Guardian 镇魂 Fic - Future Forged

Chapter 1

Once, a Haixingian priest had cast animal bones into fire and said that the Black-Cloaked Envoy would not win the war alone.

During the foretelling, Shen Wei stared at the bones as if he could will the cracks to take a different path under the heat of his gaze. A twitch of his fingers would make the flames reignite—and perhaps, carve out a new destiny.

But he didn't. He felt a wave of crushing defeat, and all he could think was: he had lost fellow warriors - he had defended villages - he had slain enemy rebels - and these lines on that broken fragment divined this?

Ma Gui pulled Shen Wei aside and told him to have faith, that the tides of war would turn in their favor.

"We will win, Lord Envoy," Ma Gui told him, with hope in his eyes that was less than certain.

Then the Hallows were stolen. Rebels attacked Shen Wei's unit and nearly slaughtered them all. Some of his best soldiers were drastically wounded, beyond the help of Yashou medicine.

Then Lord Kunlun saved his life.

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"Brother Ma Gui," Zhao Yunlan says, twirling a lollipop between his fingertips, "I wish you had the courage to confess to the lovely Sister Fu You. You helped her with the sacred wood! I'm sure that she does return your affections, even if her focus is on her current duties."

Ma Gui clears his throat. He says, "You were hardly summoned for your matchmaking advice," and looks pointedly at the books and papers laid out in front of them.

They had been spending the past few days trying to find ways to track down the stolen Hallows. This cavern is a mess of cluttered shelves and tables. Flickered torchlight throws haphazard shadows across the rocky walls. Ma Gui is bent over his desk, rapidly flipping pages, while Zhao Yunlan lounges on another chair, limbs splayed wide as he sucks a lemon-flavored lollipop.

Zhao Yunlan holds back a sigh. The texts are written in ancient script, which makes them a pain to decipher, and he can feel a headache coming on after reading a couple of pages. He had thought that time traveling to the past would involve more action, not research notes and reports about the Hallows and the meteorite collision.

You would think that four powerful artifacts would have been made with a handy, easily accessible GPS feature in mind.

Zhao Yunlan says, "You and Sister Fu You helped create the Hallows, didn't you? Shouldn't you know how to find them without all this hassle?"

"We did," Ma Gui acknowledges. "But there was a third who made the Hallows with us. A Dixingian inventor and former general. He was more familiar with the details, because he channeled his abilities and specialties into the Hallows. I was hoping to find an explanation in the notes he left behind, but..." He frowns.

"Why don't you ask him?"

"We had a... disagreement."

"Ah." That sounds like a sensitive subject.

But, Zhao Yunlan muses, that explains the absence of a clear Dixingian leader. There isn't a Dixingian king or Justiciar here - only Shen Wei, who must have been expected to step up as the Dixingian prime delegate in the missing general's place. It seems rather unfair. Shen Wei is younger than Ma Gui and Fu You and he doesn't seem to have their years of wisdom and leadership.

Zhao Yunlan thinks of the sadness in Shen Wei's eyes when he spoke of losing his warriors.

Zhao Yunlan rolls his lollipop stick between his fingers, and artfully changes the subject. "I do have experience on the subject of love, however. It requires persistence and patience and a touch of sweetness."