"Finally! An inn!" cried Dante with joy. "Man, sleeping on the forest ground for the past week is really starting to make my back hurt."
"We've only just left from Jade Blossom City last week," said Chisa. "Geez, how can you call yourself a man if you can't even handle sleeping on the ground for a few days?"
"Well, they did say that Flying Fox Village was a week's trip from Jade Blossom City," reminded Shun. "So please stop your whining and let's check in."
"Of course! Anything you say, Shun-hon," said Dante with sparkling eyes. (Hon = an over-the-top honorific used for famous people, heroes, and personal idols).
Shun closed his eyes in irritation. "I thought I told you to stop calling me that," he said.
"But I can't! You're my hero!" protested Dante. "You will always be Shun-hon to me!"
Shun exhaled an exasperated sigh and nodded. "Sure, sure." The group entered the inn and checked in. The manager handed them three keys: one key for the room that will be shared by Shun and Dante, one key for the room that will be shared by Mei and Chisa, and one key for the stable that will be shared by Fura and Jaoyin. The heroes took to their rooms and unpacked. Once they were done with setting their stuff down, they all gathered back in the lobby.
"What should we do now?" asked Dante.
Mei's stomach grumbled. "I'm feeling kind of hungry," she said with a small bashful smile. She then turned to Shun and asked, "Shall we go get something to eat, Shun-wan?"
Shun nodded his head and said, "Sure, that sounds like an excellent idea. What should we eat?"
Chisa raised her hand and jumped up and down like an overly excited child. "I want to eat meat! Meat!" she announced to the group. She then remembered something and quickly added, "I also need to buy meat for Jaoyin too. She must be really hungry from our trip."
"Oh, I know a great restaurant!" offered Dante. "I've been here before once in my childhood and there was a very great restaurant that Kong-senzo showed me," he told them. "Their menu is full of exquisite dishes from around the empire! They have meat from the North, vegetables from the South, seafood from the East, and spices from the West! You can get Golden Blessings (honey-grilled sesame chicken breasts), Pearls of the Sea (fish ball noodle soup with five-spice and seaweed), Storm God Feast (a plate of beautifully prepared raw fish with wine sauce and pickled vegetables), and Taste of Jade (a lettuce wrap stuffed with honey glazed pork, grilled sesame beef, spiced chicken breasts, and steamed fish, paired with a wine sauce)!"
"Well, Flying Fox Village is pretty close to the capital, which is the cultural epicenter of the Empire," reasoned Mei with a nod.
"Mm," agreed Shun. "Sounds great!" he told Dante. "What is the place called?"
"Hanshi's Star Restaurant," answered Dante.
The group decided then to go eat at Hanshi's Star Restaurant. Dante led the way and the group came upon a very modest building that was detached from the other stores and restaurants. They entered the shop and was seated at a table. Since it was the group's first time here, with Dante being the only exception, they allowed their more knowledgeable friend to order for them. Once their food came, everyone was quickly enamored by their pleasant scents and appetizing imagery. "We humbly accept heaven's blessing," they all prayed in unison with bowed heads and clasped hands. After they said their prayer, the group of heroes happily dug in.
"This is the best!" exclaimed Dante satisfyingly after taking one bite of his plate of Dynasty Duck Soup (a red soup with glazed duck meat and shibashana noodles, spiced with peppers and goiham spice, and topped with stir-fried onions). "The duck is so tender and the noodles melt in your mouth! The broth—oh, I've never tasted tastier broth than this one right here!"
"Why don't we make this our usual eating spot while we stay here?" suggested Chisa with a dreamy smile after swallowing a bite of her Honey Meat Dish and Rice (a rice dish made with steamed rice and paired with three kinds of honey-glazed meat: beef, pork, and chicken; eaten with a side dish of pickled vegetables).
"But judging by the menu, I don't think our finances will last us long if we continue to eat here," reasoned Shun.
"It's okay," reassured Mei. "My dad is in town and we can ask him to place it on Mian Honara Manor's tab," she told him simply as if that will solve all of their problems. "Anyway, this restaurant is the best! I've been to many high-class restaurants throughout the empire, but I've never been to one where the dishes were prepared extremely close to perfection!" She took another bite of her dish and gave it a nod of approval. "Man, this is the best Stir-Fried Ginger Braised Pork (a stir-fry consisting of finely sliced ginger and fatty pork meat braised in ginger sauce and soy sauce, topped with goiham spice and brown sugar) I've ever eaten!" she squealed delightfully.
"And this Emperor Noodle Soup (a very extravagant noodle soup made with chicken bone broth, beef, pork, fish, squid, octopus balls, onions, green onions, garlic, seaweed, and five types of noodles: okwang noodles, olong noodles, shibashana noodles, ngowasu noodles, and sasa noodles; topped with goiham spice, sweet-fire peppers, cinnamon, and runny eggs) is very good too!" added Shun, slurping another bite of his dish.
"Man, this is nice, taking a break from our adventure," said Dante with a contented smile after shoveling in another spoonful of his food.
Shun smiled to himself. He was happy to see his friends smiling and enjoying themselves. 'I'm glad that I've met them,' he told himself happily. Throughout his journey, Shun had met many people; but the people he was with right now have traveled with him on his journey through thick and thin—they were practically his family. 'Family, huh,' he thought. That's right…this entire journey all started on that day when Shun lost everything. If that day hadn't happened, he wouldn't have gone on this journey, he wouldn't have met all of the people he did, and he wouldn't have met his current family right now.
It all started three years ago when Shun was 10 years old. Back then, he had lived in a small village called Condor Valley. It wasn't that big of a village, with only a population of five hundred, but it was very beautiful. Condor Valley was situated in between two mountains within the greater Hiraqin Mountain Range. A lightly populated forest surrounded the village to the south and west, while the north and east was open field. The village was located in the clear outdoors, away from big cities, with the closest city being ten miles away. Because of this, the village relies heavily on subsistence agriculture and hunting. The open field in the north and west possesses very fertile soil that is perfect for planting most crops, and the forest to the south and east is home to many different animals. Condor Valley has existed this way ever since its founding centuries ago.
Besides agriculture and hunting, the village also engages in trade. Three miles from the village was a trading post that was established by the Empire since long ago. It became another important source of income for the village. Since then, Condor Valley has become quite popular for its trade goods, such as: game meat, vegetables, cotton, lumber, and stone.
Shun came from a family of bird hunters who hunted large birds of prey for food and trade. His father was one of the strongest bird hunters in the entire village and was the village's leader. He was a very big man with strong, broad shoulders, rough black hair, intense brown eyes, and the muscles of a natural-born hunter. His knowledge of bird hunting was second to none and his physical prowess was unmatched by anyone else in the village. Shun had always looked up to his father and one day hopes to become a strong and capable leader just like him.
Shun's mother was a weaver and made clothes for the village. She was a beautiful woman with silky brown hair and soft, kind amber eyes. Her gracefulness and compassion is renowned throughout the village. Her beauty has been compared to that of the goddesses above, a fact that no one can deny. She's the type of person that people just can't hate regardless of how much they envy her looks or personality. Shun is very proud of his mother and strives to always be just as kind and beautiful as her.
In addition to himself, Shun also had three siblings: two little sisters and a little brother. His first little sister is the second child of the family and she is following in their mother's footsteps in weaving. She is also a very beautiful girl and has drawn the eyes of many bachelors who one day hopes to woo her and take her hand in marriage once she becomes of age. The third child is Shun's little brother. He is a rambunctious little rascal with a lot of energy and possesses the intuition of a natural-born hunter. Coupled with his boundless energy, many people have always questioned if he is more animal than human. Lastly, the youngest of Shun's family is his second little sister. She is still very young and has only began learning her numbers and alphabet a few months ago. She is very much spoiled and not a day goes without one of the neighbors or village people coming to visit and bringing her a new toy.
Shun is a very handsome young boy himself. He has his father's rough black hair and his mother's soft amber eyes. Though he wasn't a naturally inclined hunter like his father or brother, Shun is a very quick learner and has been known to pick up every little thing he learns. He is also a very friendly boy who is always there to provide assistance to all who needs it, which has led the village to affectionately nickname him "Angel Prince".
That day, Shun's father had just arrived back from a hunt with a very big Red-Tailed Condor. The bird weighed 8 chat (1 chat = 2 kilograms) and had a red crown atop its head, which meant that this specific bird was the flock's leader. Red-Tailed Condors are gigantic birds that are very common in the southern part of the Central Empire. They are well-regarded for their tender meat and beautiful feathers. Because of their rarity in the north, their meat are often only served in high-end establishments and in the households of nobles, and their feathers are used to create stylish fashion for the aristocracy. For these reasons, Red-Tailed Condors go for very high prices.
After showing the family his catch, Shun's father wrapped the bird's feet with some metal wires and handed it to Shun. It was Shun's job to take whatever kills his father got and turn them in to the trading post just outside the city. This was a common job for the village boys and apprentice hunters. The family had lunch together and then Shun was off to make his delivery. He swung the bird over his back and waved goodbye to his family as he left the village. Little did he know that day that this would be the last time he would see his family and his village.
As he walked down the dirt road straight to the trading post half an hour away, Shun looked up at the skies and smiled when he saw flocks of birds flying freely above him. The sun warmed his face and energized his every being. A small cool breeze blew in and tickled his neck. Today was another great day.
He made to the midway point when a voice called out to him from his right. "Hey, you!" came a girl's voice. Shun turned his head to a see a little girl his age gesturing for him to come over to her. She had soft black hair and mesmerizing purple eyes. Her clothes were strange—she had on a long robe-like dress with wrist-length sleeves and white pants underneath. This was very different from what Shun was familiar with back at the village: the boys, including him, would wear simple trouser shorts with a sash like belt and often go shirtless; while the girls wore simple knee-length dresses with short-sleeves and a sash around their shoulders. Seeing this strange girl for the first time intrigued him. He walked over to her with his eyes intensely focusing on her image.
The girl was a little disturbed by Shun's constant staring and her face quickly grew a little red. "W-W-What are you staring at me for?" she asked him nervously. "Do I have something on my face?"
Shun blinked his eyes a few times and quickly shook his head. "Sorry, I just have never seen a girl like you before," Shun told her honestly. "You're very different than the girls back at the village. And your clothes are very strange, too."
Hearing his words and assuming that he was complimenting her, the girl blushed and smiled goofily to herself. She wrapped her arms around her chest and tilted her head a bit while she looked at him and batted her eyelashes, asking, "Would you say I'm pretty?"
"I'd say you're very weird," Shun replied bluntly with a nod of his head.
"What?!" screamed the girl offendedly. She was completely insulted by his statement and her entire body began to shake with fury. After letting a very deep breath, she returned to her usual self and smiled. "Nevermind that," she told him cheerfully. She then pointed to the Red-Tailed Condor across Shun's shoulder and asked, "What is that?"
"It's a Red-Tailed Condor," Shun told her. "I'm taking this to the trading post to exchange it for money."
"Is it worth a lot?" the girl asked him curiously.
"This one is," said Shun, shaking the bird on his shoulder.
"Say, does that bird taste good?" asked the girl.
"It does," confirmed Shun.
"Do you mind if I taste it a bit, then?" asked the girl.
"No way!" Shun told her, shaking his head with a frown. "I'm taking this to the trading post," he repeated sternly.
"Come on, a little piece wouldn't hurt," pleaded the girl.
"No," Shun told her seriously.
"Hmph, you're such a buzzkill," moaned the girl with pouting lips. Seeing that she won't be able to convince him otherwise, the girl dropped the subject. "What's your name?" she asked him.
"Junlong Shun," Shun told her.
"I'm Eru Kira!" introduced the girl cheerfully. "Nice to meet you, Jun-ri!" (Ri = a general-use honorific for people regardless of age or gender).
"You can call me Shun," he told her.
"Then you can call me Kira!" said Kira with a bright smile. "Where do you live?" she asked him.
"I come from Condor Valley," answered Shun. "It's a village about a half hour that way," he told her, pointing back to where he came from.
Kira followed his finger and nodded her head. She then quickly changed the subject once again. "Say, Shun-wan, do you want to pick flowers with me? Or do you want to play a game? We can play tag!" (Wan= an honorific of familiarity used for men, typically those who are close friends or romantic partners).
Shun was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed by Kira's cheerfulness and boundless energy. "Sorry, but I really have to go," he told her with a nervous smile.
Suddenly, a loud voice coming from atop the hill a few meters away called out Kira's name. "Ah, it's my father," said Kira. "I have to go too. It was nice meeting you!" She waved goodbye and then made her way to the hill. Once she was gone, Shun continued onwards with his job.
He finally arrived at the trading station and walked in. The merchant who usually mans the station wasn't here and there was a sign hung over his desk that read: "A Matter Of Importance Has Come Up. Will Be Back In 10 Minutes." Shun carefully laid the bird on top of the desk and waited for the merchant to return.
Meanwhile, back at the village, a crisis was in the making. Shun's father, the village leader, was talking to the other members of the village's council in their tent when the sound of the villagers' frenzied chatter from outside caught his attention. Worried about what could be causing such a commotion, the village leader and the elders rushed out of their tent to address the situation.
Standing imposingly outside the village's entrance gate was an army of armor clad soldiers on horseback. Judging by the little red armbands they wore and the picture of a dragon on their helmets, these were soldiers of the Central Empire. The head soldier hopped off his horse and approached the village's entrance. The village leader stepped forward to greet him. He bowed with his hands forming the formal greeting gesture, called a Jiap: hands clasped together with the fingers pointing upwards and the left hand positioned higher than the right hand and the thumbs wrapping around each other. "Greetings. I am the village leader."
The head soldier, who was a thin man with beady brown eyes and an equally thin mustache, walked up to the village leader with a smirk. "This is Condor Village, is it not?" he asked the village leader.
"Yes, it is," replied the village leader.
"Huh, I would've never guessed that a small and insignificant village such as this is responsible for the production of some of the most high quality materials in the entire empire," said the head soldier. He walked up to the village leader and said, "Bring out all of your girls. On the orders of his Greatness, Lord Gwai Tidan, we are here to conduct an examination of all girls in your village between the ages of eight and sixteen."
"May I ask what this is for?" asked the village head.
"That information is classified," said the head soldier. He then brought out a scroll and handed it to the village head. "If you don't believe me, then you can take his Greatness' words for it."
The village head opened the scroll and read it. Once he was done, he closed it and handed it back to the head soldier. "I understand," said the village head.
All village girls between the ages of eight and sixteen were summoned and organized in a neat row before the head soldier. The head soldier brought out a dull gemstone and, as he went down the row of girls, held it to their foreheads. For the most part, the gem remained dull. However, there were a few cases where the gem lighted up. This seemingly magical feat elicited oohs and aahs from the other villagers. Once he was done, he put the gemstone away and walked back to his horse. He gestured for his soldiers and a few of them quickly approached the row and grabbed the girls that had made the gemstone glow and placed them on their horses. This sudden act surprised the villagers. They began to protest the soldiers' actions and demanded that they hand the girls over.
The soldiers ignored the villagers' pleas. The head soldier wore a smirk as he began to turn around. Meanwhile, the captured girls cried back to their parents. One of the girls in particular was the village head's own eight year old daughter.
"Wait a minute, what's going on," protested the village head. The head soldier didn't say a single word. Angry with being treated rudely and having his authority undermined, the village leader ran in front of the head soldier and demanded, "Let go of my daughter! How dare you come to our village and abduct our girls?! Have you no shame as soldiers?!"
"Are you saying that you oppose Lord Gwai Tidan's orders?" asked the head soldier.
"I don't give a damn about the minister's orders!" bellowed the village leader.
"This is why I hate dealing with stupid villagers," said the head soldier with an exasperated sigh. He raised his hand and pointed his finger forward. The soldiers to his left and right quickly brought out crossbows and took aim, shooting their arrows straight through the village head's body in the blink of an eye. The village head, his life extinguished, fell down to the ground with arrows sticking out of his chest, head, limbs, and abdomen. His blood leaked onto the floor and surrounded his body in a crimson pool. The head soldier made a disgusted face and said spitefully, "Even their deaths are disgusting." He then raised his hands once again and quickly brought it down like a chop. The soldiers obeyed his orders and went wild.
The soldiers mercilessly terrorized the village like demons. They used their swords to slice villagers open and heir crossbows to hunt down those who dare to run away from them. They trampled over tents and homes with their horses. They destroyed all of the villager's precious belongings: ceramics, urns, furniture, children toys, foodstuff, clothes. They even demolished the village's religious altars and stole all of the offerings for themselves. And when they were done having their fun, they all exited the village and surrounded it on all sides. They then each took out a bottle of viscous green liquid. In unison, they all tossed their bottles onto the village. Once the glass broke, the liquid came into contact with the oxygen in the air and quickly became a roaring flame. The fire consumed the entire village and burned everything to ashes.
The head soldier smiled satisfyingly to himself. There's nothing more satisfying than watching the destruction of a worthless and insignificant village of barbarians. "Let's go," he told his men once he received his fill of joy.
Meanwhile, back at the trading post, Shun was sitting on the floor as he waited for the merchant to return. The merchant finally returned and Shun completed the exchange. He then placed the money in the sack he carried attached to his waist and said farewell to the merchant. As he walked back on the road towards his home, he noticed a procession of soldiers on horseback rushing past him. They were very fast and he couldn't really tell what it was that they were carrying with them. Thinking nothing of it, he continued onward home.
He had gotten about five min (1 min = 3 meters) from the village when the smell of acrid smoke filled his nostrils. 'Fire?' he wondered to himself. He quickly ran to where his village was and came face-to-face with a giant blaze that consumed everything in its path. 'How did this happen?!' he shrieked. Disregarding his own safety, he rushed inside. As he searched through the blaze for survivors, his mind became a jumbled mess of worried thoughts. 'Is everyone safe? How did this fire happen? What caused this? Did everyone run to safety? Are my parents okay? Are my siblings okay? What's going to happen to the village?!'
Shun frantically scanned his surroundings but all he saw was red flames destroying the very village that was the only home he knew. The blazing fires of hell filled his vision and the fear that was already stirring inside of him began to gush out like a powerful flood. The acrid smoke filled his throat and burned his eyes, and the infernal heat beat down on his body like an unforgiving weight. His breathing became ragged and his vision began to blur. The only sounds he heard were the roars of the flames and he could feel his insides starting to burn. His legs grew weary and he fell to his knees. Ashes collected on his skin, singeing the hairs on his arms and digging into his flesh.
'Is this the end for me?' he bemoaned. He couldn't fight the fire any longer and surrendered to its unforgiving punishment. If this is the will of the gods, then so be it. His eyelids grew heavy as his eyes tried to cope with the smoke. His already blurred vision was beginning to grow dark. That's when an unexpected matter touched his skin. It was cool and refreshing, like the calming waters of a clear lake. He felt the drop on his face and it gave him some relief from the heat, however brief it was. But it wasn't enough to bring him back. That's when he came to wonder whether that was all an illusion, something his mind must've conjured up in response to his surrender to the sweltering heat. Of course, it wasn't at all uncommon for people to imagine things when they're on the verge of death. Before Shun's eyes closed on the world, he saw something enter his field of vision. His blurry eyes couldn't discern what it was, but that didn't matter anyway. The dark silhouette, whatever it may be, was the very last sight that Shun burned into his mind. And then, like a man finally accepting Death's hand, Shun's eyes closed and his body fell to the ground.
Shun opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was blackness. He believed he was dead and that the blackness before him was the afterlife. Above him, he noticed twinkling lights and assumed them to be other deceased souls. He could smell the faint scent of smoke and believed that since it was the very last thing he breathed before his death it was something that would forever be intertwined with his afterlife. And then, he heard a voice.
"Hey, are you awake?" asked a girl's voice.
Shun automatically assumed that it was the voice of an angel that was speaking to him. "Where am I?" he asked, although he already knew the answer to that, he did it out of respect for the angel.
"Looks like you're fine!" said the voice cheerfully. The voice then became muffled as it got away from him. He could still hear her voice, but he couldn't make out her words at all. It only became clear when she got close to him once again. "Don't worry," she said, "you're in great hands!"
"I'm in great hands…," repeated Shun and he once again drifted into the darkness.
He woke up later with a start and his eyes became wider than a hole on a wall. His breathing was hard and rushed and he could feel his heart beating fifty miles a minute. He didn't know what was going on, but he for sure knew that this wasn't the afterlife anymore. In fact, Shun took a short scan of his surroundings and found that he was sitting atop a flat rock. Upon realizing his current setting, he could feel the rock's cold surface on his skin and his body shivered. 'Just what the hell is going on?' he wondered to himself with a confused expression on his face. He looked down and realized that he was shirtless. His shirt was hung on the edge of the rock right next to him.
"Looks like you're awake," came a voice from behind him.
Shun was startled by the voice's sudden presence and flinched. The owner of the voice revealed himself to be a middle-aged man and he stood before Shun while looking over him like a doctor examining his patient. The man had long salt-and-pepper hair tied in a topknot above his head with a red band and very thick grey eyebrows. He was clean shaven and had a small scar above the left corner of his upper lip. His skin tone was a little lighter than Shun's and he was dressed in a long robe-like coat that reached below his knees and tied with a sash around his waist. On his lower body were black trousers and white knee-length socks and black shoes. He had very intense dark amber eyes like that of a sage close to reaching enlightenment.
"W-Who are you?" Shun asked him dazedly.
"I am—," began the man, but he was quickly interrupted by his daughter.
"Shun-wan!" came a familiar voice. Eru Kira, the girl that Shun had met this afternoon, ran up to him with a cheerful smile. "You're okay!" she said. "I was so worried about you when we found you passed out in the middle of the fire. Thank goodness my father saved you before you became the fire's next victim!"
"Saved me?" asked Shun. Kira answered with an affirming nod. "I thought that I had died and entered the afterlife," he told her.
"It's a good thing that you didn't," said the man. Shun accepted the man's word and lowered his head in gratitude. "What's your name?" the man asked him.
"Junlong Shun," answered Shun with the respectful greeting gesture.
"Jun-ri," said the man with a nod of his head. "My name Eru Tara. It is a pleasure to meet you."
"He's my father," said Kira proudly.
"Were there any other survivors?" Shun asked them in a ghost-like voice.
Tara turned to look out to the blackened village below. His eyes were grim and devoid of any positive energy. Shun looked up at him with expectant eyes. Tara, after a moment's silence, simply answered with a shake of his head. "You were the only one we found," he added.
Shun felt like he had just taken a punch to the stomach. "I was the only one?" he asked in disbelief.
"Everyone else was dead," said Tara honestly. "I examined them myself and discovered that they had all been dead even before the fire consumed their bodies. Many of the bodies are now bone, but markings on their skeleton told me that they had been previously killed through physical means."
"What are you saying?" asked Shun. The words the man were speaking sounded like a foreign language to him. 'Killed? Before the fire? How?' he asked himself. "Who did this?" he asked aloud. And then, armed with a newfound tenacity to get to the bottom of this despite having just recovered, Shun got up to his feet and descended down the rock.
"Shun-wan! Be careful!" cried Kira worriedly.
Tara placed a hand on Shun's shoulder and asked grimly, "What do you think you're doing? I had just healed you. If you do anything right now, everything I did to resuscitate you will be all for naught."
"I thank you for reviving me, but I need to go take a look myself," Shun told him confidently.
"I understand that, but you should first wait until you are fully recovered," Tara told him.
"How long?" Shun asked him.
"Give it a few hours," answered Tara. "You're internal organs are still healing."
"I'm sorry, but I don't have time," Shun told him stubbornly. He then shook off Tara's hand and descended down the mountain to the blackened village below.
"Father," pleaded Kira.
Tara held up a hand to quiet her. "It's his decision," he told her.
Shun was appalled by the aftermath of the destruction of his village. Everything was now ash. The once fertile fields were now dead soil incapable of cultivating life. The wooden gate that surrounded the village became brittle charcoal. The tents that were the home of his fellow villagers had been reduced to dust. He slowly walked inside and immediately felt like he was now walking through a ghost town. He hesitated with each step and his heart burned.
He had had about enough of seeing nothing but rubble and cinders when something curious caught his eye. He couldn't really make it out from afar and walked closer to see what it was. Once he came into view of the mysterious object, he realized that it was a skeletal hand. He quickly jumped back at the ghastly sight. The hand, devoid of flesh and blood and grey like stone, peeked out from the rubble. Shun steadied his breathing and slowly approached it. He used his strength to push off the rubble sitting on top of it. He let out a scream upon revealing a full length skeleton, posed in a terrible position in its struggle to escape the deadly flames.
"Do you believe me now?" said Tara, who had appeared behind Shun.
"H-How?" asked Shun in disbelief. He ran off to where his house was and, sure enough, it was reduced to ashes. He dug through the blackened rubble to search for any signs of his family. 'It's possible that someone could've survived, right?' he told himself. But what he found at the bottom of it all were the fleshless corpse of his family laying down before him. Shocked by this unholy sight, he pushed himself away from them with fear-ridden eyes. Looking at each of them, he could tell by their different lengths exactly who they were. "Impossible," he whispered to himself in doubt. "Kairo (his brother), Fenli (his sister), Mother!" he cried, shaking his head in doubt.
"I am sorry for your loss," condoled Tara.
"No! I refuse to believe this!" screamed Shun in denial. That's when a thought occurred to him. "Where's Father? Where's Miri (his other sister)?" he asked frantically. He took off once again and searched the rubble. He dug out other skeletons, most of which belonged to people he knew, and searched frantically for any sign of his father and sister. He ran around the entire village twice but couldn't find any sign of them at all. When he came back to the entrance, he fell to his knees in despair.
Tara threw out in front of him a skeleton that Shun hadn't seen before. "I found this skeleton near the entrance of the village when I came to fight the fire," he told Shun. Unlike the other skeletons, this one still had some of its clothing still intact. It seems that the flesh eventually melted off from the intense heat, but the actual clothing only suffered half the pain. And judging by the skeleton's white color as opposed the dull grey color of the others, it can be assumed that this person was burned right after the fire had already started.
Shun looked at the skeleton and noticed a red armband tied to its left arm. The familiar object drew him closer and, with a shaky hand, he examined it. On the red armband was the image of a great condor with the sun behind it. He immediately knew who this skeleton was and his heart sank. His soul left his body and he stared into the darkness in front of him with lifeless eyes.
Tara noticed the boy's crestfallen eyes and placed a hand on his shoulder. Judging from his reaction to the skeleton, Tara could only draw the following conclusion. "This is your father," he said grimly.
Shun answered back with a lifeless nod of his head. And then, packed with all of the suffering and anguish he was feeling, Shun let out a scream that echoed to the heavens above. It silenced the cries of birds, the croaking of frogs, and made dogs whine in their beds. This was the scream of a man in infernal pain, a man who was suffering hell on Earth.
Kira, who hid behind her father the entire time, tugged at her father's sleeve. "Is Shun-wan going to be okay?" she asked him.
"No one can fix a broken man but himself," was his reply.