In the background, chains can be heard rattling softly.
Dim flickering lights in the prison hallway do little more than illuminate dark stone walls. Silence fills the hallway, interrupted only by echoes of footsteps walking down it. Two men walk together. One man walks confidently, while the other has difficulty walking.
"Captain," the assistant said quietly and cautiously as he extended a very large, well-used book over to the Captain.
The Captain did not stop when he took the book from his assistant's hands. This is Mae Yongsun, Commander of the Dark Division 6th Squad.
The captain flipped through the pages, scanning each name, each crime, each pending sentence. With each turned page, there were more and more names of murderers, traitors, and a few people who pretended to be human.
"There are quite a few on this list, assistant," Mae Yongsun stated as he continued to leaf through the pages of the book.
He turned another page.
"Yushin."
The assistant stood up straight.
"Yes, Captain?"
After lingering a moment longer on Yushin's name, he continued.
"The crimes committed by these individuals are beyond all limits of reason."
Mae Yongsun gently closed the book with a soft thud.
"Is that all or are there more criminals," he asked, without lifting his head.
Yushin quickly confirmed.
"Yes, sir; there is actually one more."
As they moved deeper into the prison, their footfalls reverberated off the walls.
"And we are getting close to the cell," he said.
Mae Yongsun did not say anything. They came to a narrow hallway where iron bars were replacing the stone walls, and at the end of that hallway was a solitary cell. And inside this solitary cell was a solitary prisoner. Yushin stopped walking.
"This is the prisoner," he said.
Mae Yongsun raised his eyes so he could see the prisoner in the cell. With his head slightly bowed and his arms bound with chains, he appeared to be very uncooperative. He narrowed his eyes at the prisoner.
"This is the one you speak of?" he asked again.
"Yes, sir," Yushin replied.
After a long moment, Mae stepped forward, and a very soft metallic sound could be heard as he reached into his uniform for a key. The cell door unlocked.
"What are you doing, Captain?" Yushin asked in a confused voice.
Mae Yongsun didn't immediately speak. His stare was on the man who had been chained to the wall of a cell. He was standing directly in front of the man.
"What's his name?" he asked.
There was a moment of silence in the cell before the answer finally came.
"Hmmm. Oh yes, Captain. He is a man named Assad Amore," Yushin said.
Yushin had finished speaking, and as soon as the name left his lips, Mae Yongsun's eyes instantly hardened.
"The Amore Clan created its own cultivation technique from nothing. Amore Clan?" he asked; the tone of his voice was shifted to a lower pitch; to a more serious tone.
"That is correct, Captain," Yushin confirmed.
There was again a moment of silence; however, this silence felt heavier than before. Mae Yongsun's gaze returned to the man in chains, Assad Amore.
'The Amore Clan... How did they have a son? If I remember, the Clan Head only had one child, an 18 year old daughter. There are no other recorded heirs... that I am aware of... even from branch families.'
Mae Yongsun stared longingly at Assad for a long time before he moved, closing the gap in one step; before grabbing Assad's chin and holding his face up towards him with one hand. The small amount of inner chi that was beginning to build up in his palm, was sent from Mae Yongsun's hand into Assad. The continued search yielded nothing in the way of Qi. After a few moments of searching, he showed that he had failed to locate it.
Mae Yongsun squinted his eyes in disbelief, using every bit of power he had, only to fail again. He released the tension that was in his hands during his failed attempts, only stepping back an additional two feet away from him.
"Like I expected," Mae Yongsun said and Yushin blinked in confused response.
"Captain?"
Mae Yongsun straightened his posture, and returned to his normal expression of calm indifference.
"He's not part of the Amore clan."
"What do you mean?" asked Yu Shins.
Mae Yongsun briefly glanced back at Assad, before answering Yushin's question.
"I could not sense any Qi from him. Not even a drop."
Yushin's eyes widened a little at this response and then he studied the body of Assad for another time with a much calmer and analytical gaze.
"And even so, the way in which his body is put together doesn't support this idea that he lacks Qi., He has very controlled breathing. He is standing straight and erect. He is well trained in martial arts."
Yushin frowned as he was now visibly uncomfortable with this new information and Mae Yongsun turned slightly to Yushin and asked, "What is the sentence?"
Yushin paused for just a moment before saying, "According to emperor shim Ju won... he probably will receive the death penalty. Especially after what took place at the Seventh Grand Auction ."
Again Yushin and Mae Yongsun fell quiet in the cell. Mae Yongsun did not speak, but he did continue to stare at Assad. Mae Yongsun stood there for a second.
"That won't work," he said.
Yushin blinked.
"Excuse me?"
Mae Yongsun's eyes never left Assad's. Unwavering, calculating.
"This boy…might be useful," he said slowly.
Yushin's face switched quickly.
"Helpful?" he asked.
Mae Yongsun did not turn completely, just slightly to have a glance at Yushin.
"Do you recall what the First Squad commander told us at the meeting?"
Yushin froze. His mind raced back momentarily. A dark room, a long table, commanders sitting in silence, and one statement above all others, his eyes opened wide;
"You don't mean..."
He looked back to Assad; looked back to Mae Yongsun.
"Captain, do you really think this prisoner could be included in the group?"
Mae Yongsun did not respond right away. He first looked at Assad as something other than a criminal, a work in progress.
"We will see."
[End Of Volume One: The First Breach]