The brother lied on a scarlet moon. Zifeng had made a catastrophic mistake; a mistake worse than death. The brother knew he would slowly desist if he could not contain his blood. So, instead, he used his remaining energy to get up. To get up, and head to the village; there laid a dormant marrow.

The screams of the innocent was what made Zifeng turn in awe. He saw his brother dancing with the red and he made the living join in death. “No!” he screamed as his lungs collapsed. He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it. “What’s the point, brother? What’s the point when you backpedal on your own words!” One, two, three, five, ten, he had killed countless in an instant. “You’ve hurt them! You’ve hurt them now!”

“It doesn’t matter, Zifeng.”

“How can you say that?”

“These were the most ordinary folks, those who wander about with nothing to do.”

“You have no right to judge others so harshly!”

“You brought this upon me. You left me to die, you think I would cry myself to death?”

“Your life is no more important than the most ordinary folk! You fought with pride, and you lost with dignity, or at least that’s what I thought.”

“I’ve seen horrible things in the most marvelous of people.” He raised his shaking fist. “Mei is a greater monster than I’ll ever be.”

Zifeng prepared for battle, “what do you mean?”

“This entire village. Have you wondered why we made no friends? When I entangled myself with Mei, I saw her create the entirety of this place out of flesh and bones. We weren’t the first ones to learn of entanglement, Mei did it long ago. She was afraid that we’d master it!”

“What are you on about?” Zifeng couldn’t hold his tears back, they rained down his cheeks.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“They’re all puppets. The theory of emergence, brother! It’s true! She put all this together, all of them together!”

He froze. His stance that was strengthened to fight, fell loose. “Liar!”

“No,” and the blood around him began to twirl, and in a moment of brightness, the dead stood up.

Zifeng dropped his guard. There’s no way, he thought.

“The Dragon Emblem. That’s their heart. ‘Something that does not exist,’ yet it does, and she invented it.”

“Why? Why would she hide this from us? How can I trust you, brother?”

He let Zhu walk up to him, without a flinch. “She massacred millions for this knowledge. She knows her wrongdoings, and she regrets, but she hasn’t paid.”

“But if it’s true. You still killed innocent creatures.”

“No, brother. There is no innocences at play here, you kill a rabbit to eat it, a lion hunts its prey to survive. I didn’t kill these creatures out of hate, I only wished to show you reconstruction.”

“You resurrected them?”

“No, resurrection is extremely complex, not even Mei has done such a thing. If she had, she could easily bring back all those she murdered. I only brought back the creature, without its acquired knowledge.”

Zifeng was in complete loss of words. He didn’t want to believe, but he didn’t want his brother to be a liar. He wanted to know, “come, come with me and I’ll ask her myself!”

“Please, master. Tell me it’s not true!”

Mei looked with confusion and rage. Why did Zhu stand before her?

“Did you make this village? Did you create our home?”

“Zifeng, I told you what had to be done. Why have you returned without a result? Have you betrayed me?”

“No, I only wish to know the truth. Zhu said you created this place with flesh and bones! Tell me it’s miscommunication. Tell me it’s not true!”

“It is true.”

Zhu made a tick. It was obvious, they were both enraged. Zifeng stared into his tears, without a movement as he processed what he had heard.

“You deserve to be punished,” Zhu said.

“This is my punishment.”

“How? How is this torment!”

“I’ve lived away from humans for decades, I’ve made my own community, I repent what I have done in solitude. I will never be a part of that world again.”

“No! This is a haven for you! This is nowhere near a punishment, in fact, it’s the opposite.”

It had to be quicker than an instant, as if the seal of space and time was broken, her senses heightened beyond anyones, and she held a familiar face in her palm. It was over, and Zifeng knew what she did but not how she did it.

Zifeng didn’t weep nor cry. He had no reaction except a smile of defeat. He did not know right from wrong anymore. He was in a state of disapproval and unacceptance.

At that moment, he knew exactly what they were all along. Test subjects. That’s all they were and that’s all they have ever been. A failed product, a cancerous mutation. Just as he had not known what happened to his brother, he had no clue what had happened to him. Everything was nothing and he could no longer feel. Even though he wished to cry for his brother, cry for his master, and cry for himself, he could not because now he was gone.