Empty

Chapter 1

His stomach felt like a hollow gourd with a hole in the bottom, no matter how you tried to fill it, it would remain empty. The emptiness had pulled him out of hiding again after a pack of wild dogs had left him trembling and shaking in an old building.

Wei Wu Xian was nearly five years old and wasn't sure he would reach six. But he wanted to. He could cower for another few days and never have to struggle to find food again, or he could fight like he'd been taught to.

He couldn't remember who taught him to fight, but it wasn't in him to give up and dwell on the bad too long, so he tightened the belt on his tattered robes and shuffled into the crowded streets. The bigger the crowd, the better.

It had taken him a few days to learn that. Easier to disappear in a crowd that big. Sometimes it was easier to get caught if you weren't sneaky enough and someone called attention to you as a thief. So you just had to get better at not being noticed.

Wei Wu Xian crept along behind an older man, one who didn't look too wealthy so he'd appear to be a child along with a parent. He kicked his feet like he was reluctant to be there. When the man stopped to shop, he paused as well, poking around the stalls. Not taking anything. Not yet.

Then the moment came. It was perfect. The man stopped to buy vegetables and to haggle with the stall owner. They were both completely distracted. They wouldn't notice a small child disappearing with a potato or two.

Smiling, dirt pulling his skin tight, he reached out to take one, but another tiny hand shot out next to his.

"Eh! What do you dirty kids think you're doing?! Get away from here!"

Wu Xian gasped, but the other kid let out a sharp laugh, his left hand, oddly mangled, shot out and swiped a stack of turnips.

"Get the potatoes!" He shrieked at Wei Wu Xian, grabbed some carrots and peppers, then took off into a narrow alley between two buildings.

He would either be caught or he wouldn't, so he might as well try to get away with full hands, Wu Xian figured as he clutched tight to two potatoes and dashed after the still laughing boy.

"Hurry!"

Wu Xian grinned and picked up speed. The other boy dropped to the ground and rolled under a hole in the side of a building with maybe two years left in it before a strong wind took it down. Wu Xian didn't know where the hole lead, but he followed with nowhere else to go.

"Did you see his face?!" The boy trilled in the darkness, broken up by dust tinted sunlight filtering in through a porous roof. "How many did you get?"

Wu Xian held up his two potatoes and the other boy placed his ill-gotten vegetables on the floor in front of him.

"A feast!"

"A feast!" Wu Xian repeated.

The other boy laughed and Wu Xian couldn't help but smile at him. He reached into his robes and pulled out a small knife, pricking his finger. He drew a quick seal then slammed it into the ground where there was a pile of broken boards. Flames spring up. He looked around until he found a flat metal sheet and put all of the vegetables on it, propping it up over the flames.

"I don't know how long it'll burn, but we should be able to eat them soon."

The other boy had a knife in his hands as well and was giving Wu Xian a strange look. He approached him. "We're sharing?"

"Uhm..."

The boy's eyes disappeared in a wide smile that showed teeth, sharp and pointed as needles. "We're sharing."

Wu Xian grinned happily.

"You're with me from now on."

He'd just been shaking alone in an abandoned building outside of town, now he was about to have a meal with a new friend. The terrible feeling that had been building in his chest over the past year seemed to disappear.

Wu Xian nodded, his smile growing. He was no longer alone.