1 Hospital

The Heavens are filled with Demons and Fate is a lying bastard! What a fitting title thought Mathyn. The soft hum of the fluorescent bulbs and the chatter of nurses in the hallway were the only witnesses to Mathyn's joy. The sterile and quiet environment was great for him as he had few interruptions in his daily life. Even they harsh smelling antiseptics didn't bother him anymore. For the past few weeks he had been working on this proclamation/defamation against the heavens. Mathyn couldn't help but let out a sigh. He tried hard not to usually think about just how much fate had played around with him.

Mathyn was supposed to be the next heir of the Xi family. That was until he turned seven. At his seventh birthday party he collapsed and was in a coma for a week. These past eight years his body has gotten weaker and weaker. The chemo, radiation and experimental treatments had once again failed to remove the tumor in his brain. The doctors had originally told him they had a 70% chance to remove the tumor with treatment. Why was he so unlucky to end up in that 30%. Mathyn sighed again uncontrollably as he continued typing on his laptop.

Mathyn caught a hint of a white lab coat in his periphery as he heard a knock on the door. Standing there was his primary doctor here at the People's Hospital. "Good Morning Dr. Qian." Mathyn said with a seated bow, then closing his laptop. The young doctor entered and sat on the bed. "Young Master Xi." The doctor said solemnly. "I don't really know how to bring this up to you. Your family is no longer willing to pay the bills for our services." Mathyn's face turned pale. "WHAT!" Dr. Qian placed a hand on Mathyn's arm, trying to settle him down. "I know we had another experimental surgery scheduled for next week but your family has asked we cancel it." Dr. Qian said sadly. "I have no choice in this unless you can somehow come up with the $300,000." Mathyn tried to get out of the bed. Sharp stabbing pain followed as each movement attacked his nervous system. He cried out as he collapsed again.

Dr. Qian reached over and pressed a drug release button on the bed to allow pain killers to flow into the iv drip. "Calm down! Nurse give me a hand!" Dr. Qian called out loudly. Quickly two nurses rushed in and they restrained Mathyn. Soon darkness descended upon Mathyn and the pain he was feeling disappeared. The pain killers always left Mathyn in a strange state. This realm of dreams while not dreaming was one of the few places he didn't feel any pain. The only downside is that he couldn't force himself to wake up here. So he resolved himself to sit here and think about what his next steps would be. As a young master of the Xi family, normally many people would listen to his words. However, since he was diagnosed with this tumor not a single family member had come to visit him. Even his own parents found excuses and always had to get off the phone when he called. Now they even refused to pay for his treatment. For several hours he sat in this strange state, still unable to think of what his next actions should be. After sitting in this dream state for so long the drugs had finally started to wear off and he was able to bring himself back into a conscious state.

The bright sunshine of this morning was now long gone. The cold white moon could be seen outside his window now peeping in at him. "Should I post it?" Was the question that kept running through Mathyn's mind. "That proclamation is my version of a last will and testament. What do I have to lose?" Thought Mathyn. Even his own family gave up on him. Should he care about the family's reputation. His father was a cold man who normally beat him for any mistake. His mother was just as vicious and even more petty. Mathyn opened his laptop, he was still having doubts about publishing something as scathing and controversial as this. After another 30 minutes he finally caved into his own internal desires. Mathyn published the document to his weibo account, estimating it would only last for about 10 minutes before his family had it removed. Fighting back the tears, Mathyn pressed the button to release more drugs into his iv drip. "At least this way, I don't have to feel this pain." Mathyn mumbled before the darkness surrounded him again.

Obnoxious beeping continued to sound in his ear. It sounded as if every second a cell phone notification was going off. All he wanted to do was wallow in misery, someone wouldn't even let him do that properly! As the drug induced haze started to recede from his mind he began looking around for the beeping sound. Bright sunlight once again assaulted his senses and his stomach rumbled in rebellion about the mistreatment during the past 24 hours. He finally realized after searching to no avail that his closed laptop was the culprit of the strange noise. On his screen was a strange looking message window. "What program is this?" he thought. The messenger window was black and red. A lotus symbol was in the left corner. A message was already there waiting for him.

AsuraFox: Abandoned child of the Xi family wake up. Are you truly willing to defy fate and battle the heavens? Are you not afraid of ushering in a new era of darkness and death? Do you not fear the pile of corpses you would have to stand on should you be granted the power to defy those things? Do you not worry about your family's revenge on you for posting such things?

Mathyn tried to close it out but the chat window wouldn't close. He tried restarting the computer but the message remained on his screen even when the laptop was shut down. Only when the cursor was blinking in the reply box would it stop making that infernal beeping sound. It would be a lie to say he wasn't afraid. What kind of person had such power? Is this a hoax? Who would go through such effort for a hoax? He took several deep breaths before responding.

Xi Mathyn: My body has betrayed me and continues to kill me. My parents have betrayed me and set me on the shores of the underworld. Fate has toyed with me since I was born. Born under a lucky star, yet, later on every turn met with disaster and misfortune. I was a prodigy! The future head of my clan! Tell me AsuraFox what do I owe anyone? What should I fear? Death? Ha! My family? HA again! For 8 years I have fought against any and all obstacles. I don't care if you are truly an Asura, or you are a spirit, or being of the heavenly realm. My life is mine and damn anyone who tries to stop me or threaten me!

Mathyn felt liberated. A small maniacal chuckle even escaped his lips before he reigned himself in. With his estimated time of death only weeks away, it didn't matter to him who this person was. Asura, so what! It didn't take long for this roller coaster of emotions to come crashing down though. Mathyn still couldn't close the window. "What does this person want with me." he whispered with a small quiver in his voice.

Xi Mathyn: What do you want AsuraFox?

AsuraFox: When you leave the hospital Friday a black car will be waiting. If you still fear nothing get in it.

--AsuraFox has left the channel--

Mathyn sat there starring at the screen in disbelief for about five minutes. After recovering from his shock he went to his weibo account and realized his earlier post had been removed as expected. Shaking his head he began wondering just who this AsuraFox was. He pressed the call button for the nurse and had them bring some food so he could eat something. He then spent the rest of the night pondering just who this person could be.

---------

A blood red moon cast an eerie glow in the sky as a blast of cold winter air rushed through the military camp. In the center of the camp in one of the command tents, an older man with a strong chiseled face and greying hair sat casually upon his obsidian throne. His black uniform seemed to absorb the torch light around him. The only color was the blood red lotus flower sewn on his epaulets. His voice was firm and domineering, "Order the Reaper Division to return. Prepare the portals." At the sound of his voice, the soldiers standing guard all came to attention. One of the soldiers near the front of the command tent saluted as he said, "By Order of the Emperor!" Then left to fulfill the order given.