——-Lan——-
I glanced up at the large wooden house I built with my own hands, than I looked at my creations.
I was a master at carving, I had polished my skills to the point that I could create living creatures.
There were wolves, deer and rabbits surrounding me, all made out of wood. They had helped me in many of my battles, I couldn't defeat an invasion without their help.
My wife walked out of the house, she was carrying both of my sons.
"I'll miss you" I said. I had prepared myself for this moment for a while but it was still difficult to go.
"If you die, I will kill you" Feng Jingyi said. She was the rock that anchored my life, I would never let her down.
I walked up to her and gently kissed her, it was bittersweet. I then crouched down and looked my sons in their slightly tears eyes.
One of them looked at me desperately but I just placed my hand on their head. "Feng Hao, Feng Long, protect your mother while I'm gone, you are the men of the house now."
They just teared up more so I lightly smiled at them, "don't worry, I'll be back before you know it." I lightly laughed, trying to lighten the heavy mood.
My eyes felt hot, I reached my hands up to my face, I was crying. I clenched my teeth and swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat.
I turned away not wanting my family to see my weakness. "Feng Jingyi!" I yelled, "if... when I get back, I'm going to get that necklace you always wanted!"
"You had better" she yelled, also tearing up a little, she understood the severity of an invasion.
I raised my fist in the air, tears streamed down my face, I saw so damn scared but I could never show it. "Let's do this!" I yelled, trying to convince myself that everything would be okay.
I hopped on one of my wolf carvings and rode into the sparse forest in front of my house.
...
I had already been traveling for a few days, I knew I was nearing the invasion.
My heart was pumping, invasions were incredibly rare, nobody knew what caused them either.
All of sudden spirit beasts would group together and invade a town or city, which more likely than not, would destroy said town or city.
The current invasion I was about to face was small in comparison to most others, but even so, it was a gargantuan amount of spirit beasts.
I felt scared for my life, I knew I would probably die but I had to protect my family.
Invasions were spread out so even if people tried to run around it, they wouldn't be able to.
My ears slightly twitched as the sounds of roaring entered my ears. 'They're here' I thought.
I steeled my nerves, this would be the second most dangerous fight I had ever been in.
I summoned my spirit essence, a blue tortoise, five spirit rings surrounded me.
"RAA"
I yelled charging at the wall of beasts, I only had to punch a hole through the invasion that was big enough that the spirit beasts wouldn't destroy my home. The guards from the nearby vast sea city would be able to deal with the rest of them. If this was going to be my final battle, I was going to make it grand one.
——-Hao——-
I couldn't believe that dad just left, how could he leave a baby and mother alone?
I began to cry, it wasn't just teary eyes, I was wailing, kicking and screaming.
Mom tried to rub my back and calm me down, but I wanted dad back. I unleashed my fury on everything, completely losing myself.
I eventually grew sleepy but I couldn't seem to get to sleep, so I just whimpered until mom finally came by and put me to bed. I didn't even think to question why it had become difficult falling asleep.
I dreamt about dad, but that dream slowly became a nightmare as he walked away. I quickly woke up, once again crying. He was never coming back, he was never coming back. That thought filled my mind.
Mom rushed in and calmed me down, I was still grumpy.
I had become short tempered and destructive, often breaking things. I didn't see any problem with my behaviour, I did what I wanted.
...
Days passed and I found that things became, fuzzy? I stopped being able to understand mama's words, I couldn't comprehend how I used to think so complexly.
Everything Now was simple, I cried, I got what I wanted, I could do whatever I wanted.
I stopped missing dada, he was gone now, why should I care? I did miss his mashed apples, they were good. My mouth started watering at the thought of mashed apples so I crawled backwards down the stairs into the kitchen.
I began bawling my eyes out until mama came by and made me some food. I happily played with my food, barely eating any and mostly just knocking it on the floor. My mama said loud things when I knocked my food on the floor. I couldn't understand the complex noises coming out of her mouth, if my memory was correct, they were called words. It didn't matter, I didn't need to learn words, too difficult.
My mama picked me up, cleaning my hands, I struggled to get away from the water, I didn't need clean hands. After making a big fuss and finally getting my hands cleaned, mama picked me up to put me to bed, it was my nap time.
Mama took a few steps upwards and then stopped. She was looking at something. I followed her eyes and saw my dada.
He stood in the doorway, clothes torn, covered in blood. His blood dripped down his arms and pooled around his feet, I couldn't see any of the wooden animals he had with him when he went out.
The sight was horrible, the blood, the stench, the massive gashes.
"I. Did. It" he said weakly before collapsing. My mama put me down and quickly rushed to his side.
As I stared at his crumpled body, I heard something like a bone cracking. I looked around, confused, then I heard it again, louder this time.
My head began to hurt, but everything was also becoming more clear. I heard the crack once again, the pain made me want to cry, but I couldn't, I could only stare at my dad's body.
A sound like glass shattering filled my ears. My head felt like it was being sawed in half it felt like my whole body was being destroyed, I cried out in pain for just a moment before everything went black.
I dreamed of my time back in the alliance.
Back before my master, in the lab.
At first everything was black, I was like a newborn, not knowing anything. A thin ray of light entered my vision, I closed my eyes because it was too bright.
I kept my eyes closed until I felt the liquid I was floating in drain. I stood shakily on my legs, I had the body of a four year old, but not the memories.
I saw men in white coats approach me, I didn't think much of them until they stabbed me in the back of the neck with a needle.
It was only then that I noticed a small metal implant on my neck. After the men stabbed me, I gained a monstrous amount of information.
I instantly learned the history of the alliance and of the large internal conflicts within it. Said conflicts were started by big businesses for their own monetary gain.
I learned math, science, basic martial arts and so much more.
After the injection I was quickly put into training, forming my aether core and improving my body.
I was treated well, but I was a slave, just like all of the other people in the lab with me.
Every week there was a combat test against other kids, if you lost, you died.
That was my life for eight years, then, my master showed up, he shut down the lab and took the remaining kids, which only amounted to me and three other people to a distant planet.
It was right before my masters first lesson, that I felt myself waking up. I struggled for a bit because I was almost at the stage in my life where I was always happy, but eventually I woke up.
My eyes snapped open, quickly taking in the details of my room. I was lucid.