Fated meeting
Somethings are meant to be and will be
On the way to the Radiant Sword sect, Aki couldn’t help but complain “From what Shin said about the sword sect I am not looking forward to meeting the disciples of the sect”
Sara sighed “Im just hoping that nothing too bad happens, I don’t have patience with children”
Sai curiously spoke up asking “Are the disciples of the sword sect that bad?
Yuma patted Sai’s head and shook her head “Not necessarily it’s more like they have never stepped foot out of their sect so the children tend to be a bit arrogant”
Sai looked outside the window thoughtfully and then nodded after a while “I see….Arrogant”
Aki rolled his eyes and patted his chest “It’s ok Sai those brats can’t do anything to you as long as we’re around”
Sai nodded very seriously and spoke, “Of course I know that!”
Entering the Radiant sword sect Aki tried to hold back his irritation and grit his teeth. Holding in her temper Sara smiled and asked in a loud voice “What’s the meaning of this?
In the large hall, there was no one except a young girl, hearing the restrained anger in Sara’s voice the young girl flinched and spoke flustered “T-That um I was told to lead you to your chambers”
Yuma took a step forward and swept her eyes around the seemingly empty hall and narrowed her eyes “For being a large sect it’s a surprise they have a lack of people, next time we should discuss with them and see if they need help in their recruitment”
Sai looked at Yuma with a bit of surprise in his eyes and then laughed “That’s true sister it seems like they could use the help”
The young girl did not catch the hint of ridicule in their voice and looked at them a bit confused and then mumbled “I-Is that so? I did think it was odd that they pushed all the work onto me”
Sara’s anger died down hearing the young girls mumbles and sighed “We are tired from the long journey, please lead the way”
Nodding her head the young girl explained as she walked away “I was also informed that Sect master Lin wishes to speak to you before you head out tomorrow, so when the time comes I will lead you to him”
Nodding sara spoke “I see”
Stepping into the room Aki and Sara pasted Talismans on the windows and door and sighed in relief. Yuma lead Sai to one of the rooms and settled him down. Sai looked around curiously at the simple room and watched Yuma inspect the bed. Outside the black curtain that divided the rooms Sai could hear Aki’s voice.
Aki irritably ruffled his hair and sat at the table in the middle of the large room “Are they not worried we’d leave their disciples to out die with the kind of treatment they are giving us”
Sara sat down also and shook her head “who knows what they are thinking”
Yuma gently opened the curtain and sat down as well “They must have a reason to be so disrespectful, even with their arrogance they would not dare take an attitude with us before”
Sara glanced at the room Sai was in and Yuma spoke in a soft tone “I put him to sleep”
Sara nodded and sighed “Let’s just hope they give us more face tomorrow if not..”
Aki smiled and cracked his knuckles “They are gonna wish they never heard of us”
The next morning when the knock at the door sounded the four of them had already gotten dressed and were drinking tea seated at the table. Sara waved her sleeve and the pot and cup of tea disappeared she adjusted her hat and, then strode over to the door. She wasn’t surprised to see the young girl from yesterday just that….Sara narrowed her eyes at the wound the young girl was trying to hide behind the collar of her robe.
Seeing Sara coming out the young girl smiled and stepped aside “I will lead you to sect master Lin...Follow me”
As the four of them followed the young girl Sara spoke up “We were very tired yesterday and were rude as we forgot to ask for your name”
The girl got flustered and waved her hands “N-No it’s ok...J-Just call me XiaoMu
Sara smiled and nodded “Thank you XiaoMu”
XiaoMu was flustered and quickened her pace “T-There’s no need for thanks”
XiaoMu led them to a garden and gave them directions before running off. Watching the girls thin back disappear Sara sighed “Poor child”
They walked for around 10 minutes before they found Sect Master Lin sitting under the shade of a peach tree drinking tea. Seeing them appear he had an amiable smile on his lips and motioned for them to sit.
Once they were seated Sect Master Lin’s smile fell and he spoke with regret “I had important business to attend to yesterday and left you’re welcome in the hands of unreliable persons, I apologize that child XiaoMu informed me of the situation yesterday, Thus I give my sincere apologies”
Sara smiled sarcastically but no change could be heard in her voice as she spoke “We hold no animosity with the sword sect, do not worry Sect Master Lin”
Laughing Sect Master Lin nodded his head “Good, Very good”
Standing up Yuma spoke softly “We would love to stay and talk with Sect Master Lin but unfortunately we must be on our way”
Nodding Sect Master Lin spoke “Of course may you have a safe journey”
“F*ck?! Aki yelled as he grabbed a kid’s ankle and dragged him back from the edge of the cliff
Sara looked on in disappointment as yet another child was dragged back by Aki then she snorted coldly “If you have a death wish die sometime else, You’re wasting our time!”
A red-faced disciple yelled back angrily “We aren’t doing it on purpose, the soil is too loose and is causing us to slip!”
Aki yelled back “Making excuses again?!”
Another child challenged Aki and glared at him “It’s not an excuse! Most of us have never taken this path!”
Another voice rang out “Why are we even taking this path?! This path is clearly abandoned”
“That’s right?!
“You just want us to fail and not make it off of the peak!”
Sai at the side suddenly laughed shifting the attention to himself and then casually lifted his muddy boots and rolled his eyes “But I can walk just fine...I don’t understand why these kids can’t walk straight”
All of the disciple’s faces flushed and silence fell on the group. Sighing Sara yelled out “Keep up!”
Half a day had already passed and their group had only just made it halfway down the mountain you’d think that these kids would be used to walking down their mountain peak but as the child said they usually take another path that was used so often the sect makes sure it’s clean and there are no hazards but that path would take too long and was on the opposite side of the peak. Sara really wanted to quit.
Yuma walked with Sai at the back of the group and listened to him describe things in awe while keeping a lookout for these clumsy kids. Now and then she would become alert at the looks the other kids gave Sai and made sure to hold his hand tighter.
Halfway to Nightgrove city, the group encountered a giant python Sara and Aki teamed up to take care of it while Yuma took the kids to safety, After they killed it Aki skinned it and gave the skin to Yuma and then Put the meat in his spatial ring a satisfied smirk on his face.
Sai giggled and then ran past Aki to hand Sara a tissue, Sara smiled and cleaned her dirty face even with the hat on some of the python’s blood splashed the two, and Aki hadn’t realized how horrible his face looked behind his vail until he saw Sai’s actions.
Grumbling Aki took the tissue from Yuma “Why didn’t he give me a tissue...so mean”
Yuma smiled silently and then turned to look at the stunned children hiding behind a large boulder. She waved them over and the children came running. After a rest, the group kept going and silently took the python attack as a blessing in disguise, since seeing them kill the python the kids were very obedient and even started to ask questions about their Silver Fox sect.
Aki almost cried out in relief when he saw the gates of night grove city, Nightgrove city isn’t named Nightgrove for nothing the whole city was covered in dark clouds that made the city a bit scary looking but in reality, the clouds are harmless and the only function they had was to keep the city in an endless night.
Once they entered the city they went to the inn to check in and meet up with shiro, once checked in they let the children wander and sighed in relief.
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Walking up from his nap Shiro headed downstairs and just happen to catch sight of Aki’s group his lip twitched as he saw them covered in dirt and he couldn’t help but ask “Did you guys go roll in the dirt, What happened?”
Turning around Sai ran to me and just before he got to me he stopped and just gently held his hand’s murmuring “Ah I forgot im dirty right now”
A chuckle escaped my mouth and I rubbed sai’s hair gently afraid of causing dust to puff into the air “Did everything go ok? You arrived a bit later than I expected”
Aki sighed and walked over slinging his arm over my shoulder “We had issues with the kids and then we met a python on the way over here”
Sara sighed loudly and then chuckled “I think the only good thing that happened was that those snotty kids became well behaved after watching us hack off the head of the giant python”
Laughter rang out and I sighed “well it’s good you didn’t meet anything unexpected”
Just as my voice sounded Kage’s cold voice rang out in the inn “We have a problem”
Kage took big steps and was soon in front of us, he slightly moved his vail to show his grim face. Seeing him like this Yuma and Sara looked at each other and made the same expression as Kage. Only one thing can make kage so unsettled...The favored son of the heavens.
Sitting in Shiro’s room everyone had a grim look and couldn’t help but glance at shiro.
Shin couldn’t help but ask “Are you sure that it was….Maybe it’s just someone close to-”
Kage shook his head “No I am sure...I ran into one of the people with the boy and I felt my body shiver, even just being in the same place as he makes my body numb”
Sara closed her eyes and shivered slightly “Shit”
I stood up quickly and called out “BlueWing”
Appearing from the shadows BlueWing stood by Kage and saluted “Yes”
“Pull all our people in and keep away from the righteous Sapphire Sect just guard the disciples of the eight sects and do not get involved with the sapphire sect”
Bowing BlueWing disappeared as his voice also faded “Understood”
Under his robe Shiro’s first were clenched then he slowly released and sighed “There’s nothing we can do but try to keep our distance….Id be best if we kept a low profile on the way to sky Peak sect”
“We should contact Ryu….and tell him the bad news”
Looking into the water mirror I sighed as I explained what Kage had discovered. On the other end of the mirror, Ryu’s face became pale and he had to sit down.
“So right now we have decided to keep a low profile and keep interactions to a minimum”
Ryu held his forehead and laughed “This is ironic….are you guys sure you can do it?
Aki pushed his face to the mirror and laughed “Of course who do you think we are? Didn’t I avoid you for a whole month before, its a piece of cake”
Ryu rolled his eyes and looked at the people on the other side of the mirror and sighed “Well...I’ll prepare a good feast for you guys at sky peak so….Come quickly”
After dispersing the water mirror the room fell into silence. After a long time sai spoke up “I’m...Hungry”
Coming back to their senses everyone headed down to eat. Remembering the disciples I ripped up a talisman and spoke “Return to the inn, it’s dinner time”
Sai looked at me wondering who I was talking too and I couldn’t help but smiled and explained “It’s a communication talisman, all the disciples have one and so I can transmit my voice directly to them”
Eyes sparkling Sai nodded “Oh! I see that’s so cool”
All 7 of them sat at the table without their hats and caused the disciples to give them cautious looks and whisper amongst themselves, gossiping about the immortals at the table. Aki and Sara laughed and discussed the mental capacity of the kids and Yuma listened quietly while passing food to Sai as for Kage he hadn’t taken a bite since they sat down and I sighed.
“Kage...Follow me”
Looking at Shiro who had stood up Kage’s eyes flickered and he stood up following after shiro. I walked out of the inn and lead Kage to a small closed-off garden and kept walking until I was standing before a small bridge. Then I turned and faced kage.
Kage looked around in confusion “Wha-”
I chuckled and spoke cutting kage off “Doesn’t this place look similar to where I first met you yǐngzi”
Hearing that name again Kage’s brain blacked and then he began to panic “S-shiro?! Why I know I….I know I did wrong s-so d-don’t aband-”
Walking to Kage I put my hand on his head “Kage calm down”
“When I gave you your name what is it that I told you then?”
Kage looked at shiro and understood what the other meant “If I took the name it meant that I would be fighting to forge my own path and way in life”
I nodded and smiled softly as I turned to look at the water beneath the bridge “Kage in this world..no In this life, the only thing I want for you is to live freely. In the past, you could never imagine a life outside the palace walls but once you were shown what was outside those walls, it was the first time I had seen you smile so brightly, and then you turned to me and asked-
Kage’s soft voice echoed in the quiet garden “Will I be able to be loved and be happy like these people….even after what I had done”
I lifted my head and looked up at the stary sky and felt as though I was transported to the past when I met Kage, the young boy couldn’t have been older than 10 and had such a bloodthirsty aura but his eyes were dull as if he was nothing but a doll. I looked at Kage and couldn’t help laughing. “After all these years you are still afraid of all of this being a dream...But do you think that Shin or any of them would not come to beat you if they found out”
Kage looked at the young version of shiro and overlapped his image with the older shiro and suddenly felt like laughing so he did. Hearing Kage’s laugh I looked at him in slight surprise.
Seeing the surprise in my eyes kage walked to me and explained “When I first met you I thought that an angel had come to finally rid me of the hell I was living in...In a way, I had hoped you would be the one to plunge my sword into my heart, but then the second time I met you I saw your shrewd side and suddenly felt as though I was conned and tried to kill you out of anger”
Laughing I nodded “I remember...I was so confused at that time and accidentally threw you off the roof”
Kage coughed and his ears flushed “It was the first time that someone had tried to kill me but ended up rescuing me”
Groaning I waved my hand “I wasn’t trying to kill you I was just surprised”
Kage smiled slightly “I know that now but back then I thought you were too soft-hearted and couldn’t bear to kill a child….now I know I was wrong about both things”
Looking at Kage’s self-deprecating smile I poked his face “ It was my decision, It had nothing to do with you...That child meant to harm me and I defended myself. You did nothing wrong”
“But it was the first time you willingly killed someone but not me at that point I had taken multiple people’s lives...I should have killed him before it got to that point”
A big sigh came out of my mouth and I shook my head “No...It was always going to have to be me”
Kage looked up into the sky and closed his eyes “S-Shiro I’m scared….The son favored by the heaven he….I don’t want history to repeat itself If he realizes please let me deal with it ...alone”
Holding back a lot I slapped Kage on the forehead, startled Kage opened his eyes wide and stared at me. “Don’t say such crazy things, what did you think I was gonna say Oh yes thank you for your sacrifice kage please go die for me?
“N-No”
Shaking my head I walked past Kage and waved my hands “Stay here and think about what you just said and you are lucky that I decided not to tell the others in case they eat you alive”
“S-Shiro!
Turning to look at kage I smiled This kid is cute when hes flustered “What’s wrong?”
Kage “Thank you...for giving me a home and for being my voice of reason”
Laughing I waved him off “If not me then who? Aki? Pft”
Kage chuckled “Definitely not”
As I walked I turned the corner and loosened my hand that held the jade pendant and sneaked a peek at the shadow hiding in the dark and couldn’t help but smile, shaking my head slightly I walked into the crowd and headed back to the inn.
Seeing the person in white really left, the person hiding in the shadows stepped forward and picked up the jade pendant that had fallen off the man in white. Tightening his grip on the pendant the young man’s amber eyes became crescents. Then he hurriedly put the pendant away and speed walked to the entrance of the garden.
In the garden, Kage stood on the bridge with his hands behind his back, his long hair flowed in the wind, and the moonlight shined down on him as if it were a halo. Mingyu felt his breath hitch as he looked at kage and his cheeks flushed.
Hearing footsteps behind him kage turned only to see a young boy with fiery red hair and honey-colored eyes, the combination was so strong it dazed kage. The red gave off a violent feeling as if the boy’s head was covered in blood while his eyes glowed a warm light that gave one the illusion of the sun’s warmth.
By the time Kage came to his senses, the boy was already standing in front of him, the boy looked down at his feet and kage could see his shoulders shaking slightly.
Kage couldn’t help but frown thinking Did I scare him?
Mingyu peaked at the man to see his reaction and his slight smile fell as he saw the man frown, then he rummaged in his robe to pull out the pendant feeling defeated. Mingyu thought the man must be unhappy that he interrupted him.
Seeing the boy’s actions kage asked “You have something for me?
Mingyu nodded after some hesitation and showed the man the pendant, surprised kage stared at the pendant in the boy’s palm. Tilting his head to the side kage asked “Where did you find it?
Mingyu stuttered as he spoke “I-I found it o-on the f-floor”
Nodding kage reached out his hand and picked up the jade pendant then he looked at it closely. Mingyu felt his face flush and his palm twitch when Kage’s fingers lightly scraped his palm and then he groaned as his legs gave out.
Kage was startled but he still instinctively caught the boy and held him up by his waist. Flustered Mingyu held the man’s arms and spoke “I-I’m sorry! M-My legs-”
Kage frowned deepened and he sighed thinking The boy is this scared yet he still came to give the pendant back...He’s a good kid.
Mingyu saw the unhappiness on the man’s face and he flushed in embarrassment as he tried to steady himself but his legs were like tofu. All he could do was apologize “I-I’m sorry!”
Kage shook his head and picked up the boy in one swift movement. Mingyu froze and didn’t know what happened until the man started walking. Mingyu wasn’t sure what to do and was about to ask to be let down but when the man spoke mingyu could feel the vibration from the man’s chest and he couldn’t help but lean his head on the man’s chest.
The man’s voice was cold as he explained “You must be tired after walking for so long….as thanks for the pendant I will carry you back”
Mingyu built up his courage and wrapped his arms around the man’s neck and he hummed “mmm it must be….I’m sorry for the inconvenience”
“No Inconvenience...you are light”
Kage followed the path back to the inn and for once began to be curious about the boy so as he walked he asked “Your name?
“M-My name is Mingyu I am from the untethered spear sect….I have already mastered the spear and was sent to compete for I-I mean study with those of the sky peak”
A chuckle escaped the man’s mouth “I see”
“U-Ummm what is sir’s name?
Looking down at the child in his arms Kage suddenly felt a bubble of emotions “Kage….I’m not sir...I am brother if anything”
Stunned mingyu answered absentmindedly “O-Oh I see….m-my bad”
“No need”
Mingyu couldn’t help the giggle that came out and so he covered his mouth ”S-Sorry”
“Stop apologizing”
“O-Ok”
The inn was rowdy as they walked in and kage could see shin challenging the disciples to an arm wrestling battle as the rest watched as if sensing his stare shiro turned and his lips quirked up then he looked away covering his mouth.
Kage raised an eyebrow and then looked down at mingyu in his arms and suddenly thought Eh why does this situation feel odd?
Ignoring the questioning looks kage headed upstairs “What room?
Mingyu lifted himself a bit and was about to point to a room when a light call came from behind them “Kage?
Kage turned his head and rolled his eyes “why did you come?
Gasping Shin walked in front of kage and peeked at the boy in his arms curiously “Wow you caught the Ice Prince?! Did you hit him!?
Kage moved his arms slightly so that Mingyu was out of sight of shin “No...He’s tired”
Nodding Shin elbowed Kage “Oh so you chased him until both of you were tired”
Narrowing his eyes kage lifted his leg threateningly “Scram”
Shin put up his hands and backed up while complaining “Can’t believe you are threatening to hit me with a child in your arms”
Mingyu pouted and spoke “I am not a child I am 18 years old in human age”
Both shin and Kage looked at Mingyu in surprise “O-Oh….I see”
After sitting the boy on his bed Kage patted the boy’s head and headed out of the room. As soon as Kage closed the door Shin wrapped his arm around Kage’s shoulders and pulled him downstairs. Back in his room mingyu put a hand on his head and stared at the door in a daze then he laid down and rolled around the bed holding his pillow. I got to talk to him! He’s so cool!
The excitement downstairs didn’t end until shin and kage broke a table causing shiro to get angry and scold everyone to go to bed, only then did quiet descend on the inn. In the morning everyone prepared to leave and the inn was lively as the disciples ran to prepare.
Shiro looked out from the second floor of the inn and watched as the children of the different sects ran around in their respected sect’s color. Coming up behind shiro Sai also looked down and asked “So each sect wears a different colored robe?
Nodding I spoke “The sects all have a distinct color or weapon, the sword sect has their disciples in black robes, and most of them wield swords or daggers, The same goes for the spear sect except they wear green colored robes after those two the pattern changes and the sects don’t have their weapon of choice in the name.
Hearing the laughter in Shiro’s voice Sai laughed “And so the rest are more normal or less?
“Well the GoldenSun sect wear light yellow robes and use Ring blade’s as their weapons, The purple Lily sect uses poison and whips as a weapon and wear lilac robes, The ones wearing brown robes are from the martial sect and they use special martial art that allows them to use their bodies as weapons, The lotus peak wear a light pink robe and prefer rope darts or spiked chains”
“What about the other 2 sects? Why are you hesitating to explain?
Looking down at the children in white my lips twitched “The white lily sect is….unique they prefer beautiful weapons and so they use fans and parasols as weapons along with wearing all white robes...the sky peak sect is pretty normal they wear light blue robes and use bow and arrows or crossbows”
Looking down at the different weapons on the disciple’s backs Sai looked on in silence until he saw a group of people walk in wearing Sapphire robes Seeing shiro was about to turn to leave Sai tugged on the sleeve of his robe “Shiro people have come”
Turning around I looked down and caught sight of the sapphire sect’s people, leading them in was a tall buff guy with a broadsword on his back and next to him stood a young girl with strawberry blond hair tied up in a side ponytail and red eyes. Narrowing my eyes I stared behind them at a young blue-eyed boy The son of the heavens….so this is what he looks like.
