Beginning of the New

"Is the place where we are going, the place you hide from the empress? Are there any girls my age? Why is it not in the capital? Uncle? What is this place?" asked Xing from the time they left to the time they arrived at their new home. They travel south for three days on horses before arriving in a town called, 'School Town'. It is the only direct and easy way to the capital and was the key to its fall. The town was named for the school where boys, now girls of rich and high noble families, train to master their own mechs and swords even though they will never use them. Outside from running the black market, Lord Tyron worked as a blacksmith in his personal shop called, 'Old Mech? New Springs'. His home sat on top of his well-top-notch business as he took care of most if not all the swords that the girls used at school. An honor for any blacksmith to have in any town or place.

"Clearly you didn't build this in a day," noted Zhōng as they entered inside. The ground floor of the shop was of the highest quality and safety. There were two or three forges in the corner, anvils and sharpening stones on the same side directly across were places to fix the mech side of a sword. Parts were in between the two sides to separate them and a counter at the front of the shop.

"That's true, but the black market made it to be done in two." stated their uncle as they walked upstairs of the shop. The top floor was their new home, and as they entered, they saw a living room to relax in. A kitchen with a dining table just off the living room with an office tucked in the back. Surrounding the rest of the living room were three bedrooms one for each of them.

"It's good to finally have a bed." sighed Xing as she belly-flopped onto her bed.

"The bathroom is tucked between my office and my room for your use." said Uncle Tyron.

"Uncle," started Zhōng, "when do we start work?"

"All ready? You just got here," said Uncle Tyron, surprised. He saw his nephew was anxious and probably wanted to continue. "Don't worry tomorrow, I'll start to train both of you."

"You mean, I have a job?" asked Xing, popping her head out of the pillow.

"Boy, you two surely need a long vacation." thought Lord Tyron. "Yes, both of you begin training tomorrow." announced Uncle Tyron and he surely meant it. "RISE AND SHINE!!!" yelled Uncle Tyron the next morning trying to get Xing up. He carried a gong and was banging it as loudly as he could. Zhōng however was already up and moving but Xing wanted to stay in bed.

"Five more minutes," complained Xing as she covered her ears with her pillow to block the sound.

"We're burning daylight, the shop opens at sunrise. If we want to have breakfast before opening it, we need to start now." told Uncle Tyron. Xing finally got up but in a grumpy mood, she finally cheered up when she made breakfast and burnt their uncle's.

"That was for the gong." she stated as she handed Lord Tyron his meal.

"Better than Zhōng's cooking two nights ago." stated Uncle Tyron.

Zhōng was drinking his tea for it has been over a year since he had some without needing to pay. He paused just as he was about to take a sip and shot a glare to his uncle before continuing. "I'm still learning." he said as he finished his cup.

"Well it's time to learn some more." said Lord Tyron as he sat down a history book onto the table while they were eating. "It's time to see what you remember from our history."

"Do we have to do it?" asked Xing. "I should have really burnt his more." she thought.

"As your guardian, it's my responsibility to make sure you, the heirs of Emperor Huo, still get taught the knowledge required from you." stated Uncle Tyron. Zhōng and Xing sank into their chairs, it's been years since they were taught because the war took a turn on their learning ability. "Let's start at the beginning, how did we get here?" he asked.

Zhōng and Xing looked at each other then back at their uncle. "We don't know," said Xing, she was being honest as she couldn't remember.

"No one knows," nodded their uncle. "it says seven families and a leader came onto the land. They settled in the mouth of the land and began to grow and prosper. But the families as they grew bigger had problems as territories became more important. The seven leaders of each family and the eighth called a meeting and decided to travel far away from each other therefore conflict won't come till they were dead. Thus, creating the Seven Empires today, the Egyptian Empire, the Medieval Empire, the Indian Empire, the Assassin Empire, the Spartan Empire, the Viking Empire, and the Ninja Empire."

"What happened to the eighth that was there? What did he do?" asked Xing.

"No one knows what happened to him, he left the way they came and never returned." stated Uncle Tyron. "But before he went, he handed each of the families' representatives one of seven unique swords, one for each empire. The words the wielder of these say to its heir is believed to be the same words the eighth said before handing them off."

Zhōng looked over to his pair of swords. "The Ninja Sword must have seen a lot of action of both good and bad," he thought.

"Now the introductory lesson is over, Xing you'll be helping me in the shop all day today." said Uncle Tyron as he got up to put away his dishes.

"I should have really burned them." muttered Xing, however, her brother heard her and gave a weak smile to the comment.

"Zhōng, I need you to help in the shop till noon, then I need you to help me with paperwork for the black market." said Uncle Tyron as he opened the door to the office and revealed a couple of stacks of paper just in the doorway.

"I don't know why you're complaining." Zhōng whispered to Xing who giggled as Zhōng poured himself another cup of tea.

For the next couple of days, this was their daily routine along with a couple of household chores. Every morning, they would wake up, eat breakfast while they learned a lesson from their uncle. When they were done, they went down to open and run the shop until noon where they took a lunch break while learning another lesson. After lunch, Lord Tyron and Xing continued to run the shop while Zhōng handled the paperwork. He didn't know how much until he entered the office only to find the room full of it. When they closed the shop for the day, they had dinner and sometimes had lessons while they ate. Then they prepared for bed and went to sleep to do it again the next day.

They did this routine for a month when Zhōng found a letter written to his uncle. It stated that someone did not see him as the leader of the black market and threatened that he should step down or they would revolt. "Uncle, what's the meaning of this?" he asked as he set the letter in front of Lord Tyron.

"It's nothing, nephew," chuckled Uncle Tyron as he threw the letter away.

"Shouldn't you be concerned?" asked Zhōng.

"There will always be people that'll disagree with you, the choice of what to do with them is decided by you." stated Lord Tyron. Zhōng remembers his plans that he made with Tony about using the black market as an army against the empress, his thirst for his throne returned and grew as he began losing patience with waiting. "I'm going to the capital for a couple of days," said uncle.

"Why?" asked Zhōng as he continued to work through the paperwork.

"The empress asked me to speak with her." explained Uncle Tryon.

"She probably wants your head as well." stated Zhōng as he skimmed through a previous mission about selling slaves for one bag of gold coins. He scanned the paper for a name hoping to find its destination but couldn't find it.

"She wants to talk," scolded Uncle Tyron, "If she calls us, she can't punish us because we came on her request and thus will not look good in the eyes of the people if she did."

"I still don't like it," commented Zhōng.

"I'll be back in a week; we can talk about your opinions then." said Lord Tyron as he got up and went to check on Xing.

Three weeks have passed since their uncle left to speak with the empress. The only information they received was, he was waiting to speak with her. However, the black market didn't have time to wait. "Mr. Wù has continued to draw more informants to his side." complained one of the higher-ups below Lord Tyron and Zhōng.

"The longer we wait for Lord Tyron's decision, the more he gains." complained another.

"We still have to be patient; it could come any day." said a third as others began to chew him out for mentioning it.

"They're probably waiting for your orders now." said Tony to Zhōng as they listened to them argue.

"I sent him a letter two weeks ago, I even made sure it was signed, 'Dual Bladed Ninja'. What's taking so long?" Zhōng thought. He remembered what his uncle told him and decided to take control of it.

"Gentleman, we have one choice to decide on," said Zhōng as he spoke with confidence.

Lord Tyron put down the letter he received and rubbed his eyes with frustration. "I hope he didn't do anything rational," he thought, as he walked to the throne room.

The throne room was huge with a staircase going up into other rooms behind the throne was a corridor where the planning of the empire took place. Opposite of the throne was a door that led to the courtyard of the capitol building. "Your majesty," began Lord Tyron as he was a good distance away from the empress' presence with a bow.

"Lord Tyron," acknowledged Empress Wēi, Lord Tyron was about to correct her before a hand perked up telling him not to speak. "I know you are not that." she stated assuring him she knows. "I called you here to thank you for keeping my daughter safe."

"I was just doing what should be required of me." stated Lord Tyron.

"But you know my thanks doesn't excuse your punishment." she said, shooting a glare.

"I have no reason to revolt against you." assured Lord Tyron.

"What about your apprentice you've recently picked up? Dual Bladed Ninja, does he?"

Lord Tyron took a long pause before he spoke, "He was once a myth in the business. People were scared just by looking at him, his eyes quite literally becoming a pair of dark blue fires. Myths say he is a demon but the legends say he's worse. But inside he is just a boy scared of the world he lives in."

"You pity him?"

"I've walked the path he's on, but what I view as hopefully, he can't see it as. He's impatient like I was when I started. I only hope I can teach him the way my mentors taught me."

"Should I trust him to be the next leader of the black market?"

"Do you trust your daughter?" asked Lord Tyron. Empress Wēi leaned back a little to hide her confusion. "Royalty, the heir is chosen by the ruler, the black market is by vote. Candidates run and promise things that half or little come true. I, myself promise many but have yet to complete any. The difference is, while you know who will take over after you step down, you don't know who will control the thieves, but the thieves know who they want to lead them."

Later that night in a warehouse, two groups were split directly across from each other. "I thought you would ignore me like your mentor was doing, Dual Bladed Ninja," said Wù.

"Why do you think I arranged this meeting? So, you will shut up." said the Dual Bladed Ninja, his cowl was up and his cloak cover his weapons.

"You're willing to listen to my request then?" asked Wù.

The Dual Bladed Ninja smiled and said, "No, that's not what I had in mind unless you win."

Mr. Wù and his party were shocked and took a step back. "You expect us to fight?" asked Wù.

"A dual, your best sword mech against my best sword mech." said the Dual Bladed Ninja revealing his black sword.

"And if you win, then we must be silent and respect the orders. But if I win, you'll listen." confirming Mr. Wù.

"I know I won't lose."

"Confidence," nodded Mr. Wù. "Surely you are not as good as they say." he said as he activated his mech.

"We'll see about that." smiled the Dual Bladed Ninja as he activated his.

Nothing filled the room except a quill pen on paper writing something. Lord Tyron finished his writing, signed it and sealed it, and gave it to Mr. Wù. "Here you go, the payment for this." he said to him as shot a glare at his apprentice who said nothing. He was sitting in the back of his office with a cold look.

"Please, Lord Tyron, this is only for my men that witness the fight who will not keep this secret unless paid to. However, I will keep it out of respect for him, promising to use his strongest sword." said Wù.

"Well that strongest should have been kept a secret." said Lord Tyron, not breaking his gaze. Zhōng turned his head to his right, he did not like his uncle's look.

Mr. Wù left and Zhōng wished he would stay a little more as his uncle's look became colder and colder. "I did you a favor," he said.

"Sure, your entire black market salary is gone as with half of mine." sneered Uncle Tyron.

"They were revolting against you."

"And you of all people should know that is not uncommon in the black market." stated Uncle Tyron. Zhōng said nothing, he couldn't think of a way to reply back. "Thieves don't like it when you beat them down, they will tell on you to get you in trouble even if it isn't justice. You want respect, then you paid them." he said standing up and walking towards the stairs. "Come with me, we're going out."

They walked a couple of blocks down the road to the place where the reason why the town's name is 'School Town'. The school was the largest and the most efficient school anyone could get. Nobles and very smart and wealthy commoners went here to train and received the required knowledge. However, only girls were allowed to come since the end of the Eight-Year War, boys were banned and limited to only one school. "Mr. Fields!" exclaimed one of the students as they ran to meet Lord Tyron and Zhōng after they crossed the entrance to the grounds.

"Do you have my sword fixed?" asked another.

"Are we going to be able to use the shop again?" asked a third.

"When can Ning come over?" asked a fourth.

"Okay girls, I understand I have been gone a long time." said Lord Tyron. "To answer your question, yes, I still need to get back in the swing of things and as soon as I am, Ning can come over."

The girls groan with disapproval of the news they received. "So, what brings you here?" asked the first.

"Business with your principal." said Lord Tyron as he continued to walk away, leaving Zhōng to catch up.

"I don't know why of all the times you show your face in my office," said Principal Jiào as she stormed into her office with Lord Tyron and Zhōng following behind. "It's now."

"Sis, I need a favor." suggested Lord Tyron.

"You always need favors, that's why our older brother stripped your titles so you cannot rely on people."

"I need a uniform and records." compromised Lord Tyron.

"Why do you need them? Is it for your market? You want to put spies in my school?" asked Principal Jiào, getting angrier at each question she asked.

"Actually, making sure a mistake doesn't do too much damage." reasoned Lord Tyron.

"What mistake have you made?"

"It wasn't I who did it."

"What do you me-?" began asking Principal Jiào before finally noticing the boy who came with her brother.

The boy pulled down his cowl since it was up, since leaving the shop, revealing his dark blond hair and blue eyes. "Hello, aunt." said Zhōng.

"Zhōng, could it be you?" asked his aunt as she came to him and hugged him tightly. "It feels as if you were raised from the dead." she said as she started to cry.

"My sister is alive as well." stated Zhōng.

"And your brother?" asked Aunt Jiào, Zhōng turned his head, he had no idea what happened to his older brother. "I see and now I see why you want a favor." she said as she broke from her hug and fixed herself up before addressing her brother.

"He put her in jeopardy," said Lord Tyron.

"And do you not play that game?" asked Aunt Jiào.

Lord Tyron shrugged his shoulders and said, "I try not to go too deep."

"And yet you let your nephew go that deep, perhaps you should be part of the blame."

"Oh, I didn't say he was going unpunished, that's our next stop." said Lord Tyron.

"I see," noted Principal Jiào, she looked at the two men in front of her, one was on his own since thirteen the other had the experience of being alone. However, their two objectives were pulling them apart. "I'll lend you uniform items, if they are too small, bring them back. I'll keep the records to be safe." she finally said.

"Thank you sister, we'll be on our way now." said Lord Tyron as he held the door for his nephew before they headed out.

As they left the grounds, they passed through the courtyard again. Zhōng stayed close to the shadows behind the pillars but what he saw with his eyes stopped him. There in the courtyard was Princess Zhen, she went to school here and was reading a book. It looked like she was eating lunch by herself. "She mustn't trust anyone." he thought as he drew closer to a pillar to get a better look. She was shy and looked as if something was on her mind. She wore the uniform dress with nothing fancy or customized on it. Just a uniform long sleeve blouse and a skirt with thigh-high socks and her sword on her left hip.

"Truman," barked Lord Tyron, snapping Zhōng's concentration. "Let's go." he ordered. Princess Zhen looked up from her book to find where that familiar voice came from. But she couldn't see the figure nor the boy dashing in the shadows to follow the voice. The two of them went to a stable outside of town where horses were given for an expensive price. That's because these horses were designed to run for a very long time with things on them. "See that one," said Lord Tyron pointing to a horse with a saddle on its back. "That's yours if you can ride it."

Zhōng looked at his uncle confused. "It may be over a year or two, but I still remember how to ride one." Lord Tyron shook his head, he held onto the reins as Zhōng got on. When he was set and comfortable, he let go and walked back to the edge of the fence. Zhōng suddenly didn't feel confident as he felt the back of the horse tense. Suddenly the horse jumped up and down kicking like a bull with a rider on his back. "Woah!" cried Zhōng as try to gain control but it made the horse go wilder. It flung Zhōng off his back as he flew for a couple of yards before landing face-first into the mud. The horse jeered as Zhōng wiped up the mud and whatever else was in it. "Why you?" said Zhōng, he sprang to his feet and charged at the horse. The horse was surprised but got off as well as Zhōng chased it around. "Get back here, you." screamed Zhōng as the horse laughs at his efforts.

"Teaching your nephew?" asked the farmer. He was part of the black market and knew about the secret.

"Trying," sighed Lord Tyron. He couldn't decide which he felt bad for, his nephew or the horse. "Is it set up?" he asked the farmer who nodded with confirmation. "Alright, Zhōng! stop chasing the horse and come here." he called out to him.

Zhōng came back breathing heavily, "I…almost…had…him." he said as he took breaths.

"You weren't even close." commented the farmer as went back to his work while Lord Tyron and Zhōng went to the orchard.

"Stand under this tree." said Lord Tyron pointing to the first one closest to them.

"This one?" asked Zhōng as he looked back at his uncle. To his surprise, he saw his uncle with lots of string in one hand and only one in the other. He quickly pulled the single one and Zhōng heard a mechanical snap then an apple fell from his right side.

"Failed," said his uncle

"Wait, what?" asked Zhōng as his uncle pulled another string and another apple.

"Failed," said his uncle as soon the apple hit the ground. He pulled another one and Zhōng quickly caught it. "Close but failed," said his uncle.

"How is that close?" asked Zhōng when he suddenly realized there were moldy half-cut apples on the ground. As his uncle drew another one, Zhōng drew his swords and sliced only a little bit off.

"Now we're getting somewhere." said Lord Tyron as he drew more and more strings one after another. Zhōng swung his sword around trying to cut through the apples. When Lord Tyron ran out of string he said, "well out of thirty, you barely cut four and only one in half."

Zhōng put away his sword and said, "What was that for?"

"Training," his uncle said, leading them back to the town.

"Could you have done this before?"

"No,"

"Why?"

"Because you weren't ready and still aren't."

Zhōng stopped in his tracks, he couldn't believe his uncle's words. During his time with Tony and Darrius, he was training something new every day. "I'm ready."

"You may be ready for mech fights, but what happens when your energy isn't enough and now you have to fight with a sword. Do you think you're ready for that?" asked his uncle.

"I'll blow them out before that happens."

"But in order to do so, you need stamina. Something you can learn in sword fighting. The more endurance you have for a sword fight, the longer you can endure in a mech."

"So that's why you took me out here? To teach me how to fight?" asked Zhōng. "I've survived this long."

"To teach you something else, but you're going to have to learn that on your own," said Lord Tyron.

Later that night, Zhōng was still confused about his uncle's words to him. He was helping some men deliver out of the town. They were new and Zhōng was teaching them some of the ropes. They were on their way out of town when guards stopped them for inspection. One of the men handed a guard some money. He felt around the bag and appeared he wanted more. The men looked around to see if they had more, making Zhōng sigh in disapproval. "Here," he said as he handed the guard the last remaining amount on his weekly salary. The guard felt around the bagged and nodded for approval to the men as they moved along. As they passed Zhōng their guilty and fearful faces showed on them as Zhōng gave them his fiery stare. When they were gone, Zhōng walked back to his home. He was tired and exhausted from the events that transpired after the farm. For the rest of the day, he worked in the shop until his uncle made him run all over for a checkup of members in the market then he was to teach men how to bypass the gates with only a certain amount of money.

"Dual Bladed Ninja," whispered a voice from a shop. It was someone who knew who he was and he was a good friend to do work with. "I need your help, come here and hold this." he said as he gave Zhōng glass cutters.

"What are you stealing?" asked Zhōng.

"Oh, just the most priceless artifact in this town," he said. Zhōng realized they were in the town's square and the guards would be coming out any second now. "Bingo," he said as he grabbed the Samurai Sword and gave it to Zhōng. It was a sword made by combining all six sword types, it was unrivaled against any type of sword except for the Ninja Sword which defeated the wielder and as punishment, he was in charge of making the school the best in the empire.

"Hey! You there! What do you think you are doing?" a guard screamed at them.

"Run," said Zhōng as he and his friend and his gang split in different directions. The guards couldn't catch Zhōng as he slipped into an alley and disappeared. His friend and his gang however weren't hard at all to catch.

They were lined up with guards watching them as the captain of the guards came to see them. "Now, what shall we do with you?" asked Captain Howin. "I assume you are black market members considering you tried something suicidal. Since you are caught in the act, I could go easy if I had the paperwork."

Zhōng's friend quivers in fear along with his gang. "We sent it to Lord Tyron, he should have sent it to the empress a week ago." he said.

"Uh, I wonder why it wasn't with the paperwork I had to check before coming here because Lord Tyron was in the capital last week." said Captain Howin.

He looked at his friends and they were desperate. "What if we told you who and where the former prince is." he asked

Captain Howin took the information by surprise. "In exchange for your lives?" he asked. The boy in front of him nodded. "If they tell us where to find him…" Captain Howin thought in his head. "Very well, tell us."

"The former prince is…" he started before falling backwards along with his men as black arrows impaled all of them on their faces.

Captain Howin looked where the arrows came from. Whoever it was, has very good accuracy. Suddenly a silhouette of a mech quickly flew over them and out of town. "After it," he ordered as he and his guards activate their mechs and chase after the dark mech. They searched all through the night, but they couldn't find where it went.

Zhōng stumbled back home; he was tired and exhausted from running around as guards were looking for him. He opens the side door to see Uncle Tyron standing there waiting for him. He handed his uncle the Samurai Sword and said, "I think I've learned my lessons. I now understand the consequences of my actions. If you don't want to train me, then I'll stop with the black market business."

Lord Tyron looked at the sword given to him and said, "Ning, make sure this gets melted and disposed of." he said as Xing came to take the sword to the furnace. "Follow me." he then said to Zhōng. Tired but willing, Zhōng followed after his uncle.

They reached the stables again and went up to the horse Zhōng tried to ride yesterday. "Everything we do, we must be patient and wait for the right opportunity. Your friends didn't wait and therefore got what they deserved. Instead of listening to every order to the line, ask and wait for a response." he said, handing Zhōng an apple to feed the horse. "These horses are bred for us, they won't let anyone ride them unless treated with respect and given a password to allow us to ride."

Zhōng took the apple and gave it to the horse, the horse looked at him confused but after a few quick sniffs of the apple, he ate it willingly. "Your name is Yáo, you'll give me hope and means to escape. We'll not run from the danger, rather we'll be the danger and no one is allowed to ride you unless I say…'' said Zhōng as he whispered the last part into its ear. Yáo neighed in agreement, Zhōng got on his back and waited for it to tense up but it didn't. He looked at his uncle who opened the gate for them. "Let's go boy." he said, with a neigh of his horse they were off.