In the middle of the vast lands of Ming, somewhere in the imperial capital. A heavy, labored breathing echoed through the woods. A young man wearing something like a blood soaked yellow robe was running breathlessly. His build was not very astonishing, yet he embodied an undeniable aura of authority, his jade-bright face shining brightly under the moonlight while his long jet black hair complemented it. Judging from his attire, he was clearly someone belonging to the upper echelons. He was running into the deep forest in the dark of the night while seemingly being followed by some people.
Woosh!
"Argh… stop them!" A guard in an embroidered uniform was fighting someone.
Clash!
Noise of swords clashing could be heard from behind as the young man was running.
"I should have come pretty far from the palace," he thought to himself while blood was coming out of his mouth, "how could this happen… in one night… the entire capital… cough…was overturned…huh!?" Just when the young man was sighing to himself, he saw some people in black clothes wearing masks running after him. He was stunned by how fast they caught up to him.
"Damn it! how…they were just at the entrance when I left the palace with the escort warriors but now, even the northern commander has been killed by them… damn those rebels!" He said.
Suddenly, a sword just passed by his ear and got stuck on a tree about 10 steps in front of the young man. He exclaimed at the sight of a sword that just passed by him. The one who threw the sword at him was the leader of the men in black who was running faster than the others. He moved his right hand and mumbled something to the other men. The men nodded their heads and took out their swords from their sheaths.
Swoosh! Five swords came flying towards the young man. He gasped while one of the five swords stabbed him on the back of his leg, it felt like his leg was being seared by an iron hot poker. More blood gushed out of his leg while he was struggling to run away.
Once again, the leader of the men in black clothes signed towards something. The men behind him spread out in different directions and were chasing the tired and injured young man. Just then, the leader took out a pill from his pouch and swallowed it with satisfaction. Right after swallowing the pill, the leader let out an insane gust of energy from his body and ran even faster than before, a raging dragon manifesting within him. It looked as if he was flying in the air.
It did not take long for the leader to catch up to the young man while running so fast.
Bang! The leader hit the young man on his back with a huge amount of energy surrounding his fists. Thud, the young man fell to the ground at once. He was trying to get up but his legs had given up, he could not feel anything in his legs, not even the sword stab, his lower body had all gone numb from the pain and fatigue.
There was a sudden change in the flow of the wind and the men that had split up appeared behind the young man who was now on his knees.
"Hah! you can run pretty fast for someone who hasn't practiced any martial arts or breathing techniques huh." the leader of the group of men spoke to the young man. "Ugh, who are you guys… why are you doing this…"
"Kuhuhu. You are really funny, Prince Yunwen. You know that you are someone born into the direct lineage of the royal family of great Ming, just that reason is enough for us to kill you." said the leader of the men.
From the words of the man, it seemed that the young man who was covered in blood was actually a prince of the great Ming dynasty, Zhu Yunwen.
"I have already taken an oath to the royal concubines that I shall not learn any martial arts until I get into the academy, even his majesty knows of this, then why!?"
The men in black clothes were all looking at him menacingly while bloodlust filled the area, suffocating Zhu Yunwen.
"You should be grateful that I'm killing you off before the other princes do."
Pitter-patter
"Hmm?" wondered the leader. As dark clouds were veiling the moon, raindrops started to pour down and thunder roared in the sky.
"Looks like even the heavens favor us for we are ridding this land of war. Hahaha." said the leader laughingly showing how confident he was.
"prepare to go to heaven, little prince."
As the raindrops came pouring down on the trees in the forest, the leader walked towards his sword and took his sword off the tree where it was stuck while saying those words. "Remember your loved ones for the last time." As those words befell his mouth, he wiped the edge of his sword before pointing it towards the frightened prince.
Zhu Yunwen was trembling from his insides while trying to stop himself from breaking into cold sweat under the rain. His veins were popping out of his hands that were clenched, blood dripping out of it. The leader took a step towards the frightened prince and raised his hand, about to swing the sword he was holding. He had madness in his eyes, filled with blood lust and mockery towards the helpless person in front of him. The corners of his mask went up showing that he was smiling at how the situation unfolded, and then he swung the sword, with great force as if to not leave the head connected to the body. The prince closed his eyes, accepting his destiny and submitting to the will of the divines. He waited, and waited, for when the edge of the sword would slice his head, therefore ending his miserable excuse of a life, but suddenly, boom!
"What's going on?" he asked. The clouds that were tearing down until now stopped raining. "Huh?" one of the men looked up in the sky and his eyes looked as if those of someone who had stepped into a hellhole. "W-what is THAT!?!?" he screamed while his eyes were staring straight into the sky. The clouds started to gather around and formed a circle, a circle filled with lightning. As the people started looking towards the sky one by one, they found out what was going on as well. "Is-is this divine punishment?" a man with white hair said while trembling.
The scene before their eyes was something that could strike fear in any man before it.
There was a hole in the sky where the clouds were forming a circle and something shiny could be seen from the ground. The people surrounding the prince panicked and shivered and the leader's eyes widened as what was happening was being reflected on his eyes, the shiny object was falling from the sky.