1 An Excruciating Pain ....

" When clock strikes the darkest hour even magic abides the law of Karma....."

Half of an hour before the clock struck the first midnight, the sky turned red as ominous black clouds clustered over the endless waters. The wind howled at the impending horror. The sea roared as a warning to not awaken that great power, let alone offend it. But alas, apocalypse was inevitable for none paid any heed to their word of advice. Mother Nature had long reached her bottomline and was just waiting to unleashed her rage when desperate screams for help echoed on the surface of the international waters between Dubai and India.

Humans are foolish creatures who blame the Gods when they face nature's wrath, not understanding the fact that they themselves are somehow responsible for it. 

On the eve of thirty first of December, when the world celebrated the arrival of a new year and welcomed a new beginning, they were completely oblivious of the fact that they were actually welcoming their very end.

Away from all the festivities a private yacht sailed cross the national borders completely unnoticed. Inside the yacht, a woman was screaming for her life. Her cries were silenced by the sickening sound of several hot iron rods repeatedly striking her thin frame.

Her entire body was covered with patches of blood, burns and bruises completely destroying her white jade-like skin. Her deep, mythical voilet eyes that contained the power to see the entire universe and through every fold of time. Now they were dull and lifeless . Her beautiful blush pink lips, a smile from which melted even the cruelest hearts were burning red hot . Her mesmerising face that charmed not just humans but also the celestial kings and even the gods was now swollen and marred with hand prints. Her voice that was like a melody of a singing nightingale, capable of hypnotizing even the most restless souls was now hoarse and could barely make a sound ; it was burning in the flames of acid. And for reasons unknown to her, an excruciating pain rose from her lower abdomen.

Holding her down were several men, each armed with a thick hot rod of iron which until a few seconds ago were used to strike her down.

" P-P-Please " she cried out hoarsely, pleadingly to have mercy on her and hoped that they'd release her. But in vain.

Instead they looked down on her with evil snarls and pure lust just waiting to defial her innocence .

When she saw that her plea was unheard by those around her she turned to the man on the deck who was enjoying a warm jacuzzi bath with a cocktail. Seeing his relaxed demeanour one would think he was out to have a quiet getaway while watching a romantic movie or something , unfortunately reality was anything but that.

"W-W-Why?? Why are you doing this to me? What have I done to you? "

Having heard the woman, the man didn't say anything. He simply glared at her. His dark, chilling eyes were filled with rage and hatred. He looked at her as if she had killed his entire family , when in reality she didn't even knew the man to begin with.

The man swirled his drink in his lean, slender fingers as he stared down at the pleading woman.

Truth to be told, when the man first learned about the woman he thought she was just another average woman with a pretty face. But, when he tried to gather information about her is when she turned out to become a nuisance for him. The harder he tried to find out about her , the more mysterier she became for him. After much work did he finally pin her down and the rest went on to become an entire different story altogether.

When he finally got information about her whereabouts he personally went to tail her, planning to use his regular method to punish on her as he would to those who offeneded him or his family. But, when his sight landed on her, he was instantly swayed to do her bidding by her ethereal beauty and her mesmerising charms. He wondered why did she chose to offend him and his family when he could've made her his queen, given her a life of luxury and a prestigious tittle. Jealousy consumed his heart . Everytime he looked at her , he blew up in rage for she was not his and someone else's. Her innocent, youthful and timeless beauty paired with her mysterious aura , gentle demeanour and caring attitude had thrown away all sense of reasoning out of his thinking process. Instead, his reasoning was replaced by a psychopathic obsession that turned him into a sadistic killer psychopath. To him she had no right to live if she was not his and she had already given herself to another man. He infact felt cheated and disgusted. Thus, he opted for such a torturous method. To him it was only justified that she should pyshically the pain that he was enduring in his heart.

After a few seconds of observing the woman his lips curled up to an evil smirk.

" Xiao GoChang !! " He called out. " Can't you hear that my guest is complaining about the lack of entertainment. " He said thrashing his cocktail glass.

Crash!!

AHHH!! AAAHHH!!!

The glass hit the woman on her forehead with quite some force. Blood immediately oozed out from the wound and it started to sting as the cocktail contained heavy amount of citrus juices. But she could not be bothered by it at the moment because the unknown pain in her lower abdomen had escalated to an unbearable level. She felt like something huge was ripping apart her organs from within. She could no longer bear it as a result she curled up into ball much to the man's annoyance.

Meanwhile, at his words of complain another man emerged from the shadows carrying a heavy suitcase ever so silently.

He was a man with a tall , bulky figure and the most noticeable part of him was his fingers for they each containend a ring-like metal band which were glowing in the dark.

" Ah!! Xiao GoChang " The man's expressions perked up visible upon seeing the latter. " Its a shame that even with your presence my guests are complaining. Please....Do something. My reputation is in line.... " The man said in nauseating sweet voice, practically asking Xiao GoChang to do his worst. 

The man named Xiao GoChang nodded without a word then turned to the woman on the floor. A murderous glint flashed in his emotionless eyes. 

He approached her step-by-step, then suddenly stomped hard on her face while roughly yanking her by her hair and pulling out a good amount of it . His force was so much that it not only pulled out her ever so soft and silky hair that once put the most expensive silk threads to shame, but with it pulled out a healthy amount of flesh from her scalp on one side and  broke her cheek bone at the same time. 

" AHHH!!! STOPPP!!! PLEASE!! I'M BEGGING YOU. WHAT HAVE I DONE TO YOU?? "she cried.

Her questioning words infuriated Xiao GoChang but he remained wordless. He grabbed the woman's swollen face digging metal claw that he wore on his fingertips. It immediately tore off her skin making large holes on her angelic face.

Xiao GoChang dragged her to the edge of the sundeck by her face , pulled out some more of hair and started to repeatedly smash her face on the steel railing. It was so fast and the force was so much that she barely registered what happened until she was thrown back on the floor and was groaning painfully.

Blood rushed out from her mouth and several of her front teeth were broken.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the end of her miseries but, only the beginning.

More..Much more..was yet to come.

Xiao GoChang went on to remove the metal claws from his fingertips and opened his suitcase for a scaple and a bottle filled with some liquid.

"UHH!!! UHHH!! " the woman kept crying in a muffed tone as she could no longer bear the torture or the pain.

With the scaple in hand he signaled the thugs to hold down her hands and legs. The thugs exchanged excited glances and wordlessly followed. Two men focused on pinning her wrists with their spiked boots while the other two grabbed an ankle each and twisted them like a twigs then pinning them with their spiked boots.

They were all mad...

Madness had possessed them all... 

"UHHHH!! AHHH!! "she screamed once again only to received a hard kick across her face that almost broke her jaws.

" HAHAHAHA !! Bravo Xiao GoChang!! Bravo!! You really know how to entertain my guests. " Complemented the man from the jacuzzi. His face was hidden under the pitch blackness. All that could be seen was his silhouette. He was clearly over joyed with the ongoing show.

Xiao GoChang didn't pay much attention to what the man in the jacuzzi said as he stabbed the scaple on the woman's left thigh and dragged it down towards her knees then poured a vial of liquid on the wound.

It was fresh acid..

She screamed and screamed as the acid burned her, begging for death . She prayed to the Gods to bring an end to her miseries. She could no longer stand it. She was willing to embrace death if it meant it would free her from this torture.

But Xiao GoChang didn't share the same thought nor did the man in the jacuzzi . Her screaming only kept pissing him off further and further. So, he once again Xiao GoChang grabbed the woman's by her face and whispered to her ears.

" Miss Lia...You could've saved yourself from this, yet you chose to offend the Xing family. That is your crime. NONE WHO OFFENDS THE XING FAMILY HAS A PEACEFUL ENDING. "

Just as he finished his words...

Tonnngggg !!

Crack!! Crack!! Crack!!

Sound of several bones cracking together echoed and a pool of blood appeared on the floor of the yacht.

Xiao GoChang smashed Lia's head on the heavy steel railings with a force enough to break her skull into pieces.

This time she didn't scream.

Tears streamed through her puffed eyes ever so silently. Black spots tinted her vision. She laid there like a lifeless puppet smeared in blood. In her mind, she managed to grasp Xiao GoChang's last sentence ' The Xing family. '

Blurry images crossed her eyes.

Rage consumed her heart and a kindle of revenge ingnited itself in her before everything finally came to an end for her or so she thought.