Chapter 1: My Journey Is To Test My Skills

"A'Pian! Its time to wake up. If you delay any further, the house would go hungry today" The shrill voice of his angry mother was followed by a loud banging on the door. A'Pian frowned and buried his head under his pillow.

What was all that ruckus about early in the morning?

There was another loud bang on the door "A'Pian!" His body suddenly jolted up, knowing how much of a bad temperament his mother had. She was like a storm waiting to happen. No one crossed her and lived to see another day. That was just how Yuzin Ger worked.

"I'm coming!" He shouted through his sleepy eyes. The banging on the door stopped. He heard the footsteps outside fading away. A'Pian sighed and walked out of the room into the chill morning.

If somehow his daily hunts didn't manage to kill him, Yuzin Ger sure would. A'Pian was in truth a very well known name. There was a war about 50 years ago. The collective nation Indira was distributed into five nations: Dong, Shigui, Sisijhe, Awarati and Boushon.

Among all the nations, Boushon stood at the peak, in terms of both power and resources. Not long after the partition, a council of the five was called and named Covenant. All the leaders reached a collective agreement of making Boushon the central nation of discussions and power, an uper hierarchy. However, the other four leaders termed their own set of rules.

The nation of Shigui was later elected as a place to maintain balance. And now that all is over, the world is set in peace. there isnt much to do and much to look forward to. Just daily lives of hunting and eating and teaching the disciples of the Ger house.

The Ger house was indeed a privileged place in Boushon, established by Genral A'Pier Ger. A'Pian's grandfather, also someone A'Pian was names after. At that time, Genral Ger was the representative of Boushon. It was due to him that now his parents represented the Boushon house and his family was one of the most privileged.

A'Pian's father, Genral Hojin Ger was now the representative who attended meetings and resolved rebellions. His wife, Yuzin Ger worked behind the scenes. All information from the five nations was sent to her through internal spies.

But there wasn't much to discuss in that topic was it. At least for now, the world was at peace and none of the five nations had any complains. Or at least that's what A'Pian believes.

He rubbed on his eyes and went inside the estate to rinse his face in the chill water and took a morning jog towards the Golden Pavilion and had the honor to meet General Ger himself in the flesh, training the childern. He walked into the shade of the pavilion, a rooftop held by eight pillars decorated with jade. General Ger seemed to be waiting for him.

"Father" he said to the tall and sturdy man. Like his father, A'Pian had coal black hair and violet pupils. He got his mother's lips, not too puffy, but enough considering that he was a man and puffy lips was perhaps the last thing that would help his manliness.

"Going for the daily hunts?" His father asked.

Yuzin Ger often liked to scream that the house would go hungry without his hunts but in truth the food from the hunt was for the disciples of the Golden Pavilion. Children who studied directly from the representative of Boushon. It must not be easy for either the representative or the children.

"mm hmm" he replied.

his father frowned in disapproval "How casual. Perhaps you need to be disciplined more than these children who spend their blood and tears out on the field.

"I would sooner kill myself" A'Pian muttered under his breath.

"What?" His father asked. He brushed it off with an awkward laugh and a wave of hand. General Ger looked as if he could rip his ear out of his skull any moment now.

"Very well, I'll be off for the hunt now" He said and waved at General Ger what was supposed to be a goodbye. It only ticked him off more. To A'Pian, there was nothing better than irking his father early in the morning. It brought a small sense of satisfaction in him, considering how strict his father was with him.

A'Pian picked his weapons from the Golden Pavilion and Ran towards the Paoli forest. Paoli forest was perhaps the most dangerous but also the most resourceful forest in the entire nation. It was the one spot that Yuzin Ger would kill even General Ger if he forced A'Pian to venture. However, A'Pian had an odd passion of testing himself. He cared not about death and thus never heeded the warnings of his parents.

However, for whatever reason, his instincts always told him to not go too deep into the forest. Apart from Paoli forest, there were only two other forests close to Boushon, but unlike Paoli forest which fell on the east, the other two were on the south side, near the nation of Shigui. Shigui was the coldest nation amoung all five, and thus both the forests were covered in the snow and most of the live there had gone into hybernation. Of course it was winter here in the Boushon too but it never snowed here. Boushon wasnt a very cold nation to begin with, since it was located in the center.

On his way to Paoli, he stopped for a little morning tea at one of the tea houses in the capital city of Boushon. Muger, also called the capital, was located on the east side of the map. It also acted as a wall defence to keep the creatures from Paoli from the destroying the nation. But A'Pian wasn't very sure that this was a good move. Muger was the strongest nation in Boushon, and it makes sense that the strongest nation would shelter it from the forest, but having the capital engage with the forest, while the rest of the defenceless Boushon was engaged with a foreign attack was disadvantageous too.

The tea master instantly recognised him and gave him a wave from where he stood in the far corner of the tea house. A'Pian took a his residence inside a cabin saved for him alone, away from the noise and waited for the tea master to bring his tea.

soon the door to the cabin was opened, but it wasn't the tea master. It was a tall man with similar coal black hair and Violet eyes as him. His hair were long and bond in a high ponytail with a violet ribbon. Today he wore a pretty blue gown with the silhouette leisurely dropping on the groud.

"Ah! There you are" he said with a small smile. "It seems that you crossed father again this morning"

A'Pian snorted, "That's the daily ritual"

His brother, Jin, gave a small chuckle. "How mischievous, it would be more helpful if you impressed him instead"

"Impressed? Father? nothing impresses him."

"Perhaps if you just give him a little smile every morn-"

"No can do"

Jin laughed his heart out

"What's so funny?" His twin was awfully positive and full of smiles. He sometimes wondered how he ended up growing so sweet regardless of the heat of his family. A'Pian for one, was very sure he got his mother's temper. Where did Jin get his coolness? Definitely wasn't father, and his mother doesn't know the meaning of the word 'calm down'.

Suddenly his smile vanished "I've been having dreams" He said.

"Prophesies? again?" Jin nodded "What is it about this time?"

"You" He said.

"Me?" A'Pian tilted his head and listened to his twin talk intently.

Jin sighed. "What I have been dreaming of isn't important. All I can tell you is to be careful when you venture into Paoli. I will be staying in the Oracle cave for sometime. You know what happens when I'm having those dreams right?"

A'Pian nodded. When Jin gets prophesies, the estate turns into a haunted houses. The bells ring all night long, shutters keep opening and closing. bottles of jars break themselves and the floor boards get cracked. The first time it happened, the house was in a chaotic state and most of the servants fled. When they later showed Jin to an exorcist, he told that the Ger just got themselves an oracle.

Jin frowned "You seem unhappy today. It isn't in your nature to be so quiet. You also came for the hunt without having a word with every merchant in the town" A'Pian snorted. Jin smiled. "Is it because it's the death anniversary of Bao?"

A'Pian didn't reply. Today, was the day his grandmother left him forever. Jin patted his head "Grieving doesn't bring the dead back." He put a finger on A'Pian's heart "Know that she's still alive here. She's not gone forever. She never left you. She merely accepted when the gods above called to her.

A'Pian laughed. Typical of Jin to always know how he felt. Twins really were important. A'Pian didn't know how he'd get by without Jin.

The door to the cabin opened for the second time, and this time it really was the tea master. "My apologies for being late. A fight broke outside. I had to calm the merchants down."

"A fight?" A'Pian asked as he popped one of the peanuts from the tray into his mouth "What about?"

The tea master sighed "Ugh, politics"

A'Pian laughed.

"Since you're here today, you're going to hunt in Paoli I'm guessing." A'Pian just shooted a smile at the tea master. He sighed. "You might be the best hunter around, young master, but you mustn't let your guard down. There is a reason why the Paoli is a fear region"

Jin silently agreed from the corner.

"There have been a lot of rumours lately though. I wonder what the Paoli hides"

Now that was a topic that captured A'Pian's attention. "Rumours like?"

"Well, there was one quiet a famous one about a swan residing behind it. They say that the swan will fullfill all wish wishes."

A'Pian sipped from his tea "Fullfill all wishes, huh"

Jin frowned "Don't get any odd ideas in your head. Tea master! Dont you already know that his head is filled with all sorts of junk. You mustn't tell him about such far fetched tales."

The tea master laughed. "My bad, Master Jin" Jin smiled at the tea master while he excused himself.

When Jin and A'Pian were alone once again, A'Pian said "I'd like to see what's hidden in the Paoli forest myself" He was merely wondering. Everything he usually said was utter nonsense, and half his promises were never fulfiled, and Jin knew about his habit.

However, he still reacted, despite himself. He firmly set the cup on the table and gave him a piercing look "A'Pian, you aren't allowed to go deep into the Paoli region. Am I understood?"

A'Pian raised both his hands. "Dont worry" he said, but he gave Him no reassurances that he wouldn't. Jim's eyes narrowed but he let the matter drop.

"Very well, then I'll head back to the Oracle cave, there is something I must do" Jin said setting his empty teacup.

A'Pian nodded as Jin Ger took his leave. He sighed and after a while, he too set out for Paoli. The capital was a populated city, with numerous stalls of different goods, and numerous people coming from all around the world to buy them.

To avoid troubles, A'Pian took a route away from the civilization. He sneaked in towards the cement wall through the houses and climbed it up. The guards on the gates will most probably report to General Ger anyway, so it was understandable that he felt discouraged to take his chances.

On the other side of a wall was a huge lake that decided the Paoli from Boushon. A'Pian stuck his fingers into his mouth and whistled. Soon a huge orange bird with red feathers as it's edges was seen soaring into the sky. it was giant, enough to destroy a quarter of the capital but simply sitting on it. It landed right in front of A'Pian and lowered it's buttock so he could climb it.

A'Pian petted the bird on its head, and so they flew.

"To the Paoli it is!"