It was dark in the forest. The eyes of predators pierced through the night while the prey sneaked around their shadows.
A small rabbit hopped hurriedly through the forest floor, a black shadow of a wildcat following it. Its eyes were focused on escaping that it didn't notice the heavy raindrops that weighed down its originally luscious white fur.
Just ahead of it was a small hole carved into a tree... It jumped forward....
Elsewhere in the forest, a young girl, not even ten, ran with all her might.
A maniacal laughter chased after her through the forest and up the mountains. Just the force of it was enough for the trees to shudder in fear. They seemed to work against the girl as she pushed through their branches. Eventually, she tripped over their roots, but in her fright, not even a mutter made its way past her lips as she continued on.
Only once the laughter of her pursuers had disappeared did she look around.
"ah," her pale face turned whiter as she hurried backed away from the cliff. She collapsed onto her bottom and she sat there silently in shock.
Below her stood the capital city of Xinghe Kingdom. Had she come a day earlier she would see the city be washed in pink as the cherry blossoms bloomed. However, tonight, the city washed in an intense scarlet light emitting from the abnormal flames that burned. Of them, a singular pillar stood stronger than the others. It was if the fire that engulfed that small sector of the capital city would stay burning for a whole eternity.
"guh," the girl's eyes welled up and her hand squeezed a small white jade amulet that hung around her neck.
crack
Her wide teary eyes turned towards the forest behind her.
Before the tears in her eyes could even dry, she was once more on her feet in a mad escape.
***
Down within the capital city, the recently minted emperor dressed in red silk sat on the throne proudly.
"General Xin Hao asks for your audience, your Majesty!" an eunuch cried from outside.
"Let him in."
A middle-aged man walked in with his head bowed. His eyes shifted back and forth nervously, but the emperor only took the reaction to be expected in his glorious presence.
"Your Majesty," he knelt.
"General Xin Hao," the emperor looked down at the soldier coldly. "Your report?"
"Your orders have been carried around perfectly."
"Is that so?" the emperor smiled as several maids walked out. They placed a cup of wine in front of the general and handed one to the emperor before once more disappearing. "Tonight is a night of celebration! Won't you have a drink with me, General?"
The general shuddered slightly as his eyes turned slightly red. "Indeed it is, your Majesty."
"General Xin Hao, you shall be bestowed the title of a Great General. In addition for your services in rescuing Zhen's nation from treachery, two chests of gold shall arrive at your house by tomorrow morning."
"Yes, thank you, your Majesty."
"Great General Xin Hao, I hope you will not disappoint me in the future."
The general, now the Great General, looked up slightly at the emperor who smiled widely, teeth stained slightly red from the wine. His heart shuddered in fear as he hurried outside. Following him was the jovial laughter of the emperor.
The moment he reached his horse, he and the rest of his soldiers hurriedly galloped off into the depths of the capital city.
The soldiers at the palace watched the dust left behind, thinking that there was something that the Great General had hidden away from the emperor. The dust was filled with a mixture of celebration and great anxiety.
"You may all return to your home," the Great General said quietly once they were a distance away from the palace.
The soldiers took a single glance at the general and, without a word, left. Only a singular person did not leave. The Great General's right lieutenant, Bao Lu.
"General, in celebration, let's share a bottle of wine," Bao Lu smiled sweetly as he curried favor.
"Let's."
The two of them eventually ended up in Xin Hao's study drunk from celebration of their rising status and newly gained wealth.
"General!" Bao Lu slammed down a porcelain bottle of wine in drunken stupor. "Did you know that Ruan Shanqiao escaped?"
"Huh? Of course I did!" the Great General grinned foolishly as he shook another empty bottle for the sake of a droplet of wine.
"Will it really be fine to let Ruan Shanshan live?"
Xin Hao's originally alcohol-blurred eyes cleared within the instant and he propped himself up. "She's a mere ten year old. What can she do?" he remarked.
However, the look on his face was clearly one unbelieving in his own words. Deep within himself he felt anxious that the single rabbit he failed to catch would one day grow claws and fangs and return to haunt his days.
"That is true, she's merely ten."
She could get lost in the woods, fall prey to the animals, or savages in the south. How can lone ten year possibly survive within the cruelty of the world?
"As long as the emperor never finds out right, Xin Hao?" Bao Lu smiled foolishly at his friend before downing another glass of wine.
All of Xin Hao's anxieties appeared to melted away. Yes, as long as the emperor never finds out. But what if....