Hours pass before I finally stand up. Ying Yue has been gone for a long time, and I've just been sitting on my bed with this gnawing longing for power. The emotions I felt that day could've sent any man into a frenzy, yet here I am, wondering if what I felt was even real. I've never felt anything like it. I was always a man of control, someone with a clear head. Was I getting worse… or better?
I put a cap on my thoughts and lie down, staring at the ceiling with the blanket resting at my chest, my arms outside and at my sides. As my eyes shut, my mind begins to melt and spiral into a deep sleep. I was never one to fall into anything more than a light rest, always on edge — but tonight was different. In the endless void before me, a blinding shine cast itself upon me, as if I were closing my eyes and staring directly at the sun.
My arms reached out for something in front of me, something my body seemed to crave. A power, a presence, some being that filled my sleeping body with a strange vigour. The radiant light grew brighter as a symphony began to play. Even in that trance, even under the weight of that deep slumber, the beautiful piece cut through everything.
I felt a weight on my legs. Even unconscious, I felt everything clearly, in an almost soothing way. The devil himself sat on my bed, his right leg draped over mine in a contorted pose, playing a violin — yet somehow pianos and harps accompanied his performance. Something so beautiful and harmonic, played by the very embodiment of evil.
I woke in a cold sweat, my heart threatening to burst out of my chest. My mouth was dry, coated with the taste of stale saliva; I could feel the enamel on my teeth, the wrinkles of my sheets pressed into my back. I shot upright, grasping at the air in front of me as if tackling something — only to be met with nothing. And that was how it should be. In my most dire moments, this was what I deserved. Nothing more.
"LU BU! WAKE UP, SIR!" a distant voice screamed, echoing from several floors below. Pure agony and fear twisted themselves into the cry — not a shout, not a call, but the sound of something dying. The sick slicing of flesh followed as I burst out of my room, panting as I gripped the guard rail and looked down into the entrance hall. Blood soaked the rug and tiles below.
"IS IT YOU!?" I roared, anger and frustration tearing through me, vengeance already pulsing in my veins. Even with the sun pouring through the windows, all I felt was darkness clouding my vision.
"Lu Bu! I have come for you!" the man called out — calm, yet loud enough to reach me. A declaration. A hunt.
I slammed my fist into the railing. Stone shattered, tumbling several meters down before exploding on impact. The echo rattled my skull. I stepped forward and dropped into the hall — a fall high enough to kill an ordinary man — but the ground buckled and burst beneath me instead. Rising from my hunched state, I opened my eyes and stared toward the voice, speaking with the tone of a father scolding a son.
"Your life is not yours anymore, Zhao Yelang. You've stepped into the beginning of your end…"