Eight Years Later

“Mei… Seito Mei, wake up,” a soft voice penetrated the hazy veil of Mei’s consciousness, pulling her from the depths of her dreamlike slumber.

As she gradually opened her eyes, the world came into focus. Towering trees loomed majestically all around her, their thick trunks twisting skyward like ancient sentinels. The roots sprawled across the forest floor, warping the ground into an uneven, almost surreal tapestry of gnarled wood and tangled vines. Patches of sunlight pierced through the dense canopy overhead, casting dappled shadows that danced playfully on the ground. Mei’s long black hair was sprawled out around her like a dark halo as she propped herself onto her elbows, taking in the bewildering beauty of the forest.

Where am I? she thought, confusion swirling in her mind like leaves caught in a gust of wind. Her vision remained blurred, slow to adjust to the waking world. As she squinted against the glaring light filtering through the trees, she noticed a silhouette of a hooded figure standing before her. The figure loomed like a dark shadow, blocking out the sun and obscuring Mei’s view of their face even further, heightening her sense of unease.

“Mei, come to me!” The voice, deep and gentle yet tinged with an urgency that sent shivers down her spine, resonated in the air. It was a voice that seemed to wrap around her like a warm embrace, evoking a familiar comfort that both soothed and puzzled her. How long had it been since she had last heard that voice?

As Mei’s vision gradually cleared, her heart raced with disbelief. Before her stood her father—the man she had not seen since she was six years old, now standing there as she approached her fourteenth year. The familiarity of his figure was undeniable, even among the towering giants of the Northern forest that enveloped them. He was clad in the cloak he always wore on their hunting trips, its fabric rough yet comforting, like the memories it conjured.

A radiant smile broke across Mei’s face as she leaped up from her resting place, her heart swelling with joy that felt almost too immense to contain. Tears of happiness pooled in her eyes, glistening like dew on morning grass, threatening to spill over at any moment. The weight of years spent in longing and uncertainty melted away as she stood before her father.

“Papa? You’re alive?” Mei gasped, her voice trembling with disbelief. “You made it back from the frontlines?! The war is over?” With an overwhelming rush of emotions, she buried her face into his broad chest, inhaling the familiar scent of pine and earth.

“War? What war?” he asked, his brow furrowing in confusion as he pulled back slightly, creating a small chasm between them. The puzzled look on his face shattered Mei’s joy, igniting a flicker of dread in the pit of her stomach.

Mei paused, her heart sinking as she took a few steps back, the joy of the reunion dimming like a candle flickering in the wind. “Yo—you don’t remember?” she stammered, her voice barely above a whisper. Her eyes darted around the beautiful forest around her and noticed that darkness seemed to be seeping in from the edges of the forest.

As the words left her lips she realized that she couldn’t remember how she had gotten here, but how was that possible? She wasn’t crazy; he was clearly here…she had felt it.

“Mei… I’m sorry for not making it back to you” as her father spoke those words Mei stared in horror as an arrow shot from out of view impaled itself into his skull sending shards of bone and a spray of blood out from him. Crumpling to the ground hitting it with a sickening thud his blood sprayed onto her face making her not able to utter a word. The droplets of blood started to roll up and down towards her eyes. Slowly her vision turned red as it seeped into them leaving nothing, but raw emotional turmoil in its wake. Falling to her knees she let out a mournful scream and finally everything went quiet.

Moments dragged on, stretching into eternity, and her vision began to narrow, as if she were being pulled into a long, dark tunnel. It felt as if her very soul was floating out of her body, a disembodied witness to the horror unfolding before her eyes. She could only watch in agony as her father’s lifeless form lay on the ground, the warmth of his embrace replaced by the chill of death. As she reached out in desperation, a powerful force yanked her away from the horrific scene, drawing her into a tunnel of pure darkness.

Seconds bled into minutes, and then hours, each moment slipping away like grains of sand through her fingers.

Darkness enveloped her, total and complete darkness, a suffocating void that pressed against her soul.

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In her mind she wanted to scream for her father, but it was nothing, but silence.

“Come…to…me…child.” A whisper could be heard before everything finally faded away and her mind slipped into the void.

Mei’s eyes shot open as she found herself laying in her bedchambers located in the academy, the same bed chambers she had since she was six years old when she first attended the academy. Her heart was racing as if she had just run for her life.

The same nightmare every time she dreamed, but a different way her father died…torturing her in her sleep she couldn’t find an escape.

Perhaps it was her imagination running wild wishing for something she could never have, but ever since the elders told her that her father had died in combat five years ago she had not had a peaceful night of sleep. Staring at the ceiling a single tear rolled down her smooth cheek. Her breath slowed and her heart calmed. Just the haunting memories of a man who she would never meet again.

Curse him…he promised. She thought bitterly. Somehow finding the willpower to pull herself up from her bed she looked into the mirror right across from herself. In the reflection was a small athletic girl with piercing blue eyes and long black hair which was in a mess from her troubled sleep. “Aww” she let out an exasperated moan before running her slender fingers through her hair to comb it in place.

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Eight years of training as an outer disciple in the academy and this year was finally the year she would be allowed to go through the blessing ceremony and hopefully find a deity willing to bestow their gifts to her.

Jumping up from her bed, Mei quickly put on her academy robes and left her room hurriedly. The academy was enormous; it had been eight years since she first entered as an outer disciple; her robes were all white with the golden phoenix of the empire on its back.

The academy was always busy this time of the year as it was getting close to the annual showcase where military leaders, scholars, nobles, and perhaps even royalty would come to the academy to see the new batch of inner disciples show them how far the school had brought them. Many minor nobles hoped their son or daughter would impress a high ranking noble or even one of the royal family’s princes or princesses so they could get a foot in the door to the royal family, something most would never be able to dream of doing save for this moment to show the worth of their younger generation. The Empire was in part a meritocracy as the strong and talented could rise from their lowly places and reach levels fairly high, but for commoners it was even less than a dream to reach the levels of the royals.

Mei never realized how hierarchical society was until she came into the academy. Growing up in Naebashi gave her a distorted view of the world around her. While on surface meritocracy was the name of the game ultimately your name and status mattered more. Because even though her talent was decent and she was one of the harvest working outer disciples she was still considered the lowest of the low due to her background, but mostly her cursed blue eyes. Even though many would call her top beauty in the academy no one would give her the time of day due to this fact. An outcast of the outcasts. Not even the disciples from similar backgrounds would associate with her.

However Mei didn’t mind it, she was better off alone anyways. How could she ever trust any of them to have her back? If they won’t even look past what she saw as superficial? Mei walked down the main path of the academy, the numerous students going too and fro would give her a wide berth for the most part.

“Hey! Look who it is guys!” A familiarly vile voice came from ahead of her. Looking up she already knew who the voice belonged. Masaru Hyudo the biggest jerk of the outer disciples and his moronic posse of henchmen.

“What do you want Masaru?” she closed her eyes, took a breath and asked slightly annoyed. These were the only guys who gave her a majority of the rough time for her eyes, the rest simply left her alone or just talked behind her back “just leave me alone.” Mei said with some exasperation the dream had left her in a sour mood and as it was her patience was already at a breaking point.

“Awwwh! Seito Mei you are so kind asking all politely, but why so stand offish? We just want to hang out with our good friend!” He said mockingly, his posse snickering in the background.

“Don’t use my first name. We aren’t that close Masaru…” she growled when she heard him speak her first name which only close friends would call someone by their first name in Kuro or if they were in a position of authority over you. Either way Masaru wasn’t either of those.

Masaru's eyes narrowed slightly as he glared at Mei, his light brown eyes glared at her intently "really now...who are you, a daughter of a poor waitress and a lowly pathetic hunter, telling me or anyone here at this academy what to do? HUH?"

Pausing for a second an evil look flashed onto his face "oh wait…isn't that right your father died pathetically in battle. I heard they never found his body…maybe he ran away like a coward. I mean your parents didn't have the bravery to abandon a cursed child like you in the first place. How much honor could he possibly have?" his entire group along with a few onlookers snickered at the sharp words.

Mei felt a surge of blood begin to boil in her veins as she lost control. Without a second's hesitation shot forward with the speed of a girl who had been training martial arts and Ki for six years now. Mei didn't know what she wanted to do, but she knew she wanted to make him hurt for what she said about her bastard lying father. Only she was allowed to insult him, not some pathetic punk like Masaru. As she quickly closed the distance between her and Masaru. Not even flinching, he stood up straight and sent out his fist at her colliding with her forehead, sending her flying back several feet doing a backwards somersault in the air. Mei sprung off her hands and landed on her feet again.

"Mei, you are pathetic. You think that because you train more than anyone you can overcome pure talent? Right now you can hold your own, but as soon as our spiritual innate natures are revealed the gap between trash like you and people from noble bloodlines will widen and you will have to keep your temper in check." Masaru berated Mei before turning around "Let's leave this pathetic wastrel."

Mei hated all these morons...they were all idiots. Getting up she left and went to the library where she wanted to study more about innate natures. It was her only hope in leveling out the playing field if she could figure out a way to discover some deity who was compatible with her innate nature of her personality and Ki.

With a groan Mei stood up groaning from the already sore injuries and continued on her way to the one person who treated her normally.