Oh, My Emperor! (Zhanyi Fanfic) - PART 1

Cha. 002

He drifted closer to the corner, striding away from the other children that huddled in the middle of the room, rattling among themselves.

He squinted, bringing his knees to his chest, circling his arms around them while staring into nothing. He blinked again, looking for something, tears, but they abstained to fall no matter how much he tried to grieve for his loss.

Was there something wrong with him?

He glimpsed at the other side of the enclosure, where other children sat, wailing, cramming the filthy dungeons with their boisterous voices. He looked away, something must be wrong with him.

His papa was gone, his mama was gone, his sister and everyone he ever loved was gone yet he hadn't shed a tear, not even one. Why? But his mother said... "Tears are how our hearts speak when our lips cannot describe how much we've been hurt!"

His heart ached and bleed beneath his chest while no tears stained his cheeks.

He brought his knees closer to his chest, wincing when a kid suddenly neared him with an extensive smile, seeming rather energetic, too optimistic for such a situation.

"Hi, I'm Nie Huasiang, I'm from the Nie clan and you are?" The lad beamed widely, his eyes glimmering as they gawked down at the young master of the Wang's household, hoping to start a new friendship.

"Go away!" The little master uttered, hiding his face between his knees but Nie Huasiang chuckled, making himself comfortable beside the frightened kid.

"Don't be sad, Baba said there's hope as long as there's life," He patted the little one's head. "Come with us, you won't be so sad anymore, and oh, did you know, they would be taking us to the main kingdom, Baba said it's the most beautiful!"

"It's filled with bad people!" Wang Yibo mumbled without lifting his head. No place with bad people could be beautiful, they killed everyone,  it was probably colorless, lacked cheer and laughter

"No everyone is bad. There are good people and bad people everywhere. It depends on what you choose to be," Huasiang replied, eyes flaring dazzlingly, almost blinding, equally deceiving. Who has to know?

The little master finally lifted his head,  peeking at the other kid beside him. "I'm Wang Yibo from Shi clan,"

Huasiang's smile expanded, throwing his hand over little Wang Yibo's shoulders. "Nice to meet you little master of Shi clan, we are going to be the best of friends. Let's destroy the world together hum?" He grinned widely, too widely.

Wang Yibo stared at him weirdly but when he met Huasiang's eyes, he seemed to understand the hidden messages beneath those words, the weight they carried was the exact weight the young master felt in his chest. Yeah, let's destroy the world together!

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Days passed, little Wang Yibo and the other children remained in the dirty, wet dungeons that bared no source of light, they were left unattended, hungry, and cold, as if their existence had been forgotten, those who couldn't endure the cold or hunger, Wang Yibo watched them fall, watched their lips turned purple, watched their breaths become lesser and lesser and finally, he watched them take their last breath before giving up their ghost, Wang Yibo watched with his unblinking eyes, death was just so familiar already, what was the point of shying away from it?

In a place that once had twenty to thirty children, only ten remained, Wang Yibo had counted and as his eyes flickered between the remaining children, he couldn't help but wonder, who was next? Perhaps, it was him? Or Huasiang who had finally decided to keep his mouth shut, shivering like everyone else, snuggling closer to Wang Yibo to share warmth. Death wasn't so far away from them at this point!