Gravedigger

Jack snapped his head back as his body fell into a defensive stance, with his hands going for the pouch on his waist out of reflex.

A few meters in front of him stood two people dressed in voluminous flaming red robes. The one in the front looked like a very young handsome man, barely more than a teenager, while slightly to the right and back of him stood a balding middle-aged man.

"You dare!" snapped the older man as he raised his right hand in the air as if he intended to chop the air in front of him.

Just as he started to slash down with his hand the young man slightly twitched a finger and said languidly "Wait, Mannu. I am in quite the generous mood this evening, so I will forgive the child his mistake." he looked straight into Jack's eyes and continued "This time."

The older man, Mannu, lowered his arm immediately and said with a slight bow of the head "Yes, Young Master." Then he turned his burning gaze at Jack and yelled "On your knees, dog! Have you no eyes to see?!"

When the older man first raised his hand up into the air Jack felt a feeling he hadn't felt since the day Bai Shetai sent him flying. All of the hair on his body stood on end as cold sweat started pouring down his back.

Just as he started relaxing when the younger man, the Young Master, stopped Mannu, something shimmered in the air around him, his knees buckled, and his body slammed straight into the ground. It felt like the gravity around him suddenly increased by at least four times. It took all his strength to move his arms in front of his face so it wouldn't smack straight into the ground.

Jack lay on the floor groaning as he felt his bones and organs grinding and creaking. Just when he thought that his small body couldn't take the abuse any longer he heard the voice of the Young Master saying "Enough."

The pressure disappeared and Jack managed to inhale a gasping breath into his deflated lungs and spat it back out immediately along with a mouthful of blood. He gasped a few more times before he managed to get his breathing under control, shifted his body into a kneeling position whit his forehead touching the ground, and whispered in a hoarse voice "Thank you, Sir."

A boot lifted him off the ground and flung him just a couple of meters away from the burning bodies. Jack heard a few ribs crack and felt an agonizing stabbing pain in his chest as he slammed into the ground.

From what seemed like a thousand meters away he heard a harsh voice yell at him "You will address the Young Master as Lord!"

Jack coughed out a few more mouthfuls of blood as he dragged himself away from the roasting blaze and towards the two fiery figures.

It took him a minute to crawl to his previous position and croak out "Thank you, Lord."

A few seconds of silence followed before Jack heard the Young Master's voice say "Stand up."

Jack gritted his teeth from the pain as he slowly rose to his feet while keeping his gaze pointed straight down at the ground.

A slim, clean finger touched Jack's chin and tilted his head up to meet the gaze of the young man. After a few seconds, the young man smiled gently and said "Not bad."

The young man slowly removed his finger, but as he did Jack saw a few of his fingers twist in a strange way and a stream of 'something' poured out of his hand. The something shimmered and wrapped itself around Jack's head.

Jack didn't dare to move a finger, but his eyes twitched a bit as he tried to get a better look at the thing wrapping his head.

The Young Master's eyes flashed as he saw Jack's reaction and in a split second he stepped away from Jack and appeared over 20 meters away. At the same time, Mannu stepped in front of his Young Master and took out a long, metallic looking whip from the pouch at his belt. He said a word that Jack couldn't quite understand and the whip burst out in flames.

Jack looked at the two men with confusion and trepidation in his eyes. He couldn't figure out what he did that made them so jumpy.

The Young Master had his own whip out at the ready by now and he shouted a question "What are you?"

Jack started to stammer out "Wh-what…"

"If you try to say anything that is not an answer to my question I will kill you. If you try to lie to me, I will know and I will kill you. Now answer my question; what are you?" interrupted the Young Master with a murderous voice.

Jack stood frozen for a second as he thought about what he should say, and then spoke "I am a man, Lord." He told the full truth, he never considered himself a boy.

The Young Master didn't seem to catch his little ruse as he asked "Are you a demon?"

Jack almost burst out laughing at the absurdity of that question and his situation, but he managed to keep his face and voice steady as he answered "No, Lord."

The Young Master still kept his guard up as he yelled "Are you a spirit?"

Jack was sure in his answer this time as he said "No, lord." with confidence. He might have been a spirit-like thing before, but he never considered himself a spirit.

The Young Master's brows furrowed a little as he asked "How can you see spirit energy?"

At that moment things clicked for Jack as he thought 'So that's what it's called!' but he still furrowed his brows in confusion and answered with "I don't know, Lord." He had some good guesses, but he didn't know for sure.

Everyone stayed silent for a good dozen seconds.

"Ahahaha…" the Young Master doubled down in laughter, even Mannu had a slight smirk on his face. Jack just stood frozen in confusion.

After a few seconds of laughter, the Young Master calmed down and stored his whip back into his pouch, as did Mannu. They both walked back closer to Jack.

"You had me going there, boy." chuckled the Young Master as he wiped at the corners of his eyes. "I just might decide to keep you alive." he added with a wink.

Jack's relaxing nerves tensed up again at the last sentence. 'I can't allow for anything about the real me to slip out here or I'm a dead man.' he thought as he refocused his mind.

The Young Master smiled at Jack and said "Only a few rare people are lucky enough to have the ability to see spiritual energy from birth. You can count yourself one of them, boy."

Jack wasn't sure what to say so he just bowed his head a little in acknowledgment.

The Young Master turned to the older man and said "Mannu, check him."

Mannu bowed his head and said "Yes, Young Master."

He took Jack's arm in his calloused hand roughly. Jack felt like someone poured icy cold water into his blood vessels as he started shivering almost immediately. After a few seconds Mannu released Jack's arm, snorted in derision, and said "Mediocre at best, Young Master."

The Young Master let out a small sigh as he said "Oh well, I might have considered taking him into the Sect if he had at least decent meridians." he turned towards Jack, gave him a look from top to bottom, and said "But what can we do with the hand that fate has dealt us."

Jack felt like he missed out on something, but he wasn't sure what the two men talked about so he didn't feel any pain from the loss.

The air of mirth disappeared from the Young Master as he returned to his interrogation "So, tell me, boy. Why are you the only living person in this dead little village?"

Jack felt certain that he would die if he didn't word this answer just right, so he collected his thoughts and said "I saw the flames from the Fallen Crow village on the horizon so I ran to the Raging Ox village to warn the people, Lord."

The Young Master's eyes narrowed as he asked "And why would you do that?"

Cold sweat bathed Jack's back as he answered "The people here were nice to me when I passed through so I decided to warn them, Lord."

The Young Master's brow furrowed a little as he said "Where are you from then?"

If all the other questions left Jack nervous, this one didn't even make him pause for a second as he declared "From a place far away from here, Lord. I'm not sure where myself."

At this, the Young Master's furrowed brows rose as he asked "Then how did you get here?"

Jack almost laughed as he said "A bad man took me away, Lord. But he died and I managed to get away."

The Young Master looked almost mollified as he asked "So why were you out there in the night at a time like this?"

Jack tried to look embarrassed, but he had already mostly figured out how to circumvent the thing the Young Master did to tell if he told the truth. He just had to say a thing that he believed true, and that sounded true to the listening party, so he had no problems saying "I was moving towards the river that flows in these parts. I love to fish, Lord." with confidence.

The Young Master blinked and then started laughing once more. He looked towards Mannu, repeated "He loves to fish!" and burst out in laughter.

Mannu gave his Young Master a few polite laughs and waited patiently for him to calm down before saying "Young Master, we should leave. Feng Furui might have sent for help from his School before we caught up with them."

The Young Master's face turned serious as he said "You are right, Mannu. We can not let those bastards have the treasure after all the pain we went through."

Mannu's gaze shifted towards Jack as he said "Should I get rid of the boy, Young Master?"

All the muscles in Jack's body tensed as he prepared to fight for his life with all he had. Even though he doubted that he could touch the hem of their robes before they killed him, he would try.

The Young Master hesitated a little as he looked at Jack, sighed, and said "No, we better take him with us. Ever since I saw him I felt that fate has a plan for us somehow." He rubbed his forehead in annoyance before he said "We cannot let him enter the Sect, but the servants always need additional people." he turned towards Mannu and said "Do you know anyone amongst the servants that could use a boy that can see spirit energy?"

Mannu hesitated a little, but still said "The old undertaker, Yu Ouli, can always make use of an extra pair of hands to rein in the unreconciled spirits, Young Master."

The Young Master's eyes brightened as he chortled "Ah yes! Good work, Mannu." He turned towards Jack and said "Congratulations… What is your name?"

Jack's heart froze as his brain went into overdrive. Even after all this time in this world, he had never considered himself as Song Tanda. After a long second of trying to think up ways to get around the question, and failing, he decided to risk the truth "I call myself Jack, but the people here call me Song Tanda."

After he said it, he stopped breathing and watched for the Young Master's reaction intently.

The Young Master furrowed his brows a little as he tasted the new word on his tongue "Jek? Strange name, Song Tanda it is." he said as he waved a hand and the shimmering energy around Jack's head disappeared "Welcome to the Gravediggers, Song Tanda." he added as he touched Jack's forehead.

Jack felt a cool stream of something enter his head and spread through his brain. Before he knew what was happening, his consciousness started to fade out. 'Wait, I didn't get to say goodbye.' he thought before darkness overtook his vision and he slammed headfirst into the ground.