Deep in the mountain woods, in the dead of night, a man with long black hair covering half his face which hides a nasty burn scar and wearing bloodstained clothes ran down the slope, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.
"HUFF... HUFF... HUFF..."
He was exhausted and pale, his skin drained from near-fatal blood loss.
His clothes were torn, and his body was crisscrossed with cuts and bruises, making him pitiful to behold.
The signs revealed he had endured a brutal ordeal, a vile torture before escaping the danger he now fled.
Swossh!
Right behind him, a masked man in dark clothing, bearing a strange symbol on his back, appeared in a flash of wind.
Upon spotting the blood trail and the direction in which it leads to the injured man he proceed to follow the trail.
Swoossh!
The masked man quickened his pace, determined to catch the fleeing man.
"Huff... Dammit!"
The scholar cursed as he noticed faint footsteps in the distance, evidence that his pursuers were closing in.
He was extremely exhausted from running for a very long time to escape his pursuers.
He knew that once they caught up, it would mean his end but by then he realized something.
'Damn! I won't evade them for long. I have to find another way.'
He quickly understood that, in his condition, he wouldn't escape for long. His injuries and fatigue were slowing him down drastically.
So he had to fast think for a way to escape the pursuit of his pursuers who are determined to catch him at all cost.
But in his current situation he could only hide and hope not to be found.
He scanned the area for a place to hide and spotted a bush large enough to conceal him.
'I'll hide here. Once they get close, I'll strike when they expose a blind spot.'
He leaped into the bush and unsheathed a small knife from his back, tensing to strike at the right moment.
He knew that this small knife alone was insufficient to defeat his pursuers, yet it was all he had.
He was merely a normal person who had trained his body to its limits but compared to his pursuers it may as well be non existent.
'Come, bastards! I'll show you why you don't underestimate a scholar!'
He was determined despite the futility to prove that a cornered scholar could be deadlier than expected.
Finally, the masked man reached the last spot the blood trail led to, but found no sign of the scholar. He had successfully hidden.
'Only one? At least I won't have to fight a whole group or otherwise, I'd be dead.'
The scholar allowed himself a flicker of relief. Unlike his pursuer, he was a scholar, not a martial artist. Only one pursuing him meant his odds, though slim, were slightly better.
Still, he knew that defeating even one martial artist would be a desperate struggle.
"Where is that damn scholar!?"
The masked man's fury was evident beneath his mask as he searched the area. In doing so, he unknowingly turned his back to the bush where the scholar waited.
'There's my chance! It's all or nothing!'
The scholar leaped from the bush, knife raised high in both hands, aimed at the masked man's back.
"DIE!!"
The shout and sudden attack alerted the masked man, but it was too late. The scholar's knife was already descending toward his upper back.
The masked man could only accept his fate.
Swoossh!
Stab!
Blood began to drip to the ground, forming a puddle beneath.
"HUGH!"
But the blood instead of coming from the masked man it had come from the scholar himself. He struggled to speak, choking as blood filled his throat.
The scholar's knife hovered just a millimeter from the masked man's back. He was paralyzed which rendered him unable to strike, wasting his only chance.
'What the hell happened!?'
He glanced over his shoulder, hearing the stab, and saw an arrow protruding from his back.
Only now did the pain register in which his shock had masked it.
'An arrow?!'
The arrow had plunged deep, fatally damaging his internal organs, drawing him closer to death's embrace.
He traced the arrow's trajectory and discovered another masked man with a bow, perched on a branch, ready to shoot again.
'There was another!?'
Shock and blood loss drained his strength. He was forced to release the knife.
Clank!
Hearing the noise, the masked man turned, seizing the opportunity to kick him sideways.
"ARGH!!"
The impact worsened his already life-threatening injuries. Pain returned in full force as the shock faded.
The scholar crashed back-first into a tree, the arrow embedding deeper worsening his injuries. He coughed up more blood as he slid down, leaving a crimson trail.
"COUGH!... COUGH!..."
Each cough expelled more blood. His face became pale from bloodloss.
He felt excruciating pain all throughout his entire body once the initial shock had faded.
'Damn it! my injuries just got even worse.'
Upon impact the injuries he had sustained before got even worse and was unbearably painful.
He knew if he went untreated, he would face a slow, agonizing and painful death.
Afterward, the masked man released a bamboo flare bomb, sending red smoke into the sky to signal his allies.
'Shit! now all his allies are coming!'
One by one, the masked man's comrades arrived, all clad in identical attire that the scholar could no longer distinguish between them as to who had kicked him.
But that also made sure that making any attempt at escaping from them again impossible.
The scholar could only curse the current situation he was put into due to how hopeless it was.
'Fuck! with this many, there's no way to escape, even if I could move.'
Faced with overwhelming odds, the scholar accepted that his chance of survival was gone.
From the crowd, a single masked man stepped forward. The others bowed, signaling his higher status. The air shifted, an unseen pressure suffocating all, scholar included.
He realized that this was supposed leader of those who had been hunting him down.
"You brought me quite the headache, Head Scholar of the Xuanwu Dynasty's History Division."
The voice sent shivers down his spine as it was a familiar voice, from his time in captivity, tortured over an item belonging to him.
"W-What? You went all t-the way to catch me for that wo-orthless scroll? Why wou-uld you want such a use-eless thin-ng?"
He mocked them despite his blood-choked throat and he couldn't breathe properly due to the blood filling his lungs.
The scroll in question was the Scroll of Reminiscence it was a relic passed down to the Head Scholar, representing historical insight.
But for some reason these people were hunting him down for this useless piece of paper.
'All they wanted was this damn scroll then why go this far, even burning down the entire dynasty?!'
This newly emerged secret organization had waged war on the Xuanwu Dynasty and triumphed.
Not only did they defeat a entire nation but they also defeated all of the eastern Continents factions and other countries.
They only emerged in a few months but in under a year they took over almost all of the eastern continent.
'To think all this happened just for a useless scroll that can't even serve as decoration.'
The scholar recalled it had once belonged to the founder of the Heaven's Death Religious Order, later offered when the dynasty changed its state religion.
In which the founder was a called a literal deity during his era and is now worshipped as the god of his own cult.
'Do they really believe that nonsensical rumor about this scroll?'
Rumors claimed that it contained the founder's miraculous power , yet the scholar had opened it and found only blank parchment.
"Scholar, I'll tell you again—give us the scroll, or die an even more painful death than your fate dictates."
The supposed leader's tone feigned mercy while threatening greater suffering. He signaled his men to draw their swords.
"Ha-and it ov-ver? HA-AHAHAHA! Ove-er my dea-ad bod-dy!"
The scholar laughed at them for threatening a deadman with death like fools he was already dying so he had nothing to lose.
"Then so be it, men! Kill him as painfully as you can! Be careful to not damage the scroll!"
The masked men rushed forward, plunging swords into his body. Blood spurted from the fatal wounds.
He felt excruciating pain as the swords pierce through his flesh and bones despite his body being numbed by bloodloss and paralyzed.
'Dammit… to think I'm dying like this… a pathetic way to die.'
He cursed his fate, already accepting that escape was impossible.
After stabbing him, the masked men withdrew, letting blood pour freely forming a puddle of blood beneath him.
He sustained Injuries so severe that only the divine doctor has a chance at saving him.
"Search for the scroll! We must deliver it to the head immediately!"
Heeding their leader's orders they tore at his clothes like a bunch of hyenas.
Then one of the masked men found the scroll hidden in the scholar's chest pocket.
Seeing the scroll found the masked men stopped leaving the scholar alone as he dies.
The one who found the scroll then offered it to the supposed leader.
"Here it is Squad leader."
The supposed leader who was merely a squad leader took the scroll from his squad member hand.
'So he was only a mere squad leader that's not even an executive. This is a pathetic end.'
Hearing that the people who are killing him are merely a squad not even special people made the scholar truly curse his fate.
"HAHAHA! With this i can now obtain a seat of a executive once I offer this scroll"
The squad leader laughed in delight as a one in a million opportunity is now in his grasp.
But before he could rejoice more he noticed that the scroll is almost drenched with the scholar's blood.
"Damn Scholar! Can't just die without troubling us till the end you pathetic insect!"
The squad leader curses the scholar who is already dying a slow and agonizing death.
Then one of the masked men moved forward it was the same masked man who signalled the bamboo flare.
"Sir perhaps we should first check if this is the real scroll, That scholar is crafty and it appeared that he ain't one to give up so easily so he might have hidden the real one elsewhere."
"I see good point that scholar may have been used as bait to distract us when the real scroll may be in hands of another survivor so let us make sure we do have the real scroll."
The squad leader unrolled the scroll, only to find it blank-nothing was written on it, even though it was stained with blood he could see that it was blank.
This instantly turned the squad leader initial expression of pure delight into a face full of fury.
"DAMN SCHOLAR! WHERE IS THE REAL SCROLL?!"
The squad leader erupted with anger as he threw away the scroll and dashed towards the scholar.
Before anyone could react the squad leader is already lifting the scholar by the neck letting more of his blood pour down.
The leader gripped tightly at the scholar's throat making it harder for him to breathe than it already was.
"WHERE IS IT?!"
'Heh-that's the real scroll, you idiots. At least you won't get anything useful from me.'
The scholar showed a mocking face as he could no longer had the strength to even speak.
Unbeknownst to them the scholar's blood finally soaked the scroll completely as it fell to the scholar's puddle of blood and triggered an unknown power.
It lifted itself and revealed a glowing unknown text ad then flew to the scholar's side repelling the squad leader.
"ARGH!"
"Sir!?"
"S-Sir!? The scroll!?"
The other masked men hurriedly offered to help while the other half could only stare at the sight in front of them.
The scholar's vision already blurred saw merely light instead of the unknown glowing dialect latching on him.
'So bright… am I finally seeing the afterlife?'
He had mistaken the scroll miraculous power as the light of the after life.
Before entering death's domain, memories of his entire life floods his mind as his dreams, failures, suffering flashed before him.
'Ah… Mother.'
He couldn't help but call out for his long departed mother for comfort like a child as death embrace him.
The scroll's light embraced him, lifting him beyond the reach of his enemies.
"MEN! GET HIM...! DON'T LET HIM USE THE SCROLL!"
The squad leader's scream as he saw his one and only chance at becoming a executive was swallowed by the brilliance as the scroll activated its miraculous power.
"NOOOO!"
Then a dome of light consumed everyone in the area as the scroll power lit the night like a miniature sun.
****
In a dark, boundless abyss filled with fog, a figure emerged a spirit. His tattered clothes remained intact, body uninjured, yet transparent.
"Where am I? What is this place?"
Alone, he realized this was death's domain a place that look different from what he expected.
Darkness and fog evoked fear, yet a strange sense of peace comforted him, like a mother's womb.
'Somehow… I feel at home. Is this what a Heaven's Death follower should feel after death?'
He suddenly felt his body eroding like sand, fusing with the void and becoming one.
He felt as if he was being consumed by the concept of death itself.
'So this is how death leads a person to their next life…'
As he dissolved, glimpses of his life from birth to recent death flashed before his eyes.
This sparked a intense rejection toward the fate he was forced upon.
"No! It can't end like this! It can't!"
After seeing how futile he lived and how much of a utter failure his life has been he couldn't accept it.
He struggled against death's inevitability not letting his life end in such a way.
"Oh Heaven's Death, Oh Black Tortoise, please… just anyone give me another chance! I will live my life the best I can if you just give me a chance!"
Begging here was futile as no mortal could ever defy death. But he refused to surrender hope.
Then, as if responding, a bright light emerged from within him, illuminating the abyss.
Before he could react, he had already vanished from the void of the domain of death.
Terrifying hollow eyes opened where he had stood as they sense a unfamiliar yet familiar presence emerge.
One look at them could drive anyone to madness, following them into the next reincarnation. But luckily the scholar had left before they and him could see each other.
Seeing as no one was there and the presence has vanished eyes were closed once again.
****
"HAAAAAH!"
A young boy, no older than fifteen, jolted awake, sweat dripping down his face.
He looked around, recognizing a small room: a narrow bed, a few cabinets, bookshelves, a mirror, and a tiny window.
"What happened? Where am I?"
He tried to stand but stumbled and fell to the floor hitting his head in the process.
"Ow! Huh? why are my hands and feet so small?"
He looked at his limbs in which they were smaller, unfamiliar yet also familiar at the same time.
Steadying himself, he gazed into the mirror. Green eyes stared back, free of burn scars and long black bed hair. He touched his face in disbelief.
This was his younger self. He had regressed to his youth.
"HUUUUUUH!?"
END OF PROLOGUE
****