Xu’s Perspective
The night air rushed into Xu’s throat as excitement washed over him. Upon breaking through the wall the entire group bolted east as the music and laughter quieted down. Unable to control their newfound strength they stumbled as various odd things happened. Xu’s feet buried themselves in the ground as it collapsed under his strength. Storm flew meters into the air before crashing down. All the noise led to multiple yells of fear and anger from the guards as the commander started roaring drunkenly, “To arms! To arms!”
Xu sneered as he pulled his feet up and joined the others in running. Within a few seconds they had barely managed to acclimate to their new levels of strength. The group of thirty slowly started to pick up speed to abnormal levels. In a few seconds they were past the fields and to the stone wall separating the fields from the woods. With a roar of determination Tieh Lei, who had taken the lead despite his age and weakness, slammed his left shoulder into the stone wall erected by one of the cultivators who had long since left the camp.
Crack! Crunch!
Tieh Lei rebounded as his shoulder broke. Glaring in frustration at the small crater he had left in the stone wall. As he readied himself to slam into the wall again Sonka slammed his boulder-like brown shoulder into the crater causing the entire wall to shudder. He too rebounded holding his shoulder with a frown. As Tieh Lei ran forward again the others had swarmed up to the wall with Xu, Storm and a tall young ivory skinned woman named Sofija leading the pack. His heart pounding in his ears and a small grin stretched across his face with a sharp breath Xu rushed past Tieh Lei to slam his right fist into the wall with all his power.
BOOM!
The wall collapsed under the strike and Xu reveled in the moment as blood flew from his fist. The smell of the forest rushed into all of their faces. Shocked for a moment they all simply froze soaking in the moment.
“Go! Stick together through the forest!” Tieh Lei yelled as the thunderous sound of chasing cultivators resounded behind them. The yell pulled them from their shock as they all fled forward. Tieh Lei naturally took the back his breath coming in rattles. Xu adjusted his pace to match Tieh Lei’s pace.
“Xu I won’t make it through this.” Tieh Lei wheezed as they all rushed forward.
“Don’t say tha-.” Xu started before Tieh Lei cut him off.
“Shut up and look into my eyes!” Tieh Lei demanded. Xu struggled to peer into Tieh Lei’s eyes as he continued running at high speeds. As their eyes met an invisible tablet suddenly rushed into Xu’s head as they reached a clearing. Xu grabbed his face immediately trying to figure out what the hell happened. “It’s Coming,” Tieh Lei gasped as the night lit up. “General Forge is on watch duty.”
From far away a huge ball of molten metal was rushing towards them like a meteor. Fear filled Xu’s swirling eyes as Determination and regret filled Tieh Lei’s brightly shining gray ones. “I was close with the Adamantine Emperor. He was like a son to me and he treated me like a father for a very long time.”
Xu stood frozen wordlessly listening as he saw the meteor the size of the barrack his old home came rushing in. “One day I went to have a chat and I saw him with another one of his generals. He devoured him in order to break through the peak of his former cultivation layer.”
Tieh Lei’s body started to grow larger and glow gray from within as an old wound on his stomach opened and blood began seeping out. Blood also started dripping from his eyes ears and nostrils as well. “I couldn’t stand it. That my boy could do such a thing. So I searched his forbidden area for clues. What I found was the real version of the tablet copy I gave you and some sort of giant lizard skeleton. I didn’t understand then but I do now.” Tieh Lei’s body finally stopped growing as the gray light started coalescing around his right fist. The others had noticed what was going on and returned to the edge of the forest.
“I left his forbidden room but realized I’d been noticed. Unable to do anything else I destroyed my traces and relocked the door in an attempt to pretend I was only then trying to break in. I succeeded but my reward for this bit of subterfuge was to be crippled by the Emperor’s hand and forced to be a slave in the Outer Ring.” Disgust and disdain filled Tieh Lei’s voice as the Meteor reached them. With a roar Tieh Lei swung out his fist. “Forged Trash I know you can hear me!”
“Let me show you why they called me PEAK!” Tieh Lei’s fist burst to the sky as his face went completely pale beneath the streams of gushing blood. The Qi that rushed from his fist formed a mountain before piercing through the ball of superheated metal and altering its direction causing it to crash into the woods where the slaves pursuers had just entered. Death screams resounded as a dozen or so guards got crushed and a dozen more perished almost immediately in the flames that ballooned out. Tieh Lei went pale and was forced to a kneeling position.
Before any of them could move a solitary figure made it into the clearing. The Commander. His sweaty auburn hair like flames framing his mad eyes. “You motherfucking trash!” He roared hoarsely. “You garbage fucking slaves!”
Rage filled Xu’s eyes as his heartbeat became deafening.
“You disgusting half breed fucking fertilizer!” The commander growled angrily as he smashed his fist into Tieh Lei’s face completely disfiguring his jaw. Tieh Lei fell powerlessly prone as the intelligence left his stony eyes. The Commander raised his sword from his sheath rage filling his eyes.
“No!” Xu half choked half laughed. Wait… Laughed? Xu belatedly realized he was smiling. His face was stretched into the widest smile he’d ever had. His heartbeat was laughing in his ears as he rushed towards the two figures. But he was too late. Against the backdrop of flames and death his tormentor the Commander viciously thrust his sword into an unknown part of Tieh Lei’s chest. It didn’t matter. Tieh Lei was already a breath away from death to begin with.
Crack!
Xu’s fist slammed into the Commander’s jaw knocking it completely loose.
Crack!
Xu broke a knuckle slamming his fist wildly into his opponents chest. As the Commander fell backwards Xu mounted him, his blood red eyes glowing into the Commander’s blue. Fist after fist fell into the Commander’s face. The last thing the Commander saw was the terrifying phantomlike eyes made of glowing blood set against the night sky.
Realizing he’d just killed a man Xu’s smile, originally hidden from the onlookers by the shadows, faded to a relieved sigh as silver swirled through the red of his eyes turning his eyes silver once more. Stumbling up he glanced at Tieh Lei’s corpse as Fura and Sofija grabbed him and pulled him away from the fire rushing towards them all. His mind numb and his body filled with pain they fled into the forest. Running for hours they finally made it all the way through the forest. The force of their untrained footsteps had scared away all the predators along the way. As the rest warily looked out from the forest at the rolling hills Fura looked at Xu. Her golden hair glinting in the dawn. With excitement eating into her voice asked him her favorite question.
“Look into the future. What do you see?”
All 28 of the former Elixir Slaves looked at Xu waiting for his answer. But for the first time Xu didn’t know what to say. I need to say something. Anything.
“We need to be free. We… Need to become strong. We can’t let down Tieh Lei even if he won’t be here to see it.”
As the Sun washed over them gold glints lit up in their silver eyes.
