Chapter 176: The Arrow and The General
Months passed in a blur of filth, hunger, and silent endurance. The days bled into nights, and the nights into days, each one a repetition of the last, marked only by the meager rations and the brutal, casual cruelty of the Borisin guards.
Then, one night, the oppressive darkness of the slave pen was shattered.
A brilliant, golden arrow of pure light tore across the black void of space, a silent, beautiful omen of annihilation visible even through the cell's grimy viewport.
In the cot below yours, Saran suddenly gasped, her body trembling. She scrambled up from her thin mattress, shaking you awake with a desperate strength. "Orion! Orion, wake up! Look!"
You were already awake. You had felt the shift in the station's vibration, the subtle change in the air pressure. You followed her pointing finger.
"A shooting star!" she whispered, her voice raw with a sudden, painful hope. "It's a shooting star... they say it grants wishes!"
You stared at the fading golden streak. Your mind, cold and analytical, knew better. That was no meteor. That was power. That was judgment.
"No," you thought silently, your eight-year-old mind already too old. "That's not a shooting star."
"I smell freedom, Orion," Saran said, her voice now giddy with excitement. "It's a sign! We have to escape. We have to escape tonight!"
You looked at the golden light, and a premonition, cold and sharp, settled in your heart. She was right. Not because of a wish, but because of what that arrow represented.
An end. And a beginning. Something truly immense was about to happen.
Later that night, the station was in chaos. Distant explosions echoed, and the howls of the Borisin were laced with a new sound: panic. The "shooting star" was having its effect.
"It's time," you whispered.
You moved to the heavy-grade alloy lock of your cell. Saran watched, bewildered, holding a shiv she'd made from a scrap of metal. "How are we getting out? That's a triple-phase lock..."
You didn't answer. You simply opened your eyes.
To you, the lock wasn't a solid object. It was a fragile construct, riddled with cracks. The 'lines' of its death. You didn't even have a proper knife. You took the rusted, broken piece of metal you'd hidden in your boot.
You pressed the shard against the most prominent black line on the lock's mechanism.
Click.
It wasn't a sound of cutting. It was the sound of a concept ending. The lock fell apart, its internal tumblers and bolts clattering to the floor like dead insects.
"How... how did you do that...?" Saran's eyes widened in pure shock.
"No time to explain. Let's go." You kicked the door open.
You found Jiang Li and Neergul in the next cell. As per the plan you'd drilled into them, they acted. Jiang Li, with a strength belying her size, shoved a heavy cargo container, while Neergul, trembling, triggered a fire suppression system. Alarms blared, foam sprayed, and chaos erupted.
You and Saran moved like shadows, dealing with the few guards who responded. But the wider commotion quickly attracted a patrol of Borisin warriors.
"There they are! The slave pups are escaping!"
The four of you ran wildly down the metal corridors, the howls of your pursuers echoing behind you. But you were just children. Your short legs couldn't outrun the lupine warriors. You were soon cornered in a dead-end maintenance bay.
Jiang Li didn't cry. She just grabbed the trembling Neergul, hugging him tightly. She looked at you, her rose-colored eyes filled with a desperate, heartbreaking resolve.
"Brother, run!" she shouted, shoving you towards a small ventilation shaft. "Take Sister Saran with you! Don't worry about us! Go! Go to the shooting star!"
You stopped. You looked at the dozen Borisin warriors closing in, their claws bared. You looked back at your sister, ready to die for you.
You walked in front of her, shielding her and Neergul with your small body.
"I told you," you said, your voice quiet, yet resonating with an ancient cold. The world around you began to slow. The color drained, replaced by a monochrome etching. "No one... can touch my sister."
Your golden eyes bled into an abyss, the black lines of death spreading across your vision like a spider's web. They were on the guards, on their armor, on their claws, on the very air they breathed.
[Mystic Eyes of Death Perception—Full Power!]
You charged. The broken blade in your hand became the Grim Reaper's scythe.
A warrior swung his claw. You didn't dodge. You simply traced a line on his arm. His arm, claw, armor, and all, separated cleanly from his body. He stared in shock before you cut the line on his neck.
You were a phantom of death. The Borisin's weapons, their armor, their very bodies—they weren't cut, they were ended. They disintegrated like rotten wood, turning to ash and dust. It wasn't a fight. It was an execution.
In the blink of an eye, the corridor was silent, filled only with the smell of ozone and the fine dust of the dozen warriors who had ceased to exist.
"Bro... brother..." Jiang Li's voice was a small, awestruck whisper. She pounced over, hugging you tightly. "Brother is so amazing!"
A sharp pain shot through your temples. Overuse. You rubbed your throbbing head, the world's colors slowly bleeding back in. "I'll explain later," you grunted, your voice strained. "Let's escape first."
The four of you ran, not towards an exit, but towards the golden light. The station was coming apart, the "shooting star" having transformed into a rain of countless arrows of light, striking the Borisin fleet and the station itself.
Just as you reached a breached hangar, a figure descended from the sky, landing softly amidst the chaos. The golden light of The Hunt seemed to cling to her like a cloak. She was a tall Foxian woman, clad in the intricate, flowing armor of a Cloud Knight General.
"Don't be afraid," she said. Her voice was gentle, yet held the unshakable authority of a commander. "I am here to save you."
"You are...?" Saran stepped back, pulling Neergul behind her, her eyes wary.
"I am General Yueyu, of the Xianzhou Yaoqing." She looked at the four disheveled, blood-and-grime-covered children, and her eyes, sharp as a hawk's, softened with pity. "The place you fled... it has already been destroyed by the Emperor Bow's arrows of light."
[Inorin's Note: The Xianzhou Yaoqing is one of the six flagships of the Xianzhou Alliance. General Yueyu is an original character for this fanfiction.]
"Emperor Bow?" you asked, your voice hoarse.
"The arrows of The Hunt," Yueyu explained patiently. "They are shot to cleanse places that have fallen into despair and abomination, like this Borisin slave station. It is a judgment, and a mercy."
Her gaze swept over you, lingering. "Your ability to escape such a place shows your strength. Especially you two—" Her eyes fell on you and Saran. "You are war slaves, aren't you?"
Saran flinched, instinctively touching the crude slave mark tattooed on her neck. "How did you know...?"
"The marks on your necks. And the old scars on your bodies," Yueyu said, her voice laced with a cold anger not directed at you. "And especially... you." She looked directly at you. "Those Borisin pursuers... you killed them, didn't you?"
You met her gaze. "Yes... it was me."
Yueyu nodded slowly, thoughtfully. "Where are your families?"
Jiang Li's eyes, which had been wide with awe, filled with tears again. "They... they were all killed by the Borisin..." she whispered.
A heavy silence fell. Yueyu closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, they were filled with a new resolve.
"Then, are you willing to come with me?" she asked, her voice clear and strong. "I can't give you back your families. But I can give you a new life. I can take you to the Xianzhou Yaoqing. I will train you, make you stronger. Strong enough to protect what you cherish. Strong enough... to one day take your revenge."
Revenge. That single word resonated within Saran. "I'm willing!" she said, her voice shaking but full of fierce determination.
"I want to get stronger too!" Jiang Li raised her small hand, her eyes fixed on you. "I want to protect Brother!"
You looked at your sister's determined face, then at Yueyu. "Then I'll go too."
"I-I too..." Neergul, the timidest of the group, spoke up, his voice barely a whisper. "I don't want to be a slave anymore..."
Yueyu revealed a relieved smile. "Very good. From today onwards, you are no longer slaves. You are recruits of the Xianzhou Yaoqing. Let's go. A new life awaits."
Before boarding the elegant Cloud Knight star skiff, Saran looked back one last time. In the distance, the golden arrows of light consumed the last vestiges of the station. That place of suffering, the grave of her past, had disappeared forever.
[Age 13]
You arrived at the Xianzhou Yaoqing. The sheer scale of it, a world-ship sailing the stars, was beyond anything you could have imagined. You were inducted into the Cloud Knights as special recruits under General Yueyu's direct command.
When you were distributed your first set of new, clean Cloud Knight armor, Saran held the helmet, her reflection staring back at her from its polished surface. She was silent for a long time.
"I want to change my name," she said suddenly, her voice firm.
"Eh? A new name?" Jiang Li asked curiously, already struggling to fit her fluffy tail into the armor's opening.
"The name 'Saran' carries too much suffering, too much weakness. It died back there," she said, her voice cold. She looked up, not at the sky, but at something far beyond it.
"From now on, I am Feixiao."
[Inorin's Note: Feixiao (飞霄) translates to 'Soaring Sky' or 'Flying through the Heavens'.]
"I want to fly higher than any sky," she declared, her voice ringing with the force of a vow. "So high that all my enemies, all those who looked down on me, will be forced to look up."
"Good name!" Jiang Li clapped her hands, finally managing to get her tail situated. "Sister Feixiao! That sounds really nice! It's so cool!"
Feixiao... she tested the name, and for the first time since her capture, a genuine smile touched her lips. It was a sharp, dangerous, and beautiful smile.
She looked at you, Jiang Li, and Neergul. "Thank you... thank you for always being with me."