Chapter Text
The first light he saw, peeking above the corpses of the slain, was bittersweet. The fog of war had lifted but all he could foresee was more death.
“Ye Xiu..”
The Master Tactician, greatest of the four, fallen. Disgraceful.
“Ye Xiu, listen to me.. This isn’t your fault. No one could have predicted that they would turn on us like this. Even for them, this is.. too cruel.”
His eyes flitted over to Su Mu Cheng, then away. He’d already failed her once. Now, again. He reached a hand towards her and pulled her away from the debris around them that they hid in previously. Brushed away some dirt, some dust— there. Wryly, he said: “Come.”
After a slight hesitation, Mu Cheng hurried after him, worry furrowing her brows. Ye Xiu was clamming up again.
Behind them, the silence stirred. Their actions today would not be forgotten.
- x -
“How did you fail to retrieve the cores?! Ye Xiu, it was only one task, one! Don’t get so carried away and start pulling your weight around here!”
The belligerence grated at his ears; his heart, a slight pang despite his cold uncaring outlook. Years of friendship whittled down into resentment. A thorn that he can never truly remove.
“Tao Xuan, I have told you time and time again. I will not kill innocents. I will not rip their cores out from their living bodies.” He eyed the other, and his slowly clenching fist. Looks like there’s really no other way out. He steeled himself, and said, “Not even if we’ll have to sink together with them.”
Papers, yellowed at the edges, forcibly flew towards him— scattered in the air, slowly drifting downwards— a contrasting image of serenity. Tao Xuan was red with fury, black smoke slowly rising from behind him. But Ye Xiu knows, oh he knows, that Tao Xuan would never be able to summon any daemon, not ever. It had always been their point of contention throughout their years, a point of soreness that Tao Xuan harbored over defensively, All of a sudden— there was stillness and calm.
“Ye Xiu, thank you for the years of service towards Excellent Era. You were truly a senior that paved the way for the lowly us to survive.” A half-sneer cracked at his serene visage. “But now, your time has run out. The democratic vote a few days ago in your absence has decided that your need for resources outweighs the greater good for all.”
Ye Xiu closed his eyes. As expected. Tao Xuan has always been decisive. Never to the point of recklessness, the man was too shrewd for that, but not even sentimentality can change his mind now. He’s outlived his usefulness now, after all. He had always known the others disliked him, but to go this far..
“What are you smirking at?”
“Oh, nothing. Just thinking of the good old times. And why I had chosen you, and you me. I guess we part here, in spite of it. Or should I say, because of it?”
Tao Xuan’s expression turned indiscernible. “Ye Xiu, thank you for saving my life, back then. But I have repaid you, you and Mu Qiu—“
“Don’t.”
He breathed in.
And out. “Alright. You have 2 days. Collect your things, and exchange your communal points for some equipment for the road. Listen, though you have to go, at least here, let me give you a fighting chance out there. For old times sake.”
The Master Tactician smiled. No more words were spoken, but both persons in the room knew, once Ye Xiu has stepped outside of the protective zone, he would be fresh meat for the corpses.
- x -
“Mu Cheng, go to the hidden alcove I showed you a few months ago and equip yourself with my accumulated gear. I.. have to go. And you’re not allowed to come after me. I made Tao Xuan promise to barricade the gates against you. Your powers have always been adaptable, and I would feel better knowing you were behind walls when shooting at the corpses anyways. Ah.. I’m being long-winded. Anyways, Mu Cheng, take care of yourself. I can’t be here to protect you anymore, I’m sorry. Forgive me.”
Tears welled up in her eyes, but even then, she could still discern from a hastily smudged line at the bottom, the words of care and hope that Ye Xiu so uncharacteristically left behind. “Mu Cheng, Ge will always love you. Once in a while, maybe you can contact me with Little Rain, if you’re bored.”
A sob escaped her pursued lips. Then another, another. In her room, extravagant by this apocalyptic world’s standard, she sits alone.
Then, as if lit by hellfire itself, she sprang out of her threaded mattress. She has a brother to save.
- x -
Gathering all the equipment for minimal survival was not a difficult ordeal at all. Ye Xiu had always been on the cautious side— paranoia peaking every time corpses came close to breaching the defenses at Excellent Era. The politics in Excellent Era was not new to him— he squirreled away what little he had after giving out the portions of loot to Mu Cheng and the base.
The defense of an outpost was never meant to be a one-man job; no matter how powerful One Autumn Leaf was, his one daemon cannot clear out waves of corpses endlessly. With the state of politics in Excellent Era, Ye Xiu did not want to pursue the matter. But now— hopefully, once he was gone, they will stop the sabotage and defend more readily. It is not as if Excellent Era did not have the capacity. One thing that Tao Xuan did get right— Excellent Era did not need Ye Xiu. They are more than enough to keep the outpost and their base functioning well and adequately equipped. No matter how much improvement Ye Xiu could bring, if there was no cohesive teamwork in the outpost with him in it, then it would be better that he left. And now that he’d given his contract over One Autumn Leaf away to that little upstart—Ye Xiu quirked his lips—at least Excellent Era would stand and not be left in ruins.
Surely, Sun Xiang will be able to keep them on track.
Speaking of which…
“Ye Xiu, where will you go?”
Huh, unexpectedly solemn. “Now, now— are you worried about me, Little Xiang?”
Silence. A beat, then another.
“I may think you’re old and decrepit and past your prime, but I don’t have a death wish for you. Why not stay awhile, and take a few years to summon another daemon?”
“That’ll take too long now. To summon a daemon, and even synchronize with it— I’m afraid Tao Xuan will not have that sort of patience with me. Nor the rest of Excellent Era. You’re new here, recently travelled from another base, but you should know this. Politics in a base decide it’s security. Not power.”
“Huh! Power decides power. Even if little wannabe small fries were to try anything funny, I’ll crush them. The fact that you can’t shows that you’re slipping.”
Despite his harsh words however, Sun Xiang bundled up a small cloth— pale and unseeming in his hands— and thrust it towards Ye Xiu.
“Take this. A few recovery potions for your way. I recommend traveling to L city, it’s the closest and the roads had been recently swept clean by Blue Rain.” He shifted uncomfortably. “Listen, even without a daemon, your spells.. you can manage, right?”
Ye Xiu looked on amusedly. Any more than this and Sun Xiang’s cheeks might burst from being too hot. He accepted the potions graciously and ruffled Sun Xiang’s hair playfully before he could duck out of the way.
“It was nice to meet you Sun Xiang. Take care of everyone and One Autumn Leaf for me."
Ignoring Sun Xiang’s indignant yelp, he stepped away. Without a second look back, he called for the gates to be unbarred, stepped past the threshold, and began his journey. Although Sun Xiang’s advice was sound, Ye Xiu could not take it. He thought back to the earlier events out in the wild and knew that it was not over.
In the horizons beyond, a hoarse cry sounded out.
He fingered his dagger, old and almost ornamental in its design, but frighteningly well-kept. The sharpness of steel remains despite years of unuse. With determination, Ye Xiu headed towards the cry. Better to retrain his body to handle a dagger than a spear now; he'd rather not have to test his reflexes with it for the first time against them.