Across the border, hundreds of miles from the capital of Agrium, in the Forested Summits:

  Within the Illuminant Peak, YeFeng awoke.

  Before him lay a cave, empty aside from the glowing pool in the middle that lit up the cave.

  He stood, looking around him at the cave. Nothing revealed itself to his eyes, so he turned, looking within the pool. He saw his reflection staring back at him. He was young, no more than ten years old, with pure white hair. Being a child like he knew a ten-year-old was supposed to be was foreign to him, but his body didn't feel entirely wrong either.

  He turned, and saw a tunnel leading upward, out of the chamber. Stepping to the tunnel, he noticed slumped figures by the walls. He began walking up the tunnel, and took a closer look at the figures.

  He noticed that the figures were bodies, killed by stabs and cuts in precise spots. Whoever had done this was good at their job, and was dangerous.

  YeFeng reached to his belt, drawing two knives, watching for anything off, to the point that an ordinary person would call it paranoia.

  He saw light ahead, signaling the exit of the cave, as he kept his watch.

  As he reached the entrance to the cave, and his eyes adjusted to the sunlight, his mouth fell open slightly in astonishment.

  Immense trees blanketed the mountainside, with even greater ones in the valleys below. Such trees should not, simply could not exist. His mind refused to accept it, at first. The scale was beyond anything he believed to exist beyond the mountains themselves.

  YeFeng walked down the mountainside, forgetting his watchfulness in his awe. The largest of the trees were easily hundreds of feet tall, and tens of feet wide. A single tree's wood could build an entire town.

  He almost missed a path in his awe. He looked down at it, as the rustle of grass ceased, and realized that he was holding knives at the ready. He began watching with renewed vigilance, following the path, but within the tree line, at a distance, so as to circumvent any threats on the path itself.

  He didn't encounter anything of note until he came to a ruined village, overgrown by fauna so completely that it looked to be at least hundreds of years old.

  He examined the houses, seeing if anything was left within.

  As he entered a house on the far side of the village, he searched, not finding anything until his foot hit a specific section of the floor. The sound it produced was off, more full and loud than the sound YeFeng heard when he stepped on the packed earth.

  He brushed at the centuries of dust and dirt, and discovered a wooden trapdoor, darkened and cracked with age. It didn't open properly, so YeFeng stomped at it until it broke open.

  Dropping into the room, he sneezed as dust billowed upwards. The room was empty save for a single chair and a table, and a fallen ladder at the side.

  Upon the table rested a single book, old, with yellowed pages and cracked leather.

  He carefully opened it to the first page. It looked to be a journal. Flipping through, there seemed to be little importance in it until he reached the last page.

  It read: "I am sorry, children. I am certain that they know of my involvement in your escape. I will not be here when you return. Good luck in all of your future endeavours."

  YeFeng searched the book, looking for context, but he wasn't able to infer what happened from the pages or who the journal writer was addressing with his melancholy last entry.

  As he turned to leave, holding the book, he heard voices outside. He set the book back onto the table, and huddled down near the corner of the room, listening.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  "Someone's been here!" A man yelled.

  "Search the village! Find out where they are, or at least where they went!" Someone said, and YeFeng heard several pairs of footfalls searching for him.

  He watched the entrance to the underground room, on edge.

  A person eventually entered the house above him, and noticed the broken trapdoor. He shouted out to the others, and the people gathered, before they began falling into the room.

  YeFeng was left facing six armed men, each dressed in assorted black clothing.

  "It's just a child, sir." One man, a light haired man with a strange blackened sword said. The sword was unique in that the hilt ended in a protrusion of bone, rather than having a pommel.

  YeFeng realized that the sword's ornamental qualities were hardly of importance, and focused again on the armed men.

  The others all looked to one man, dark haired, with a scar along his nose, who contemplated.

  "I can see that." He thought more, then shook his head. "It's too dangerous. He knows too much, not even considering the possibility that he could be one of them." He said, the last word envenomed with hatred. "Get rid of him."

  The others nodded, then two stepped forward to try to grab YeFeng.

  YeFeng dodged, drawing a knife and stabbing a man through the chest. The rest cried out in shock, seeing one of their member dispatched so easily, and by a child, nonetheless.

  The other man who was already upon YeFeng sliced sideways, but YeFeng blocked the strike and went for his throat with his other knife, which he had drawn a moment ago.

  As the second man fell, the other four were already rushing forward to kill YeFeng. YeFeng raised his hands, and salt, ripped from the soil and rock, formed bands of salt that tripped and slowed all assailants but the closest.

  That one stumbled, surprised as he watched his allies fall behind him, fear suffusing his features as he realized he faced the murderous child alone.

  The knife did its work, extinguishing that fear only a moment later, and the bands of salt melted into streams of rustling salt that stopped near YeFeng, orbiting around his body like rings around a celestial object.

  The last three moved with more care and purpose, as the leader spoke angrily.

  "You are one of them! Worthless, pathetic scourge! You mutilate the beauty of life with your false life!"

  YeFeng ignored him, and stabbed at the man on his right. The leader managed to block the strike against his ally, though, surprisingly, and his hand drew backward. Suddenly it hurtled backwards, momentum beginning abruptly. It knocked the knife backwards, out of YeFeng's hands, where it collided with the wall.

  YeFeng retreated backwards, picking up the knife, and found himself standing back towards the wall.

  The leader of the group smiled, and took the opportunity to draw his leg back. It shot towards YeFeng, the child only barely blocking the kick from striking and severely damaging his ribs.

  The other two men ran forward, slashing in tandem at Yefeng.

  He blocked one with a wall of salt, and kicked the other away.

  He jumped forward, striking at the leader, but the leader aimed a hand sideways, and it moved incredibly fast back towards his center, deflecting it.

  Hm. YeFeng thought. I think I understand now.

  The other two assailants attacked, but YeFeng paid them little attention. He blocked carefully, acting as if he was desperate, carelessly letting the knives be knocked from his hands.

  Then the leader began to approach, and YeFeng ensured to leave an obvious opening.

  Once the leader drew back his fist again, YeFeng held out an arm, carefully using his other, hidden hand, to manipulate a pile of salt.

  The leader's fist rushed forward, as the salt touched the knife, and threw it forward.

  The leader's fist made contact...

  With the point of YeFeng's knife, that he had caught as it flew through the air towards his arm.

  The knife stabbed through the leader's skin, embedding itself in his hand. He drew back immediately, falling on his side, cradling his hand, screaming.

  YeFeng grabbed his other knife, and easily dispatched the other two, one with a knife to the temple and the other with a spike of salt below, as he tripped over his newly slain ally's body.

  YeFeng kneeled at the leader's shaking form.

  "Why did you try to kill me?" He spoke softly.

  "Damn you bastards." The leader coughed, throat raw. "I won't... tell you anything. You pollute the world with your-" His voice devolved into more coughing, until blood spots left his mouth along with the spittle he couldn't care to control. "Unnatural lives. Worthless... scum. I always thought I'd die to one of you Reborn. Just didn't think-" He again began to cough. "It would be a child."

  YeFeng halted for a moment, then lifted the loose knife, and ended the leader of his assailants, the last of the ones here who wanted him dead. Knowing what he thought about himself, he wouldn't be surprised, though, if other people also desired his death.

  YeFeng sat silently for a period of time that he couldn't estimate, before he cleaned the blades on the leader's clothing, then sheathed them.

  He grabbed the book, and left the grisly scene behind.

  When he exited, he walked until he found a stream. He washed his clothing, and moved to wash his face as well, but hesitated.

  He decided not to, because of a feeling he couldn't quite understand. The most he could explain to himself was a feeling of the sunrise bringing a new day, and with that a cleansing of the bloody deeds of before. He left the blood on his skin for that, cleaning his clothing and equipment thoroughly.

  Not fully understanding why he, a child, was an accomplished killer, with strange instincts, and even stranger views, he walked away from the ruined village.

  Thank you for reading.