A Shakey Start

The blinding white light of lightning could be seen in the darkness of night as it lit up the surrounding heavens. The sound of heavy rain and thunder followed as they could be heard throughout the land. This all happened while the cold harsh wind blew the rain through the grassy plain. It felt as if the cold embrace of winter opens her arms upon the world.

Standing under an Enormous red leaf tree in a sea of short grass was a man. He stood 6 feet with long black hair that went down his back and his pale clear skin that conveyed the feeling of a corpse. He wore a black martial robe with golden treading sowed with a Circular pattern going from the bottom of his robe to the top on each side.

To complete the look he had a long sword with a dragon head on its handle, the blade was in the case in the black and gold scabbard. It was attached to his back via a golden string which keep the sword in place.

On looking at his face one could see his right eye closed with a massive scar that travel down his face which made his mediocre face look slightly unsightly to look at. However if one looks into his only eye one could glimpse his golden irises shining brightly in the night as if his lone eye was the sun. The look in that lone eye depicts something hidden and that was the vigor and determination of a brave warrior and something more sinister hidden ever deeper. On his left hand was a golden ring with two dragon heads meeting in the middle of the ring.

The man stood still next to the red lone tree in the sea of grass, He stood there without moving an inch. Gradually time passed as the hours turn into days, days turn into months, and finally, years passed without a single change, it was as if the Heavens itself wanted to paint a canvas as the season passes by capturing the image of the strange man forever.

Gradually time went causing 400 hundred years to pass by in a blink of an eye.

Until suddenly Something changed On one cold winter day, it began when a strange scene could be seen as a strange man who stood next to a lonely tree for over 400 years as if it was his lover began to give off an extraordinary feeling of life. It was as if a small spark of life deep inside him began to bloom.

Slowly that small spark became a furious fire of life in the man and on the outside, the strange man began to look less like a corpse and more like a living person as every hour passed until he finally began to slowly began to inhale and exhale causing the mist to form from the cold air.

"Where am I, What happened, Who am I," a line of questions enters his brain. However, as soon as he begin to ask questions a sudden rush of discomfort struck him in the head. The discomfort slowly began to morph into pain. The pain that had begun in his head slowly began to spread to the rest of his body every so slowly, causing the stranger to collapse unconscious to the snow-filled ground from the pain. All these changes last for an hour until the stranger man's body began to slowly relax.

Inside the mine of the stranger man, were rows of memories flashing by while all of them were blurred but one was slightly less blurred than others, looking at this specific memory as if it was a video clip the strange man felt a sudden rush of dizziness.

Suddenly Standing by himself the man notices that he was standing in a Chinese-style courtyard. Looking up the strange man could see the morning glow shine through the leaves of the tree that he stood under, on his left flank was a small pond full of life. Inside the pond were many small fishes, insects, and tadpoles moving about while water plants and flower petals float on the surface.

Looking away from the pond the strange man saw that there was a cobblestone path leading out of the courtyard to the interior of the building.

" Papa, Papa" the voice of a young boy could be heard from the other side of the cobblestone path. " The man turned to the voice to see a blurred image of a boy and a woman standing at the other end of the cobblestone path. Just as the man felt his heart skip a beat the memory changed as if his subconscious didn't want it to know the blurred figures.

Still standing in the Courtyard the only difference was the shallow light of the moon lighting the surroundings to reveal what can only be considered as a slaughter or for some a feast for the butcher. Men, Women even children, none we spared from a gruesome demise with each of their faces had fear etched into them. Most wore Amor while others looked like servants and the remainder looked like clan members. Standing a couple of feet away was a man, the man's face was blurred which hid his identity, and in his hand was a sword with blood dripping ever so slowly onto the ground.

Just as the man was about to speak to the stranger, he noticed he was bleeding from his stomach. Clutching his bleeding abdomen while trying to keep his innards from falling out the man collapsed to his knees as the pain began to radiate.

"Patriarch Shi Yan did you know that I Shi Gi once looked up to, I saw you as someone of great importance, someone worth following, someone worth dying for," said the Stranger in a dead voice. ".

" Why, what going on, " ask Shi Yan in a voice full of misery as he looked at the stranger. As if he didn't hear Shi Yan's question the man continued " I believe that you were a man of righteousness, however, I was mistaken so I shall rid the earth of this demonic clan starting with you ".

Suddenly the sword in hand began to glow in white as the runes engraved into its body glow the brightest. The sword itself was gold in color which adds to its majesty. The hilt and guard of the sword were made with the finest craftsmanship which added to its beauty, it was a sword of dreams.

Without saying a word Shi Gi raised his sword and in one fluid movement he sliced downwards with such speed that Shi Yan's eye couldn't even register the movement. In less than a second the light from the sword traveled toward Shi Yan causing a red line to appear where his left eye was going down to his chest.

All this took place in a matter of seconds before Shi Yan could even register the attack before the immense pain engulf his entire being even his soul felt as if it was being torn apart. Coughing out Blood from his mouth, All Shi Yan could see were blurred images as his vision began to fade into darkness causing the once proud Patriarch to feel an innate dread from his very core of the unknown he was about face.

"Wait! " Shouted Shi Yan as he quickly sit up, looking around he noticed that he was in the snow fill field from earlier. Taking in a couple of deep breaths to calm his chaotic heart, Shi Yan stood up and on Taking a look at his surrounding, the sight of an ocean of white expanding into the horizon is all that could be seen.

Deciding that he need to think Shi Yan went to the lonely Tree. Sitting down on one of its massive roots Shi Yan began to contemplate his current situation.

"To begin I can't remember much besides what happened that night. Second I don't know where I am. Third I got no food or water to sustain myself" Thinking of his situation, a slight frown started to form on his face.

Thinking the best thing to do is to get to higher ground and find civilization or at least map his surroundings, with a mission in mind Shi Yan began to ascend the enormous Tree. In a short ten minutes, Shi Yan was standing on a large branch with a width of 2 meters giving him a great view of his surroundings. Scanning the area west of him. Shi Yan caught a glimpse of a forest at the fringe of the plain which stretch into the distance. Noticing how good his eyesight was with one eye Shi Yan was greatly shocked.

"How am I able to see this far out," Shi Yan questioned in his mind for a couple of seconds, "I can't get distracted," he thought while cutting his current line of thought off. Looking into the distance further into the forest Shi Yan could see thousands of smoke clouds rising in the distance, each split cloud was apart from the other, giving the impression of a massive camp was there. See there were no other options but to go there, He began to plot a part toward the clouds of smoke.