No...n-no

Xing Kai slowly opened his sore eyes. Blood oozed from the corner of his eyes again.

What happened?

Xing Kai got up slowly, feeling an immense weight resting on his mind. His heart felt like it had fallen into the deepest trench of a chaotic sea. He looked around in the dark and saw his burnt home. Everything was reduced to ashes and only a faint trail of smoke rose in the sky.

Xing Kai felt his chest deflating and his mind becoming completely empty and quiet. What lay before him was the sight of his father butchered into pieces and his naked, bruised mother floating face down in the trough of bloodied water.

Xing Kai breathed slowly with his dry, torn throat. His eyes were widened in disbelief.

He staggered forward tripping over the tree roots and pushing his way through the final few bushes.

“Mommy...daddy”

He stumbled out of the woods and into the front yard of his destroyed home. The ground felt a little warm from the ashes under his feet. Grey ash, floated up in the air as he ran past the burnt, crumbling fence.

Xing Kai dropped to his knees and quivered as his gaze fell over his father’s mutilated corpse.

I can fix this...I just need to put dad back together

Xing Kai scooped his father's remains together and packed him into his open rib cage. He started to sob and tremble as he worked frantically.

Mom too...I need to make sure she doesn’t drown

Xing Kai ran over and pulled his mother’s bruised body out of the blood red water.

“ARRGG”

Xing Kai screamed as he saw his mother’s body and dropped her. She lay on the ashes beside the trough. Xing Fei had dark bruises around her neck and chest; the bruises lower down her body and legs were even an even worse shad of blue and green. Her face had also not been spared. It had been horrendously cut, resulting in the blood coloured water.

“Mommy” he cried. His quivering voice kept calling to his mother over and over. He hugged her cold, blood stained body to his chest and rocked back and forth.

“Mommy it’s my e-entire fault...It’s all m-my fault...if I w-wasn’t such a c-coward...I WAS A COWARD”

Xing Kai screamed into the air and wailed in despair. Xing Kai pulled at his hair and scratched at his skin, determined to reveal the bones underneath.

“Why did this happen? God, WHAT DID I DO WRONG?”

He shouted louder and louder. He looked around at his destroyed home, his slaughtered father and his torture mother. He caressed his mother’s hair and looked at the face that had raised him, at the face that always made him happy, at the face that always smiled when he saw her, at the face that made him feel safe.

That face that was no longer recognisable.

He looked across at the remains of his father, and his father’s blood that formed a dark red sludge of blood and ash. He clenched his hands into fists and pulled his lips back over his blood covered teeth. His lips cracked and oozed blood, while his eyes widened to the extreme in rage.

Xing Kai turned his head up to the sky, with his mother’s head in his lap.

“I CURSE YOU GOD” screamed Xing Kai. His upturned face howled at the clear night sky.“ONE DAY I WILL KILL YOU GOD.... YOU TOOK MY PARENTS FROM ME.”

Xing Kai's face contorted and blood flowed down from his eyes and lips.

“AAAARRRGGGGG...AARRGG”

His desolate cries rang out though the hills and woods. He retched and coughed up blood and pieces of red flesh from his throat as he grieved over his lost family.

Astonishingly, even some of his vital Heart's blood was spat out. A long while passed with bleak cries ringing through the farmlands and forest.

Xing Kai held his mother, and dragged her beside his father. He shivered and retched as he worked. He meticulously scooped up all of his father's remains beside his mother, and stumbled to their feet.

“For my Father and Mother my heart's blood shall be given”

Xing Kai smacked his fist powerfully over his heart and more drops of Heart’s blood were spat out onto the ground above his parent's bodies. Xing Kai’s face paled considerably with each drop but he endured; every ounce of his anger and grief was used to keep him standing.

These drops of Heart’s blood were no ordinary thing and could not be given up easily. Each drop carried his condensed natural talent, his Will, and his life essence; Heart’s blood could only be removed when on the precipice of death.

“For my Father and Mother, my eternal respect, gratitude...and endless love. A thousand debts are to be repaid...a hundred duties to uphold...and one life lived in your memory.”

Xing Kai sobbed quietly between his words. His normal tanned skin, from all the hard work under the sun, was incomparably pale, almost translucent. His eyes were grey and rheumy with cataracts and riddled with twitching veins.

Xing Kai’s body was deteriorating.

“If I had to suffer...torture at the hands of a Nightmare...to be reincarnated as your son again... I would give my life a hundred times over.”

Xing Kai's grey dying eyes were filled with love and warmth and a soft smile lifted his bloody lips. He walked over to one of the smouldering sticks and some half-burnt wood and placed them ceremonially around his mother and father.

He retched and choked on his own blood and flesh, torn out from his throat. His eyes could only leak tears of blood, as he could produce no more tears. Soon there was a small fire blazing around his dead parents.

Xing Kai watched the flames send his parents to their next life, filled with crushing guilt and anger at himself.

THUMP

Xing Kai’s heart was slowing down; only a few weak pumps kept the blood flowing through his body.

As the flames died down the air became colder. Xing Kai looked down at the puddles of blood around him and the ashes of his burnt home and family. His eyes stopped crying tears of blood and his throat bled more slowly as his heart slowed down.

Xing Kai slowly walked away feeling a void in his heart and soul. He wandered around the farmland he tended to with his father; the animals that he raised with his mother and the meadow where they had picnics with neighbours. Xing Kai drifted back towards the village unconsciously. He walked with the blood drying around his eyes and mouth on his almost blue skin.

My friends are here

THUMP

The lifeless Xing Kai neared the village square. The fires had already burnt out and destroyed most of the homes. The ground was covered in black and grey ash and the smoke cloud hung in the air, burning Xing Kai’s tortured throat.

This is their resting place

Through Xing Kai’s clouded eyes, he could see the village square; women in white mounds with patches of black and blue, the floating men below the arching trees and the pool of dark red blood.

THUMP

Xing Kai dragged his feet through the pool of blood making quiet swishing sounds and ripples.

There’s Ping-er

Xing Kai looked at one of the piles where a small girl lay, with his cloudy, grey, dying eyes. Memories of Song Ping drifted through his mind. Memories of how he heard rumours of the crippled, fat girl, that everyone shunned and threw stones at. He had stood up for her once, and they became friends. She was incredibly shy, but eventually she became eager to take part in all the little pranks they pulled in the village. The years of her life spent depressed and scared, hiding from those who ridiculed her, were quickly made up with the fun and laughter they had shared.

But Song Ping had died.

THUMP

Xing Kai walked on through the square.

There’s big brother Lei-er

Xing Kai saw a sturdy young boy laying face down, with arrows filling his back. Zhang Lei was like an older brother to Xing Kai. They both worked on the farmlands, and their father’s knew each other well. When Xing Kai first met Zhang Lei he admired him greatly and followed him around in all his free time, but it was when Zhang Lei was humiliated by the old men for not being able to count to 10 during a card game, that Xing Kai defended him and they became brothers.

He argued with the old men and won Zhang Lei’s honour back by cheating in a game of cards, so Zhang Lei would win against the old men. Zhang Lei beating the elders at a game of cards naturally became a well known story, as those old men were legendary at card games. No one doubted Zhang Lei’s intelligence and the pair swore to be brothers and that they would help each in everything they did.

But Zhang Lei had died.

THUMP

Xing Kai walked further through the square.

Gang Wei, rest well friend.

Gang Wei was nailed to the ground by countless spears and his mother sheathed many more with her body. They didn’t even have complete bodies left, with so many spears broken and otherwise, buried into them.

Gang Wei was an unruly fellow and the one that created the most trouble in Xing Kai’s life. They had met as rivals, during a tree climbing challenge the village had held. It ended with Xing Kai in Gang Wei’s arms, when Xing Kai had fallen out of the tree and Gang Wei caught him as he fell. Xing Kai never forgot that his life was saved by Gang Wei, so he regularly took the blame for Gang Wei’s fights. The village punishments grew progressively worse and his reputation in the village became quite infamous among the children. Gang Wei swore to himself to calm down and eventually settled down completely so Xing Kai would stop suffering for him.

But Gang Wei, the crazy ape turned playful monkey, had died too.

THUMP

Xing Kai reached a certain corner of the square.

Mei-er...I...I am....

Xing Kai stood beside Lo Yanmei. She was lying in pool of blood, her torn dress scattered around her, was dyed red. An unmistakable patch of red could be seen lower down her body, but Xing Kai did not notice it in particular. Xing Kai could not bear to see the bruises around her neck, on her face, her back and her chest. Xing Kai quivered and bit into his lips as hard as he could.

I did this to you…if only I wasn’t so pathetic, you would be alive now...I killed you with my pathetic weakness

Xing Kai felt like his soul was slowly falling apart.

He dropped to his knees.

My mother, my father...my brother and my friends...Mei-er...my home.

THUMP

Xing Kai’s grey eyes darkened with red as the vessels burst and then slowly turned black.

THUMP

I have nothing left

THUMP

I have lost everything that makes my life worth living

THUMP

Xing Kai’s eyes were completely black, and his skin frighteningly translucent. His arteries could be seen throbbing slowly between his muscles and his nails fell off.

THUMP

I failed absolutely everybody that mattered to me.

I did not stop Ping-er...I did not stand beside my brother when he fought for his mother’s life...I could not repay my debt to him for saving my life...I could not...Mei-er...I did not reach out to her. I even caused her death…

THUMP

He could feel his soul splitting, fracturing and squirming. His mind felt incredible, all-consuming pain, which he welcomed as his punishment.

I could not even stand to fight for my mother and father...they died right before me...tortured to death

THUMP

Xing Kai felt excruciating pain as his soul broke. His face twisted savagely, his teeth grinding and cracking.

His soul tore in to pieces.

The blood pool formed by the dead villagers rippled. It was the smallest vibration, unnoticeable to anyone who might watch. The ripple mysteriously swept right through the pool and past it. The vibration travelled through bodies, homes, trees, weapons, everything.

A vibration so fine, it was hardly worth mentioning, travelled as far as 3 miles to Xing Kai’s home.

After this, single, small ripple passed through the village everything stopped. The air dropped in temperature, sounds silenced, movements froze.

The soul pieces moved apart towards Xing Kai’s skin.

All the pain and emotions he felt crystalized in to a single thought.

THU—

“I WANT REVENGE! I WANT TO KILL THOSE THAT TAKE FROM ME MY HOME AND MY LOVED ONES”

In this single moment of calm in the bubble around the village, a single heart-tearing, soul-shattering scream burst out of Xing Kai’s snarling mouth.

— UMP

Xing Kai’s torn soul trembled, as if hearing a King’s mighty roar. The pieces did not leave Xing Kai’s body, and came back together, as if to merge.

Xing Kai’s black eyes and translucent skin seemed to exude the Will of a King; a Will peerless under the heavens and rivalling the arrogant Gods.

But the thought did not end there.

"I WILL KILL EVERYTHING THAT STANDS BEFORE ME! I WILL KILL THE GODS....THE HEAVENS WILL FEAR ME...NOTHING CAN STOP ME...I WILL BECOME SO STRONG THAT NOBODY WILL THINK TO TAKE FROM ME AGAIN"

As this momentous and overbearing thought appeared, it branded itself into Xing Kai’s very existence; into his very heart and into the single speck of Heart’s blood he had left.

The soul fragments quivered violently.

TTHHHUUMMMPP

This heart contraction was deep and powerful. As Xing Kai’s heart completed a beat, the whole area that the mysterious ripple extended to also thumped a beat. The bubble that seemed to have enclosed this small village, in a small country among powerful forces, in a vast continent, trembled.

Thunder clouds mysteriously appeared in the clear night sky. They grew in size and earth shattering thunder shook the skies.

Odd flecks and drops of blood moved from within this 3 mile radius bubble. The drops moved slowly but time also seemed to have slowed in this bubble, so the drops seemed remarkably fast yet slow all at once.

These drops were the Heart’s blood of the hundreds of dead villagers.

The odd drops of blood gathered with unstoppable momentum, each carrying some force and Will, be it regret, hate, sadness or rage. These drops gathered towards Xing Kai.

The soul fragments inside of Xing Kai quivered and squirmed. They then rushed apart, as if determined to flee Xing Kai’s body. Souls were formed by the Heavens, so they naturally would not follow the Will of a being who wanted to kill the Gods.

TTHHHUUMMMPP

This mighty beat stopped the soul fragments in their tracks and the flecks of blood gathered around Xing Kai like hungry ghosts finding a host, like drifting sailors sighting an island.

The soul fragments struggled greatly, refusing to stay in Xing Kai’s body. The dark thunder clouds trembled and loomed over the village; lightning constantly crackled above the village.

The hundreds of drops of Heart’s blood lamented and were irresistibly attracted to Xing Kai’s body.

TTHHHUUMMMPP

On the third beat of Xing Kai’s heart, the Heart’s blood of hundreds of murdered people entered his body. The soul fragments twisted and turned greatly but could not escape the might of Xing Kai’s crystalized Will, which was burned into the speck of his Heart’s blood.

The thunder cloud exploded in size all of a sudden blanketing the skies, while the lightening within it grew larger and noticeably furious.

The Heart’s blood all rushed towards the soul fragments and turned them dark red. Then black. And then a dark colour that seemed more like a void. The Heart’s blood of the hundreds of murdered villagers, children and adults alike, completely entered Xing Kai’s soul fragments.

CCRRAACCKKLLE

The now monolithic thunder clouds heaved and the lightning gathered all into a single bolt, the thickness of a fine hair. The atmosphere was thrumming with the power released by the fine bolt of lightning, which was far more potent and deadly than any amount of lightning that had previously appeared.

It was legendary Sovereign lightning.

It struck down in the instant that all the Heart’s blood was absorbed into the suppressed soul fragments. The lightning struck Xing Kai’s single speck of Heart’s blood, attempting to incinerate the defiant Will burned into it, to conquer the heavens and kill the Gods. It seemed to bypass Xing Kai’s very flesh and spent all its power to eradicate the crystalized Will embedded in the speck of blood.

TTHHHUUMMMPP

Xing Kai’s Heart’s blood speck did not bow to the Sovereign lightning strike. The extraordinary lightning strike met directly with the tiny, inconsequential speck of blood, yet it could do nothing. The speck of blood resisted and defied the attack, by simply refusing to be eradicated. No matter how much power the omnipotent and transcendental lightning carried, Xing Kai’s crystalized Will was too powerful to be broken. Xing Kai's anger and desire was too powerful to be eradicated.

The soul fragments could no longer struggle against all the Heart’s blood that filled it, and submitted completely. The blood speck was not damaged in the slightest by the Sovereign lightening and stayed as arrogant as the Will burned into it by Xing Kai. It would now control the soul fragments instead of the Heavens.

Xing Kai had detached himself from the control of the Heavens.

CCRRAACCKKLLEE

The dark monolithic storm clouds crackled even more intensely and thundered with all its might. It could not accept that the supreme Sovereign lightning it summoned could not crush a puny speck of blood containing a small boy’s heretical Will.

How could a mere village boy’s Will be so defiant?

The Soul fragments gathered inside Xing Kai’s unconscious mind, but shockingly did not merge like it would have done before Xing Kai’s heretical Will was formed. It seemed that with all the absorbed Heart’s blood they could not merge.

Instead the soul fragments formed a ring inside Xing Kai’s mind and settled there.

The bubble around the small village faded away.

Xing Kai was still on his knees with his head raised to the skies. His black eyes and translucent skin entirely made it seem like he was possessed by ghosts.

The storm cloud was now grew greatly agitated as it saw the soul fragments rest unmerged in Xing Kai’s mind. It was now far more thunderous then when it first appeared due to Xing Kai’s heretical Will, and even more thunderous when it saw Xing Kai absorb hundreds of people’s Heart’s blood. But it was now more worried, than enraged, that Xing Kai’s Will could defy its lightning.

Just as the bubble disappeared the storm clouds contracted, in an instant, into a palm sized cloud. This monolithic storm cloud which had managed to produce Sovereign lightning, and carried a Will of its own had condensed so tightly.

It flickered and with impossible speed, appeared before Xing Kai.

It paused, as if looking at his face, and then passed straight into Xing Kai’s mind.

It rushed straight to the soul fragments and hovered between all of them, in Xing Kai’s mind. All of a sudden it shot out Sovereign lightning no weaker than the previous, at each soul fragment.

Strangely it did would not destroy the soul fragments, but instead drew them together as if the lightning was a rope.

The soul fragments moved closer but only very slightly. The soul fragments were very stable at this point and didn’t need to merge together; each fragment was so strong that it was simply impossible to reform a whole soul now.

These soul fragments were no longer the property of the Heavens but instead independent and controlled by Xing Kai’s speck of Heart’s blood, so as the lightning drew them desperately closer, the Heart's blood speck pushed them apart into a ring shape again.

No matter how much lightning the cloud used, it could not pull the soul fragments close enough to merge. It exhausted itself, as it produced more lightning ropes to merge the soul fragments together desperately. Since the heretical Will could not be destroyed, it would at least merge the soul fragments, so Xing Kai would not totally defy the Heavens.

As the cloud became smaller and smaller, it reluctantly accepted the unprecedented event that had occurred. It wasted itself away releasing tremendously powerful Sovereign lightning, knowing that a crisis may have befallen the Heavens now.

Xing Kai’s soul had teared into pieces.

His Will had brought him back to life.

However his Will was so strong that it attracted hundreds of people’s Heart’s blood and absorbed it into his soul fragments, to form an unrivalled Blood Soul.

Then he formed a peerless heretical Will, which would not submit to even Sovereign lightning with only a speck of Heart's blood. Not even a single drop was needed to resist Heaven's wrathful Sovereign lightning. A minuscule speck was enough, his Will was so strong.

However, what truly defied the Heavens Edict was that his soul fragments would not remerge to form a whole Blood Soul...rather it seemed that an 11 year old boy had formed multiple Blood Souls.

Each one soul fragment was strong, containing hundreds of people's Will, yet submitted to Xing Kai's indomitable, defiant Will.