In Rei Zhan's narration...
There were countless things I never wanted in life. For one, I never wanted to be born into a family of killers. I never wanted to know how to kill someone with one chop. Most of all, I never wanted to live but take another's life. But still, God allowed it, so I have trust that this is all for the better. But how?
If I had the chance to pick the family I'd be born into, there would be no way I would choose Lixin Zhan and Yu Zhan, deadly assassins, as my parents. Even so, it wasn't for me to decide.
My family were composed of serial killers - assassins. They kill just for pleasure and for money. All of my family members are murderers. My parents and older siblings killed more than fifty innocent people by themselves. They loved to see the weak suffer. They hunger for the smell of blood. Most of all, they live to kill. They were all the same.
My little sister Iyah and I had always been the odd ones out.
"You'd see, lad," my father once told me. "You'd understand us one day. Try to kill one, just one, and you'll see how satisfying it is to see their agony. Once you smell blood, you'd get the kick. Killing is in your blood."
I was only ten years old, and Iyah was four. I remember being forced to learn how to break a neck with one swipe. The idea horrified me.
"I don't want to be an assassin!" I yelled at my parents.
"We're doing you a favour, my love, by training you." my mother said. "In life, it's either kill or be killed. Which do you choose?"
"Neither! Life isn't about that. There is more to it than killing. I want to be something else."
"Well, wait 'til you're sixteen, and then you can leave and do anything you want. But for now, as long as you're under this roof, you'll do as we say. Now bring me the knives - I'll teach you some tricks."
And just like that, I learned how to throw knives. I practised it every day and refused to master anything else. While my three older siblings learned atrocious 'talents,' I stuck on with knives. Iyah followed in my footsteps and practised only knife throwing. She was always by my side. Through the years, we trained until we were as good as the best knife thrower in China.
After six years, I was finally able to leave home. I promised Iyah I would bring her with me.
My parents prepared a special dinner for me on my sixteenth birthday. They ordered me to keep out of the kitchen and dining room, so I stayed on my bedroom balcony, gazing at the sky above and dreaming of the many adventures I would share with my little sister - while unbeknownst to me, something unpleasant was brewing in the kitchen.
'Oh, father, please don't do this!' Iyah pleaded.
'What can you do about it, little lass?' her father, Lixin Zhan, said. Iyah ran to her mother, who was stirring a stew while her father was mixing odd things into a vial.
'Please, Ma,' Iyah begged. 'Rei Zhan would hate himself. He never dreamed of killing anyone.'
'We're doing it for his good, darling,' stated Yu Zhan. 'This is our last and final shot. We'll show him the pleasure of killing, won't we, Pa?'
'Yes, my sweet, black heart, we will.' Lixin replied.
Iyah watched her parents as sadness and terror filled her lightning-grey eyes.
'Ma, please, stop.' she cried.
'Oh, be off with you, you little varmint.' her father yelled in annoyance. Iyah towards the door, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.
'Wait!' Lixin called out to Iyah. She stopped. 'You will tell no one of this plan. If you do, I'll kill both you and your brother.'
"Oh, brother," Iyah said as she entered my room, pulling me back to reality from my daydreams. I turned to look behind me.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Forget leaving tomorrow morning. Let's leave tonight before dinner."
"Why?" I asked, perplexed. "We should pay our respects to Ma and Pa. It'd be rude to leave now."
"It's terrible, just terrible," she whispered, crying.
"What is?"
"I can't tell you. Pa said I shouldn't, lest he kills both of us."
"It's probably a surprise. Don't tell me, then. Let's both enjoy this beautiful sunset and dream of the adventures we both will have."
But Iyah didn't. She continued crying and whimpering non-stop. How I wish I had done what she said. I wish we had run away that very moment. But - no. I stayed for dinner, and I regretted it.
"Let us all toast in honour of my son!" my father stated at dinner time as he handed me a glass. "To a great life and many adventures!"
My parents and older siblings held their glasses up, and I did the same. I wish I had noticed the sinister glint in their eyes. I wish I had seen my father's murderous glare on Iyah as she watched me in horror. The last thing I remember was that I sipped the drink and felt pain in my throat, stomach, and head. I couldn't recall what happened next.
The next thing I knew, I woke up in prison, dejected. Alone. I screamed for the guards to let me out, but they just laughed, saying that I was sentenced to ten years in prison for killing more than thirty innocent people.
"What? I didn't do anything!" I cried defiantly.
"Would you look at yourself before saying that?" Haitao, the guard, said, pointing at my clothes.
I gasped in terror as I looked down and discovered I was covered in blood. My claws, arms, clothes - everything is stained with blood. The smell made me nauseous.
"You were in a killing rampage, don't you remember? Killing ten families in under an hour - singlehandedly," he explained, laughing, then shook his head in disgust. "You're even better, or if I may say worse, than your parents. After an hour, your energy seemed to have run out. One of the Kung Fu Masters caught you and effortlessly laid a blow on you that rendered you unconscious. Cleaning up the bodies was the worst of all..."
I stopped up my ears, not wanting to hear more. Unknowingly killing the innocent was bad enough - I didn't want to know how I did.
For years, I stayed in prison. Never really knowing what had happened. Every morning, I wake up from nightmares that haunted me throughout the day - killing, blood, and knives. It drove me insane.
In the sixth year of my imprisonment, I received a letter from Iyah. I wondered why it took her so long to write to me.
It was written on her sixteenth birthday and delivered on a self-same day.
My dear brother,
I've missed you so much. I wish I could see you now, but Pa won't let me - at least not yet! I turned sixteen today!
Six years ago, on your sixteenth birthday, I wish I had told you that Pa had added 'something' to your drink. It drove you mad, and it's all my fault. I should have told you no matter the consequences, but fear overwhelmed me. I should not have let it happen. Forgive me, brother.
Just like you, I haven't given up on my dreams. I will never be an assassin, never! I'm still following the footsteps you left just for me.
Forgive me that I haven't written sooner. Pa had forbidden me not to. But, now, I'm sending you this, for tomorrow, I'll be free. I promise, one day, we'll have our own adventures, just like you told me. Someday, let's meet again when the chains that bind you finally set you free.
I'll love you always, Rei Zhan.
Your ever-loving sister,
Iyah Zhan
I hadn't heard any more from my sister after that.
Two years passed, and the Emperor placed a bounty on my parent's and older siblings' heads. It was sad to hear that they were dead. My family was terrible to Iyah and me, but still, they were my family.
After staying for ten years in prison, I was finally set free. I immediately sought my sister. But I never found her.
"She's gone," our old maid-servant told me, shaking her head. "
She killed herself on her sixteenth birthday after knowing that her parents would make her drink the potion that made you, Rei Zhan, mad. She wrote you a letter before she died. Iyah told me,
'I'd rather die than kill one person. At least I'll be free,'
After that, she locked herself in her room."
The maid-servant's words shocked me.
I fell into a depression. To me, without Iyah, there was no more reason to live.
I cluelessly roamed China, going here and there. I never knew where I was until I reached a volcano, where I found a lair. The last thing I knew, I was face-to-face with a beast. I looked into its eyes, and the world turned dark. I could hear his voice in my mind, echoing and echoing.
The next thing I knew, I was again in prison, never knowing what I had done. I would rather stay here forever than go outside and cause trouble.
I look forward to seeing Iyah again, once the chains of my life finally set me free.