Hui Gai: Balken

Hui Gai looked at the kneeling lizard and tried to sort out what he was feeling.

Circumstances hadn't been kind to either one of them, but out of the two of them, he had definitely come out of their predicament better off.

Sure, he had lost both of his parents, but right now, they were behind the protective bubble his mind had wrapped around himself. All of this felt as if it was happening to somebody else, and he was just a spectator, watching the events unfold.

But now he had to take charge.

Lor had been loyal to his parents, so how could he blame him for his family’s betrayal?

"My mother trusted you, enough to pass you messages to tell me." He said, thinking while he spoke. "And I don’t think you did anything wrong." Hui Gai sighed. "This is hard." He thought about his friend. "If Pengyou was here, he would say everyone deserves a second chance. I want to believe you. I am going to believe you."

"My lord, thank you! Thank you!" Lor bent lower, but Hui Gai didn't like him bowing at all.

He raised him up and looked into deep purple eyes.

"Your eyes can change colour!" He asked, surprised.

"Yes, I think they depend on my feelings. If I am happy, it's purple or blue." Lor gave him a small smile. "What colour are they now?"

"Purple. Lor, you should be happy. You did what my mother entrusted you to do."

"But my lord, what will you do now?" His eyes turned green.

"Fear?" Hui Gai correctly guessed.

"Only for you. I have just found you, and I would like to spend more time with you, if you would allow it." He blushed in embarrassment. "I do not wish to part from you, at least not yet."

"I wouldn't mind staying with you, but I must reach Turjak. I feel...I think I can sense where he is." Hui Gai stretched his senses out as far as they could go. "I must find this Yao Wang. I do not think such a person deserves to live, after what he has done."

Lor's eyes flashed a lighter green immediately.

"But my lord, he is a formidable enemy! Not only is he himself well capable of fighting, and remember that he was Second in Command to your father...but he can fight very well." Lor took a step forward in his eagerness to warn Hui Gai. But he dared not touch him.

"I can take any fighter, no matter how good he is." Hui Gai wasn't boasting. He was merely stating facts.

"I'm sure you can, my lord. But he has Samangi." Lor stopped speaking, but he was trembling.

"Who is Samangi?"

"That's his elite soldier. Samangi is undefeated up until now. He is a demon from the Lan Se Jianfeng tribe."

"Blue spikes?"

"Yes exactly. But, that's not all. He is also an excellent fighter, but his specialty lies on not what he does to his enemies, but what they do to him!"

"And what would that be?" Hui Gai moved closer, intrigued.

"When he fights, if he thinks he's going to lose, he lets himself be cut."

"Lets himself be cut?" Hui Gai repeated in disbelief. "Why? Surely that's the opposite of what he wants?"

"How much do you know of the Lan Se Jianfeng tribe?" Lor asked, a touch of incredulity in his voice. "You must have heard of them?"

Hui Gai shook his head.

"Their blood is different to ours. If we bleed, it is a weakness. But if any of them bleed, the moment that blood reaches the ground, it morphs into a carbon copy of the original demon. However many drops equals how many demons will be created...it's all up to him. And his blood is a terrible thing. If it comes into contact with skin, it sizzles like acid. It's is a purpley metallic shade...but anyway...you should know what you have to face."

Hui Gai pondered his words. There was one way to defeat Samangi...he'd had lots of actual practice with it. But there was nowhere he felt he could test it out just yet.

"Do you still want to go?" Lor asked, hoping he would change his mind.

"Yes. I must, because my friend is on his way to finding him there." Just then, his sixth sense told him to stretch his hand out, so he did.

A bright and beautiful golden butterfly landed in his palm.

A message from Pengyou!

Hui Gai listened to it carefully, his face transforming into solid resolve.

"My friends are on their way to Turjak." He told Lor.

"That's where you're going?" Lor asked him, desperation in his eyes, which were changing colours so fast, Hui Gai was unable to say what he was feeling.

"Yes. I don't want them to face Yao Wang by themselves. If it is as you say, it may take all of us to defeat him. I must be there."

"Then please, my Lord, take me with you!" Lor did clutch his arm then.

Hui Gai stared at his hand until Lor quickly removed it.

"Why do you want to go?" He asked.

"I...I haven't been back there...since...since you were born. I have lived in hiding for most of my life, and I think...I think I want to change that. If you would permit me." Lor bowed again.

But his eyes were green now.

Hui Gai felt sorry for him.

"Will you be alright? If you come with me, you will see many things you might wish you had not."

"One of them is Yao Wang, hehe." Lor tried to grin at his own joke.

"Lame." But Hui Gai was smiling. "Let's try this again." He took a deep breath. "DIYU WANGZI!" He roared, emptying his lungs.

This time the surge was real, trees shuddering with the weight of his words, the name resonating with the very fibre of this place, awakening the life dormant in every atom, accepting his majesty over this land.

In the silence that followed, birds were quiet for once, recognizing the predatory arrival of one superior to them. The hush was deafening, a secret power unfurling, spreading its presence through every single thing.

Hui Gai felt the pulsing power filling his every pore, and he flexed his muscles, testing his powers.

He felt alive.

"Come." He grabbed Lor and they vanished together.