Abby cradled Arden’s head as the school nurse wrapped his bloody arm. With an intense stare, she watched the blood soak into the bandages.

She knew it. She knew that something would go wrong.

“Abby, he’s going to be fine.”

Abby felt her mother’s hands lift her away to place pillows underneath Arden’s head. But she couldn’t help but think her mother’s words were another lie.

Would he be fine? Would they all be fine?

She had seen how people panicked. How her entire neighbourhood was placed somewhere unknown, with bloodthirsty monsters roaming around. Abby would never forget how the viny demons stared at her as they got picked off with rifle shots.

It almost scared her as much as seeing her brother lying on the floor in bloodied clothes scared her.

“Don’t give me that look. You remember what I always say, right?” It was Abby’s mother’s turn to cradle her head this time.

“We persevere through—”

Bang!

A wild gunshot shook the two women, and Abby felt her mother jolt, then slip away from her embrace. Abby gripped her mother’s retreating hand, and her mother turned back to face her.

“Stay here with Arden. It’s probably just Mr. Robinson acting big again, so he isn’t scared.”

Abby watched her mother escape out the door, and the school nurse did the same. Thankfully, she was done with the treatment.

Abby turned to see Arden’s arm wrapped in bandages and stared momentarily at him, then the door. Indecision plagued Abby as she looked back and forth multiple times.

“Damnit. You better be a cockroach like always.” Abby spoke, then quickly rushed out of the makeshift infirmary.

Abby watched as people flitted through piled-up rubble and over broken lawns and followed after them. She arrived at a wide crowd of people blocking her sight when suddenly, a familiar voice rang out.

“Out of the way!” Mr. Collins spoke.

“Dad—” Abby tried to speak but was cut short when the crowd pushed her aside. She fell to the ground with a light thud and glared at the oblivious person pushing her and others to get through the crowd.

“Louie?” Abby asked but received no reply. Looking closer, she could see the dried tear streaks across Louie’s cheeks as he desperately tried to claw through the crowd with some success. Following the wake of Louie’s desperate push through the crowd, Abby followed to see what was going on. When she finally got near the front, she felt an upset crumpling in her gut.

They were back.

Abby’s heart skipped a beat as a myriad of twisted dogs, bats, and other animals surrounded them. All of them waited, and none of them moved. And when Abby looked into their eyes, they were that same blank stare, like their minds had been ground until they were smooth.

Chime.

Abby heard an oddly loud bell ring out and silence the murmurs of the neighbourhood. It sounded clear and melodic as it took up space in the air. Then all at once, the animals shifted aside. She watched as a curtain of crimson robes lifted from the forest and slowly approached them through the rustling brush.

Chime.

Another chime, this time a bit more forceful, caused the crimson-robed people to shift aside, letting three men through the middle. The three men wore crimson robes as well but were embroidered with thorny rings of vines along the hems, and the presence they had shouted out danger to Abby. As they walked to the front of the crowd, the largest of them, a man nearly twice her height, spoke out in a cold, deep voice.

“Who is the village chief here?”

Abby could feel the silence that permeated the air. Nobody wished to speak out. Seeing no one step forward caused a frown on the biggest of the three crimson-robed men.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Suddenly, a pressure like a heavy gust forced the neighbourhood to its knees. Abby fell and did her best to suck in a breath of air, but it felt laboured, like breathing through a straw.

“Stop! I am!”

Abby quickly turned to see her father call out in laboured breaths. Evidently, the pressure took a toll on him as well. But as soon as the words were finished, the pressure eased, and several gasps of air made it into Abby’s lungs. But, the pressure lingered in the air, waiting to be used again.

When Abby refocused ahead of her, she saw the second of the three crimson-robed leaders step forward with a cunning smile.

“Apologies for my dear brother, Gou Da; he doesn’t like to waste time with pleasantries. Allow me to introduce ourselves.” The second man flourished his sleeve, and the crimson-robed people behind him dropped to a single knee in unison.

“I am Gou Jia, and we represent the Bloodthorne Sect. And you have all trespassed into our lands.” The second man, Gou Jia, ended with a vicious look.

Abby watched as her father looked at the kneeling people and their vicious pets surrounding them. With a visible gulp, her father tried to understand. She saw the way his jaw locked and his brows momentarily shuffled together.

“We apologize if we’ve intruded onto your lands. To be truthful, we don’t know how we got here ourselves. I assure you we wish to stay here peacefully and figure things out. We mean no harm to you or your…sect.” Mr. Collins seemed to question his last word but said it anyway.

Tsk, Tsk, Tsk.

Gou Jia clicked his tongue thrice and resumed his cunning smile. His smile felt like a worm crawling underneath Abby’s skin, and his words were no better.

“Have no fear, village chief; the Bloodthorne Sect has no enmity with you. In fact, we’ve come today with an offering of a lifetime for you and your people!” Like a cunning business salesman, Gou Jia continued with his offer.

“We can’t have confused, terrified people out here in the dangerous woods. We won’t accept it! That’s why my fellow brothers and I are willing to extend a gracious offer to you all.” Gou Jia cunning smile deepened.

“Join the Bloodthorne Sect. You’ll be safe from the wild beasts and achieve a power like you’ve always dreamed of.” Gou Jia paused, then spoke again like his words were pure gold.

“Cultivation power.”

The words rang out in Abby’s ears like a devil’s temptation. She had seen the way they peered into the woods with hints of fear and felt the anxiousness that drifted between people.

To feel safe? To be able to sleep tonight under a safe roof? Who wouldn’t choose that?

However, the twisting feeling in her gut was telling Abby otherwise. It advised her not to trust any of Gou Jia’s promises.

Gou Jia took a few steps closer to the crowd, just slow enough that they didn’t step away in fear and fast enough that he arrived before her father in a few moments. Behind him was his older brother, Gou Da, like a towering protector standing guard.

“The power of cultivation. The riches of spirit stones beyond what you could ever dream of. Anything you want, all at your fingertips. How does that sound?” Gou Jia’s smile straightened as he awaited Mr. Collins’ reply. But instead, a voice from left field drifted in.

“You think we’d go with cocksuckers like you? Hurry on and get out of here!”

“Robinson! Be quiet!” Mr. Collins roared, but the deed was already done. The words had already been spoken, and when Abby looked at the three leaders’ rigid faces, she felt things were about to worsen.

“…Is what he says true, Village Chief? Do you refuse our kind offer?” Gou Jia spoke with a monotone stare.

Abby watched her father grit his teeth and glare at the neighbourhood idiot, Mr. Robinson, for a moment. Then, he turned his attention back to Gou Jia and sternly spoke.

“I apologize for Robinson’s outburst. But he is right. I… we… won’t be joining your… Bloodthorne Sect. Please, we truly mean no harm. We are just trying to find our way out here.”

Tsk, Tsk, Tsk.

Gou Jia relaxed and turned his back to the crowd. With a subtle flick of his wrist, a bracelet holding a vine-adorned bell landed in his hands with a light chime that made the surrounding animals growl.

“Oh, Village Chief. Why do they never accept it the first time? No matter, you’ve made my choice an easy one—”

As Gou Jia lifted his arms, the old rifle in Mr. Robinson's hand lifted too.

Bang!

Abby watched with wide eyes as the rifle shell from Mr. Robinson’s gun crumpled into a useless lump against Gou Da’s lightning-quick hand. With a bloodthirsty smile, the third of the leaders excitedly shouted as he pointed at Mr. Robinson.

“Gou Jia! See! I can kill him, right? He attacked first, just like you said!”

“Enough, Gou Hui. Stop talking.” Gou Jia silenced the third leader, Gou Hui, and turned back to look at the shivering mess of a man that Mr. Robinson had become. Then, he let a cunning smile grace his face again as he stared at Mr. Collins.

“Village Chief, you have to understand, it’s the duty of a leader to take responsibility for the people that rely on them. Who knows what dangers you may possess here? Are there more tools capable of killing Qi Condensation Cultivators here? Who knows what type of trouble that could cause for the Bloodthorne Sect?”

Behind Gou Jia, Gou Da took the tall sceptre off his back and brandished what should have been a two-handed weapon in one hand.

“You understand, don’t you? The responsibilities of a leader. To take what is karmically linked to the people you protect.”

The same pressure as before took the crowd to their knees, and even as Abby wanted to cry out, she couldn’t. She could only watch with heaving breaths as Gou Da approached closer and closer to her paralyzed father. By now, it wasn’t just her gut screaming at her to stop this; it was her whole body that could feel something wrong would happen.

“You see, in the cultivator world, we settle our debts. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. A blow for a blow.” Gou Jia narrated.

Abby tried to scream as if her words could pierce through the pressure and pause Gou Da’s steps. But she didn’t have that magic power. That wasn’t something she was capable of.

“Gou Da. Deliver the blow.” Gou Jia commanded.

With a single downward blow, Mr. Collins was crushed. And in that exact moment, so was Abby’s heart.