Irritated and without much thought, he charged toward the eagle, katana in hand. The creature avoided him again, the bird swooped past him again. The Hydro Mimic eventually became arrogant and charged right at Huozi. He dodged its attack, leaving behind a small explosive. With a bang and a puff of smoke, the Hydro Mimic is eliminated.
A chest popped out of the puddle of the dead Hydro Mimic. Huozi opened it and discovered a huge bag of Mora, several large crystal ores, ancient artifacts, and old worn-out books. Huozi brought all of this loot back to his team and shared it with them.
Because of this, Huozi became an official member of the Treasure Hoarders and instantly got the rank of Silver Raven. While doing some of his missions, Huozi started hunting down the secret police in his spare time, and it turns out that those secret police. They were giving the Treasure Hoarders some trouble. Huozi was once again promoted, this time to the Golden Raven rank. Huozi became the youngest Treasure Hoarder ever to become a Golden Raven of the Treasure Hoarders. The majority of the Treasure Hoarders decided to unanimously give him a nickname, Qingxin, meaning 'pure heart'. "
"I liked the part where Huozi was in the ruins. Made me feel like a true adventurer! But then, you had to give the story a boring ending, Yan." said a Treasure Hoarder with a sarcastic tone.
"Sui, shut up, man. It's not like you can tell stories like me," Yan replied, a bit annoyed.
"Sure I can. Blah blah blah," Sui said.
"Sounds accurate enough," Jiang snickered.
"Ah, screw you, guys. I'll just skip to the fun part," a Treasure Hoarder with an ancient voice said.
"Byoufei, no, I'm the storyteller here," Yan said.
"Go cry to your mama, kid. Besides, I know more about this story than you do.
On Huozi's 16th birthday, tragedy struck. It was a rainy day. Huozi's mentor and boss, Xin, was out on a mission and was killed during a scuffle between several Treasure Hoarders and Civil Affairs officers. Huozi received this news from Jiang, his assistant and close friend.
"Jiang, tell me. Who did this?" Huozi asked calmly.
"One of the Treasure Hoarders who was able to escape said that Feng De, the leader of the Civil Affairs officers, summoned a Phoenix to apprehend Xin and his men." Jiang replied. "Feng De's Phoenix 'accidentally' burned Xin alive. The Treasure Hoarder heard from one of Feng De's subordinates that he wasn't supposed to bring his Phoenix to the encounter. I infiltrated the Ministry of Civil affairs and looked through the incident report. It was passed off as an accident."
"Alright."
Huozi's expression darkened. His face was a mask, only a slight muscle twitch on his jaw gave him away. Huozi bit his lip in frustration, he walked out slowly and looked up at the vast sky which only seemed dull and dead to him. A chilly wind blew, and the weather matched Huozi's mood. He slowly started walking towards Liyue harbor. There will be bloodshed.
After a few minutes, Huozi, at the entrance of the Civil Affairs building, due to the heavy rain, Huozi was able to walk into the city without being noticed by Millelith soldiers. He opened the door to see a nice-looking room filled with medals, certificates, and artifacts.
"Hello, welcome to Civil Affairs. how may I help you?" The Civil Affairs receptionist asked politely.
"I have an appointment with Feng De," Huozi replied coldly.
The receptionist stared at Huozi's unusual rain-soaked attire, black gloves with silver chains connected to rings around his fingers, black shirt, black overcoat with gray fur on the shoulders, black leather trousers, and black boots.
"Oh, I apologize. I'm afraid Feng De doesn't have an appointment tonight," the receptionist said nervously.
She looked at Huozi's face. He looked young, like he was in his 20s. He had a handsome face that made her heart flutter. It seemed like his black eyes were bored. His messy jet-black hair–"
"Seriously? He made her heart flutter?" Yan scoffed.
"Shut up, Yan. Just listen to the story. We're getting to the exciting part," Sui replied.
"This is pretty important. Can you at least show me where his office is?" Huozi asked impatiently.
"Maybe... if you take me out to dinner first?" she attempted to flirt with him.
Huozi pulled out his knife and stabbed her.
"Tsk, I'll find it myself."
He wiped the blood off his knife and walked deeper into the building. Along the way to Feng De's office, he killed several Civil Affair officers. Huozi was delayed after he made a few wrong turns. However, he finally made it to Feng De's office and kicked down the door.
"I'm not one to make an entrance, but you forced my hand," Huozi said.
"What the f-?" Feng De exclaimed.
Huozi threw a knife at Feng De, the latter's pyro vision pulsed with light, and with a burst of bright flames, completely disintegrated the knife. Huozi dashed towards Feng De and pulled out his tanto, cutting Feng De's right hand off. Feng De screamed in pain and dropped to the floor. He held out his left hand as flames and light gathered in his palm. A figure emerged from the burst of flames, a Phoenix shrouded in fire lit up the room. Exhausted, Feng De distanced himself, leaving his fiery companion to attack Huozi.
Huozi rolled away, but the Phoenix shot fire at him, burning his left eye and arm. However, he was pumped up with adrenaline and completely unfazed by the flame. He counter-attacked by throwing several knives at the Phoenix, but they got burnt to ashes before they reached the creature. The Phoenix flew towards the door frame and blocked it, sealing Huozi's escape path. Feng De lifted his left arm, his Vision glowed brightly, lighting his left fist on fire.
"You're out of luck, kid," Feng De said confidently.
"I'm not a mirror, Feng De," Huozi replied.
Huozi threw a bomb at Feng De. The latter took a defensive form and minimized his damage from the explosion.
"Is that all you've got?" Feng De taunted Huozi.
Huozi looked at Feng De with anger. He noticed the window filled with droplets of water and he immediately knew what to do. Feng De pulled his left arm backward, he was preparing to dash towards him. The moment Feng De dashed towards Huozi, the latter rolled to the side and threw a bomb at the window, creating a massive cavity.
The downpour outside flooded Feng De's room with water, extinguishing the flames he had created. Feng De, completely horrified when the tides of the battle suddenly favored Huozi. Huozi threw a single knife at the Phoenix, barely able to stay alive because of the heavy rain. The knife pierced its head, killing the creature.
"You damned bast-" Feng De said
Huozi lunged forward and cut Feng De's head off before he could finish his sentence. Feng De fell to the ground and Huozi returned his tanto back in its sheath. Huozi grabbed Feng De's blank Vision and jumped out of the building through the hole he created. While running away, the heavy rain started to slow down. After a few seconds, it completely stopped, and the bright moon shone brilliantly.
Just like how the weather started clearing up, Huozi could feel his body warm up, getting rid of the cold painful feeling he had within himself. As if all of his problems just washed away, he felt free. Free from the burden of losing the closest person that he called family. "
"Wow. I mean, can you really just get rid of depression by killing someone?" Sui asked.
"I mean, it's the boss." Byoufei replied.
"You suck at storytelling." Yan interjected.
"As if you did any better," Jiang snickered.
"Alright, everyone, we made it to the deepest part of the Chasm!" Huozi loudly told his team.
"Finally! I was getting sick of that story," Yan said.
"No more stories, we're here for work. You all know what to do." Huozi continued, "May fortune favor us."
"Aye aye, sir!" all of the Treasure Hoarders replied in unison
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Alright 2nd page, I doubt anyone is here.
Which, is likely, since I'm new, lmao.
YOU ARE READING
Light in the Shadows
Fantasy"I remember that day. It was a sunny afternoon. The birds were singing, the children were dying, and the whole village was burning. And, I... can't seem to remember anything that happened next..." --------- A GENSHIN IMPACT OC INSERT! A young boy n...
