Black Butterfly Knot

Chapter 1: A Taste of Fear

The leaves in a nearby bush tremble slightly. Ying Ru's breath stalls in her throat and her hands ball into fists. Her whole body is shaking in fear. This isn't the first time, but each time, she manages to be frightened half to Hell and back. 

Like a blade of lightning, a pure white silhouette streaks across the clearing over her head. 

So it did find her. She was never such a fast runner anyways. They find her. They always do.

What was a large white fox one minute has now assumed the form of a woman. Her fluttering garments, clean and white like untimely snow, settles to the ground around her feet. Her face is pale and her entire body gives off a sense of deceptive beauty. If Ying Ru wasn't about to be made into thisjing's meal, she would surely compliment this unearthly beauty in front of her. She's always been a shallow girl.

"That was a tiring chase, little girl." The woman muses, sarcasm and grace intermingling perfectly in her voice.

Ying Ru doesn't reply to the comment, choosing instead to analyze her chances of escaping by dividing the space between the fox and herself to the time it would take for her to successfully cast the dispelling curse. 

"Wha-what do you want from me?" Ying Ru cowardly asks. She might as well make her death an explained one. 

"I should ask you why you are running from me." The fox takes a step towards the frightened Ying Ru. "Let's just say, you don't appeal to my eyes. Is that good enough?"

Ying Ru sighs. Unsatisfying, her life must be a joke. Even the jing that pursue her can't answer her last dying question. 

Any jing with a decent standing can feel that Ying Ru is a weakling. She can tell that the one standing before probably had a century or two under her belt. She can just imagine her potential. No, she can practically see it with her naked eyes, the qi surrounding the white figure (Qi, pronounced 'chi', is energy. There is many type of energies, but the ones addressed in this story are life qi and the accumulated qi which would allow for someone to become immortal through various ways). Can she outrun this one? No, it doesn't seem too possible. She can probably stall it if she can successfully cast that spell and escape by a hairsbreadth, but even chances of that is slim beyond hope. Why, why did she have to forget to ask Master for a few extra talismans this morning before going into the city? It's all her own fault. She has nobody to blame but herself for landing in this situation. 

"Let's not beat around the bush. If you want my life, just come and get it." Ying Ru decides to just wing it. There isn't much she can do at this point anyways. 

"That sounds good." The fox agreed. Its body language and tone is saturated with grace, making it all the more obvious who had the confidence.

Ying Ru breathed heavily. Her fingers have become stiff from holding onto it for so long. One last talisman, it's all out of her hands if this one ends up wasted or not. She can feel the sweat from her hands passing onto the light, waxy surface of the yellow paper. She can feel the change in atmosphere immediately as the talisman made it's appearance. She can feel that the fox was slightly taken aback. 

Maybe Ying Ru was not as defenseless as she first came off. Why did she run though? Was it a ploy to lead the pursuing jing to a secluded area so as to make the attack more effective? Only Ying Ru can answer that.

"A talisman." The fox states the obvious. She's waiting for Ying Ru to make a move and at the meantime must be wondering where she could've gotten it. Not many know how to craft a proper talisman these days. More correctly, not many left. It's somewhat of an abandoned occupation. There simply isn't much need for this sort of craft. Who would feel that jing are a threat if they aren't known to attack? When was the last time a conflict involving more than one realm happened for that matter? Humans fight amongst themselves all the time for petty reasons, but they are strong in that they can quickly overcome disputes and band together. The jing are the opposite. It is a dead cause for jing to start conflict with humans. Therefore, talismans are nearly obsolete items except to the most insecure souls.