Kirian ignored the person chasing him. He had no interest in being caught up in whatever horrific scheme this was. He was going to escape; death had failed him so now he tried running.
The memory of Seth's voice echoed in his head like a warning cry "If you try to escape I will break every bone in your legs". Kirian's concentration broke. Suddenly the elegant leeping through the air turned to horrible summer salts towards the ground.
There were cries as the busy streets onlookers saw the falling man. The worst part was; he was almost naked. With only his inner robes on he was shocking the entire city with a brazen display of indecency. Not that Kirian would know. This robe was still far more material than he usually wore. He was still covered head to toe.
As he hit the ground, dirt covered his entire frame. He was agile enough not to get hurt by the fall, but he still felt disoriented.
"Is this a run away prostitute?" One person nearby commented. It was a man. He looked amazed at seeing someone scantily clad. He hadn't seen such a pretty man before either so it was a rare sight for sure.
"Mommy look!" A little kid cried out. The mother gasped in horror at the display and clapped her hand over the child's face as she took their arm to lead them away.
"Don't gawk at others. It's inappropriate." The woman scolded her child as they quickly hurried away.
There were plenty of onlookers as Kirian dusted himself off. He had no words for what they called him. This truly was a bizzar dream if this much clothing caused so much unrest.
"Do you know a prostitute with the level of cultivation that allows one to walk through the air?" Another man quipped from nearby. He seemed to scoff at the idea.
"Why else would he be dressed like that and running though? Perhaps the fragrance house really has lost a beauty. I mean look at him." The other man retorted.
It was true that even now Kirian looked stunning. He had long auburn hair pulled back with a hair clasp to keep it out of his face and piercing green eyes. He had a clear complexion with a strong nose and high cheekbones. His jaw was firm. He was over six feet tall with broad shoulders and narrow hips. Over all he did look radiant despite the dirt on his frame.
"True. He is stunning. I am sure the fragrance house is probably going to send their best after him. Can't imagine how bad the punishment may be." One guy tsked as he spoke of it. Others seemed to be jeering at Kirian. He didn't care.
"Senior Bai Xiao, wait!" The boy who had been chasing Kirian was trying desperately to keep up. Unlike Kirian, who did not know he could, the young man had the sense to pull out his flying sword and use it to chase his senior down.
"Senior? Did that lad from the Floral Palace Sect just call him Senior?" Someone asked in shock. There were only two people out of place on the streets so of course they connected the dots on whom he was referring too.
The atmosphere changed from pity and disgust to shock and curiosity. It wasn't unheard of for a brothel girl or guy to escape and run away half naked. However, it was impossible to catch a cultivator doing it. There was a good show to watch so of course everyone gathered around. Kirian was then surrounded by curious onlookers.
Kirian turned his head to look at his pursuer. "You can't make me! I won't go back!" He shouted. He was used to dealing with crowds. Seth punished him wherever he found him, which was often in the company of others. This was nothing new. He then took off down the street, using the crowd to block the boy chasing him.
"He must be a senior cultivator! But why is he running away? Did he get in trouble?" The onlookers began to gossip and soon all of Heichau knew of this strange disciple who was on the run from his colleague, half naked at that.
Kirian couldn't see the look of hopelessness and frustration on the other boys face. All he could see was his way to freedom, by running away.
He darted around stalls and ran through narrow alleyways but the boy stayed above the houses on his sword and tracked Kirian's path. He began to think his senior had amassed some serious brain trauma from the blow to his head during the last fight against the Dark Qi zombies.
As minutes turned into an hour and that hour turned into two, the young man started to be amused more than worried. Kirian seemed to be running, but he didn't seem to realize that he had run circles in the city multiple times already. There was a loss for words on the younger man's part.
Being on a flying sword he had no difficulty keeping up with Kirian. Since Kirian hadn't even attempted to summon his mount the boy was easily able to track him during his supposed "escape." He could tell his senior was beginning to tire from all of the running around, but he was fine. His mount allowed him to maintain not only his dignity, but also his stamina.
The rumors had started out that the Floral palace was abusing one of their disciples but had quickly turned to a disciple gone mad when they watched Kirian race by them multiple times. He was hell bent on escaping but the truth was that his sense of direction was awful and even transfiguration could not fix that little problem.
Kirian was getting tired of running. He only realized after the third lap that he was running in circles. After that lap around the city he decided to try his luck by jumping up on the roof tops.
His little stalker was impressed by the action but had stopped calling him by the wrong name a while ago. Kirian used smaller roofs to launch himself up to higher ones. The reason was that the city was surrounded by a massive wall. Originally Kirian had been looking for the gates, but his bad sense of direction had caused him to miss them every time. Now he was just going to jump the wall.
After using a tall monk pagoda as his launching point, Kirian finally had the height he needed to launch over the city wall. However, what he found on the other side was a bamboo forest with no buildings to descend onto to ease his landing. He was a solid three hundred feet in the air. His face paled.
The disciple who had originally found Kirian's antics amusing, was suddenly struck with horror as he came to the same realization. He launched forward to catch Kirian as he began the fall.
Kirian was heavier than the man thought, so they both went careening out of control. The sword the boy was riding was only able to minimally slow their fall so that when they hit the ground it didn't hurt as bad and they didn't break anything.
They fell into a thicket of bamboo that snapped under their combined weight. As they rolled the sword disappeared as if it had never existed, leaving Kirian and the lad to fall.
Kirian rolled until he was in front of a small pond. His clothing was now torn on top of being filthy and he was entirely disheveled. He didn't have time to worry about that, however, as he did not want to be caught.
Kirian was about to launch himself up and start running again when he caught sight of his own reflection in the water. The features were similar to his own, especially the green eyes.. but his hair was auburn and he was taller.
The disciple who fell with him groaned in pain as he slowly sat up. What he found when he looked for Kirian was the man on his hands and knees next to the water. He was clearly staring at his own reflection with amazement and confusion.
"Please... please let the goddes Nuwa be kind and not let you have amnesia." The boy half sobbed as he stood up to dust himself off.
"Amnesia?" Kirian muttered, half listening to the boy but still transfixed on the image of himself with hair that wasn't two toned. He reached up to pull some of the strands in front of his face. They were clotted with dirt and dust but it truly was an auburn red. Kirian's hands shook.
"What... what the hell is going on..." Kirian finally muttered. His gaze lifted from the pool. There would be no reason for Askal to play with his head like this, and beyond that he realized that even if this was a dream then he couldn't escape by running.
Kirian stared at the lanky boy who stood near him.
"Who are you? Who am I?" Kirian finally asked. The boy looked a lot like his younger brother, and he had been shouting something about "Senior Bai Xiao."
"Oh... Nuwa have mercy.." the boy put his face in his hand as he realized Kirian really did have no idea who he was.
"You are Bai Xiao and I am Xin Xiao. We are brothers and cultivators of the Crystal Warriors. Please... please remember. Mom and dad... no.. Master is going to be furious." The boy seemed to shudder at the idea of their 'master'.
Kirians eyes dilated and he grabbed the boys shoulders. He shook him slightly but his strength was beyond his expectation and he saw pain contort the boys face. He eased his grip.
"Master? What master? Aren't we free? Don't tell me we are pets... what is this place and..." Kirian began to ramble.
The boy held up a hand and Kirian fell silent. "First of all... you aren't a pet. Humans can't be pets that would be weird. Second, Master is the leader of our Sect. Don't you remember anything? What has gotten into you. We have been cultivating in martial arts under him since we were little." The boy seemed to be pouting now. His esteemed big brother had forgotten all about everything.
Kirian had a vague idea that he was telling the truth. Memories of cultivating and this so called 'Master' popped into his mind. It was far different from the master he knew. This one taught him things and raised him as a father would a son. Kirian frowned.
"And... you... are my little brothers... we are the Xiao brothers... from Chang'An." Kirian tried to piece the memories together and there was mild relief on the others face.
"Right, that is right. I am Xin Xiao and you are Bai Xiao. Come, let's go back please?" The boy pleaded.
Kirian stared at him. "That is going to be a long walk." He muttered, feeling stiff after smacking into so many bamboo shoots and falling twice.
"So... summon your mount." His little brother seemed confused. He furrowed his brows.