Fractured

Prolouge

It was Year 741 of the Sartre Calender. It was a dry, hot day in Friendly Village of the Country of Joy on Planet Plato. The breeze from the east seemed to have stopped completely, and but the sun from the west kept beating down on the Country of Joy. Everyone in Friendly Village was going about their everyday lives despite the heat. This of course was no exception to Xu Tao.

Xu Tao was a child of a village carpenter and seamstress. He lived a fairly good life until his parents died 8 years ago when he was nine. Ever since then, he had been studying, He promised himself he would become a scholar in the City of Gladness to honor his parents memory.

On his way to Mr. Grandier's library through the quiet part of the village marketplace, he was suddenly pulled out of the street and dragged through the gravel to the alley. He felt the gravel scrape through the tan skin on his face, and tasted a metallic flavor in his mouth.

"Let me go!" Xu Tao said frantically as he tried to break free of Chen Li's grasp. Xu was suddenly pushed up against one of the alley walls that are behind the market district. Chen Li's group had come to bully him once again.

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Ever since Xu was 3, the other kids in the village had bullied him. He never understood why. Was it because of his girly name? His girly face? No matter how many times Xu thought it over, he could never get a clear answer.

Chen Li smirked as he saw Xu cower under his gaze. "Hah! You can't even resist! That's how weak you are compared to me! You could never beat me! You really are like a girl Xu Tao." His goonies behind him snickered.

"shut up! I'm not going to deal with your bullying any longer Chen!" Xu had never stood up for himself. But something took control over himself in that moment. He just couldn't deal with the bullying any longer.

"Hahaha!" Chen burst into laughter, gesturing to his friends behind him, "Did you guys here what he just said?"
Chen Li stared Xu Tao straight in the eye, "Do you think you have a choice tranny?" Chen Li punched Xu in the stomach. HAACKK. Xu Tao felt bile rising in his throat but he forced it back down. The blood in his mouth dripping from his chin. He stared a Chen with a gaze that could kill a thousand times over.

"Hey Xuan.. Punch me in the face" Chen told his friend.

"W-what boss??"

"Don't question it, just do it!" Chen Li yelled back. Xuan hesitated, but eventually he gripped his fist and punched Chen Li's face. Chen Li smiled and pretended to be hurt. "Ow... Mom" he fake cried, "M-mom...  Xu Tao punched me in the face... *sob sob* I tried to hit him back but he wouldn't stop bullying me. I'm scared mom!"

Xu Tao stared at Chen Li's face as it turned into smirk. Chen Li's family took him in when his parents died, if Chen Li said that Xu beat him up, then he would he left on the streets.

"How's that tranny?" Chen interrogated as his face began to turn a nasty shade of purple/yellow, "Don't I have the best acting skills in the village?" Chen Li smirked. He wouldn't let Xu Tao relax so easily, he had always been the one who bullied Xu the most. For some reason Xu Tao was a person who Chen Li could go to and make himself feel better. Of course that meant Xu had to get hurt.

"Hey" Chen Li demanded, "Xuan Yuan get me the matches." Chen finally had an idea.

He grabbed the matches from Xuan's hands. ripped off Xu's clothes and set them on fire. "You don't deserve clothes, you filthy animal."

Chen Li walked away leaving on Xu in the deserted alley. As Xu watched his clothes burn he promised one thing to himself. He would not be treated this way ever again.

Little did he know... His life was about to get a lot more interesting.

If only I was stronger!