1 Fu Hua

'People says that you can recall all your memories at the moment of death; before you go to the other side. Although, I haven't experienced it yet, it's one of my worst fear. Not death itself, but the memories.' - Fu Hua

"Another day without suffocating in my sleep or having a heart attack," he sighed as he got up from his worn out bed. The bed looked as if it had been there for ages. "At least, I can try to find something else to do today," an old and raspy voice came out of his mouth as he groaned.

Fu Hua; an old man whose real age is known by nobody. His eyes are as if the eyes of dead fish; with his soul already sucked out of them. His appearance was awful as a nauseating smell surrounded him. He didn't even remember the last time he bathed.

He lived alone in a shack in the middle of nowhere. Everyone in the neighboring villages called him "Old Magician" due to his appearance and his..., only-God-knew that age. He scoffed at the ideas of these peasants. Nobody knew where he came from. All they heard from the peasant's elders was that he came here one day and built that shack over one night.

He liked going on strolls, no, heck, all he did was go for strolls. He had nothing else to do other than playing this thing that everyone was crazy about with the local merchant. Chess, they called it.

Once he stepped out of his shack, he stretched for a bit and ran his gaze over the endless fields in front of his house, "Still the same, old grass. Can't expect anything to change overnight," he said softly before going on to his usual routine.

20 minutes later.

"Checkmate!"

"Oh goddamnit! Not again." Fu Hua sighed, while the fat lady across the table put on a triumphant smile, "Humph! Just give up Old Magi, you can't beat me in this game no matter how many times you try." She looked at his expression sneakily but was disappointed to see the same old expression on Old Magi's face. "I guess you're right," he said.

The old lady panicked, "Oi! Oi! I was just joking. You can beat me if you try harder though," she flexed her non-existent muscles as she tried to encourage Old Magi. Her name is Mei An, the merchant from the village.

The game that they played, Chess, was also brought by Mei An from a nearby village. She has been crazy, going around asking people if they wanted to play a round of chess for money. She never tried to gamble with Old Magi though, he was already miserable enough and she wasn't that hungry for money either.

She was only curious about this Old Magi as he was really mysterious. Not even her parents knew when he came to reside in the shack that he does. Heck, she doesn't even know his real name. She calls him 'Old Magi' as that is what everyone else calls him.

Old Magi looked at her and gave a little smile as he waved, "One day you old hag." This shocked Mei, "Heh! So you are able to smile after all..and Oi, Who are you calling an old hag huh?"

"My apologies," says old magi as he shrunk back, regretting what he said.

"Hmph, it's alright. Oh! Look at the time; I have to go back and visit my parents. Well, this was fun Old magi. Until next time," she bowed before she left.

Old Magi just watched her leave, and after some time he got up and went to the nearby town to find something else to do.

After some distance on his way to the town, he hears a baby crying. Curious about what a baby was doing on the road, he walked to the source of the cries. What awaits him is a broken carriage with several decapitated dead bodies on the ground.

He looks at the carriage and saw someone trying to kill the baby. But before that man could do that, his body froze. Seeing an old man looking at him with an expressionless face, he tried to scream at the old man. But before he could do that, his head got beheaded and fell on the ground.

Fu Hua sighed, "Human nature never changes, does it?" he looked at the corpses of the two females and one male. And then, he looked at the baby who had stopped crying and was staring at him with curiosity. "Child, they must be your parents huh! Why aren't you crying over them? Why did you stop?" he asks, only to find the baby giggling at him. "Hmph, this ought to be interesting."

After burying the bodies of the parents, and feeding the bandits unconscious body to a stray dog, he picks up the baby. When he touched the baby, his face was filled with shock. He noticed Spiritual Energy inside the baby's body. For the first time in God knows how many years, the Old Magi smiled sincerely, "hoo~ This is a surprise. This might get me entertained for a while."