Guardian: The Broken World

A New Beginning

This is the edited version of chapter one, by llamawhowrites, which kindly offer to edit it and worked hard to make the story easier to read. For her, my deepest thanks.
-❤-

-Yunlan-

A sudden gust of cold air woke Zhao Yunlan from his blissful sleep and even under the warmth of his thick comforter he could not help but shudder. Before he even opened his eyes, he knew why the previous warmth that he was enjoying had been replaced so suddenly by a piercing cold. He has been suffering such a fate for countless nights, but especially more since he became the Chief Guardian of Dragon City and has since had a few friendly ghosts working for him.

Ghosts usually bring with them a gust of cold air, that he felt every time they approached him. But he is accustomed to such a fate and ignores the drop in temperature and the uncanny feeling of being approached in such a way. He covered his head with the comforter in a futile attempt to make the ghost go away as he had no interest in dealing with the affairs of the underworld that early in the morning.

This week has been tough on him, every night he worked overtime, and never came home before the stroke of midnight and on top of that, he only got a few hours' sleep before been awake again and his day would begin with another heinous case to solve. He was exhausted, as he came back home at one in the morning and threw himself onto his messy bed, not bothering to hit the shower or change his clothes, only a feeble effort applied in removing his shoes. He was really that exhausted.

"If it's not urgent, then just ask someone else to go, Zhu Hong will do... I'm a human, damn it! I need to sleep..." His voice was muffled by the covers and the female ghost standing at the foot of his bed smiled sympathetically. She knew he needed the rest, but once he hears what she needed to report to him, she was sure that he will not mind her to wake him that early in the morning.

"Chief Zhao... An incident has occurred in Dragon City University. The male teachers' dorms had been attacked less than an hour ago, but the demon causing it has already been slain. Only its ashes remain." Slain? Who could slay a demon if not a properly trained Guardian or a very talented Monk?

As far as he know, there are no temples nearby the University, and no Guardians around that area at this hour. Zhao inwardly thought. Wait... Could it be...? Such a thought gave him an adrenaline rush. He quickly threw away his covers and with a clear mind he looked at the ghost with an attentive gaze.

"Level of the demon?" He asked Wang Zhang, the ghost who had dared to wake him up that early.

"From the dark energy left behind in the ashes, it seems to be a high level demon. No guardian was present at that time, and the nearest temple was simply too far away to help in time" She answered.

"Casualties?" He asked, as he got out of his bed. Since he didn't bother to change earlier, he only needed to put on his boots to be on his way.

"None." She said, earning a surprise from him.

"None? Are you kidding me?" Zhao looked at her with a raised eyebrow. No casualties are something uncommon when a high level demon is involved. This only make his previous guess more provable.

"The demon managed to destroy the strong barrier set to guard the building and has caused some damage inside the dorm. It injured a guard in the process, but before it could kill him, it was slayed. A few professors, who heard the commotion, came outside and found the guard lying unconscious beside the ashes. Da Qing says he suspects that such a quick and efficient act could only be the handy work of the long lost..."

"Ghost Slayer!" Zhao cuts in between. "Damn it to hell! We just missed him again!" Zhao shouts in frustration. He was now sure that the only one who could handle such a situation and successfully slay a demon without any casualties or mayor damage to the building could be none other than the legendary guardian of underworld, the Ghost Slayer. The one who had mysteriously went missing a few hundred years ago, but has been suspected to have returned recently.