2 The First Life 2

Her stomach churned in turmoil. It twisted and turned like a dagger gutting her insides. Breathing grew more difficult.

Yinyue spat out a mouthful of blood and chuckled in a low tone.

Her body was dying and her only friend may be death.

Someone carried her up and threw her into the open air. She felt weightless, then the blunt hooks tunneled through her muscles.

The hooks tore further into her flesh, bone and muscle in slow slicing amputation. Excruciating pain shot through her body. She released a horrifying, inhuman noise from her raw, dry throat.

With every trickle of blood dripping from her body, life drained from her.

Then the air moved around her. The metal hooks in her flesh trembled with each movement. They sent a jarring blast of lightning from her shoulders to the rest of her body.

From afar, a faint drumming rhythm grew.

Her eyes flew open. A yellowish haze was moving at high speed towards the fortress city — a fast approaching army!

A faint glimmer of hope tugged her heart. Maybe Shoula lied about Hushiyi's death. What if it is Hushiyi coming in with his army?

"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!" a man shouted.

Pandemonium broke out.

A thunderous sound of galloping horses soon swallowed the men's shouts. With each vibration of the approaching army, the blunt hooks sliced into her flesh and muscle further. Soon the hooks would reach her bones.

Men yelled out orders while Yinyue hung from the wall. Her face crunched, mouth gaped wide open in a silent scream of agony as the metal inched bit by bit through her chest, tearing its way through.

Nothing came out of her throat. She lost her voice from the torment.

"THE XIRONG ARE ATTACKING!"

Hope of rescue vanished. She didn't care anymore.

The Xirong army can destroy whatever they want.

More the merrier.

At least she won't die alone.

Like the Dayan army, the Xirong army held a brutal reputation in war. They spared no one when attacking. Not even babies. Maybe the attackers could end her life and release her suffering now.

Yinyue smiled, anticipating the impending hell unleashed upon Gaoyang.

Especially if the Xirong killed Shoula. War between the two empires, Dayan and Xirong would ensue. They can take her brother's killer, Huqi, to hell too.

"PREPARE THE ARCHERS!"

That was the voice of her lousy soon-to-be late husband. Yes, she wanted him dead.

"MASTER HOLD ON!" Yinyue heard the familiar voice of her former bodyguard, 01. His odd accent never faded. Was it her imagination?

She released him and the other secret bodyguards from service two months ago after learning of her brother's death. A painful decision to make, but she lost hope in living.

She had an uncanny feeling of death watching. If she died, her husband will kill them. They accompanied her from the Dayan Empire. It was an act of mercy to spare their lives, a reward for their service and loyalty over the years of solitude in Gaoyang.

"TO THE EAST WALL! A FEW ARE BREAKING THROUGH!" shouted the Gaoyang soldiers.

Her fading sight caught glimpses of shadows and then the recognisable sounds of arrows whistling through the air from the fortress city.

She didn't want 01 to die because of her. He was her only friend during her lonely days in the inner palaces of Gaoyang.

With her remaining strength mustered, she mouthed 'Leave, save yourself' and kept repeating the action, ignoring the slicing pain cutting through her bone now.

Then she felt like she was falling into the abyss.

Darkness crept in, filling her mind, releasing her from all physical senses of existence. No more pain, and no more suffering.

Death neared her to release her from the torment.

"Master…"

Her face felt a moist drop of tear on her cold cheeks. Her vision failed her, but her hearing didn't. She recognised his voice — it was 01. He came to send her off to the afterlife.

Towards the end, he was the only one who didn't abandon her.

She gasped, struggling to breathe the air while another spoke to him in a different language which sounded like the Xirong's. A hand grasped her chin. She opened her mouth, revealing the remaining stump of her tongue.

"What did they do t-to y-you?" 01 asked.

Tears started flowing from her eyes. She never wanted him to see her at her lowest. Someone carried her near grunting horses, and she heard a rustling sound like a tent door being lifted.

He issued a long string of commands to the people around in the strange tongue twisting Xirong speech. She never heard him speak the language to her. Why did he hide his background?

The pitter patter of boots rang clear in her ear. 01 must have issued an order.

Yinyue wanted to tell him not to fight the Gaoyang. A battle presented a danger to his life. No, she wanted him to live on well. Her heart felt a suffocating squeeze. A rush of thick metallic smelling liquid forced its way up and out of her mouth.

"MASTER!" 01 shouted.

She choked on her blood and a warm hand tilted her body to the side. More blood rushed forward from her stomach, forcing its way out from his rocking.

"Tilt her more to the side," an unknown man said. "She's choking on her blood."

His steady tone and the familiar Dayan accent calmed her down.

"W-What is g-going on?" 01 asked.

"Let me see," the man said.

A warm hand touched her wrist. Three fingers squeezed on her wrist to feel her pulse for what seemed like an eternity to her.

With a deep sigh, the man said, "Ashina, I've terrible news…her body cannot be mended. Her heart is failing. She…may not live through the night."

Ashina — 01's name and a very Xirong sounding one. Yinyue never granted him a name as she should have, out of lazy convenience.

Wasn't he a slave? All bodyguards sent to her were slaves, known by numbers until their masters granted their names. A slave didn't have the power to order troops.

Weariness filled her.

Regrets were useless.

Yinyue wanted to let go of life.

"YOU ARE LYING…H-how can it be?"

The desperate voice of 01 called out her name. She wanted to apologize and thank him, but it was too late for her. She couldn't respond.

All the pain was disappearing along with any control over her body.

"If you die, I will bury Gaoyang and its people as a sacrifice to you," 01 whispered into her ear.

How? And why? Was she important to him?

She wanted to ask, but the drowsiness lulled her into a dark, peaceful sleep. His voice faded into incoherent mutterings.

Death took her away at last.