"This is it, we are done for." A young man in tattered green robes slumped onto the damp cave ground. His sword, once undefeatable, lay shattered at his side.
"No! We still have a chance. We can't give up! Not now." Another man in equally tattered golden robes grabbed the man by the arm and tried to hoist him up, but found that he couldn't. His arms were shaking from exerting even the smallest amount of strength. He grit his teeth in anger and tried again.
"Sect Leader! Stop, you need to rest." A man in dirt covered red robes grabbed their Sect Leader by the shoulders and pulled him away from the man on the ground. The man in green slumped to the ground, his face dark. The man in red robes pursed his lips at the other before turning his focus on the Sect Leader. He ushered the other to sit down against the cave wall.
"I-I can't rest. Not now." The Sect Leader said hysterically. Tears were streaming down his eyes, but he was smiling.
The man in red gave him a soft smile and crouched down. He took one look at the Sect Leaders wounds and grimaced. They were deep and ran across his vital organs. He scrunched up his nose.
'If these had been any deeper than he would have died.'
He shook his head and pulled out a few medical herbs from his sleeves and started to rub them on the wounds.
"Sext Leader." The man started, "I know this is hard for you, but the Sect is gone. The disciples have been killed and our chances of deafening him are close to none." His grip tightened on the herbs he was holding, a few pieces of leaves fell from his hands.
"No!" The man pushed the other away. "We are the strongest Sect of the Nine Sects, we can't lose hope or the others-"
"Are dead." A young woman's voice cut through the air. Her words were as sharp as her glare. "Sect Leader, you forget. He didn't target just us, he went after all the Nine Sects. If we couldn't defeat him then neither could they."
"She's right." The man in red said, "His anger was too strong. We should have realized that he had alternate motives the moment his brother was appointed the Dragon Emperor…we should have seen it."
There was an audible scoff from the man slumped on the ground, "We should have killed him the moment we noticed something was off. If we had killed him then none of this would have happened."
"No. By then it would have been too late." The man in red reasoned. He picked up a few herbs and mixed them together. "He was powerful, just like this brother. If his brother was unable to defeat him then we would have never stood a chance."
There was a tense silence. Only the sound of breathing and the rustling of clothes could be heard.
"So we kill him before he becomes powerful."
"What?" The others said in unison. Their heads snapping towards the man slumped on the ground. He had picked up a piece of his sword, looking at it closely.
His reflection showed only a broken man. He gripped it tightly, letting specks of blood drip onto the ground.
With a smirk he drops his piece of sword and reaches into his robes. With a determined look he holds the small round object in front of him.
"You! Where did you get that!" The Sect Leader rushed to his side, grabbing the object to inspect it, "I-I thought we lost it when the Sect was attacked."
The man coughed then smirked, "No. I grabbed it before we were forced to flee. I had a feeling we might need it."
The others gathered around the object, their faces holding complicated yet hopeful looks.
"We kill him before he becomes too powerful." The man repeated.
"You know that we can't just kill him." A soft voice said.
"She's right. If the others see us…"she trails off.
"Then we kill him indirectly. There are plenty of ways to get rid of someone without personally killing them." He stated with a smirk.
The others went silent. Their gazes were complicated, but he could see that they were wavering. They stood there in silence for a long time before someone finally spoke up.
"You know, we will be the only ones to remember." She reminded them. The object may have been powerful, but even it had limitations.
"Perhaps it's for the best." The Sect Leader said. His eyes were clouded as he gazed at the object.
"Everyone would come back." One of them finally managed to whisper.
As if a spell had been broken, they immediately latched onto the object and began to channel their Qi into it.
The light grew and grew until the cave was enveloped in it. The next moment everything went silent.