Undying Love (On Hiatus)

Intoxicated

  A man sat in a dimly lit room with only a candle on the office table in the right corner of the room as source of light. The heavy charcoal black curtains danced wildly each time there was a gust of wind. Head in both hands, he sighed, frustrated by his treacherous deed. The said man, Li fen, was still in his gilded armor which indicated his high position in the royal army. He took a small vial, half-full with a pearly white liquid out of a small black leather bag. The liquid was a poison, what the royal poisoners and doctors called "Midnight Scream".

The Midnight Scream was the deadliest artificial poison known to Kaida. It was said that anything that drank it would have a slow and painful death. The person would lose control of his body and his limbs would become numb. It would first burn the person's intestines, create holes in the stomach, melt the liver, harden and blacken the heart, the eyes would popped out of their sockets and finally implode the brain. It was produced only by imperial decree, and only by the most experienced doctors.

Li fen regretted his action but he needed to do it as each and every day of his miserable life the same memories kept haunting him in his nights. The memories of the day when his peaceful life shattered like friable biscuits.

*~*Flashback*~*

"I'm back!" Li fen said, opening his arms wide to embrace his little family.

"Welcome back, honey." replied a hoarse voice which definitely didn't belong to his wife.

He gasped in horror when he discovered his wife and children bound tightly with a rope, a sword beside their necks. In the middle of the room, next to the fireplace, a man with a hideous stone face sat on a wooden chair next to him was Pulcherius and another man.

"What happened, Li fen? Cat got your tongue?" A sadistic smile was plastered on the stone face.

Li fen's hand automatically moved to his side and touched the hilt of his sword.

"No no no, don't move, if you move your wife will have her head nearly removed from her body."

Li fen clenched his fist, rage evident in his eyes, "What do you want?"

The stone face turned serious. He walked towards him and whispered, " A deal. I want you to spy on the emperor and to poison him."

Li Fen's expression remained stoic, even as panic mounted in his chest. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"Such fury!" the stone face grinned. "You are honored. My name is Eutropius, the ethnarch of the Onototh Legion. I have vested interests in killing off the royal family. You will help me."

Li Fen glared at Pulcherius. "You too?"

Pulcherius shrugged, but still kept a firm hold on Li Fen's son's throat. "I'm the foreign ambassador. I have to stay loyal to my empire. It's nothing personal, I assure you."

Eutropius placed a small vial in Li fen's palm, "Kill the whole royal family, advisors, prime minister, counselors. Poison them little by little and your family will be returned to you."

He motioned his men to leave and to take the family.

"Why are you taking them away?" Li Fen yelled.

"I'm not dumb, when the work is done you will have them again." Eutropius snickered. "WHEN it is done."

The cries and screams of his children were haunting him. He fell on his knees and cried. This was the first time he had felt so helpless in his life.

*~*end of flashback*~*

"Why are you here?" Hayami growled, annoyed by his presence.

"I'm here to escort you, your highness." Takeshi snarled as he clutched the bridle of the horse.