Shadow Astray

Mission 1 - The Stray Assassin

The rain beat heavily against the sandy shores of Chicken Island. A torrential downpour like no other - common weather during storm season on the island. Flashes of electricity lit up the dismal, ashen clouds followed by thunderous strikes of noise.

A severe thunderstorm warning had been issued across the island, forcing the residents to stay sheltered within their homes or shops. Even the Coast Guard was brought to a pause.

The waves were especially irritable during storms such as this; the tides brought in all sorts of junk from other parts of the world. They would occasionally bring in rare treasures too, causing many islanders to frequent the sea banks post-storm in search of profitable goods. From bits of broken weaponry of Xuanwu to the technological waste of Stern, the ocean tides brought in many useless treasures.

Tonight, the tides brought in something peculiar: A young man wearing darkly colored combat attire. The waves pushed his unconscious body against the sand, refusing to allow him back into the ocean's depths.
His dark brown, almost black, mid-length hair swayed around his scratched face in the water as the harsh rains washed away blood from his open wounds. In his right hand was a black and lilac-hued sword with cracks running through the entire length of the blade.
The boy seemed dead save for the struggling motions of his diaphragm as it fought desperately to get air into his waterlogged lungs. A fight doomed to end in loss-

CRASH!

The young man's tired eyes flew wide open at the sound of a prodigious thunderbolt. Adrenaline flooded his blood stream, causing his heart rate to jump into panic and his body reacted immediately. The boy shot up and bent over in pain. His chest and stomach convulsed, forcing him to violently cough up large amounts of salt water and blood. He clenched the gaping hole in his chest with his left hand, using the sword in his right to help him crawl onto the beach. 

As he dragged himself towards a nearby palm tree, the boy failed to fathom how he wasn't dead. The last thing he remembers was being backstabbed by the very person he was trying to protect- no. The details are still hazy; he doesn't remember the exacts. What he does remember however, was being stabbed clean through his chest cavity mere centimeters from his heart and destroying the stone bridge to take out several assassins. That action unfortunately included himself and he fell into the ocean only to wake up somewhere unknown to him.

'I should be dead,' the boy thought as he leaned against the soft trunk of the palm tree he had practically crawled to. He removed his hand from his chest, looking at the blood sticking to the skin. He cursed under his breath, covering the wound again.

'You knew this would happen if you let your emotions guide you. You knew better, damnit...
Whatever, it won't happen again.'

He figured he was only still alive due to the qi in his body, but that wasn't going to do any good if he continued to bleed out like this. He didn't like the idea of expending whatever energy he had left walking further inland in search of proper medical equipment, but he liked the idea of bleeding out even less. He fumbled his way to a stand and sheathed his sword, throwing the strap around his right shoulder.

¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

The rain refused to let up, thunder and lightning flashing through the sky at regular intervals. The blanket of rain hid everything further than three meters away as each shattering droplet added to the thick mist of a thunderstorm. The boy had lost track of time as he forced one foot in front of the other, fighting both the storm and the irresistible urge to keel over and go to sleep.
One foot in front of the other, trudging forward until finally making it to what seemed like a town. There were no civilians on the streets, but he knew he was being watched from behind the walls and windows. The rain made quick work of his blood trail, making him seem like less of an injured young adult and more of an ominous figure striding through the storm.

Whatever, it didn't matter. He couldn't sense any hostility, so it didn't matter. All that mattered was finding somewhere with enough stitches and bandages to fix himself. Staying alive was his current priority so, with his hood over his head, he kept walking through the sky's liquid bullets beating down his backside.

At last, the rain began to recede its unforgiving intensity. The storm wasn't quite over, but it had reached its last leg; just as the young man's strength had reached its last gasp. Inevitably losing the fight against his own body, the boy collapsed; tripping over his own feet and falling into a soggy cardboard box. The shock of hitting the ground gave him just enough adrenaline to sit up and hug his knees.

'Damnit. I can't keep this up much longer, yet so far all I've seen in this place are food stalls and markets.'

The young man's eyelids grew heavier by the second.

'Shit.'

The mist diffused the red glow of his eyes as they slowly began to close. The blood loss left the boy much too fatigued to stand back up and keep walking. However, the young man began to accept death. He should have died in the ocean, if he were being honest. Yet he didn't, so now he was going to die in a box that's just as drenched from the rain as he was. His muscles slowly began to relax and he soon fell over, bringing down the entire side of the cardboard box with him.

¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

"Ah, fuck. I think he's dead."

"Ki ki!"

"He's not? Well, fuck. Let's bring him inside, get him to the doctor. Help me out Xiao Fei!"

"Ki ki ki!"

A strange blue chicken had rushed outside mere moments after the stranger passed out. The chubby chick, Xiao Fei, had followed along despite being told not to. The two chickens carried the young man into their shop - with Xiao Fei doing most of the carrying due to his strange flight abilities. The doctor had already been called into the shop for emergency surgery, so the dying stranger was tended to immediately upon being rested atop a white bed.

The adult chicken and his adopted blue chick were made to wait elsewhere as the doctor performed all necessary procedures in the backroom.

"I can't say I'm entirely okay with this, Xiao Fei. Helping this shady lookin' human might end up backfiring."

The blue chicken lit a cigar and exhaled a puff of smoke as he voiced his concerns to the chick standing by his feet.

"Ki ki…" The chick sounded sad.

"What do you mean "you hope he stays?" He's already costing us a fortune by trying to die outside the shop!"

"Kiki ki?"

"Huh? No, of course I don't think he wants to die! He would've stayed on whatever beach he washed up on, otherwise."

"Ki kiki ki?"

"Make him an employee until his debt to me gets paid off? Xiao Fei, that's a brilliant idea!"

"Kiki…" The little chick's tone slid as if the adult chicken purposefully mistranslated him.

"Don't give me that! I'll hire him to work as my employee and he'll live with us free of charge! I am most certainly not inducing him by saving his sorry life!"

"Kiki!"

"You what-?!"

The argument between the two chickens was cut short by a door suddenly flying open. The doctor emerged from the dimly lit backroom, handing the adult chicken a note with carefully written instructions.

"What's this? "Let him wake up on his own, make him rest, yada-yada, blah, blah, blah… OK, got it!" The chicken crumpled the paper and tossed it aside, "but the important question-"

The doctor revealed a purple sheet of paper labeled "medical expense" with one million yuan printed in bold font. The blue chicken dropped his cigar.

"I um…. Let's start a tab. I'll get this paid off as soon as I can, probably in increments. Goodbye! see you! Thanks for your spectacular services!" The chicken pushed the doctor out of his shop where he and Xiao Fei were living, and wiped the anxious sweat from his forehead with a feathered hand.

"Phew! This brat better be worth it. There's no way that's getting paid off without his help now."

"Kiki!"

"I know, I know. Let's just wait for him to wake up first. Then we'll see what kind of person we're dealing with here."