These great mountains were once Atalante's naval. Maeve heard some of the strange rumors during lunchtime. Now gazing at the large ranges surrounding her like majestic giants, she yearned to see the earlier days of these natural barriers.

How vast could these mountains grow? No one knew the right answer for even her sect was situated in the brim of the dense forest. No one knew what was deep within. The ones who returned were always put to death or were driven insane.

"Lost in those mountains again?" Maeve beamed at the familiar presence and hummed.

"Every time I look at them, I feel grateful." She turned to see Zola smiling at her for a brief moment before she set her bright eyes upon the large ranges ahead of them.

"These mountains hold universal history," Zola said. "Master said that this was once the sovereign fortress of the greatest kingdom of all Atalante."

Maeve blinked, "Wah." Her eyes travelled through the outline of the peaks, "I see why it reassures me."

"Hmm...it has been born to protect people like us who don't have a home." Zola sighed but the soft touch of Maeve's hand bought her back to reality.

"This is home." Maeve said, "for you, me, and many more." Her lips curved into the purest twinkle Zola had ever seen as she felt a huge burden within her yield and melt.

"Right." She laced her fingers with the other and turned back to watch the skies move alongside the winds and the summit. "This is our home."

 

CRACKLE!!

CRACKLE!!

"AH!"

Maeve woke up to an ear-deafening crash of thunder. A loud groan left her lips as she rolled to a  side to hold her gut which felt as if it was heavily bandaged beneath the robes.

It bought back memories...

"Zola." Maeve gasped as she raised her head and struggled to sit on the bed.

The bed?

"Where..." the young girl began to snap her head around to see where she was and all she could think was absolute emptiness. She did not know this place. She had never been here and her heart raced to the point she was bating breath visibly. Panicking deep within.

"Master." Maeve winced at the motion of her shoulder but kept on moving. Her goal was to get up and stand on her feet. Then maybe she could save her home as soon as possible. At least she could save the ones who survived and take care of them.

The girl hurriedly got down from the luxurious sheets and fell on the floor at the next instance her feet were placed on the hard tile. Seems as if her legs were not yet healed.

"Zola..." Maeve muttered aimlessly. "I need to find her." Her body shook at the winds that blew through the large windows. It hit her thin clothes which were too weak to keep her warm. She felt her heart freeze and her throat go dry but despite all of these disturbances, she got on her knees, then with great difficulty, she clutched the sheets on her bed wavering as she stood.

BOOM!

Another series of lightning made her tumble onto the ground and it came roaring at her in a fit of rage as she scrambled away towards the doors. Her knees which dragged her heavy body scraped against the smooth floor and the snow-white robes were painted with blood at the kneecaps. Still...bearing the agonizing boulders of a flaming shoulder, ripping hipbone, and rasped knees, the youth crawled towards the doors and pushed them open with her hands.

She halted to see heavy rain cover the entire area and her dull eyes puddled with fat tears no different than the sharp wisps of rain that hailed down onto the roof.

The only place she called home was gone...

The broken youth breathed out a string of sobs as she fell on the stairs and stumbled out of the chambers. She coughed out painfully and used her hands to rise, her body which was already weak was now covered in mire and the painful drops of rain started to soak into her thin robes gradually.

The marble floors of her usual classrooms, battlegrounds, and the mirror lakes...now reduced to ruins and ashes...

"Zola," Maeve wheezed as she got on her feet, "I need to save her." Frantic eyes laced with a mindless objective limped across the yard. The rough tiles were slippery so she fell onto her knees once again yet no matter how hard she fell, the strive to get back on her footing increased.

Maeve crawled towards the large red gates, swaying heavily in many directions in the claws of hectic winds and heavy rain.

She needed to return to her home... she wanted to see the bodies and bury them respectfully.

"I need to leave." Her voiceless throat croaked and she felt her eyes blur against the painful drops of rain. Blinking endlessly, her flimsy feet took her towards the tightly shut gates and she banged on the doors, using her entire body to lean on.

Thunder crackled and she jumped out in fright. The rain worsened and her wounds lost their healing. particles of dry leaves and dirt hung onto her robes, knees torn and bleeding as a result of the endless dragging, she sobbed louder when the doors clinked underneath the locks. Her heart writhed in agony and her feet gave away for the very last time.

She dropped to the ground.

"I need to go." Her shattered voice came out in a strand of whispers. "I need to find Zola, I need to find master." Her shoulder started to shake heavily, the ice-cold hazard hit her drenched hair and travelled down her spine, arching down towards her body with extreme pain.

"I want to leave." She looked up at the wide grey clouds and hung her head low, crying with such grief it overwhelmed her health. At the back of her shoulder appeared a thick red stream of blood. It mixed with the water and ran down her arm.

The wound on her back has reopened.

"I want to go; I need to go HOME!!" She screamed as she stood up with a newfound sense of strength. Her throat gagged blood as she screeched and ran head-on against the wooden gates. There was a loud blast of thunder and her body collided with the red surface. She fell back and clutched her heart tightly, coughing out a clot of blood.

The stitches on her hipbone tore.

Strings of dark memories that lightened up at the brightness of crude flames burned through flesh and exploded against the bones of her sect members...

Maeve dragged herself using one arm as support and the other clutching her hip which bled like a river and reached the gates once more. She used her bloodied hands to hit on the hard surface, she banged on them, thundered on them, and pushed them with all she had but to no response.

The simple huts and the bed chambers sunk beneath blood bathed children, teenagers, and teachers...

"Anyone!" She shouted and stumbled up to her feet. "Open the door I want to go home!" Her head rested on the gates as she kicked and used her body to push them open. "OPEN UP I WANT TO GO HOME!!" she cried so loud the rain hailed slower.

Spears tore into throats and swords sliced heads...

Blood ran down along with the muddy water. Maeve felt her lips tremble not in grief but of the coldness. Her feet buckled and they shook whilst her tattered robes gave birth to dull blotches of red here and there. The stitches of her wounds were already torn. The scars ripped open as they hissed in pain against the water and sweat.

She was burning in agony like her companions did on that day.

She was drenched in blood, sweat, and dirt like her sect members who were brutally murdered that day.

Her face was etched with incomparable suffering as tears ran down her cheeks. They were bruised, some old and some new.

"OPEN UP!!" she roared as she ran at the gates again, "open up! open up! ARGHHHH!!" injured bald fists flew against the doors and bumped backwards with new rips and fresher streams of blood.

When did all these go wrong? She did not know.

All she ever had, all she ever wanted was to live up the mountains with her best friend and her sect members who for once had never treated her badly. How could heavens watch something so bizarre unfold against her home when they were just living life as normal people would do?

Wailing at the foot of the large red gates that glared at her stubbornly, Maeve banged her head on them. Once...twice...again and again and screamed out amidst the rain and thunder.

"AHHHHHH!!!"

 

 

"Congratulations on your victory upon the Forbidden Mountain sect your majesty." Shen Mingshen clenched his jaw at the honeyed words of the Prime Minister.

The empress sat on her throne now revealed behind veils. Her amber pupils ran through everyone present in the court as she played with a white teacup filled with fragrant tamarind tea.

"Rise." She sipped in ease, watching the old farts raise their heads to bow at her.

"We have imprisoned the slaves who were caught while fleeing and will execute them according to the law my lord." Shen Mingshen heard Gu Chao Xing's voice. Of course, he too had agreed to deal with this according to the constitution. It was the best way and the most humane method to follow.

"I think the law is rather loose on its ends." Wang Huan noticed the ministers who had pleased expressions at the mention of the persecution and she despised it. There should be bone-shattering fear and suspense written in their eyes every day!

"Then...how does your majesty want us to deal with it?" Shen Mingshen spoke up.

"Oh, it's pretty simple." Wang Huan leaned over, locking eyes with the Minister of Justice. "Let me deal with them."

a large outbreak rose at the mention of those words and Chen Li Qian sighed with his eyes shut. "For the love of heavens please...not this time too." His heart lamented over the innocent children who were bound to die at the first glance of life.

"It has been a tiring journey from Ye-gang to Yulong." Shen Mingshen dared, "I believe your majesty must rest for a while. Let us handle this as you have been taking too much responsibility up to this date."

"Yes, my lord," Gu Chao Xing agreed hastily as he felt a pang of ease upon hearing Shen Mingshen speak.

"Pfft...hahahahaha!" Wang Huan shook her head and rested her arms on her knees. "Oh, how considerate are my subordinates." She mused with a tone of pretense. "That they care so much about my well-being."

Shen Mingshen gulped and lowered his head avoiding eye contact.

"What do you take me for?" the comical look on her eyes vanished and her lips clenched.

"A fool?" she growled as her fists tightened.

"I will rip their limbs off and skin them in public." She spat. "Then everyone under my rule will know the consequences of running towards freedom." The chosen one from the heavens chuckled as she tilted her chin to a side and beamed. "My dear subordinates must have worked so hard these days. Why don't you take some rest hm?" she threw the teacup to a side and dropped her gaze on Shen Mingshen,

"Bring those worthless dogs right-"

"YOUR MAJESTY!" one of the guards from the residence came running and dropped onto his knees. "Your majesty I..."

"What's the matter?" Gu Chao Xing frowned as he spoke.

The soldier raised his eyes onto the throne, "The guest chambers of Yu-gong were met with a disaster because of the heavy hails yesterday and the resident in it was found unconscious outside."

The entire courtroom erupted in questioning clamour once again and Gu Chao Xing arched his eyebrows in surprise. He did not dare to even look at the empress who stiffened the next instance.

 

 

The royal physician stood at the entrance of the Yu-gong and watched the distant white figure refuse to drink the herbal medicine that was given to her by the nurses. It was at dawn that he returned to replace her bandages when he saw her on the floor at the foot of the gates. The picture of her drenched haggard body that was soaked in dirt and blood pierced his mind. There was no light in her eyes...then and now she looked the same.

Lost.

"Physician Lu."

"Your Majesty!" Lu Louwang bowed at the empress who came rushing towards the residence. Her eyes were filled with fury and grief as she gestured him to rise, "how is she?"

The old man pursed his lips and shook his head twice. "I came to clean her wounds at dawn. When I opened the gates, she was there lying unconscious your majesty." He replied.

"What?!" Wang Huan growled. "How could such a thing happen? She was clearly injured."

"Your majesty," Lu Louwang turned to look at the far motionless figure of white. "She had regained strength and had crawled herself towards the gates."

"No..."

The rage in Wang Huan's eyes disappeared as she felt immense pain internalize and run into her blood, slashing at her bones instilling pain deep into her chest that hammered faster with each passing minute.

"I found deep gashes on her knees which furthermore proves the point. Her slash on the hipbone was ripped open and the state of her shoulder has intensified. Additionally, there are new bruises on her fists and a wide crack on her temple."

Gu Chao Xing watched as a single tear ran down his master's face and felt that he had come across a one-time revelation that none of the people in Yulong would ever come by to witness. The great ruler of Atalante, chosen one of the heavens shed tears on the face of this young girl who kept on refusing the medicine with whimpers and sobs.

Wang Huan stumbled backwards as she stared into the face of the physician for a moment to contemplate what she just heard about the one true treasure of her life. Has she been drinking and sleeping well while this girl suffered such causes in the middle of a raging hailstorm?

"H-how..." the empress puffed out a chuckle. "How in the world did she even try to stand up with such grave wounds?" her arms tightened and she snapped her head at Maeve who was struggling to look away from the bowl of medicine.

"She is suffering both physical and mental breakdowns, your majesty, there is a chance she would not survive through this if she refuses the medicine prescribed." Lu Louwang confessed and looked up but the empress was nowhere near him anymore.

He watched as she advanced toward the youth with bloodshot eyes. "Give me the bowl."

The maiden who was holding Maeve quivered and stood up, handing the bowl of warm liquid with eyes hung low in fear of the bestial voice that hissed at her.

They have heard her orders and have witnessed the horror of Wang Huan's insane eyes yet today...her voice was laced with affliction as deep as the oceans, there was aggression thickened by every ounce of air she inhaled. Concern latched on her cold eyes and poured tears like crystal snow, with a trembling voice she crouched beside Maeve who looked away and stretched the bowl of medicine gently.

"Here," it was her first time tending to another human. "Drink this."

Maeve remembered that voice very clearly, her heart writhed and twisted in numerous ways. Her voice was empty and her eyes burned in hate.

Wang Huan got a weary shake as the young girl turned away from her more. "You will feel better." The empress urged. "It is sweet...not bitter at all."

"Go-"

"At least a sip... hm?" the tyrant heard Maeve's voice for the first time after the battle and broke into loud wails internally. Her body couldn't function as she could feel how shattered this girl was.

"I said...go." Maeve began to cry and buried her face in her palms turning away from Wang Huan.

"Go!" she begged and hid her face away from the other but the empress did not give up yet and grabbed her face tightly. She ran out of patience and could not bear to hear those words from the only one she loved.

"Drink it!" Wang Huan ordered amidst the struggles. Maeve smacked the other on her arm and punched her chest but the grip on her face never left but grew stronger with every rejection.

"GO AWAY!" she screamed at last, "LEAVE ME ALONE!" her throat croaked another wave of blood and her lips spilt it on the tyrant's royal robe. The fight stopped and Maeve stared at the stream that ran down the dark patterns of gold. Maidens held their breath and clasped their palms on their mouth as they watched their empress look down at the taint unblinkingly.

"To spit blood at me..." Wang Huan clenched the bowl in her free hand and eased the grip on Maeve's face. "You hate me that much?" she grinned; eyes heavy as the thick clouds that stormed last night.

"I-" Maeve opened her mouth to speak but...

"It's alright. It's alright," Wang Huan caressed the younger one on her cheeks and smiled. "It's just a mere robe, nothing important." Her thumb ran across Maeve's face, the tender jawline, and her dampened eyelids, every corner was felt and Maeve was too weary to resist and hence wanted to look away,

"You will have to get used to me little one." Wang Huan lifted the bowl of herbs and took in the scent of rich medicine. "That mountain was never your home, this Is." She took one sip and pulled Maeve by her throat. The two individuals slammed against each other and the elder used this chance to capture the lips of the other.

Maeve gasped internally with eyes wide as saucers and squirmed like a snake at its deathbed.

"HMPFF!!MRPHHF!!"

She pushed the stone-hard chest of the other, smashed her fists on the shoulders, and pulled away but her efforts were futile and she was suffocated slowly. The fingers around her neck squeezed the life out of her and without her consent she opened her sealed lips wide, letting the other enter in and pour the warm medicine right at Maeve's throat.

The younger used all of her remaining strength and pushed Wang Huan away but the other reached towards Maeve and grabbed the back of her head, she growled at the increasing struggle and threw the glass bowl. Then she used her free hand to run her fingers in-between Maeve's entangled hair, latching onto it with one tug. It bought the two closer to each other and the pain in Maeve's temple worsened. She screamed at the top of her lungs and kicked Wang Huan but the other only let go after Maeve had consumed the medicine completely.

Wang Huan parted with one last peck and earned a sharp slap at the next instant.

"YOU...YOU FUCKING ANIMAL!!" Maeve bawled and shoved the other away, trying to stand up but Wang Huan chuckled. With a click of her tongue, she stood up to leave and looked at Maeve who wailed on the floor. There was a slight grin coming upon her lips – "Food will be served, you better eat. If you don't well..." she touched her own lip and smiled dearly, "it won't be a great deal anyway."

With that she left along with Lu Louwang and the nurses, caging a sobbing, screaming mess of a young girl inside the furthest residence of Yu-gong once again.