A loud slap could be heard, the handsome man in white robes with long black hair, glared coldly at the fallen woman in red. He then shouted in a loud voice.
“You're are not fit to be a woman of my house.”
The woman in red cried loudly as she tugged on his pant leg, wearing an incredibly ugly expression, as tears formed in her eyes.
“I was drunk, my mind wasn't clear... I..”
“Enough! On this day I have lost a fiancee, and a brother!”
She begged, and pleaded, but the handsome man ignored her.
He violently left the stage. The woman cried pitifully, as the red curtain above dropped downward.
A loud applause thundered loudly as the crowd watched the handsome man leave the stage, for the closing of the scene, while the lighting orbs dimmed. The opera house was popular among the people as entertainment, and the acting troupe was rather famous as well, leading to a quick rising popularity.
The theater room was filled to the brim with many men, and woman dressed in fancy robes, and gowns. The silent talking in the audience quickly simmered away as the lighting orbs glowed, and the curtains rose again for the next scene.
In one of the small box seats in a balcony, a lone lady with greenish black hair, wearing black framed glasses, and a green robe was approached by a gray haired man in black robes, he whispered lightly to the young lady.
“Miss Lan, there has been a scheduling change, your train leaves in four hours!”
“What! I thought there was an accident, and it was canceled!”
“No time, I already have a car waiting outside!”
The old man did not wait for a response, and quickly left, the young lady stared at the stage where the handsome man confronted his sworn brother, her clear blue eyes wavered as she turned around and left.
Two people ran out of the large brown opera house into the streets, the sky was bright, and the sun was drifting behind a blue moon. A black car that had strange carvings across it's body was parked to the side of the road, a driver standing to the side, quickly opened the door to the rushing old man, and lady.
The old man shouted in anxiety.
“Mr. Chen, hurry!”
In mere seconds the car started up and left in a flurry, some of the nearby food vendors jumped away in shock.
…
As the car was speeding down the paved highway, they drove past a procession of uniformed men marching past down the road in red, and black armour, followed by large vehicles, and a few armoured tigers the size of a small house.
The old man sighed at this scene, and shook his head, as they drove past. Lan casually traced a small line on her cheek unconsciously as she gazed at the weapons the infantry was holding.
After a good hour, the military procession disappeared only to followed by a horse drawn carriage, carrying some children with ragged clothes, and dirty faces. As the car went down the road, more carriages, and people on foot could be seen. Many with injuries, some carrying luggage, and many more with bitter faces.
Eventually the car reached a wooden building next to the train tracks, and two people quickly rushed into the entrance. The building was filled with many people, a lot of whom wore elegant robes, and garments. Some of the people sitting in the seats had armed servants following them.
Lan found an empty red seat near the booth and sat down, while the old man ran to the customer service booth.
Two kids were running around in circles, and a lot of excited chatter could be heard. A man in a red robe spoke anxiously.
“The emperor has finally reached the coming of age, what a glorious day for our empire.”
“Yes, I heard the capital is teeming with activity, many foreign guests are also coming to pay their respects.”
Just as the noises were reaching it's peak, a loud screeching sound could be heard, followed by a low rumble. The people quickly went past the gates, and started to run to the station. The smoke stack of the arriving train leaked out a gentle dull green gas, and a loud horn sounded, before it slowly stopped, and the passengers left the train.
Lan casually waited in line as the train was emptied, before people started to slowly pour in, the old man behind her whispered quietly.
“Remember not to cause problems for our clan.”
“Do you have to this now?”
“I'll keep doing it until this old Lai's a dried up old corpse.”
Lan clicked her tongue, as she presented her ticket to an employee, and entered the train. She was led to a section with an expansive room, fine red carpets, and black chairs made of high quality material. The attendants were all attractive, and always wore a bright smile as they lead the guests to their rooms, and seats.
A young man in a robe led her to a small room in the train.
“You're room miss, please let me know if anything arises.”
Lan smiled and nodded, as the man in red left, and Lai entered first to slowly examine the room, he stepped back in surprise.
“Hoh.. This is.”
“Did you find something?”
As Lan peeked inside the room, her blue eyes widened in surprise. There floating in the room was a figure of blue light, interweaving with the air.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“A mid level nature spirit, what is it doing here?”
The old man Lai, pointed at a faint symbol engraved into the transparent figure.
“It seems to be contracted, looks like it's contractor is nearby.”
“Whatever the case this is our room, I'll have to expel it.”
She lightly touched her glasses, faint parallel strings of light started to form in front of her, that multiplied, and grew more complex. When suddenly a small shout could be heard, and something bumped into her from behind.
“Stop it!”
A small girl in red robes tugged at Lan's dress forcibly, her cute cheeks were puffed up, and her brown eyes look scared. The little girl's long reddish black hair looked ruffled, and her pale hands refused to let go.
“Bully!”
Lan was at a slight loss of words, when suddenly an elder gentlemen with a long black beard came from behind the young girl, and gently pulled her back.
“Apologies, please excuse the rash actions of my lady, she is quite attached to her contract spirit, if you please allow her to retrieve it, we would be most grateful.”
Lan sighed lightly, “no apologies needed, we were just slightly surprised.”
The older gentlemen stared at her hair color and nodded faintly. The little girl spread out her arms and called out.
“Come, southern wind!”
The transparent figure rushed to the little girl arms, and reduced it's size to a ball of light in her arms. The elder gentlemen slowly admonished the little girl.
“Little miss that spirit can cause trouble if unattended, you should not have let it wander around in a train. Although most people cannot see the spirit, it could still potentially cause a lot of mischief. Please apologize to these people.”
The little girl turned to Lan and bowed with a sad expression.
“I'm sorry for all the trouble.”
Lan looked slightly uncomfortable, and just gave an awkward smile, and responded.
“No, it's alright.”
The little girl was quickly led away, and the elderly gentlemen bowed in thanks. As they left, Lan caught a glimpse at the item hanging on the gentleman's waist.
“He's from the military.”
Old man Lai nodded.
“Yes, it seems he has a blade rifle in his sheathe.”
“Then that little girl?”
“She is most likely someone important.”
Lai sighed as he stared at Lan.
“Please stop causing more problems for us.”
Lan glared at the old man.
“You're blaming this on me?”
…
The train rumbled onward as Lan stared quietly at the landscape, they passed a pavilion normally found in the pleasure districts, a small park near a large lake with pagodas built on it, and residential buildings, stacked on top of each other, forming giant towers.
The average citizen preferred living in an elevated area, while the less financially secure citizens lived closer to the ground, it was simply a racial trait to live closer to the sky. Eventually the landscape grew more rural as they left the city walls, and saw dots of rural buildings scattered in the area.
Large trees slowly decorated the scene followed by some passing wild beasts, Lan raised an eyebrow as she witnessed a line of soldiers marching towards the town she left. She noticed a single figure on top of a large silver wolf leading a group of armored gun lancers, followed by military grade golems.
Old man Lai whistled lightly.
“Seems the orc tribes are causing problems.”
Lan nodded gently.
“That person.....”
“You felt it all the way here right? He's leading around 100 men, at most a mere captain leading a small company, but he has the astonishing presence of an immortal.”
“Why would a person of his level be used to fight lowly orcs?”
Eventually the train ran into a tunnel, blocking out the scenery, after roughly an hour of darkness, the light shined through, and they were now in a large woodland area. As Lan was about to stand up and call for some snacks, the train shook violently, and large booming sounds roared out.
The train abruptly stopped almost causing her to lose balance, shouts and screams could be heard, and more explosions rumbled.
Old man Lai stared at Lan and whispered.
“Don't escalate matters.”
Lan frowned and glared back.
“What exactly do you think I am in your eyes?”
“Miss I am your loyal servant, and would never speak insults towards you.”
The moment he finished a loud crack was heard and someone kicked in the door. Men armed with knives covered in black masks barged in.
“No one move!”
Old man Lai stared at Lan silently, as the masked men approached with rope. The Jin Tian empire did not allow commoners to use advanced weaponry, only normal weapons like bows, and swords. The fact the bandits only carried knives meant they did not have much of a backing. Their stances were poor, and did not have a developed presence in their bodies.
“In short, low level bandits.”
The moment she said these words in an icy tone, old man Lai already appeared behind them in a flurry and broke one of their necks with a clear snap, before the other bandit could respond, a quick punch shattered the bandit's spine.
Lai stared at Lan with a disapproving frown.
“I told you not to escalate matters, miss.”
“..And what you did just now is what?
“To prevent you from doing anything.”
More explosions rang out, as the duo quickly left their rooms, only to find the train being engulfed by a powerful flame. The flame spread out quickly, and turned everything into ashes within seconds, it was obviously not natural. Smoke covered the room, and the air heated up.
With an angry grunt, Lai's fingers dug into the steel walls of the train, and ripped apart the metal in a rapid fury, eventually creating a large gap to escape through, a single green feather stuck out on his graying hair.
Lan quickly followed him out to escape the smoke, the unnatural flames would have easily killed the bandits, and passengers alike, what exactly was going on? However she did not have much time to react when she noticed thousands of wispy lights leaving the train.
She recognized those lights all to well, they were the souls of the dead, she immediately widened her eyes as she felt several presences nearby, each one was dangerous.
She immediately ran into the woods, followed by old Lai. Although she was not sure what was happening, she knew something much bigger was in play. Should she be careless, she would be part of those dead souls as well.
She stared at Lai as he nodded, and they quickly ran from the scene, to stay near this area, was to risk death. Several more explosion rang out, and a black cloud flew in the general direction of the train, followed by hundreds of lightning bolts smashing downwards in a violent torrent.
…
After nearly two hours escaping into the woods, they were now surrounded by a thick layer of trees, and a small running stream.
Lan cupped her hands and took some water from the stream, while Lai surveyed the area. When he came back he reported in a calm manner.
“Looks like whoever was being targeted, it was not us.”
“Yes, if they had those masters, why would they need bandits to join in, I'm guessing they were to be used as scapegoats, or sacrifices.”
“The thunder storm was most likely done by a mid tier manacraft user.”
Lan rested near a tree while frowning, she remembered all those people and kids in the train, that most likely died. She couldn't help but feel bitter, this was a feeling she understood all too well. The incident was near the day of the emperors birthdays, the court officials will be in a frenzy to find the culprits.
Instead of dwelling in the depressing feeling that was quickly rising inside, and the dark thoughts forming in her mind, she quickly sat up.
“I'm going for a small walk.”
Lai stared at her eyes that seemed to flash between cold, and dark, and silently nodded.
The soil was soft, the grass was green, and the air was nice and warm, with a fresh scent dwelling in the atmosphere. The running stream emphasized the purity of the area, she could even see low level nature spirits playing along the streams, and leaves.
However for a brief moment, the stream was dyed red, the trees felt dead, and a rotten stench wafted in her nose. She immediately closed her eyes, and when she opened them again the green scenery was visible again.
Her breathing that was starting to become rapid, slowed down once again. While walking deeper into the woods, she felt a large presence in the distance, however she did not feel movement, or hostility.
She immediately stopped moving, and remained still, probing the thing hidden in the trees. After several minutes of silence, she wandered closer to the object, it was the size of a boulder, covered in vines, leaves, and flowers, with insects crawling around it.
Lan slowly walked towards the slumbering giant, and lightly ran her jade like fingers across it's smooth mettalic surface.
As she was about to get closer, she noticed something pop out of the metabeast, it was a soul of the dead. Each soul had a different quality to them for Orcs, for Elves, and for her kind, but this was different. It was something she recognized years ago, and seen far too often; that was so familiar it almost made her feel sick to her stomach.
It was the soul of a human.