The Invitation

"Your Highness, there's an invitation"

The scarlet velvet curtains were drawn back as the light crept in like a creature writhing and dragging it body forward slowly. It slowly illuminated a pale emotionless face.

A maid slipped in a pillow behind the back of the ragged man in royal clothing as she handed him a scroll.

He unfolded it and a tint of horror appeared on his stone looking face.

He pulled himself up and went through the chamber's doors leaving them wide open. He ran barefeet through the halls, his silk robe dragging against the floor as he ran up the stairs of the palace towards a secluded room in the corner and barged in.

A young boy with long locks of dark black hair till his waist turned to look at the man. His eyes blindfolded, nevertheless he knew the presence of the man at his door.

"There's an invitation" The man said in a panicked voice.

The boy smiled and walked forward, his body began to change as he walked, his height shrunk and chest grew as he reached for the scroll in the man's hand.

A young girl stood infront of the man now, he was unfazed as it was something normal for him.

"XiaoLi, what will we do now?" The man asked frantically.

The girl smiled and removed her blindfold revealing her blood red eyes. She held the scroll infront of her.

"They are asking for the presence of the representative of Huoshe clan in the meeting of the five clans at Guang Palace" The man's voice cracked a bit.

The girl read the scroll silently and then folded it back.

"The representative shall go then" she replied.

"I am fearful my daughter, for you and for your brother..what if they find out the secret that I buried 18 years ago?" The man replied putting his both hands on the girl's face.

She remained unresponsive and held up the blindfold, tying it around her eyes.

That day there was a hustle bustle in the palace. They had to prepare the horses and the followers for the departure to the Guang Empire.

"Is it really going to okay.. Even we aren't allowed to see the representative of Huoshe clan, for the last 18 years, since the murder of the Huoshe Matriarch, the king has kept the child in seclusion.. I don't even know if the child is a male or female" A maid spoke to another whilst loading the carriage with presents.

"Haven't you, I thought you serve food to tower where the child is isolated" The other replied.

"As if, we are only allowed to leave the food and clothes outside the chambers, nobody is allowed to open the doors of the chamber.. However, I have heard some say that they've heard the voice of a male and others say they've heard the voice of a female" She said.

"That's strange, maybe there's two children, people often say the queen was expecting twins" The other replied whilst feeding the horses.

"The king is just fearful after the death of Matriarch. I heard she protected him from a demonic curse since he's a royal without spiritual powers. I hope the child has spiritual powers. Otherwise this is the end of Huoshe clan" The woman clasped her hands as if making a wish.

"Even if they do, what difference is it going to make? Haven't you heard that the child was born blind? What's the use of spiritual powers when you can't see? " The other woman sighed trying to calm down a newly arrived horse.

The horse got nervous because of her yanking and threw a fit.

" Whoa calm down, calm down boy! "

But little did it matter, the horse kicked her off and broke through the boundaries running off in the courtyard.

"Someone help! Stop the horse!" The lady yelled. Some of the guards ran after it holding their archers "No don't shoot it! It's a rare and special species!"

The horse ran across the courtyard being chased by the guards, who made the poor creature further terrified. It made a turn towards the maids who barely had time to get out of its way and balled up almost ready to accept her fate. She had her eyes totally closed as she screamed... Nothing.... Nothing happened... The horse didn't run over her.

She moved her arm a little to look over from the corner of her eyes to find a blindfolded man with a huge build standing in front of her patting the horse calmly. The horse obediently let him do so.

"W... Who....?" She mumbled but then her eyes widened seeing the cloak he was wearing, with the emblem of Huoshe empire. The cloak of the Huoshe Matriarch.

That night, the carriages led by Huoshe clan followers left the palace, as the king stoodby the window outside his chamber watching it move away with fearful eyes.

The carriages traveled for four consecutive days until finally it entered the premises of Guang Empire. It took a day to reach the palace. The horses stopped before the gate of the empires for one could not have entered the huge palace that almost appeared like a city in itself, without invitation.

The guards seemed surprised as they looked at the invitation but nevertheless, they let the carriage in.

"This is surprising" A guard spoke to another.

"Indeed, I never expected the Huoshe representative to show up.. I had heard that the Huoshe clan might die with the Huoshe Matriarch" The other responded.

The carriage entered the premises of the palace and the doors opened. A young man stepped out of the carriage and the gatekeepers bowed their heads. A representative of the Guang clan.

Guang Zhen, the first son of the Guang Patriarch appeared infront of the young man. He wore white robes, with a sword sheathed at his waist and his straight golden locks resting at his bosom. He wore a silver crown embedded with golden diamonds and had a red clan mark on his forehead.

"On behalf of my father, I, Guang Zhen welcome you at the Guang Palace.. representative of the Huoshe clan" The man made a gentle bow.

The young man whose face was covered in a veil, bowed back "It is the generosity of the young prince to welcome me personally. However the representative of the Huoshe clan is my sister"

"Oh, I apologize for the lack of my knowledge but where is she?" The prince replied

"She will arrive shortly" The young man replied and bowed his head.

Many were in awe, as it had been so long since they saw anyone from Huoshe make an appearance. They were all curious and wanted to see the face behind the veil but no avail. The young man was led to the chambers where he was supposed to rest. His followers were led to nearby chambers.

That evening, little by little, people kept on arriving from different clans and being lead by the eldest guang to their rooms.

At night however, things went really quiet as many guests who had arrived after long journeys choose to rest in their chambers.

Though somewhere around the middle of the night there was movement in the palace.

A knock at the door, the door creaked and opened a bit. It was Guang Zhen.

"I'm sorry to disturb you at this time prince of Huashe but has the representative arrived yet?"

He spoke with utter respect and in a well mannered way. Though when he raised his head, a woman stood before him. A young lady with a blindfold.

"U... Um.. Apologies, I didn't know your Highness had arrived,  I hope you and your brother are comfortable in this chamber"

The lady nodded. He made a bow and left. She closed the door and took off her blindfold, she walked towards the windows of her chamber.

A few soldiers were assembling behind two men with blonde hair.

wearing the cloak of royalty.

It started dripping soon.

In the woods, the bodies began to drop. The soldiers had run into something whilst reaching for the village.

Both the blonde young men got off their horses to aid their soldiers.

The rain had somewhat halted, nevertheless water droplets splashed in every direction as they fought with immaterial shadows rushing through the air.

"Brother, there's no end to it, we should retreat" One of blonde men with braided hair held up his sword, cutting through the shadows that approached them.

The other one had shorter hair but a mullet resting on his shoulder which flung each time he slashed something through his sword. He wanted to retreat too, but there was child stuck in the middle of shadow casted aura and he just couldn't let that pass.

Somehow he pierced through the shadow and reached in his hand.

His fingers barely reached the child, the dark force kept pushing him back.

He broke through somehow and grasped at the child's wrist, pulling him through.

"Brother you did it!" The other one yelled as the shadows dispersed, only to his surprise, the child stabbed the blonde young man who fell on his knees "BROTHER!"

The other blonde young man quickly ran over and held the stabbed man in his lap. The demon left the possessed child's body and came for him.

"Guang Ming - Guang Ming..." the voices called as he tried to save the stabbed young man from the demon.

"Guang Ming.. This is your chance, look I stabbed your cousin for you, this is your chance" The voices whispered.

"Shut your mouth you evil spirit !" The man swung his sword trying to disperse the demon.

"Guang Ming, you have been forever mocked for being a royal without spiritual powers, just like both your parents, forever following behind your blessed cousins... GUANG MING!" The shadow hovered above him

Hearing this made him clench his fists.

"Guang Ming, this is your chance, he's vulnerable, take his spiritual powers, you are from royal bloodline, you can snatch his spiritual powers, you can call it an accident and say that he willingly passed his powers onto you before dying, Guang ming, do it"

The voices lured him on.

He clenched his fists, having what looked like a flashback of all the times the man laying in his arms had ignored him. All the times his parents and he were insulted for being royals without spiritual powers. This was his chance... Lying before him, the second son of Guang Patriarch, known not only for his looks but also having fame all over empires for his immense spiritual power...

The spirit roared and flamed up as the man's heart tempted for the forbidden. He reached his hand the sword in the stabbed man's hand

"I'm sorry brother... But you will never understand my feelings, you have never treated me like your equal.." he lifted it up in the air but wavered a bit as the stabbed young man opened his eyes momentarily.

"DIE" he yelled when in a flash of lightning his neck twisted and he fell sideways with a broken neck.

The half conscious man looked up at his savior who leaned in to look at him. A woman with a blind fold with beautiful dark locks of hair flowing forward as she bent to look at the stabbed man.

He reached his hand to her in half consciousness, only to grasp at the blindfold, the blindfold slipped open on her slippery face, tangled up in his fingers as he lost consciousness just after a flash of lightning in which he saw lustrous scarlet eyes looking down at him.

On the other end, Guang Zhen stood by the palace's door looking worried.

"What seems to be the matter my child" A voice made him turn back, as lady dressed in beautiful red robes of silk embroidered with gold, wearing the same but a bigger crown with beautiful golden hair descended down the stairs.

"Mother" he walked and bowed taking her hand kissing it "It is just that  Yishi and MingMing went..."

"Ah Zhen, it is not graceful to use childish nicknames when so many lords are present in the palace" The Queen interrupted.

"Apologies my dear queen, second brother guang yun and our cousin brother guang ming went to nearby woods as there was some disturbance but neither has returned yet" Guang Zhen replied.

"No need to worry, my son is well capable of dealing with these little things, if only guang ming doesn't drag him down" The queen replied in an almost disgusted manner.

"Mother Guang Ming is a good swordsman..." The prince tried to speak in his cousin's favor.

"Enough, don't you mention him before me, let us go inside and have some warm water" The queen said and the prince complied after bowing.

Nevertheless the frown of worry didn't leave his forehead.

The downpour became heavier. The lightening would shake the the woods everytime it roared.

There a single cottage, seemingly abandoned but was now lit in with some fire.

The stabbed young man groaned as he slightly opened his eyes and saw the back of the woman who saved him.

However something was different about her. She appeared bigger.

Only when she turned, he realized it was a man. Had he been wrong? He was sure he saw a woman had saved him before fainting. His eyes went onto his savior's cloak.

"Huoshe.. Clan...?"

His voice made the young man turn.

"The lady who saved me...?" He inquired.

The blindfolded man gave no replies.

"Where are we...?" The man couldn't really move but could guess he was brought to the nearest cottage because moving him in his condition and weather would actually make things worse. He didn't get any reply either.

The young man only threw some wood into the fire keeping his back towards the other.

"I'm Guang Yun, the second son of Guang clan.....I was fighting demons....

Ming.. Ming... What happened to..." His voice cracked a bit, he didn't dare ask the rest as the incident flashed before his eyes. He had a moment of suffocation, a chill. Could Guang Ming really have stabbed him... What was that look in his eyes... Did he waver.. But if that were so...

He shook his head trying to think that if Guang Ming wasn't stopped he could've killed him. A lump formed in his throat as he recalled the memory and the times they had spent together.

He remembered the young man chasing him no matter what age they were. Since childhood that guy had been a fond of him and he felt anxious just by thinking about it. His heart rate rose and he began to breathe a little louder than usual. 

"Huo Yi"

The blindfolded man muttered without turning to look at him.

"huh?" The young man turned his eyes to the blindfolded young man's back, for a second forgetting his frustration and anxiousness.

For some reason it surprised him, he almost thought that other than being blind, the man probably couldn't speak but the other turned, one could almost see him softly smiling.

"My name.... Huo Yi."