Chapter 1: Disaster In Wù Zhèn
-Yunlan-
After a long journey, no one could blame Zhao Yunlan, Captain of the famous airship called Black Fury, for having a well-deserved drink in the most prominent casino in Wù Zhèn. Just paying the entrance was quite expensive, but the entertainment was quite something out of the world, for both humans and beasts alike, as the middle country was a safe heaven for mixing, as they were called.
He loved to live in that part of the world, in which he could enjoy the diversity of two spices and what they could offer to one another in peace. The other two countries were too caught up in their prejudice and war, to find any real entertainment in them.
He merrily walked around the place, enjoying the energetic music, glancing at the different shows offered by the difrent kinds of beast and humans, as well as the games, but as he was quite tired, he decided to enter the bar and ask for a drink, that could knock him out for a while. He had a few sleepless nights under his belt, so entering the world of oblivion was his ultimate goal, and that wonderful place, offered him just that and more.
"Ah, this is heaven on earth…" Zhao whisper to himself, as he drank the exquisite liquid, which felt hot when going down his throat. Then he asked for a few more, as time was too precious to him to be wasted. He had an hour limit to spend in that heaven, because his crew will be dragging him out after that, in whatever state they find him.
He watched the nearest show for the first half hour, politly refusing drinks other men offered him. He was well known for liking hot men, but he was quite selective, because not just anyone will do for him. Then decided he needed some fresh air and walked to the balcony area, in wish he could have a nice view or the night sky. Above, the infinite void of shining stars was a beautiful sight, but as he looked down, to where the mist river was, he notice some blue flashes of light, which didn't belong to the casino, but to something else entirely, probably to a fight between drunkards, with some magical powers.
It was not an unusual sight in such a place, but as the flashes soon begin to came closer, he realize it was not the typical fight of men or beasts with a few drinks on their veins, but an ambush. A well-coordinated one that could only be related to imperials, for the country of humans. At first, he thought it was a kind of forbidden raid, as imperials were not allowed in Yě Hùn, but when the mist cleared long enough for him to had a better view, he saw a group of royal assassin's going against a single sword master, who was clearly more than a simple human.
The casino was located at the top of a set of natural rock pillars rised hundreds of meters above the mist river, but the sword master, dressed in black and red was jumping up from one rock to another, as he sent waves of lighting magic below him to his pursuers.
In a matter of seconds, Zhao was momentarily mesmerized by the sight of the young man with long hair, as he keep jumping up, making his heart race like hell inside his chest and even more so, when he finally jumped toward his balcony and looked at him for the fraction of a second, with deep red eyes that stole his heart completely. Then, he moved pass him, with an injured arm that was bleeding profusely.
"Wait!!!" Zhao found himself yelling after him, but he was already inside. In that moment, instinct took over him and he chase after the stranger before the imperials came to finish him off and cause a disaster in his favorite casino. He found him soon enough, as the trace of blood he was leaving behind was unmistakable and easy to follow. The casino was full and most people too busy to notice the injured man walking toward the main door. He extended his hand to put it over the shoulders of the young master, when a blast coming from the balcony sent flying pieces of it all over the place and the group of assassins puppets stormed in.
Surprise, screams and panic reigned almost immediately inside the casino, as the costumers saw the imperial assassins, which wasted no time to kill everything that came in their way. Zhao only had enough time to grab the seriously injured handsome sword master and pull him away from the scared to hell crowd, which run toward the exit for dear life.
"What are you doing? Leave me or you will be killed along with me…" The young man said, pushing Zhao away from him, just to be sized again and pulled behind a big dragon statue.
"Don't get me wrong, but I'm not the kind of person who leaves an injured man, let alone a handsome one, to his own fate when seriously injured. I may not be an expert at fighting, but I can help getting you out of this place. Besides, imperials are forbidden in this lands, so getting rid of them is our duty to keep our country free of interference." Zhao said winking at the stranger, which was stoned for a second, before smiling to his strike of luck, because he knew now the man that had so gallantry offer to save him.
Slender, tall and quite handsome, dresed in dark gray and black with short black hair, a flaming sword, which he just took it out of its hilt, a shameless lover of handsome men and protector of the weak. He could only be the one he was looking for and the reason he had enter the casino despite being followed.
"So you are the famous Zhao Yunlan, captain of the Black Fury…" The stranger said, which took Zhao by surprise.
"Do I know you?" Zhao asked, now seriously looking at him. He was sure he had never met such a gorgeous man before, not even in his most dirty dreams, which were too many lately.
"Not really… I was looking for you before I was ambush by the…" A sword came down between them and both of them acted in defense. Zhao was not a full master in swordsmanship, but he knew enough to keep himself alive, even against imperial assassins. He acted guided by instinct, blocking the coming blows with his famous flaming sword in fast moves and avoiding the ice magic coming his way.
The handsome stranger was also fighting back, although with an injured arm, it was becoming harder to block and use stronger magic. Still, he keep an eye on Zhao Yunlan, which was his only hope to reaching his goal of finding that which would save the world from the coming fall, most people knew nothing about. He moved with mastery, using lighting when he couldn't avoid in time a coming sword, but as his opponents were skilled, and he was constantly losing blood, making him a bit dizzy, he found himself missing someone who came from behind.
Expecting the pain and perhaps a fatal blow, he embrace himself for the worst, but just before the sword touched his back, it was blocked by someone else, a woman with short hair and hypnotizing eyes. She half smiled at him, just before she pushed away the assassin with a hard kick.
"Who are you?" The stranger asked her.
"Zhu Hong, a member of the Black Fury crew, nice to meet you, handsome." She winked at him.
"Hey! I saw him first!" Zhao yelled, as his assassin turned into a cloud of smoke when pierced by his scarlet sword.
"In your dreams Zhao Yunlan, he is too good for you…" She said as her spear pierced another one.
"We'll see about that… is the ship ready to leave?" Zhao asked, jumping to avoid a pile of ice.
"Of course, why else I would be here fighting imperial puppets? Ah… the guards are coming up too…" She added.
"Well, that's my cue to go… you come with me." Zhao said, once again taking the stranger by his good arm and forcing him to run after him, back to the half destroyed balcony with Zhu taking care of the assassins coming their way.
"Hold on to me, we will talk about why you are looking for me latter…" Zhao said.
"Wait, I can..." However, Zhao didn't wait for the rest of his apparent complain, as he embraced him tightly and right after he jumped to the mist below, in what looked like a free fall, but soon black wings came out of his back and extended to their full glory, to halt their descend. An airship, of an intense obsidian black, was waiting for them a bit below, the well known Black Fury.
"So, you are a winged one…" The stranger said on his ear, as he looked at Zhao's beautiful wings.
"Me and her, I hope you don't mind. Yě Hùn is a country of mixings, after all." The stranger smiled.
"Not at all, I'm only half human myself…" He said, once again feeling dizzy.
"I thought so, just a bit ago your eyes were red and now they are dark brown. You also have quite the fever, because your skin is way too hot… were you poison before coming here?" Zhao asked just before softly landing on the airship deck, still holding the handsome stranger in his arms.
"You truly deserve your reputation, Zhao Yunlan. You are indeed quite good at judging at first sight. Sorry for the trouble, but I'm may pass out on you for a while…"
"Oh, not now… I need to know which poison and at least your name…" Zhao asked as a few other members of his crew came up and Zhu landed at their side.
"It's Shen Wei… and I don't need antidotes… just a few hours of rest for my body to get over it…" Shen said already feeling the coming void.
"Chu, tell Lin to go now, as fast as we can toward the capital."
"Not the capital… anywhere else but there. They will follow me no matter where I go… I don't want to start an unwanted war and I'm sure neither do you."
"Alright then, to the maze of caves in the north…" Zhao said, as he took the weakening Shen Wei on his arms, bridal style, making Shen intensely blush in embarrassment.
"Zhao Yunlan, put me down, I can still walk..." Shen protested, as he passed his good arm over Zhao's shoulders for more support.
"Nope, you are now an injured guest in this airship. It's my duty to take care of you. Save your protest for when I heal that wound of yours, because both my ship and my clothes are turning bloody red."
"My apologies..." Shen whisper before closing his eyes and resting his head in the curve of his neck. Zhao started to walk toward the stairs when Chu intercept him.
"You have to be kidding me… just less than an hour there and you are already looking for troubles?" Chu protested.
"Call it fate, he was already looking for me, what else am I suppose to do? Let the imperials kill him right in front of me? Zhu, get back inside and bring some cold water to my sleeping quarter. Hurry…"
"But Zhao, he is right, they will follow him and we know nothing of why, he could be a wanted criminal for all we know." Zhao smiled devilry.
"You know I have a gift to judge at first sight and he is probably a member of the royal family and I mean our country royal family. About the imperials, let them try it. No imperial airship will ever catch up to us, right?" Zhu laughed.
"Nope, that would tarnish our good reputation. Alright, put him in bed, I know you are dying to do so…" She teased.
"Hey, I'm not that perverted." Zhao said, leaving her behind, but internally he couldn't deny that the prince in his arms will definitely look quite good on his bed, with his long hair sprayed all over his pillow… Ah, damn, he was already fantasizing with a complete stranger. Maybe he was spending too much time with his crazy crew and none in a serious relationship in the last few years.
"Alright, Shen Wei, let's lower that fever of yours before hearing your story, which I'm sure will be quite interesting." Zhao whisper as he manage to open the door to his room and put the injured prince over his messed bed. He look for some towels, to use to lower his fever and clean his wound and sit by him to inspect it.
He cut the sleeve of his black robe and saw the deep cut, which was turning dark at the border, but the poison didn't advance as it should in someone else, which only make him believe he was indeed a prince. Then, he begin healing it with his own magic. As he concentrated, Zhu came in with a basin of cold water and put it on a nearby table.
"Will he be alright?" She asked.
"The wound is healing fine, but his fever will take sometime to lower. Are we being chased?" Zhao asked, sensing the airship take speed.
"Yep, two ships so far, so this may turn up to be a bit ugly."
"I trust my crew can handle imperial airships. They can't keep up for long. Even I can be scared at the way Lin flies this ship. Just use the magic shield in case they try to take us down." Zhao said finishing with the wound.
"Okay... I will leave him to you then." Zhu said, coming out. Zhao try not to admired Shen Wei's chest, as he open his upper robes to pass the wet towel over his feverish white skin.
"You are not taking advantage of me, right?" Zhao hear Wei whisper half opening his eyes and he smiled.
"Don't worry, I just wished I could..." He joked.
"So you truly are shameless, like the rumours says..."
"Not with everyone, just the few I come to truly like." He said, moving to give him a glass of water along with some pills for the fever.
"Thank you... I know I'm putting you, along with your crew at risk."
"This is not our first time dealing with imperials, nor with a member of the royal family." Shen closed his eyes at that and sighed.
"So you know who I am?" Shen whisper.
"I can guess you are probably the third prince. Only members of the royalty are immune to all kind of poisons, more so when carrying dragon blood." Shen suddenly sat on his bed, despite the room spinning inside his head.
"Zhao Yunlan, please help me save this world..." Wei whisper at the same time the ship suddenly moved to one side, making Shen fall forward to Zhao, which held him tightly.
"From what?" Zhao asked, still holding him as the ship moved again in the opposite direction, making both fall backward and Zhao over Shen in the bed. As he locked gaze with the sick beauty, Shen whisper what he always thought it was both a legend and a forbidden word.
"From the falling of the Yěshòu Shù..." The falling of the magical beast tree, which was sealed somewhere unreachable in the sky, because if its roots ever touched ground it will suck out the lives of pretty much everyone on earth in a matter of hours.
AN: Thanks for reading, slow updates. This was done for those who can't get enough of our lovely Weilan couple. This is based on an amazing Chinese adventure movie, that I came to love, although twisted on my own way.
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