakened that destructive power, each night was filled with nightmares repeating the horrifying events of that day. The bodies of soldiers simply doing as they were told, dismembered beyond recognition and strewn throughout the blackened field.

"Go forage for some berries, would ya? I'll go check the traps." Without waiting to hear his brother's answer, Heian scampered off, a shiny new blade in hand.

Ting shook his head. Many scars were received while stealing that weapon from a particularly agile Zhou scout. The new wounds intertwined with old ones on his brother's large forearms.

He yawned as he traipsed toward the shrubbery close to the border of the forest. Countless red berries of questionable edibility hung from their branches. The boy could only groan as he imagined the horrible indigestion it would likely give him.

Holding the berry up to his eye, Ting inspected it closely. As long as the berries weren't poisonous, he'd be able to manage.

'Red,' he thought, 'like the color of blood. Like the color of—'

He winced as the image of that one soldier who cried out for his mother flashed into his mind.

'He must've had a family, a home. And it was all taken away by me. If only Heian hadn't attacked them. If only they hadn't confronted us. If only—'

"Ting!" Heian called out. "Where are those berries? I'm practically starving for something sweet!"

'...if only my heart was as cold as his.'

Ting's mind shifted to his otherworldly power. Though he wished to never call upon it again, he wanted to give it a name; preferably one that conveyed its destructive nature with one simple word.

The boy's lips quivered as he remembered how it came to be. His emotions had manifested themselves into a physical form — one that consisted purely of light crashing down from the high heavens.

It was then that a word a Zhou emissary once used to describe his nation's destiny came to mind. The patriotic man framed his deteriorating homeland as the sole beckon of the heavenly rays of light, also known as Guang.

"Guang," Ting muttered quietly, "That name will do for now…"

~

By the time the sun sat atop the treeline, the pair was already on their merry way. The only baggage Heian carried was the dagger and a small pack of food. Ting, on the other hand, was completely unequipped.

"You better not drop dead out of exhaustion today!" said Heian. "I'm doing all the heavy lifting after all,"

"What heavy lifting? You're carrying next to nothing," Ting muttered. If there was one thing that Heian had shown remorse over, it was their packs that were destroyed in the blast.

"No matter, we'll be back home before sundown. Then we can have a celebration. With you by our side, no nation will dare provoke us."

Ting remained silent.

"Ting?"

"What?"

"Why didn't you answer me?"

"What'd you want me to say? I haven't been able to reawaken that power you know. Besides, I already told you, I don't want to—"

Heian spun around without breaking his stride and shot him a menacing look.

"Stop being so self-centered," the man snapped, "Think about the good this will do for our clan. You're our savior. The clansmen just don't know it yet."

The brothers continued, stopping only for lunch. Heian talked endlessly, much to the dread of Ting, who wanted nothing more than to see his niece again. And yet, upon reaching the final outpost at the base of the mountain, something seemed amiss.

"Where is everybody?" pondered Ting. Despite the outpost being quite a walk away from the village, villagers usually lingered nearby in anticipation of the occasional visitor. However, this time, not even the guards were present.

The sound of a sharp object slicing through the air came from Heian's right. Without so much as a glance, the man caught the arrow midair, centimeters away from his temple.

"We're under attack!" he cried out.

Chucking the arrow aside, he pulled out his knife. More arrows approached from the same direction, only to be parried with minimal movement from Heian. A frustrated grunt sounded from behind the greenery, then the arrows began raining down from trees barely within view behind the guard hut.

Heian continued to ward off the arrows. "What the hell are you doing?" he hissed at Ting, who was curled up with his arms covering his head, "Awaken that power of yours! I can't do this forever!"

His little brother answered in quick whispers. "What happened to our family? I can't go all-in if I don't know if they're safe."

"Then don't go all in! Just awaken just enough to take out these assassins!"

"What? How—"

Before he could finish, Ting howled out in pain as one arrow pierced him at the center of the right kneecap.

"Damn it," growled Heian. "You're useless!"

The next arrow that was shot at Heian came from behind. He managed to turn around just in time, but rather than redirect the projectile, his blade took the brunt of its momentum head on. The arrow shattered, as did the knife.

"Uh oh."

His brother was now lying on the ground, whimpering as he held his bleeding knee. It was at that point that Heian realized the severity of the situation. Picking up the handle with fragments of the shattered blade still attached, he chucked it in the direction of the first assailant. Yet another arrow answered, this time piercing his left shoulder.

"Ah—" he seethed, sucking air between his teeth as he tried not to yell. Not that it mattered; at this point, he was prepared to be taken down by a barrage without so much as a chance to say any last words.

"Hold your fire!" a booming voice sounded from within the trees.

Ting and Heian looked toward the direction of the sound. Out of the forest came a large, big bellied man. Though he wore the intricately sewn tunics of a typical Zhuang clan villager, his uniformly brown-colored eyes gave away that he was anything but.

"You've been beaten," declared the newcomer, who then sneered. "And now you'll do as we say, or die like the rest of your village."

Those words were all Heian needed to break into a crazed frenzy. Without a second thought, he leapt up, dodging an incoming volley of arrows as he charged toward the man. He didn't care much for the outside world, or even most members of the clan. Even so, there was one person who mattered to him more than anything. The idea that she may be dead was too much to bear.

The large man remained undaunted as the enraged Heian rushed. Just as he was about to lunge in for a tackle, the man pulled something out from behind his back that halted Heian in his tracks.

"Stop where you are! Now!" he commanded. In his hand he held a little girl, beaten and battered.

"N-no!" yelled Ting.

"Jiu!" Heian cried out, tears pouring down his cheeks. His beloved daughter hung by the collar of her torn garments. One of her eyes was swollen shut and her lips moved ever so slightly, but no audible words came out.

"Papa...help me…" she seemed to plead. She attempted to reach for her father, yet her frail arms refused to obey.

"J-Jiu…" With raspy breaths, he gazed downward slowly. His heartbeat echoed into his ears as a particular realization hit him — a realization that one of his worst nightmares had finally come true. Dripping down from between her bruised legs, staining the dirt beneath, was blood.

The large man rubbed the bottom of his nose with his other hand triumphantly. "Guess this little brat's no longer in the running for a husband. It's too bad, really."

"T-this can't be," Heian gasped, voice quivering. "You're worse than monsters — the whole lot of you. H-how could you do this? You—"

His pupils began to tremble rapidly.

"You'll die for this..." Heian lunged forward with all his might. Arrows shot down in even quicker succession than before, piercing him through the other shoulder, abdomen, and legs. He collapsed face-first to the ground, cursing everything that had led up to that moment.

The world hadn't been kind to him. The ruthlessness with which he treated those around him was a direct consequence of that. As Heian neared the repentance, he could only pray that it would be over soon.