It was time for him to go to back to bed when a knock came on his door.
It was Old Man Jiang. "Child, No... Zao Wu Hai, today you could have lost your life. If you had continued to train in that art, the cost could have accumulated into a death sentence. I'm not sure what your thoughts on life and death are but you seem to value yours to some degree so I will warn more. Should you not listen to my warnings, this Old Man would surely have no face in front of my Ancestors." His expression sank a little bit and then he continued with his rant.
"Because you have met your bottleneck and must find another route, this will be a test of your choices. If you decide that the route of magic is something that you cannot life without, I will be here when you return. As for now, it is time to go see your parents. If you are to stop your training and pursue mortal affairs, its not too late. Make sure to take this time to spend it with your parents, They may lose their child at any moment. Life is fleeting and you should treasure the moments that make you happy. I've watched enough people walk and disappear from my own life, you should never underestimate the nature of time." With saddened eyes, he sent Wu Hai to rest and had him pack in the morning.
Seeing him off to return to his family, Old Man Jiang did not accompany him. It was going to be a choice of his disciple if he returned. The risks are different for everyone, only the willing can be part of what is to come.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
Calistown had been without her boys for some time, leaving her and Ooran to revisit their marital bliss. It didn't take long for her to be with child, soon she gave birth to a daughter. They named her Lei since she was born during a thunderstorm and her afternoons were spent by the window side looking down the mountain.
A flutter of birds left a tree on the path up the mountain and a young boy wearing a clean set of clothes was jogging on green light pads as he sped towards the house. "Wu Hai!" Calistown called out in surprise.
Nearly having to check her vision, she still cried out again, "WU HAI! You're back!"
"Yes Mother, I've returned, but I won't be staying long. I have to get back so I can get stronger. Where is father? is he out hunting?" Wu Hai consoled his mother and asked.
'There are a few places he could be, If he's not back tonight I'll go look for him,' Wu Hai thought and then gave his mother a hug. Noticing the child in her arms he said, "A Sister?"
He could see the happiness in his mothers eyes as she nodded, "Yes, her name is Zao Lei. Its a little foolish sounding but I want her to be a foolish girl and live a long happy life."
"Your Father will be back either tonight or tomorrow, your room is as you've left it. Your father made another room out back for the baby, she cries in your room too much." Not understanding the reasons why she just shrugged it off and told him as much. "Dinner will be ready in a little while, since you're here I can make a bit more. There are a few extra vegetables left over, we were growing so much to feed the four of us, and there has only been us two, now three!" Calistown had a glowing radiance that just couldn't fade. She had wanted a Daughter for nearly 17 years and she finally had one. Looking at her growing son, she pulled him in for another hug and they went inside.
The night was quiet and the forest still. His bed was a little shorter than he remembered, then he noted how he might have grown a bit since he departed. The dust on his window and clothes showed how much his parents were unwilling to admit they were not home. Touched, he laid down and proceeded to sleep.
"Brother, you must help Father" A small voice rang out, but no voices could be heard. Rousing from his sleep due to the soft young voice he walked outside to catch some night air. If he was having problems sleeping he should try again shortly. He was ready to go back inside when the voice rang out again "Hurry! There is not much time!" Looking around he couldn't hear anything until suddenly the baby started crying.
"Lei" rushing to the window he could see the eyes of his younger sister shimmer and the voice rang out.
"GO!" and the crying continued. Startled by the noise his mother came out from the house.
"Wu Hai, what is going on" "Why are you waking your sister up at this hour?" confused she questioned Wu Hai.
Unwilling to explain he said "I have to find father, I'll explain later." with an 'Infernal fireball' bursting from his hands for a light source, a green shimmer burst under his feet and he sped off down the mountain to where he and his father would hunt.
Roughly half an hour later he found traces of where his father had been hunting, but there was no sign of him just yet. Checking the riverside he saw a thicket and what looked like his fathers boots sticking from the mud. Frantic he rushed to the side of the pair of boots and pulled at them, but It was no use, the boots were being worn and the corpse of a man rolled from the weeds.
It wasn't his father, but those were clearly his style of boots. Not knowing what to think, he rifled through pockets and found gold coins along with his father's short sword stabbed into the still-flexible corpse. He had not been there long and It would only be a few hours before a body would go stiff, especially when left near a water source.
Rushing upstream along the riverside a few more corpses could be seen, a fight had taken place. Arrows that had been shot then, trampled over, littered the surroundings. Following the trail of action for a hundred meters through the ticket and mud, he stopped finding corpses.
'Chances are one a million, one in a billion that fate would smile upon some.' Zao Wu Hai was definitely smiled upon. Looking in the distance, he could see his father with an arrow in his back, slumped against a tree surrounded by reeds.
He was holding something.
It was large and metallic, with segments across it. He had been chased during his hunt. Wounded, he couldn't carry the object in his hands to safety and he did not look like he was willing to leave it either.
Questioning his rationality, Wu Hai charged up to his father and came to skid. He stopped looking down at his father and saw he was still awake, breathing but groggy and unable to tell who was in front of him.
Wu Hai was only 12, his father was nearly twice his size, carrying him home was difficult. Stowing what looked like a weapon in the cloth taken from the corpse of one of the thugs, it took the remainder of the night to make his way back to the house, his father supported on his shoulder.
Wu Hai's mother waited impatiently by the window the entire night, scared to death at his words and reaction before leaving. She had never seen him so sure that his father was in danger, the look of a man in his eyes, she shed tears upon seeing them in the distance.
Forgetting all else, she ran to her husbands side and noticed the arrow in his back. She tried not to cry for her husbands injuries. They all went inside and laid him across the table to remove the arrowhead and stabilize him.
"ZAO WU HAI!, Tell me right now, What happened to your father? Why is he injured, and who shot him" Calistown was losing herself, Lei was crying in the other room.
"There were too many things going on, I didn't see if the attacker was among the corpses. Father did not speak on the way back." Wu Hai calmed his mother but it wasn't good news. "Having no reason to be attacked by so many, they must have been after the item father was holding. It was pretty big but it would have been easy to bring home if he was in good health. He must have found it right before they arrived, I didn't see any drag marks." Zao Wu Hai kept it himself for a moment.
"Bring me the things father had on him, I'll get this arrow out." Looking at his fathers pained face, Wu Hai poured some alcohol onto the wound and started to pull, it didn't appear that doing so would be easy.
The arrowhead was made of certain materials that left a jagged head lodged inside, broken away; It was surely barbed. Ooran spat out some blood and Calistown held his hand.