1 The Li family

(For the first week of the novels release i will be posting 1 chapter every day. Once this week period is over chapters will be released once a week, every Wednesday. Please stick around and give this novel a chance!)

***

A boy about 15 years of age was leaning on his seat's armrest as he stared out the window to his left, watching the army of trees fly by.

He had long purple hair tied up in a ponytail and the ends of his bangs dangled over his furrowed brows. His cloudy grey eyes emitted a subtle somber glow as his smooth skin basked in the sunlight.

His expression was solemn and his gaze seemed to be unfocused and reminiscent as his lis curved up into a faint gentle and warm smile. At this moment, he seemed to be in a dream-like state envisioning his own world where nothing else mattered.

His vision blurred yet he could so vividly see two gravestones that had sunk into the soft soil giving them the appearance of shrinking. The engraved words, so weathered by a century of rain, sat just above the level of the ground cover plants that sprawled over the dirt.

In between the two graves was a majestic and ancient-looking tree that seemed to shoot through the clouds and stand tall in the skies. Its wood was tough and seemed to have gone through countless tribulations over centuries. Its leaves were a deep glossy shade of green and seemed to contain the essence of life.

The tree contained a rich and vibrant aura, and as if feeling sorrow for the two people who were buried to either side of it, its branches swayed gently in the tender breeze. The sun's rays bounced off its body giving it a rich and profound glow. The branches sways lasted a short amount of time.

As the tree swayed, two vibrant colored leaves silently fell off their respective branches and gently danced in the air, making their way to each of the graves. The moment the leaves gently landed , the tombstones began to give off an aura of life.

The headstones, markers of death, had become holy ground with this small action.

The words embedded in the stones were shone upon by the sun's gentle warm rays and all of their impurities seemed to vanish. No insects dared to get close to the graves anymore, like a wall had stopped them from approaching.

Lying on the grave to the left of the tree was a luxurious-looking scarlet rose saber with a thin sharp blade and a bright golden handle. The saber gave off a fierce aura as it leaned on the headstone emitting a gentle wave of heat with the stone as the center.

The words "In loving memory of Amber Li, The Flame Empress" were highlighted so beautifully by the sun and seemed to come alive, as a child-like aura danced around the grave.

The grave on the opposite end of the tree had a long, thin, and gentle blade that stood tall beside it. You could see its majestic form shining brightly underneath the sun. Its fragile-looking blade seemingly made out of ice was firmly implanted into the hard soil. Some profound symbols made their way up the blade's edge and the sword's hilt was a light blue that was almost transparent.

The sword gave off a deadly yet gentle chill as it stood tall beside the grave. Identical to the previous grave the sun's rays lightly illuminated the words engraved on the stone.

"In loving memory of Hayden Li, The Emperor of Ice and Snow" The words contained a deep aura that engulfed its surroundings and gave it a mighty feeling. The arrogance of a king could be sensed as the blade and grave's auras were intertwined with one another, the pressure they emitted together was breathtaking.

In the boy's head he could see the smiling face of a beautiful-looking woman whose figure was not lacking in any way. A scarlet red flame danced In the depths of her rosy red eyes, and her long vermillion hair came running down her back, stopping at her waist. She leaned on the shoulder of a man who was a bit taller than her, his long oceanic dark blue hair came down to his neck and his light blue eyes were almost transparent.

The blades that were present by the sides of each grave were held on their waist's in majestic-looking scabbards, the saber on the waist of Amber, and the blade on the waist of Hayden. The two of them stared at their son Owen with bright and proud smiles, a gentle look in their eyes. Although they were so close to one another, only six feet apart, they were still, endlessly far from one another. They would never be able to touch one another or embrace one another, all they could do was smile at each other from afar.

Owen blinked his eyes subconsciously as a tear slowly and silently made its way down his cheek, his eyes widened when he realized he was back on the bus, watching the trees go by just like before. He gripped his right hand tightly, forming a fist as his expression grew determined.

Owen couldn't help but feel like he was cheated as he wanted to keep seeing that dream for as long as time could have it. Although they were just smiling, it brought endless happiness to Owen who had not seen his parents ever since the 'incident'.

But he knew that he had a job to do so he didn't dwell on it for too long and regained his previous composure.

"Mother, Father, wait for me, I will become stronger, even stronger than you! And when that day comes, I shall make the world remember our family name!"

He muttered to himself quietly, maybe because he was still in a daze from his dream he didn't notice the pair of eyes glued to the back of his head.

Somewhere in the back of the bus, a girl's mouth grew into a grin as she chuckled to herself.

"This might not be boring after all"

She smirked to herself quietly.

***

At some point later Owen opened his eyes to see that he was in a room, the room wasn't very big but had enough space for four people. There were two bunk beds that took up the two top corners of the room with a large window between them. Below the bunk bed in the top left corner was an ordinary wooden door with a sign hanging off of its handle, each side of the sign read something different. One side read "Occupied" while the other, "Unoccupied". It was clear what room it was.

Owen was stunned when he awoke to see the room he was in as it looked very similar to one of the dorms he had stayed at in the past, though much more spacious. The first thing he did when he woke was to make himself aware of his surroundings, He swung his head around to every corner of the room and found that he seemed to be one out of four people who would be staying here thanks to the two sets of bunk beds. He seemed to be the first one to arrive so he had time to prepare for whatever may happen.

He doubted that he was in danger since he felt nothing off with how things turned out, other than the fact that he vaguely remembered feeling a sudden rush of drowsiness while he was on the bus, that's when he opened his eyes to this new scenery. He stood up slowly and sighed. 'I'm not a 100% sure what's going on but, if I'm right, this should be one of the branches of the military'

if what Owen thought was right then it would make sense why the students on the bus were drugged, it was most likely some safety precaution to keep the location of the branch safe from spies and worse'

He walked to the door of the dorm room and pulled on the handle only to find out that it was locked.

He shook his head and gave himself a bitter smile.

'Figures, seems like I have to wait to meet my new roommates before I can leave.'

It seemed like he was going to be stuck here for a while, so he picked up his bags which were next to him when he woke up, and threw them on the top bunk in the top left corner before climbing up and going to sleep. With nothing else to do and no sense of danger, he could think of nothing better to do than to sleep.

Unbeknownst to him, in one of the corners of the room was a tiny black dot with a flickering blue light.