4 Fire and Ashes

I rushed down, forgetting the playing cards. I hastily sprinted in panic towards the village.

Once I entered, I kept coughing and the smoke was making my eyes watery causing me to barely see anything. I entered the main plaza and what I saw was a scene beyond my imagination.

The people I knew and grew up with were now dead and their blood was everywhere. I nearly vomited but I swallowed it back in. The sight that some of these bodies and faces were no way recognizable and it made me nauseous. I felt an indescribably sick deep inside my chest.

Whatever crashed in the village must've caused all of this. I forced myself to push on forward in hopes that Uncle Ron or Ming were still alive. I soon heard grunting and a familiar figure lying on the floor. It was Uncle Ron.

"Aarrghh..." I found Uncle Ron, crippled and in pain, just lying there on the burning hot ashes. "Pant, pant." Quickly, I placed Uncle Ron in my arms and tried anything I could do to save him.

I tried everything. I kept thinking for even a slight possibility of a chance to save his life. Time was not my friend and I couldn't find anything, there was nothing at all to aid him in the slightest.

I began to tear up at the very sight that my own parent was dying in my arms and I couldn't do anything. All I could do was hear his soft, quiet groans of agony as he slips away from life.

"Hǎi….is that you Hǎi..."

"It is me Uncle." I began crying, I could no longer hold back my tears.

"That's good....very good Hǎi." It was though some of his pain was lifted away as how he saw me to be safe. "Find Ming, he is….being taken."

"Uncle, I will…" In that instance, I knew at that moment this would be our final conversation, our final moment together. "Uncle…".

Uncle Ron did not speak. His eyes looked as if they were clinging onto a thin string for life. I quickly gulped and prepared to say my final words.

"Thank you for everything you have done and gave-ughh..." I choked on my words. The tears and snot running down were making it difficult to speak. "...g-gave me so far, I will never forget your love and your care, Father. This is goodbye".

It was only appropriate for me to call Uncle Ron my Father. He is the one who raised me and nurtured me. As well as he taught me how to walk, speak, write, and talk. After saying my goodbyes, Uncle Ron has passed away. He died with a faint smile on his face, knowing I called him Father. I closed his eyes and laid him softly back to the ground. I wish to give him a proper burial but at this moment I cannot. I heard thunderous shouting outside the village and for certain it was Ming.

I rushed over to the location of the shouting and saw Ming being taken and a white hair man dressed in purple robes shouting directions to a group of people chanting some ritual or formation around Ming. His features were sharper than Ming's and had no facial hair to be seen.

"Prepare the teleportation array! Mark it to open the main sect's portal on the fifth layer of the Grand Empyrean! Make haste, we must take him before they do." The mysterious man shouted.

I need to calm down and rationally think. Ming is being taken and it seems this stranger holds no ill intent to harm him and seems to be a cultivator from books I have read. Ming is my only family left, I must not lose him.

"Ming!" I screamed, in hopes Ming is still conscious and to attract the attention of the mysterious cultivator.

"Hǎi! You're alive!" Ming tried running towards me but was stopped by a protective barrier formation done by the chants of the mysterious group of people.

"Senior brother, the teleportation arrays are finished. We must go, now!" One of the people from the mysterious group spoke.

"Everyone, get on a teleportation platform before Shun Su gets back up again!" The unknown cultivator shouted. The array began to work with platforms rising from the ground but suddenly, out of nowhere, a quaking bellow came from the dark ashes of the crater near the village.

"Feng Huang...give him to me and I will forget about this day." Another mysterious cultivator arose but his skin was a light shade of black, his eyes and messy hair were vermillion red. His clothing was partially destroyed, revealing his overwhelming muscles from the top portion of his body.

"Shun Su, you know I cannot do that. Just piss off or else you know what's good for you." It seems this cultivator's name is Feng Huang.

"Haha, that's what I like about you Feng Huang, you know exactly right where to anger me!" The ominous cultivator brought out a giant sword, clenched his teeth and seem to be gathering Ki.

"That crazy bastard, he plans on wiping out the entire land!" Feng Huang spoke.

As they were arguing, I rushed with every ounce of muscle in my body to reach Ming. The platform Ming was on began to take off and I jumped off from the ground and stretched to grab the edge. My hand missed. I was only a half an inch away but Ming grabbed my hand.

"Hǎi, I won't let go!" As Ming tried to pull me up and the platform took off higher and higher, the ominous cultivator, supposedly named Shun Su, finished gathering Ki and readied his greatsword.

"Take this, Grand Asura's Strike!" Shun Su swung his greatsword vertically down as if it weighed nothing and a gigantic slash made out of murderous Ki came out of his blade. The Ki was dark, ghastly, and it struck the platform Ming and I was on, high in the sky. Ming's grip slipped but I was still able to hang on. Shun Su was getting ready to do another swing.

"What is this fool doing? The teleportation platform charges up slower to teleport more the people are on it! Let him go or else we'll all die!" Feng Huang rushed his way to loosen Ming's grip.

"He is my closest friend, I will not abandon him!" Ming was adamant on that statement.

This was a bad situation. Shun Su's second swing will soon eradicate us.

A whisper came to my head and it was a voice I haven't heard for a long time. It was the voice of the mysterious man with yellow eyes akin to dragons.

"Let go and you will live. I can assure you. Your friend will be safe ." Shun Su launched his second attack. "You don't have enough time." I have no other options, I'll take his word.

I let go of Ming's hand.

A shining light then broke through the dark night and instantly teleported a few who were on the raising platforms to a destination I do not know.

"Hǎi, why did you let go!" Ming was about to be teleported.

"Ming, we will always be sworn brothers no matter what! I'll find you Ming!"

"Hǎ-" As Ming could barely finish his sentence, he was teleported. Shun Su's Ki wave was approaching and the yellowed eyed man appeared before me only for a brief moment.

"You will need the very basic knowledge of this world to survive…and a little gift." The yellow eyed man pointed his finger to my head and an unknown wisp of divine energy surged ,rooting itself deep into my mind.

Shun Su's devastating attack finally came and destroyed every fiber of my body, leaving no trace of my existence.

***

I woke up in a strange place. There were magical beasts prowling, the terrain looked grim, and the sky was a bold crimson. It took me only but a second to know where I was.

This place was the Underworld.

I examined my body and noticed I still had the ceremonial sword attached to my waist but a white aura was enveloping around me. I placed my hand onto my chest and noticed my heart stopped beating. I soon realized I had no heart at all.

I came to the conclusion that since I still have a conscience but not a physical body, must mean I became a wandering soul. It also mean I have died.

I tried to recall what had happened and repeated it out loud in a quiet and mumbling whisper.

"Fifth layer of The Grand Empyrean, Feng Huang, Shun Su, and Li Ming..." I clenched my first, grit my teeth, and faced towards the blood drunken sky.

I was too weak to protect Ming. I became paralyzed before an unstoppable might like that monster named Shun Su. I couldn't do anything.

The rage I felt at my own helplessness and lack of strength was beyond measure. I feel so disgusted at my lack of capability, all I could do was weep and pity my inability. This revolting and heavy shame sinks its vile teeth deep to my core, refusing to let go.

I refuse to let it end this way, I refuse.

This will not be the end to my story. This will not be the end to my tale.

I screamed and shouted my vow out of anger, spite, and unshaken ambition. "I will find you Li Ming! I will climb out of the underworld. I will find a way to cultivate even without a body to grow stronger. I will have strength. I will have power. This will be my journey to ascension!"