The Morning After
Your head hurts. Pounding from the inside, as if something is trying to escape your skull. You open your eyes. The light blinds you, causing you to squint, to hold up your hand to blot it out. It is already day. Coughing, you pull yourself up, your back sliding painfully against the rough wall. Every bone in your body is aching. It had been a rough night… night?
You clutch your head, trying to recall the events of the night before. You remember little.
The Sword Demon had approached, and you had met him in battle. You recall mirroring his techniques, his ability, his strength. Turning his own weapons upon him. You had been drawn into the frenetic fight, revelling in the excitement and the bloodshed. Losing yourself in battle, giving all you had over to it. That was the only way to win. To crush your opponent in a direct confrontation. Wasn’t that your style?
When Jian Yixiao lay lifeless in the center of the ruined courtyard, atop the pebbles and the grass, you stood over him and removed his mask.
Just a man, after all.
The agonizing pulse throbbing in your head intensifies. Letting out a groan, you sink back to the cobbled ground, attempting to beat back the pain. After you had defeated the Sword Demon, you had decided to leave immediately for some reason, and everything after that is a hazy mess. The one thing that you do remember, however, is that you took his swords. The Chixiao and Qixing Longyuan swords. No one had attempted to stop you. As for how you ended up in this dirty alleyway, you have no idea.
The sun grows stronger, rising further above your head. You let out a huge sigh as the headache subsides. Getting to your feet, you wrap the swords tightly in your grasp and stumble off, your footing still unsure. You have to make your way back to the inn. The others must be worried. Last night was truly a close shave; if you had been any less quick, any less skilled, the corpse left behind in Zhou Manor would have been you instead.
A fragment of a question floats into your mind.
It was… yes, something that Jian Yixiao had asked, when you were battling him across the rooftop. In between the fierce slashes and powerful blows, he had said something.
Why do you fight?
You do not remember if you answered that question out loud, or if you merely thought the answer. You do not even remember your answer. A stinging pain shoots up your spine and right into your brain, and you almost fall over. It is strange. Why are you thinking so hard about that question? It is an easy question. You have no doubts about the answer. You have always been certain, right? The answer has always been one thing and one thing only. There is only one sane answer you can give to such a question.
***
A. For the Empire.
B. For the Emperor.
C. For the people.
D. For the sake of fighting.
E. For great justice.
F. For power.
G. For the swords.
H. For those that depend on you.
I. For those that you love.
J. For the person you love.
K. For everything.
L. For nothing at all.