Lan Kai-Le

1994 years after The Long Night

Gãnzào Province

From where they were hiding in the cellar, Lan Kai-Le could just barely see out of the crack in the door; his father as he approached the man in black. Kai-Le’s mother was holding the boy tightly, a shaking hand covering his nose and mouth to keep him from breathing in the smoke.

All around, Lan Kai-Le could still hear the faint screams of the villagers echoing in his mind. How they’d begged, and offered the stranger anything he wanted, if only he’d let them live…

Kai-Le and his parents were the only ones left.

“Shh, angel!” His mother whispered, “Stop moving, hold still…”

He heard her voice breaking and wished somehow he could comfort her too, but they were helpless as they watched embers and ashes trickle down through the cracks in the floor, settling on their shoulders and fading away into the air.

“-had no business coming here!” Lan Kai-Le heard his father say.

The dark man surrounded by his soldiers only seemed to grin.

“You cannot fool me, old man! I know you have it, and you know it belongs to me!”

Lan Kai-Le didn’t hear much of the rest of their conversation, as his mother was then turning him towards her and having Kai-Le look up into her beautiful green eyes…

“Angel, look here, do you see this?”

Her voice was so soft and gentle, but Lan Kai-Le could hear the note of panic rising with every word. He held his mother’s hand and stared down at the object that she’d pressed into his palm.

“Your eyes-” the little boy murmured.

The ring was the same vibrant green, almost seeming to glow gently as he watched it.

His mother nodded, closing his tiny fist around it and whispering;

“Do you remember what your father told you about this?” She said, and Kai-Le nodded.

“You have to keep it safe, okay Angel? No one else can have this, it’s yours.”

He squeezed her hand and nodded, “Thank you.”

Then his mother let out a soft sob, kissed him on the forehead, and began to move away…

“Lan-Le,” she begged. “Let go-”

But he was holding onto her skirts, still tightly clutching the ring. He didn’t understand why they couldn’t go together.

“Mother, take me with you!”

She bent to hug him, shushing him and trembling as she rocked him side to side. Lan Kai-Le didn’t know what was happening, only that he hated seeing his mother sad, and was afraid he had done something to make her this way…

“Play a game with me, Angel…” she whispered.

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Kai-Le thought maybe that would make her feel better so he agreed.

“What game?”

His mother smoothed down his hair, re-adjusted his grip on the ring, and smiled-

“You’re so clever, so good at hiding.” She laughed, “Hiding so that I never find you…”

Lan Kai-Le wanted to reach up and wipe the tears off her face, but he couldn’t let go of the ring.

“Stay here and hide, okay? Don’t come out… I will find you.”

He sat obediently and watched as she stood again. This time Kai-Le didn’t reach out for her. It was a game, he liked those.

“I love you, Lan-Le…”

And then she was gone.

The little boy sat there for a long time, but then he heard voices from outside again and carefully made his way over to peer out. The sky was dark with ash and his nose and throat hurt the longer he breathed in. Outside in front of his house, his mother was kneeling over something, some shape.

The dark man and his soldiers were cleaning some dripping red substance from his blade… the longer Lan Kai-Le looked, the more his heart began to hurt, as if the dark man had actually stabbed him through the chest instead.

But, it was Kai-Le’s father who was laying there, being held gently by his mother as she cried and begged the dark man to let them live. Lan Kai-Le would have done anything in that moment to be by her side… but, he was supposed to hide, right?

“-won’t rest until I have it!” The dark man snarled.

Kai-Le heard his mother’s voice then, ringing out like a promise through the chaos that surrounded them-

“Then you shall never rest!”

The little boy’s own heart beat one more time in his chest, and then stopped suddenly as he watched the man’s sword pierce his mother’s body clean through. Lan Kai-Le, or a part of him, died then, as he watched his parents both lay there, motionless.

Mother made me hide, and he understood why now, but that didn’t stop him from frantically moving toward the door as his mind tried desperately to search for wherever he could hide the ring.

Mother said no one can have it but me…

Lan Kai-Le swallowed it, and ran outside.

The smell of fire and blood was even worse out here but he barely noticed as he approached his parents’ bodies. The soldiers and the dark man all watched him with emotionless eyes as the boy fell to his knees on the ground soaked with crimson, and reached out for his mother’s skirts, wishing she had stayed hidden-

“What do we have here?” The dark man snickered, “A little plaything?!”

Lan Kai-Le wanted nothing more in that moment but to rid his home of this creature. To fight him and die with his parents defending themselves. But, his mother’s ring was inside him, and no one else could have it. The little boy understood that it was special, it had been his father’s most cherished belonging and maybe for some reason that meant others were trying to take it. Kai-Le couldn’t let that happen, and if he died here, that meant this villain won.

Lan Kai-Le stood up and stared at the man, who’d just finished cleaning more blood from his sword as he stared at the boy…

“What is it, do you wish to have your revenge?!” The loud laugh that echoed from the man made Lan Kai-Le’s fists tighten in a sudden burst of sorrow and anger.

The evil creature before him lifted his blade once more and grinned down at Kai-Le.

“Hmph! Be grateful, boy! Xie Xingyue will reunite you with your parents after all…”

Lan Kai-Le was able to partially dodge the sweep of his sword, but it still sliced through his clothes and made a gash appear on his chest. Momentarily he wondered if the ring might fall out, and then make his parents’ sacrifice useless.

In fear of that, Lan Kai-Le clutched at his heart, willing the object to stay inside as he began to run. He heard Xie Xingyue’s loud voice from behind him calling for the soldiers to stand down, that there was no way the boy would survive a wound like that out in the middle of nowhere by himself. Lan Kai-Le just kept going. Hiding wasn’t the only thing he was good at, running was too.

The fact that his parents and his home was still with him helped him push through the pain and the darkness creeping into his vision; my village is sticking to my clothes and my hair, all these ashes… my parents’ blood on my hands, they are with me-

He ran until the forest had become everything, and everywhere he looked he saw good places to hide. Lan Kai-Le used his very last bit of strength to tuck himself under a large nest of fallen trees, burying his body in moss and leaves and praying that he could hide, maybe die here, and that way no one would find him or the ring ever again.

I love you, mother… he said to himself over and over as sleep finally took its hold.

And I promise, I won’t ever let them have what you’ve given me.