Xu Lin generously walked down the path as he waited for the Kandarian guards to pass him by

  It wasn’t that the walk took long or anything, it was more like he didn’t want to go home because of how he felt about seeing the man who was taking care of him

  even though he respected brother David his heart would still fill up with dread because of how angry that man would sometimes become for no apparent reason at all but that was why he had come

  and now he was going home and the man had taken the chance to go somewhere he could see more of the stars.

  He sighed as he thought about how much his life sucked these days.

  It wasn’t even that big brother David was cruel or something like that.

  He actually seemed like a decent person overall despite his attitude towards him at times it was just, that the man was erratic

  one moment he would be smiling and talking happily the next he would be so angry his displeasure would radiate out of his pores like fire

  He really didn’t understand why his big brother's attitude always annoyed him

  He couldn’t remember any time when he ever did something bad for Big brother David or anyone else.

  Well maybe there was that time he had accidentally broken the glass of his mother's mirror but that shouldn't affect big brother David he wasn't even there when that happened

  and the eyes, the eyes always scared Xu lin

  for one there was no eyeball in the man eyes and he always stared right at you as if he could see the very soul of Xu Lin

  revealing all of Xu lin's hidden truths and secrets to the man

  Brother David was terrifying

  because even though he could look innocent and calm he could be deadly when he wanted too

  to that Xu Lin could attest to

  and the hair? oh, the hair!

  that man had hair so black so silky smooth that he never had a doubt that the man must have been born with long hair, and when the sun came through that man's hair would reflect beautifully the light of the sun making his hair look like it was glowing and made the man shine in the darkening sky

  he shuddered at the thought of it

  he didn't like to think of that man's face

  his beautiful face was filled with anger, hatred and hurt whenever their gaze met

  his skin was pale and flawless that at times Xu lin thought the man was a woman

  Xu Lin let go of his breath as the guards finally crossed

  he looked up at the night sky

  Stars twinkled amidst the inky vastness, handfuls of glittering sand thrown across the darkness of infinity.

  suddenly a cold wind blew across his face

  unlike the days the nights in the mines were extremely cold

  but Xu Lin was untouched by the cold as his body enlivened an uncanny warm heat keep in him warm

  as he rustled forward dragging his every step

  even though he disliked going back to big brother David's gaze but he hated going back to an empty cave even more

  then the disheartening presence of big brother David

  the silence was suffocating as he neared the caves

  it had been almost two months since he had been gone

  Xu Lin frowned with concern heavily weighing on his mind

  if a big brother had told someone before going away it would not have risen so much concern as it had now

  even the three pretty ladies had come after Xu lin asking if knew where big brother David was

  and right after that, the mines atmosphere had changed drastically

  Xu Lin wasn't sure what had caused the actual change but he had begun to notice the small changes that were happening all across the mines

  Recently, especially within the last couple of months, the whippings had been more frequent.

  From the rumours he’d heard, Xu Lin's captors were preparing for war.

  Xu Lin was all too familiar with the horrors of war and he wasn't too keen to experience it again

  so, for the first time in nearly ten months since being taken from his family to live in the mines, Xu Lin once again dreaded tomorrow's sun as no one was sure what that sun would be with it

  but that was not all

  the quotas for the ore, sand and mud were increased to an insane amount of levels of production

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  that had caused a frenzy among the workers

  people disappearing in the mines was a regular accurate now he had even heard a practitioner war had broken out in the cavern

  people were acting crazy to fill their quota

  he had seen first hand the madness this increased Quota was causing

  only yesterday as he was working in the mine a woman had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and flashed a sharp dagger at him

  " Give me everything in your basket, and we will forget we ever met" she had said

  Xu Lin had seen the desperation in her eyes as he handed his basket over even though he could easily handle the woman he wasn't keen to

  test his luck with

  the people in the mines weren't the most patient people

  their patience had been tested often enough in the past few months that they had lost the trust and respect that some had gained during the years they had spent living there.

  That day had been different though

  he saw the fear in the woman' eyes even as she brandished her knife and asked him to do anything she wanted

  " Just...just give me whatever you have" the woman pleaded to look around as she spoke

  Xu Lin shook his head as he replied

  " I don't have anything else"

  "you lie" she shrieked as she charged him

  xu Lin vaguely remembered seeing the woman around and thought her name was one of those weird names similar to big brother David

  as the woman closed in he activated his oceanic tide technique allowing him to move like the flow of water as he easily disagreed with the woman by breaking her wrist and throwing her onto the ground with ease

  The woman quickly picked herself up before running away screaming

  as he watched her go he felt relieved not having to kill the woman

  Xu Lin hourly missed his fried Xiao Shi and even found himself wishing big brother David would come back soon

  the people were beginning to break under the pressure and soon chaos will

  spread like wildfire

  fueled by the whims and beliefs of broken people

  ...............................................

  "Get Up"

  a scream jolted me from the deep sleep I'd been in

  I jerked awake instantly feeling a hot burning pain on my chest

  I slowly sat up rubbing my temples whining the headache to go away

  as I looked down to see what was going on

  the room was always bright with the white light

  and I found silver sitting in my chest staring at me intently with his big brown eyes with a look of impatience plastered on his face

  " come on child we don't have any more time to waste"

  I looked confused at the child

  " what is going on?" I asked him

  "We are running out of time child now get moving now"

  I groggily began to move as I got out of the white bed and for the first time since I got here I stood up on my two feet

  the floor was cold as I took a shaky step

  I winced from the pain shooting through my foot

  and as I took another step, the other foot followed suit

  As I continued, I could feel my legs shaking

  it hadn't stopped since I've gotten into bed

  my arms shook violently but somehow I managed to stay upright with my weight

  "Are you alright child?"

  I nodded

  silver grabbed my hand and began leading me

  "come on we don't have time child"

  I tried to ask "don't have time for what?"

  but soon the room began moving as if we were travelling at breakneck speed

  the painting around me began passing me as if was sitting in a spreading car

  I felt sick with sudden vertigo, reminded all too well of the time I had divided for the very first time

  as I moved forward the white world around me melted as a white brigade made of light materialised in front of me

  I was started as my cry of surprise turned to a gasp of wonder

  as I felt himself being buoyed up by a shimmering current of power, even as I felt my weight that had seemed to double.

  I swallowed, feeling an odd sort of weariness, but even then I continued to move forward led by silver

  Feeling an intense flood of relief when that buoyant wave of flexibility hardened into a road of shimmering ivory, as solid as

  marble, and with its own unique charm

  we travelled faster and faster

  As we travelled the space around us seemed to twist in on itself and twist until I couldn't tell where we were going

  I looked behind and to my left, and my heart almost stopped

  as I stared in horror at the endless sea of white space in front of us.

  I felt sacred said I was seeing the edge of the world's end

  "Get ready child we are almost there"

  silver shouted at me

  I then noticed that

  in the distance ahead of us, was a huge dark hole

  the hole was surrounded by thick black clouds

  "It's the place where we're going?" I breathed

  Silver gave me an odd look

  "Of course it's the place child

  now come along we don't want to miss our stop"

  I gasped in awe

  " Come child we don't have any more time!" he said sharply

  He then pulled me closer towards the enormous hole

  my stomach twisted into knots as I stated into the dark abyss as stood on the eyes of the bridge

  "I’m doing this for your own good, boy, so hold onto me as if your life depended on it "

  was all I heard as the child jumped into the shimmering void dragging me along with him

  I gasped and cried out as a surprisingly powerful arm clenched me by my waist and pulled me

  For an endless, terrible moment I was at the apex of our leap,

  everything utterly still and peaceful, a frozen slice of time.

  And then they began to fall.

  my stomach shot up my throat as I screamed,

  recalling in that instant why I absolutely hated roller coasters, and that was when I was safely strapped into the damn ride.

  Not falling hundreds of feet through the air with no parachute, to what I was certain would either be a very quick death or an agonizingly slow one.

  fuck my life

  I could think of nothing else but videos of young skaters screaming as limbs shattered and bones burst from their flesh when stunts failed spectacularly. And the ground was coming in faster than a tidal wave.

  I inhaled and prepared for impact…

  Then blinding pain and blackness.

  my body ached with pain and stiffness my vision was pitch black

  I tried to move but my whole body refused to work

  only gaining an intense pain for my effort

  I tried to activate my vision technique before a hand suddenly gripped my hands and legs

  I struggled against the grip on my waist as the grip tightened further.

  "What is happening?" I demanded

  the grip on my waist loosened for a brief moment

  I gasped for air and choked on the tears streaming down my cheeks as I gasped for breath desperately

  something or someone made it so much harder to breathe

  "Don't struggle or move the child," I heard the familiar voice of silver

  but the hands gripping me were not that of a child

  they were I soon realised I couldn't feel what they were like I couldn't feel anything from my neck below

  my shoulder blade.

  A piercing stab of fear cut across my chest

  the force of my struggle weakened

  I was losing consciousness

  I felt losing the sense of the grip on my limbs as I completely lost the sense that they were even there

  there was only darkness surrounding me

  I could hear myself breathing raggedly, wheezing from the exertion I could feel my lungs burning in agony

  I felt myself move as if the ground beneath was moving

  as fast as it did while I floated in limbo, unable to control my movements

  My chest hurt

  My lungs hurt

  My ribs hurt

  My heart hurt

  I didn't know how long I floated in the dark

  it could have been minutes, hours, days, weeks, years, or just seconds

  I let out a scream of pure terror