1.14 Star Dancer

The sounds of their shouts could be heard from below and some of the people that sat close to that VIP booth, looked up in curiosity, a bottle was rapidly making its way towards the center of the stage, mind you, with the strength of Consort Dai, she could even throw a child's sized rock a great distance away, not to mention the small ceramic bottle she was holding.

Everyone saw that the ceramic bottle was about to reach the center of the stage, Consort Dai's face was laughing slightly, and her eyes sparkled in extreme excitement, while the Emperor's and 1st Imperial Prince's faces were filled with horror and panic. They knew they wouldn't make it in time, there was nothing they could do but watch, their expressions were quickly replaced by despair.

However, right when they thought that all the people below were going to face extermination, a blurry shadow could be seen rapidly approaching the stage's area, the blurry shadow jumped up using the momentum of the seats and caught the plunging ceramic bottle safely with his hands.

Finally, when the blurriness of the shadow subsided, a man's figure could be seen land skillfully back on the ground after flipping his body to stop his falling momentum. When the people closest to this figure saw his face, they couldn't help but shout out his title.

"2nd Imperial Prince!"

"It's really 2nd Imperial Prince!"

"What just happened, I think I just saw him catch something."

2nd Imperial Prince ignored the comments around him and looked up at Consort Dai's fast changing facial expression, this time, her face had on an unbelievable expression, all her plans were ruined so easily, just when she was smiling for her victory, that wretched bastard appeared and destroyed it.

Why?! Why is it always him?

Her eyes glared at 2nd Imperial Prince but when she saw his expression, she couldn't help but back up a little in fear, through those eyes, she saw a fierce and relentless beast, those ripples of murderous intentions couldn't be masked, she herself have seen it in others that she killed, but never had she seen such an enormous anger and hatred directed towards her. It was so strong that it felt like his gaze could pierce right through her.

For the first time, she felt scared. She had never seen anyone look at her with such rage, its potency was shaking her mind, it felt like at any second her spirit would crack, and she would face eternal damnation.

Suddenly, her eyes couldn't see anything but a huge black looming figure with godly intense eyes that looked at her with hatred and ferocity so extreme that she felt like her soul would be swallowed if she looked any longer. When she tried to direct her gaze elsewhere, she found out that she couldn't move, that looming figure was growing huger and it was approaching closer to her.

No! She tried to scream with all her might, but she heard no sounds around her, it was nothing but her and those fierce eyes that wanted to devour her with its sight. She wasn't sure how she knew, but once that looming figure touches her, she was done for! Her heart was madly throbbing, and her eyes showed nothing but fear and horror, she didn't want to, she desperately try to plead with the figure to let her go, but it was like her screams and pleads did nothing but reinvigorate it.

She could almost sense that the eyes directed at her with murderous intentions had a slight glimpse of laughter in it, cruel eyes only seem to look at her like a prey trapped in a box, with no where to go, it was amusing itself with watching her struggle and beg.

Then, before she knew it, the looming black figure was already besides her and her eyes turned wide with shock and fear when it stretched out its shadow like hands and touched her forehead. At first, she thought that nothing would happen, but in the next second, her theory proved wrong, pain, so much pain like she never felt before coursed through her body, no, not her body, it felt like her very soul was being burned alive.

In her vision, she could see black flames darker than the darkest of nights were surrounding her in an inferno, her eyes were already displaying despair and extreme hopelessness, she felt it, she was getting devoured by the looming black figure's dark flames. It was melting it, bit by bit, but the strong flames surrounding her suggested that he was doing this on purpose, it wanted to watch her suffer miserably before she perished forever.

No! Please! No! Even if she had to beg like a dog, she was willing! Don't, she didn't want to die like this, the tearing and melting pain of her soul was too much for her, after looking at the laughing eyes in front of her, she realized her mistake and begged differently.

Please just kill me already! This pain was too inhumane of a torture for her, its flames could have burned her to death immediately but instead, it chose to do it slowly. Too cruel!

In her moment of death, she still couldn't believe that there was such a terrifying creature such as that black figure that could even devour souls with its dark flames. She died unwillingly and not even a piece of her soul remained, forever vanishing from this world and other worlds.

When 2nd Imperial Prince saw the rapidly descending ceramic bottle falling from the VIP booth of Consort Dai, he immediately sped up and narrowly caught the bottle before it fell to the ground. His expression was full of ferocity, if he was even late one second, everyone in the room would have perished. He couldn't forgive such a vicious woman, she dared to harm his love ones, she dared to kill his Tian He!

Everyone that wants to harm her should die!

When this thought overcame him, he didn't think about anything else and glared straight at Consort Dai with his eyes, he wanted to lash her eyes, burn her corpse, make her disappear forever in this world so that she never again could harm her. His eyes didn't know when they started to glow a fierce darkness, if one looked closely, black flames could be seen dancing within the pupils of his eyes, those flames desired to destroy, it wanted to vent it master's anger, when he was finally free from the seal within his eyes, it did just that.

It obeyed its master's wishes and rushed towards Consort Dai and slowly, it devoured her soul with his flames, it could sense that his master wanted this woman to die painfully and so he shall make it that this woman suffers for as long as he wills it.

2nd Imperial Prince saw nothing but Consort Dai's small white soul burning and screaming in pain and pleading like a dog for her to be released. But, how could he? Anyone that wants to harm his Tian He should suffer the cruelest of tortures, they deserved it! When he saw her begging for a fast death, he couldn't help but smile and command the dark flames to burn even more slowly, since this woman wanted to suffer, he'll let her suffer as much she wanted to.

A smile so devious gradually formed on his nicely tanned face, his enjoyment couldn't be any better than this. His soul also felt the gradual increase in strength when his dark flames melted her soul, when he felt this, he was surprised, so he decided to have the flames burn faster to confirm his guess, unfortunately, he accidentally killed her immediately, but sensing the increase in soul strength within him, he decided that at least she was worth something.

When his vison finally regain focus of his surroundings, he could still hear the people around him shouting his name, as if only he saw and knew what happened, except this time, when he looked at Consort Dai, she was leaning on the rail of the VIP booth, her eyes staring at the ceiling in fear and horror, it looked like her body was already starting to turn cold from the absence of her soul.

Smiling in accomplishment to himself, but just when he was about to make his move towards her to eliminate even the body, the dark flames within his eyes resided and his powerful consciousness hid itself again back into its soul and what replaced him was the 2nd Imperial Prince's part of the powerful soul.

When the real 2nd Imperial Prince looked confusingly at what happened in front of him, he saw screams come from the balcony of the VIP booth that seated his 'imperial father' and consort Dai, he saw his elder imperial brother hold his imperial mother's cold body and cried while shouting in sadness and shock at the sudden death of her.

He couldn't recall the scenes from earlier because just when he caught the falling ceramic bottle, he only remembered that he felt intense rage towards Consort Dai and fear towards losing Tian He overwhelm him and then, there was no more. Only a few seconds had passed, according to him, but it looks everything had changed when observing the scenery around him.

What exactly happened? Why did he feel that his intense rage and his love for Tian He had somehow caused something to happen?

Before he could dwell on these thoughts, he found that everyone was staring at him, more importantly, they were looking at the ceramic bottle in his hands, looks like some intelligent ones managed to place the pieces together and discover that this bottle was anything but good news. To avoid scaring the people, he rapidly ascended the stairs to meet up with his 'imperial father'.

Some of the court officials saw this and also started to make their way up towards that VIP booth. After all, for some reason, Consort Dai flung a bottle and suddenly, 2nd Imperial Prince showed up to catch it in the nick of time, like that bottle would have been extremely dangerous if it managed to land on their ground.

The principal, vice-principal, and the elder in charge of judging this time's new students' competition looked at one another in contemplation and saw each other's answer in their eyes and became scared, they couldn't help but think that if 2nd Imperial Prince hadn't amazingly sped up to catch that bottle, what horrifying and dreadful future could have awaited them. Their thoughts caused them to involuntarily shudder in fear.

When 2nd Imperial Prince and the other court officials entered the VIP booth, they realized it was a huge mess, a certain guard was laid on the ground, dead through the multiple swords wounds on his body, but the Emperor was also not unscathed, he had multiple slash wounds on his body, the most lethal one was the one that started from his right shoulder and ended super close towards his chin.

One could see the intense life and death battle that occurred just now, it looks like they traded injury for injury just to end the fight as quickly as they could. Softly sighing for this scene, they turned their attention to their bleeding Emperor instead, right now, some people were properly bandaging his wounds, it was a good thing that the academy always had healers placed aside just in case an accident occurred.

When they were done bandaging the Emperor's wounds, they saluted politely to the Emperor first, then the court officials that just came in and retreated towards the door, they were only responsible for healing the sick and wounded, the aftermath of this terrible scene had nothing to do with them.

When the Emperor directed his gaze towards his crying son besides him, he couldn't help but shake his head, but this does not mean that he felt sympathy towards this vicious and power hungry woman, he only felt sad for his son that lost his mother.

2nd Imperial prince finally arrived next to his 'imperial father's' side and looked at his eyes, as if asking what happened to Consort Dai that made her pass away. Seeing the question in his adopted son's eyes, he also didn't understand what had happened, one moment she was standing looking down towards the stage area and the next, she suddenly shrieked and collapsed on the ground with her eyes wide open in fear. He also wanted to know what made her feel fearful.

He looked at his adopted son next to him who also adapted a puzzled expression when looking at Consort Dai. After seeing that, he didn't pay any more attention to him and looked at the court officials in the room.

The court officials, even the slowest ones, have already pieced together the rapid scenes that just happened and realized the fearfulness of the matter, no one dared to speak on behalf of Consort Dai, just in case they were accused of working together with her. After the Emperor ordered for people to clean up the mess, he looked towards his only biological son who kneeled on the ground with a blank and hopeless expression.

He secretly blamed himself for not spending more time with this son of his, all these years, he had the suspicion that Consort Dai was the one who murdered his beloved lover, so he was unconsciously cold towards him, but seeing him, he should have made more efforts to care for him.

"Guo'er, your imperial mother—"

Before the Emperor could continue, 1st Imperial Prince looked up at his imperial father, his eyes caused him to freeze in his speech, those eyes showed nothing but despair and hopelessness, it was almost like an empty void, no feelings or emotions could be seen in them. His expression was at such a loss, even he didn't know what to say to console his only biological son.

In the end, he got up from his seat, his wounds slightly opening from his fast movements, but he didn't pay attention to it and went up to his son and gently placed his arms around him.

"Guo'er, it was Imperial father's fault for not caring for you because of your imperial mother. Although, I have never had any affections for your imperial mother, you should know that I have always treated you as my beloved son, no one can change that."

After listening to his imperial father words and feeling the warmth through his strong aged arms, 1st Imperial Prince didn't do anything except hug his imperial father, clinging onto his shirt as his tears spilled uncontrollably from his eyes.

2nd Imperial Prince watched from the sidelines and didn't comment on the scene. When the scene of blood and death was finally cleaned up, all three of them exited the VIP booth and started to make their way downstairs. Since such an incidence happened, no one was in the mood to watch any performances.

Receiving this news from their informers, the judges immediately dismissed the audience and students from the area and gave orders for them to stay within their residences until everything is cleared up.

Tian He's group members followed the rest of the students towards their dormitories, but Tian He stayed behind with her mother, Chen Su Su. Looking at the woman who looked back at her with such motherly affection and hope, she couldn't help but also feel a bit emotional. She felt that even though the original owner's soul will eventually come back and see all of these memories that she experienced, she felt it a bit unfair she didn't get to personally be here to witness and feel it firsthand.

She decided she'll let them reunite after she finished this last task of dancing with her, since with her amazing performance, her fame would certainly be widespread, and her mission was just to make the original owner famous, but it didn't say 'how famous'. So, the original owner deserved this moment with her mother, even if she's helping her fulfill her dreams, it wasn't right that she took this moment away.

"Student in training, Tian He, greets Official Imperial Dancer, Chen Su Su."

Tian He politely saluted to her and before Chen Su Su could reply, she continued.

"Tian He has a selfish request, don't know whether Imperial Dancer could help Tian He fulfill it?"

Curious, Chen Su Su replied, "What does student Tian He want to request of me?"

Taking a breath, she said her purpose. "Tian He wishes to dance with Imperial Dancer right here, right now, just us is fine."

When Tian He saw that she was about to mention her group, she quickly cut her off.

Without waiting for her to continue, she pleaded. "I hope Imperial Dancer can help fulfill this small request of mine."

She looked into Chen Su Su's eyes, and although there was bewilderment, she also saw approval, so she no longer dallied and moved with Chen Su Su towards the center of the stage.

Since Chen Su Su didn't have a statin ribbon with her, Tian He also decided to not use her rosy red statin ribbon and because there was no music, they could only sing.

When they both got into position, she voiced out her choice for her song, after hearing the name, Chen Su Su's eyes couldn't help but turn a bit moist, it was the song that was played during her dance performance on the lake, she was more than happy to accommodate and dance along Tian He with this song.

Tian He and Chen Su Su began to hum the soft melody of the song, then swung their hands in the air and glided their wide flowy sleeves outwards, then inwards. Suddenly, they leaped towards the left and right respectively, then they spun in place, their flowy skirts and sleeves followed their moves, creating ruffles of spinning reds and whites.

Chen Su Su's white skirt and sleeves made her look like a spirit of the moon, while Tian He's bright red-orange skirt and sleeves resembled that of the shining sun. Their voices started to increase in volume, small particles of golden lights and water-like roses and lilies began to form around the dancers, they stepped and spun across the stage, then the tempo of the song increased rapidly, and finally, they began to sing.

"Lilies and blossoms that grow gently with care and love,

How have you survived without the fertile and water?

To never receive what was rightfully yours at birth,

Will your soul ever find solace? Will you cry forever?

Lilies and blossoms that wither on the desert fields,

Have the rain and skies finally found their beloved?

Towards their safe bosoms affection and love should grow anew,

Will you finally be at peace? Will your tears dry up?

Tian He and Chen Su Su leaped towards the center of the stage and slowly gather their hands in front of them, their wide flowy sleeves followed their movements and formed patterns of shuffling small roses and lilies. The golden lotus blossoms that formed from each dancer began to combine with each other to form one giant golden lotus blossom, the blue roses and lilies floated around this huge lotus blossom, glowing brighter with every note of the song.

Tian He lifted her feet high up and leaped into the air, seeing that, Chen Su Su also followed suit and leaped towards the giant lotus blossom, surprisingly, the lotus blossom could hold their weight, and they continued to dance and sing on top of the floating lotus blossom.

Every twirl of their bodies and every movements of their hands caused the golden lotus blossom to glow brighter and bigger. Finally, sensing the end of the song, they leaped towards each other with all their strength, forming a perfect split in mid-air before landing gracefully with their front feet pointed forwards while their back leg pointed towards the ceiling, and with their hands holding each other's.

As soon as their hands touched, their song ended, and they both looked into each other's eyes, one affectionate, the other amazed, then, the giant golden lotus blossom slowly lowered the dancers towards the ground. When the golden lotus blossoms and blue roses and lilies scattered onto the stage and formed into their real manifestations, Tian He and Chen Su Su, finally got up from the ground, in their vision was nothing but beautiful glows of blues and golds as their manifestations surrounded them.

Tian He pulled back her hand that Chen Su Su was still holding and backed away slowly, she gave a thankful smile to Chen Su Su and called out.

"Little Stars, it's time for me to go."

Pink particles of light gathered and formed into a transparent small infant, it's cute eyes looked down at its host.

Not minding the weird looks that Chen Su Su was giving her for speaking out into nothing, Tian He just smiled happily before mouthing thank you and before she knew it, her vision turned black and her body fell towards the ground.

When her soul lifted itself from the original owner's body, she saw that a small white orb was slowly being fused into that body that's currently laying on the ground.

Chen Su Su looked worried and was shedding a few tears when she first saw Tian He faint, in her distress, she didn't know what to do besides shake her and call her name. After a moment, she saw the original owner's soul orb finally assimilate back into its body and the memories of these months should also be assimilating with her.

Her soul was floating towards Little Stars, once their hands connected, he would guide her away. Suddenly, she heard the sounds of the competition area's door opened loudly, and before she could see who opened them, she touched Little Stars' hand and her soul was rapidly lifted away.

2nd Imperial Prince was going to follow his 'imperial father' back to the palace, but suddenly, right at the time that Tian He's body fainted, he felt his heart throb in pain, no, it was his soul, it was pulsing in distress, like it was urging its master to hurry and stop whatever horrible thing that was about to happen.

His mind couldn't understand the strangeness of this feeling, it was painful, but not physically, his hands couldn't help but clench together in nervousness and fear, but why?

What was he fearful about? Nothing he knew could cause such huge fear and heartbroken pain, the yearning and longing it each throb was starting to drown him. He couldn't stand this feeling, he needed to find out what was happening to him.

Suddenly, he thought of Tian He, he didn't know why and how he fell in love with a girl so much and wanted someone's affection so much. This girl that randomly came into his life, but as soon as he thought of her, his heart and soul throbbed even faster.

What? Was it Tian He, could it be that something happened to her? Having thought of this, he abandoned his guards and without saying anything, he sped towards the academy's competition area, somehow, he knew that she would be there.

She had to be there!

Right when he reached the academy's competition area's large doors and used all his strength push them open, he felt an extreme tug of pain and misery in his soul, his soul was telling him that he was too late, he had loss her again.

Not having the chance to dwell on his thoughts, his eyes laid on the slim figure that was currently lying on the ground with her eyes staring at her mother, Chen Su Su, but hearing the loud noise he made, they both turned around to look in his direction. He was ecstatic that nothing happened to her, but when he directed his gaze to her eyes, he felt his heart throb, no, it couldn't be, those eyes that looked back at him were murky and confused, where was her clear and bright eyes that he loved seeing? Those eyes aren't Tian He's!

Then, where was his Tian He?

His heart was throbbing in so much pain and agony that he couldn't suppress it, his soul was mourning and churning at the thought of his loss, his once hope filled eyes that looked at her were no longer there, in its place was nothing but despair and hopelessness.