Story String of Fate

[Relias_]

Spoiler: Before you ask

No, this isn't taken from any characters/shows/Donghua that I've known, I just want to do my own take of a Wuxia styled story.

“Shen-Xiong*. Are you sure this is okay?” A youth questioned, his tone nervous. In his hand he held a basket; half full with bright orange fruit, one by one more of the fruit fell into the basket.

Spoiler: Xiong*

Xiong (兄) : brother / bro ( have various use, can be used toward your real brother, your homie, or even strangers but you have respect for them)

“What are you worrying about? I’ve done this so many times and no one ever caught me, this place is practically abandoned!” Another youth answered from above, hidden by the thick leaves of the Loquat tree he is currently on.

“But,” The youth waiting below glanced around, light summer breeze rustling the seemingly well-kept small field of Loquat trees. No matter how many times Shen-Xiong says this place is ‘abandoned’ he just couldn’t believe it. Especially when they came in here unannounced— climbing the fence, mind you!

“But- but- but what?” The youth above sighed,”Aiya, don’t be such a coward! I told you its fine so its fine! Have I ever tricked you?”

The youth below replied bluntly with; “You have, most of the time.”

The leaves of the tree he is standing under shook and faint muffled words of; ‘what most of the time, die.’

Looking down at his already full basket in his arms, the youth hastily replied; “Shen-Xiong, I think this is enough. Don’t take more.”

“Mmm, then you go ahead! I’m gonna stay here a little bit~ The breeze is nice here.” The sentence was ended with a muffled yawn.

“S-s-stay?? Shen-Xiong, what if the owner comes back?”

“You think an ordinary old man can catch up to me? Who do you think you’re talking to? I’m offended.” The youth on the tree laughed as if he had just heard a good joke. Resulting in the young man under the tree to sigh. Deciding to just give up on coaxing the other youth to come down from the tree.

“T-then I’m gonna go.”

“Mh! Go- go- go.”

Hidden in the tree and behind thick leaves and safely hidden from the summer sun’s scorching ray, the youth leaned against a sturdy branch in a lax manner, one hand behind his head for support, while his other arm laid across his stomach, feet kicked up on another branch, slender and long legs crossed on top of the other.

At a glance, even when one is standing right beneath the tree, they wouldn’t notice the sleeping youth above. His fade green set of brocade robes provides a camouflage. Long silky black hair tied into a high ponytail with a green ribbon to keep it in place slung over his chest to avoid it from dangling and shout him out, locks of stray hair framing his youthful and elegant appearance.

With the background noise of cicadas’ lulling him to sleep and the cool breeze blanketing him, his eyelids began to droop, hiding amethyst hues beneath.

When he opened his eyes again, it was due to him hearing soft footsteps in the distance. The sun had begun to set and various bright vermillion colors adorned the horizon. “Ah, my waist… oh.” The youth hissed under his breath as he sat up, covering a yawn and wiping the sleepy tear that formed in the corner of his eyes. Rubbing his waist, he mumbled under his breath. “Lucky that this place usually get a cool breeze, otherwise I would’ve gotten cooked. Tiān -a This summer is torture.”

Carefully peering from behind lush leaves, the youth scanned his surroundings and instantly zoomed toward a figure dressed in white hanfu, picking several Loquat to put inside a small basket that they were carrying in their arms. The person was wearing a straw hat so from above, he couldn’t quite see their face. “Hmmm, that kind of clothes… this person, where did he come from? From the looks of it, he looks like someone’s young master. Eh, but he couldn’t have just come here for the Loquats ba?.”

Their village isn’t big; news about another family’s arrival will spread like wildfire no matter where they come from, moreover, he will be one of the first ones to know. The others call him ‘noisy’ but he calls it ‘making friends’. But, the other nearest village is about twenty li* away, Loquat isn’t uncommon, there are plenty of them being sold on the streets. “This young master, … so slender, eh? What if this is a girl? Even his hands look fair and slender. Heh, doesn’t this just scream ‘a young master who grew up secluded from the world?’.”

Spoiler: Li*

Li is one of the ways to measure distance. 1 li is equal to 500 meters

A Loquat fell onto the ground; a surprised gasp could be heard.

“Ah—!” The youth in white whipped around upon feeling a tap on his right shoulder, tripping over his own foot during the turn and he fell butt first onto the ground.

“Wah, I only tapped you and you already fall like this, what’s the matter? Feeling guilty for coming into other people’s property without permission? You were stealing, weren’t you? Very well, I caught you red-handed, let’s go. Take your punishment!”

“W-w-wait! I—” The youth in white stuttered, pushing himself off the ground and dodging the arm that came all too quickly for him. With shaky balance, he ducked under the Loquat tree he was plucking the fruit from. He really wasn’t trying to steal! Plus he planned to leave some money for whoever the owner of this field is after he picked some Loquats! Really! “Heaven strike me down if I lie but I really wasn’t intending to steal!” He defended himself, half his small body hidden behind the tree. Palms pressed against the rough tree trunk. Why is his luck is so bad, to be accused as a thief!

Although from the other person point of view… his action could be classified as such.

But this person must be this field’s guard? He didn’t see anyone when he came in through the gate…

He could only see the other person’s black boots and pale green trousers, the rest were blocked by the brim of his hat and his lowered head. From the sound of his voice, the man sounded really scary! Dare he raises his head after noticing the sword by the other man’s side? Of course not!!! He might lose a head just by looking at the man!

“Since you say that so sincerely… I might let you go.”

“Rea—“

“You think I’m a little kid? Of course not! Now speak your name!”

The youth in white shriveled like a cabbage that was plucked out and left the summer sun. Pondering his options— who is he kidding, as if he had any other option if he doesn’t want two foot of steel to pierce him through.

Swallowing a lump in his throat, the youth in white complied.

“C..Chen Xie… Courtesy n-n-..name XiYue!”

The other man seems pleased, but then he scoffed. “Now at least your grave won’t be unmarked.”

XiYue’s whole body froze, his heart dropped to his stomach, cold dread draped over him, even the heat of the summer was completely blocked out. “H..huh?” He replied dumbly, black dots swimming in his vision.

The youth in white wavered, complexion pale.

“Oi—!” Called the other man in surprise and quickly stepping in and closing their distance, catching XiYue in mid-fall. The straw hat was knocked over, at the same time letting long odd white colored hair spill out and startling him.

[Ch 2 Coming soon]

 

[Relias_]

Chapter 2: Tricked

“Oi, you, don’t think you can act your way out of this.” The other youth shook him, but Chen XiYue’s eyes were already closed. He blindly reached for the youth in white’s wrist to check his pulse and make sure he didn’t scare the poor boy to death.

To his horror, his fingers were met with some sort of sticky liquid, withdrawing his hand to inspect it. He found it to be blood, now staining Chen XiYue’s left sleeve from his wrist and also his own fingers. “What the hell?”

“Ahh…” He exhaled loudly. “Shen Yuan, now you’ve done it. To think the day you’d literally scare someone to death will finally come.” He gathered the small boy in his arms, unsure what to do next. At first he only wanted to scare him a little, who know he’d faint!

Qing Xing tsk’ed before pulling out a handkerchief and wiping the blood off Chen XiYue’s wrist to inspect his wounds, but to his surprise… there is no wound. ‘Am I getting heatstroke, or this person is getting heatstroke? Eh wait, wait, wait, this really is blood. How come there’s no wound? I've not injured myself, did I??’

He looked down at Chen XiYue, confusion laced with his expression. Amethyst hues narrowing. He didn’t quite notice it before, however, now that they’re this close, he could see bandages around Chen XiYue’s forehead although it was a little thin, just like straps of overly thin silk, upon an even closer inspection but not necessarily always have to be close, he noticed Chen XiYue had an elegant boy-ish face, jade-like skin… and that calling him a ‘man’ doesn’t fit. Not with his small and short figure.

While Qing Xing has a pretty good physique, standing at 188’cm, he towered Chen XiYue by over a foot.

“This Chen XiYue. Seems quite weird. But more importantly where did that blood came from? Tsk. Ah, whatever, get him somewhere safe first.”

~
​

Qing Xing, under the alias ‘Shen Yuan’ lives in a remote area surrounded among mountains, lakes and waterfalls near the edge of ZuLi village. Naturally, he lives alone in a small house that he builds above lake decorated of Lotuses.

The sun had long set, stars now adorn the night summer sky. Fireflies dancing above water and resting on blooming lotus flowers and the glowing of them reflected on the ripples of water. A figure carrying a white lump in his arms dove down from the sky, with an elegant slip of his feet and the bend of his knees. The figure jumped down from his flying sword and onto the bridge beneath.

With a swift kick of the door, Qing Xing entered his house, the bundle of white still in his arms and heading straight toward his inner room. Sending a wave of spiritual energy, the few candles within the room began to lit up.

The small bundle of the unbelievable color of snow in his arms was soon placed gently onto his bed, tossing Chen XiYue’s conical hat onto one of his tables— one that was not occupied with a mass bundle of papers that holds amazingly different paintings yet stacked ever so carelessly.

~​

Eyelids fluttered open and fade colored silver hues could be seen underneath. They blinked, once, twice…

A sharp intake of breath and a figure in white shot up in the bed. Eyes wide and slightly dazed.

A breeze sweeps into the room from the windows, most noticeably the one near the bed he is in. Sunlight glimmer against rippling water, dragonflies and multi-colored butterflies flying above the water, playing in a sea of lotus flowers. In the background, there was an endless dark blue of mountains. Chen XiYue blinked once more, hooked on the view.

A figure came into the room, unnoticed and now leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, amethyst hues scanning the now awake figure sitting on the bed. Pure white, is what he could only describe the boy —boy— because his face is nowhere to be classified as an adult, his robe, white, smooth jade-like skin as if he had never gone out for more than a few hours in his life, scrawny but not necessarily looking malnourished or unhealthy, long odd-colored white hair that would reach just past his waist if he stood up… is this boy even human?

Mentioned boy suddenly snapped back into reality with a panicked gasp.

Chen XiYue remember threats, fade green trousers, black boots, and a sword— “Am I dead?” He breathed out, looking at his hands in a panic, then splayed said hands over his chest— realizing that he was only wearing his inner robe, he panicked even more.

White spun, falls off the bed ever so ungracefully, for his legs had been tangled on the quilt, white groaned and black approaches.

Chen XiYue blinked, heart-stopping the moment he saw black boots in front of him. Swallowing a lump in his throat, he traces his pale gaze up. White trousers— fade green brocade robes—(oh no) and a sword… a particularly red scabbard.

Chen XiYue did not even bother to finish looking up, the sight of the familiar sword was more than enough to make him fall back on his ass upon trying to push himself off the floor and curl away against the side of the bed on the floor. Like a shrimp or an infant.

What would become of him? A slave? Would he be chained up— again?

“Are you really that scared?” Asked the man in black robes. Chen XiYue could not answer. Lips pressed into a thin line, eyes closing shut, it seemed he was prepared to die.

A sigh.

With the little bit of courage he had left, Chen XiYue opened an eye, just in time to see the person in black squat down and reach out to him, fingers closing in on his chin— in a moment of panic—

“Listen here, you brat. I wa—“

—Chen XiYue swatted the man’s hand away just before it touches him, slender and thin fingers were met with a sturdier material of the man’s metallic colored vambrace, his fingers sting.

Silence.

Dread silence.

A sigh, “Would you look at me for a bit? I won’t kill you.”

Seems awfully suspicious for someone who wanted to kill him earlier,… wait no, earlier? The sun was setting was it not? But now it looked like it’s in the morning—afternoon?

Is this the afterlife or not????!

“Dork, obviously you are not dead yet. Now get up from the floor, you look like a lump of snow quilt with that white hair and all.”

Hair?

…oh no(again)

“Um…” Chen XiYue blinked warily. Still not looking at the man. “A-Are you…not going to hurt me?”

“I wasn’t even planning to, you’re just awfully too stupid.”

Said ‘stupid’ should have felt offended.

Slowly, Chen XiYue pry the tangled quilt off of him, how odd, it was summer, so this person should have used a thinner blanket, or none at all… A strong hand grasped onto the front collar of his inner robe. Chen XiYue panicked as he was effortlessly lifted off the cold floor and plopped back down on his ass on the bed.

It was only then that he finally lift his head up to see who the man was:…he froze, limbs losing strength and air knocked out of him.

There, looking back at him, the man who threatened to kill him— had such a handsome face!!!

If this was how the soultaker looked like, he’d gladly die.

An eyebrow was raised upon seeing the boy’s speechlessness. “What, did you got charmed?”

‘Got charmed’ wants to slap the charmer’s face because something tells him that he had just gotten played!!! All timidness forgotten, Chen XiYue puffed his cheeks, glaring at the man.

“Pifft— bhahaha!! You call that glaring???!! Not my fault you’re so damn easy to be tricked!” Qing Xing laughed, backing away and wrapping his arms around his stomach.