Of ink and Hope

“Huan’er! wake up! It is already past the 8th bell!” A loud voice echoes through the house as the sound of steps approaches.

The young Lu Huan was nestled deep under what her mother called her fortress of dreams. Large pillows held together by a large weighted blanket. The young girl recoils back into the safety of her domain as the rays of her hateful enemy reaches her, peeking from the side of the blinds.

“Come on up! up! You told me you wanted to help me de-feather those thunderous peacocks.”

Huan’s mother, Dan of the Lu family, amused at her daughter’s resistance, walked into her daughter's room, opening the blinds and letting the cold morning air in.

“You gave me your words, little lady, and I will make you responsible for them.”

she grabs the edges of the blanket, and with a flick of her wrists, crack it like a whip.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHH AM UPP! My ears!! MOM! you told me you would stop doing this! You swore on it too!” Huan jumps out of her bed, her ears still ringing. Her mother, for all her greatness is a bully, thinks the still weary 9 years old. Her eyes scrunches up from the sudden brightness out of the confines of her now gone fortress.

“Did I? I seem to remember someone saying they would be responsible for waking on their own. And that I could use it only if they did not. Now, were you awake already or not?”

“...Hmmm yyyyes?” Huan gingerly says, but the smug, unchanging smile of her mother becomes unbearable to look at.

“...No…” she gives in, looking away, only for her mother to poke her sides and giggles.

“There we go. Now go wash up your face, breakfast is already on the table.” Dan smiles as move her index with practiced ease, closing the window with her mystical energy.

“And you call me lazy” Huan rolls her eyes at her mother’s antics. After putting a fresh shirt on, she left for the kitchen, the fresh and succulent smell already making her belly growl.

"Get on my level first, and call me lazy again deary, I dare you~." The sweet and kind voice of her mother sent a chill down the young Huan's back.

“That’s all we have to do today, 38 large thunderous peacocks.” Dan says proudly, her hands on her cocked hips as she shows her daughter the result of her last hunt. In front of them were the many carcasses of the humongous bird, each larger than her already tall mother was. All of them sported steel grey feathers with blue sheen, the gold eyes on their tail feathers were off putting to the young girl.

“M-mom… that’s… that’s a lot… w-why do I feel like the eyes are looking at me?” she trembles, somehow feeling that something was amiss with those creatures, even though they were dead, they still emitted an oppressive atmosphere.

“Oh! They do? Let me take care of it then.” Dan say, her voice still as calm as before. Taking a large, deep breath, she clears her throat and opens her eyes in a flash. Her brows and face manifested her anger for, but a fraction of a second as the sound coming from her sounded more like a growl than anything humans should be able to do. The air turned crisps and rigid, suffocating everything in the room, except her little girl.

“Thanks mom… I don't know what you did, but it feels better now.” She smiles at her mom, taking her in a side hug. Dan patted her daughter's hair lovingly as she side-eyed the carcasses, the spirits still dwelling in them cowed for now.

“Good then, here, put these gloves on. These bad birds have really sharp feathers, as strange as it can seem to be, so be careful. Here let me show you first.” Dan kneels before the closest mystical peacock, one hand on the body, pushing the rest of the feather flat. After singling one of the dangerous feathers, she puts other hand around it, pinching at the large feather’s shaft, or quill as she explained to Huan.

“You need to hold the body flat with your hand, and pull with the other, to the side, and not toward you. Understood?” She demonstrated why, the entire length of the quill was extremely hard, the edge and tip appearing like a serrated blade.

“Yes mom~!” Huan cheerfully replies, quickly kneeling next to her mother as she starts. Mimicking her mom, pulling a feather out by herself, her small face turning serious as she did so.

“Like this?” She looks at Dan with a big smile, eagerly awaiting Dan's compliment.

“Yes sweetheart, good job. Do you think you can take care of this one on your own?” Dan beamed at her daughter, patting her head again, kissing her forehead.

Huan looked back at the dead creature, it was bigger than she was, than her mom as well. But she had asked to do it, to help her mother's work.

“Hmmm… yes!” she smiles with renewed enthusiasm, happy to spend more time with her, and to make her smile and be proud.

“Then go ahead, I have to open up the shop first, and then take care of the rest.” she kisses her daughter’s head again before heading out toward the front.

Just before the door to the front, she pauses, hanging there is a picture of her, her fathers and Huan's other mother. " I miss you my love. I can't believe it's already been nine years since you've left. Had you not given me that ring, I would have cursed you~." She looks at the ring on her right ring finger. A tradition from her wife, as shining amethyst adorning the silver band shows her the woman's dedication to return to her side.

"You better hurry up Mina, or your daughter will start hating you for making me cry." She chuckles, keeping a spiritual eye on her Huan'er, making sure she doesn't hurt herself.

With a tired sigh she pushes on, walking to the front and unlocking the front door, only to hear the doorbell ring as she walks back to the counter.

“Hello, and welcome to Dan’s Clothes and Beddings, how can I dress you up today?” She said the phrase she used on new customers as she didn't recognise the energy nor the figure behind her.

Yet, she didn’t expect to be greeted by a sword to the face as she turned around to greet the would-be patron. After effortlessly batting the blade away with the back of her hand, her blood ran cold, finally recognising the face of the intruder.

“Long time no see Righteous Spear Fan Dan, or is it Lu Dan now? Quite the quaint little place you found for yourself. Away from all major trading roads, yet close enough to the big cities to be able to commission merchant companies to come pick orders. Did you really think you could hide from me, after all this time? You could have been my wife, we could have united the orthodox factions, together. Yet you satisfy yourself playing a mere mortal seamstress? Why? If you so fancied such a life, I could ha-.” The sharp sound of a slap echoed through the front of the shop, the man's face now sported a large welt on his otherwise smooth pale visage.

“Shut your mouth or I will rip it from you face Yu Wei. After all this time you still don’t understand why the two of us never went farther than being fiance. Even my father refused to acknowledge you when he saw what brat you were, and somehow still are to this day. I didn’t even need to say a word myself that the engagement got broken off.” She couldn’t help but smirk, remembering how her other father, the patriarch of the Fan clan: Fan Yongzheng. Had broken the engagement after witnessing Yu Wei's behavior. Despite the following backlash that had seen her coming to live with her other father, Lu Gui. She was proud to have had her father's backing.

“And for all their wilful behavior, look where that landed them. Matters not, I will take you home with me, and mold you into what you should have always been. An obedient wife.” Yu Wei smiles at her, a smile that could freeze blood and disgust even the most vile of carrion eaters.

“MOM! I heard something loud, are you alright?” Huan's voice came from behind the door. Swift on her feet, Dan flicked her wrist, locking the door standing between the man and her daughter.

“Not now darling, keep at it, your mom needs to deal with some unruly customers first.” She smiled as she started cracking her neck, her joints popping as she rolled her shoulders.

“OK, love you.”

“To have so much faith in her mother, hah~to be so pure and naive. Tell me, who is her father, so I could rend his spine from his back and whip the rest of his unworthy flesh off of bones for daring to sully you.” He started pacing around the shop, observing each article put on display like he owned the place.

“Hah! She wouldn’t even spare you a glance before melting your face and flesh with a snap of her finger.”

“...She?” He pauses, his sight distant as he tries to wrap his mind around what he heard.

Dan used the confusion to lunge forward, a spear appearing in her hands out of thin air. Her spear, a gift of her absentee wife, brimmed with unknown energy as she sliced the very air and space between her and the man.

“Hoya boss man, that was dangerous~ You told us we could raid this place in peace, but I am afraid your hunger was too big for your mouth.” a black robed, dignified looking young man came out of Yu Wei’s shadow, deflecting the spear with much struggle. After having saved the man, the newcomer looked at his hand holding his own sword, and couldn't stop them from trembling as he let out a whistle of surprise.

“Quite the curious weapon you’ve got there Lady, perhaps we coul-.”

"Ahhg" Yu Wei's voice surged before catching in his throat, his back pierced by something cold and sharp. He looks down only to see a bloodied blade leaving back the way it came. turning to the side, he looks up with confusion and shock at the man that just helped him.

“W-why…?...”

“Breach of contract, nothing out of the ordinary, really. It is something you should be used to, isn’t it? You hid a lot of things from us, and played some of our branches one against the other. Really, such development was to be expected.” The dignified black haired man smiled, shrugging at Yu Wei’s attempt to breathe, the silent room now filled with the dying whistle from the arrogant man’s chest.

“Now lady Lu Dan, i offer you two possibilities, either you let us pillage the village and all valuables we find and nobody gets hurt. Or we fight and see who’s better.” He says, opening his arms wide in a show of good faith.

“Wait who are you! LET GHMMMMMMMMMMFFF.” Lu Dan felt her blood freezing as she heard her daughter's cry of distress.

“Fighting it is then. Damn underlings!” Clicking his tongue, he dives to the side as the woman's spear whips for his head.

“Shut up lass, we will not hurt you so you better not struggle too much. OI, you there! If she starts acting up, you can slap her. But not a single drop of blood or anything else, otherwise I will have your head, understood?" An older, graying man says to a much younger recruit, before leaving to assist the fight as the duel devolved into a wild skirmish.

“Y-Yes s–sir!” the youth in armor stutters as drags Huan away by the arm. All around them the village exploded and burst into flames as guards and raiders started fighting each other.

Huan was scared, hyperventilating when she saw her mother fighting off dozens of men and women wearing the same black garb. From the corner of her eyes she saw her friend Ning being dragged inside by his uncle Guiren, her eyes crossed with the old man for a moment, but he paled as he hurriedly looked away.

She started crying as the young man dragged her out of the village and up the hills, joining the rest of the raiders. All they saw from up there was the panicked villagers either fleeing for their lives, or fighting.

“Shit!... Seems the boss needs assistance, All team leader on me, we need to help elder Tian Wu. That woman somehow got stronger after all this time…” Loud explosion rocked through the village, as the elder in question and Lu Dan fought.

' Please come home fast grandpa... Please.' Huan started praying, her grandfather, despite being hurt and crippled was the second strongest in the village aside from her mother. But today he was visiting the nearby city to sell his wares.

Her mind was going circle, yet she couldn’t help but feel pride, as more and more of the would-be kidnappers started to panic. Some around her even started whispering about leaving everything behind and running away.

But as the fight started to lengthen and drag on, the thunder claps her mother made when she moved and fought gradually became less frequent and loud. Making the already afraid girl even more terrified.

Then she saw her mom being thrown away and landing on the hills behind the village. Many of the black hooded figures were flying after her.

Then, the world went still and silent for a moment, before a large sphere of light appeared where her mother was. And as if a second sun had descended upon the hills, large waves of heat rolled through the now desolate village burning many of the raiders to a crisp all throughout the ruin. She tried hard to look at it, her eyes sore and drying from the heat, she knew the feeling of the energy that came from there. It was her mother’s. Then, just as fast as it appeared, nothing. The energy was gone, but so were most of the raiders and intruders

“... M-mom?...” tears started to streak down her face, she couldn’t understand what just happened, but deep inside her mind, something clicked.

“S-she’s gone now… as well as all the upper brass… OK guys let’s scram, we cut our losses now!”

“What about the kid then?”

“I said we cut our losses, we sell her at the auction. Hopefully she will fetch us a pretty penny.”

It had taken weeks, changing means of transportation many times, yet they kept away from guards and search parties. Huan had nearly managed to escape a few times, which saw her being beaten up to within an inch of her life.

Yet when she woke up from the last attempt, her arms and legs cuffed with thick iron restraints, she was alone upon a sort of scene, her arms bound above her head. Then she heard people talking in low whispers and hushes, they were talking about her, their eyes cold and predatory, staring at her like she was nothing but a mere slab of meat.

Huan felt her skin crawl as the empty void she had started feeling within her chest since a few days ago intensified. She looked back at the mass of people before her, anger and hatred in her eyes, daring any of them to do something about it. Then, a loud voice resonated: " 2 first grade spirit stones."

"3 first grades!" Another echoed, She understood then, she truly was the meat at the butcher shop, a product to be bought. Yet she bites down harder, pushing her fear down as much as she could, clenching her jaw. Her eyes filling with tears and even more rage, for both the people selling her and those trying to buy her.

"10 second grade spirit stones." A shrill voice came from the back of the large and poorly light chamber. It felt to Huan like the bird carcasses had made her feel that day, only much more sinister and cold. She swallowed hard, and tried to pinpoint the voice in the darkness, only to freeze, seeing two malevolent eyes staring back at her.

All the others muted themselves, the voice and intent having cowed them as the man from behind Lu Huan started to count down.

"Three second grade spirit stones going once, twice aaaand, three times. Sold to the Madam in the far back! Please wait there for the auctions to end and a member of the staff will fetch you your items!" The emcee said as Lu Huan was wheeled off to the side, her mind clouding once more as she fell unconscious again.

When Lu Huan’s mind came to, her surroundings had changed once more. Gone was the somber auction hall, traded instead for a dark cell made of carved stone blocks, a flimsy and dirty bed roll to the side with a pot, large iron bars blocked the way out. There were no light sources other than the torches in the long corridor outside her cell.

"Wh-where am I?" Her voice was strained by her cold and thirst. It has been a long while since she remembered having properly hydrated and ate something.

"You awake lass?" An old voice came from the wall to her left, it too was strained and raspy, with a sort of whistle each time the man breathed.

"Who are you?" She started trembling as she moved up against a wall, grabbing the bed roll and wrapping it around her, trying to warm herself up as she could.

"I am your neighbor, you sound distressingly young. How old are you, lass?"

"I... I am nine years old, sir."

"Ah. My apologies, child. And don't call me sir, this place has no sirs nor ladies. Whatever they want to parade as, but never be heard saying that. I don't know how long you will last here, girl. But if you want to make it inside of the Blood Demon cult, there's a few things you need to know.

First: Forget about making it out of here, that’s probably for the best if you don’t attach yourself to that idea."