Prologue

The silence was tranquil, the landscape brushed with a thin layer of the cold whiteness from the first snowfall of the year. Each tree was encased with ice, the sunlight glinting off them like there was a small light inside each ice crystal. The little village scene was like something out of a Christmas book, you could almost imagine a little group of children singing carols. Each hut had identical mud walls, straw thatched roofs, and a blanket that acted as a shield in the doorway. No one was out in the sunlight; no one was there to breathe the cold, fresh morning air. All was silent, until…

BOOM

There was a burst of flame, a wall of heat, and suddenly the silent air was filled with screams, wails, and crying. A wall of flame leapt into the sky, rushing along the ground, leaving a muddy pool of melted snow as it screamed along the ground. There was nothing to fuel it, but the fire blazed on, closer and closer to the small village, before seemingly leaping into one of the windows of a mud hut centered right in the middle, and disappeared.

The screams echoed, and many people rushed out of the mud huts, looking around wildly. For one second, everything seemed still, before about half a thousand people poured simultaneously into the clearing. The smooth snow was trampled, muddy tracks dragging themselves from miles away, and the people running into the clearing were still screaming, some supporting others, some carrying small bundles of diminishing life. All different shapes and sizes, but all of the people had something in common.

They were all singed pitch black. Some were even bleeding, some only had minor burns, and some red scorch marks on their skin, but not one of them was unharmed. The people from the village each had a mask of horror on their faces, and more than one of them started screaming in turn, before the burned mass of people converged them, some people's strength failing them and they collapsed onto the snow. The screaming people slowly became quiet, and there was nothing but the sound of desperate wailing, and sobbing voices.

One man stood above them all, covered in fine furs and with an air of great importance and strength. His face was smooth; no wrinkles yet lined his still youthful face. A strong jaw, angular nose, cream coloured skin that wasn't too light and wasn't too dark, and straggling jet black hair fell over part of his face, making his looks better than most were. His most prominent features though, were his eyes. Completely black, not like the usual brown ones, no amount of light could lighten the inky black pools that could stare to such an intensity that if looks could kill, you'd be dead twice over before you could even realize that you made this particular man mad. His dark eyes scanned the scene quickly, darting and probing into each of the burnt people's faces, before commanding, and a rough, husky voice full of authority and warning, low yet every single living being in the clearing could hear him.

"Get these people in the da ting, and call anyone who even has the slightest knowledge in healing! Bring the most critical to my hut, and everyone else who hasn't a job to do either stay out of the way or bring every spare fur that we have."

There was a flurry of activity as everyone rushed to do as the man said. One woman scurried to his side, bowing low before speaking.

"What do we do with the furs, Wang?"

The man's eyes glittered. "Keep the people warm. Their body temperature will decrease extremely soon, and if they haven't been burnt to death, they will freeze to death." The woman turned to go, but the man, Wang, placed one large hand on her small shoulder. "Get Tou Ling to gather twenty men, go find out what happened, follow the tracks. I daresay it will be easy enough," Wang's coal eyes followed the deep tracks that the mass of people had made, trudging through the snow, "and get me Huo Liang."

"Yes, Wang," The woman murmured, before hurrying off, barking out instructions to every woman along the way, so fast her speech sounded blurred.

Wang surveyed the scene, his fingers twirling around a short golden stick, each end had a symbol carved into it, and tapering into fine threads that swirled each time he twitched the golden stick even slightly. Almost everyone had gone; all that was left was a litter of lifeless figures, being lifted away by some that had been assigned the worst job of all. Wang didn't move an inch, until two figures appeared. One was the woman that had given such rapid instructions, the other was a young girl, barely past seventeen, and the two seemed to be bickering loudly. Wang's steady black gaze watched the two approaching, their voices growing louder with every step, the woman's low and rough with age, and girl's young and melodic, and extremely audible even from Wang's distance.

"If I must repeat it again to him, Bao Mu, I will! Why would I need to prove something like this would've had anything to do with me?"

The girl's face was extremely angry, her beautiful features radiating fury. Her smooth, pale skin made the surrounding snow seem grey, her topaz eyes flickering like an evening fire, slim tapering fingers clenched into a tight fist. The older woman shook her slightly, murmuring in a low, equally angry voice. Wang heard her voice when she was just meters away from his standing spot.

"… Young lady and you will do as you're told!"

When the two turned to face him, Wang's face, so clear of emotion a second before, softened at the sight of the girl. He slipped the golden stick into one of his many pockets. She tossed back her slick straight mane of flaming auburn hair back over her shoulder impatiently, her anger melting, just a little.

"Thank you." he said lightly to the woman, and she took it as her dismissal. Her angry muttering fading away slowly as she hurried back to the huts, which were still emitting cries and moans.

"Ungrateful little…"

Wang turned his gaze back on the girl, who had her arms folded, the slight wind ruffling the thin layer of clothing she had on.

"You should wear more, Xiao Huo." Wang said, a touch of worry colouring his voice. "Weather like this can turn bitter in less time than it takes for a hungry bear to eat a fish."

"Get to the point, Ge. I know you didn't call me here to lecture me about how little I wear in winter." She said with a scowl.

Wang's face turned serious. "You're right, I didn't." he looked away from the girl, who's figure seemed even slighter than before, standing next to the burly man. His features were still young if you looked closely at them, barely past twenty, though his attitude gave you the impression of a man much wiser and stronger than even the Elders.

"Well?" the girl demanded. Something in her expression though, told you that she knew exactly what she had been called there for.

Wang suddenly looked older, as if he had aged in a single minute. His face showed stress, disbelief, and even a little sadness. "Why did you do it, Xiao Huo? There were so many other ways, why choose a one way passage that would lead to something like this?"

The girl's face didn't show a flicker of emotion, but her anger had evidently simmered down. Wang didn't give any indication that he was about to talk again, and her posture was stiff, her soft pink lips pressed in a hard line. A long, cold silence passed between them, and none of them moved. Even as the wind became colder and fiercer, the girl never shivered, never even raised a hand to brush away her flaming auburn hair from her eyes. Wang's hulking figure was as still as the girl's, his steady black gaze was not intimidating, just patient, and full of understanding. When the sun started to edge down the horizon though, the girl spoke.

"I did it for you. None of them deserve to live. One of those sickening maggots even tried to 'bring me around', when I was out with Bao Mu. What would've you done? Say to me, 'they are young, they are foolish, be patient with them' and turn your back on me even as they come crawling back to try it again." She spat out, her anger flaring just as high as before, but not directed at the man, who hadn't moved an inch since her outburst.

"And you decided to play God and decide who had the right the live, and who doesn't?" the girl opened her mouth angrily, but Wang held up one thickly gloved hand. "Don't get mad at me, Xiao Huo. It's a question."

The girl closed her mouth again, before muttered distractedly, "Don't call me that."

Wang smiled gently, and touched her cheek with two fingers. "Mother wouldn't have liked to see you like this, Xiao Huo." He murmured quietly. "Don't take people's fates into your hands like this, especially when we are the ones that have to take extra care to save them."

The girl reached up with one pale hand, taking Wang's gloved hand in hers. "Mother would not have liked you to take on such a burden of looking after our entire clan when you have barely reached Gang Dao." she said just as quietly.

Wang sighed. "Come on, Xiao Huo. We must get inside before the weather turns really hostile."

"Yeah, you're going to save this argument when I'm not in the right state of mind." The girl muttered, bringing a soft smile to Wang's face.

"You're always in the right state of mind. I'll talk to you when you have the right thoughts in that mind." Wang said, almost affectionately, before pulling the girl closer to him, sheltering her from the wind before making their way back to the circle of huts, each one now with a glowing fire inside them, flickering dully.

The two entered a hut larger than the other ones; this one had a fireplace right in the middle that had not yet been lit. Just as the two stepped into the hut, the elderly lady that had been with them before bustled into the hut, with four people following, supporting two people between them, both of them with their eyes closed and wrapped in furs, but stirring feebly and groaning.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt you Wang, but there's no room for more people in the other huts and…" Bao Mu trailed off, her lined face anxious.

"No worry. Let them stay here, you can use those beds." Wang pointed a hand at two smaller beds at the end of the room.

Bao Mu nodded gratefully, and uttered quick instructions to the people at her side. They carried the two to the bed, laying them down and covering them fully with the thick blankets, and one person darted away to start the fire. The girl called Huo Liang watched the two burnt people without any emotion on her face. If anything, she looked like she was getting angry. Wang took one look at her face, before taking her wrist.

"Bao Mu, I will be in the next room. Feel free to use this room for any more casualties."

Bao Mu nodded, before turning back to the two patients, her muttering flowing from her lips as fast as water would through a downwards river. Wang steered Huo Liang firmly out of the room, into another hut, one that was detached from the cluster, but just as spacious as the last one. After Wang had let go of her, Huo Liang walked over to a chair and sat down, muttering angrily.

"Those bastards don't deserve it. You don't know what they say behind your back, when you're not giving them food and furs that those pathetic wimps don't even try to store for winter." Following this statement, came a steady and unfaltering flow of vulgar language, something too inappropriate to record in print.

Wang looked at his sister (you have figured out that she's his sister, right?) almost humorously. "I knew that you shouldn't be allowed to the jiu dian." He joked.

Huo Liang sniffed, even though her face was deprived of anger again. "Where else could I learn such ways that are no taught in school?" she asked cheekily.

Wang shook his head, before going and pinning down the window curtains that were beginning to flap about in the wind that was fast becoming a gale. After securing them and the material that blocked the door, he turned to Huo Liang, and shrugged off his outer jacket, offering it to her. Huo Liang took it, and slid her arms through the sleeves, backwards. Wang frowned.

"You'll catch a cold if you keep this up; your back will get cold." His voice lacked conviction though. Huo Liang had had her way with clothing for the past half a decade, and not once had she even caught a sniffle. Wang knew this, though he did not want to attract any more attention to his peculiar sister than what she was already getting from the local adolescents.

The sun set and darkness slowly fell over the land. The snow was dyed a brilliant orange, red and pink, no longer pure white. When the sun finally sunk over the edge of the horizon, and everything disappeared in shadow. The darkness was so complete that it was hard to see things five feet in front of you. Quickly though, the stars came out, each burning brightly with their own life billions and billions of miles away. Then the moon rose, perfectly round and shining, brighter than anything Huo Liang had ever or would ever see.

She closed her eyelids over her topaz eyes, listening to the soft, beautiful lilting music that the moon sung, the siren song that never failed to lure her into its fantasy world. The song spun imaginary lands in her head, and for a while she was oblivious to the masses of life surrounding her, she no longer heard the cries and moaning of the injured people. Wang leaned against the wall, seeing true beauty right in front of his eyes and felt more compelled to stop his siren sister from luring anyone to think that she was a helpless beauty… for she seemed fragile, but the only true thing that you saw from her outer was her beauty.

Huo Liang turned and saw her brother looking at her, almost glowering. She wrinkled her nose, and drew the curtain over the window. It became darker than ever, but Huo Liang could see just as well in the darkness. She walked slowly, gracefully over to the fireplace, and ran a slim finger over the smoothly cut wood. Wang watched her movements in the darkness like a hawk, though the ability to see in the night was more like an owl's eyesight. His intensity though, would've made anyone besides Huo Liang flinch. The girl's pale skin seemed to give off a faint glow, before sitting on the arm of a chair, one hand supporting her balance and holding firmly onto the back of the chair, the other seemingly stroking the air above the fireplace, as if she was reaching for something. Wang's black eyes became cautious.

"I could…" she said lightly, flashing a bright, sly smile to Wang. She knew that he would know what was on her mind, and she knew that he would oppose… at first. Huo Liang had a very compelling voice, and no one, not even her own brother, the Strong One, both physically and mentally, could resist her persuasions.

"Don't even think about it." Wang said warningly, but from the dull glow of the moon through the light fabric covering the window Huo Liang could see him grimace. He knew that he would give up, even if he didn't want to. Huo Liang grinned craftily, tilting her head slightly.

"Come on, Ge. No one would see, and anyone who does would just assume such a talented fire maker like you lit it. Especially when there is plenty of firewood nearby, and even two stones." Huo Liang made her voice become pleading. She reached out for the white stones, and spun them around her hand skillfully, playing with them within his eyesight.

Wang sighed. He was going to lose anyway. When it came to the Battle of the Wills, he was never the last one to back down. Besides, who wants to waste time and strength when there was a much faster, much easier way to do things? However, he still didn't want to seem weak, and he stayed silent. Through the pale light that still filtered through, he saw his sister roll her eyes, and the stones clicked against each other in her palm as she spun them around so fast that they were blurred.

"You know you shouldn't. It's not like we can't do it the other way… the normal way." He muttered. He caught her smiling at him victoriously when he slid his eyes inconspicuously side wards.

"Come on, Ge. You've lost, you always have." She mocked him.

Wang sighed, and then smiled, scratched his head and squinted at her. "If you thought I'd object why'd you ask then?" he asked, his tone equally sly as hers. You couldn't deny that the two were related at times like these, even though their appearance was nothing alike one another.

Huo Liang shrugged, not wanting to give him the satisfaction that she had been slightly worried about his reaction to her suggestion. Her silence though, proved him right far better than any words could. She saw his smile broaden across the dim room.

"Go ahead, then."

All competition aside, the girl's face lit up. Wang smiled as she leant over the fireplace. It was worth all the trouble her actions might cause just to see the pure pleasure her face radiated when she was happy. When Huo Liang was happy, it was infectious. That's probably why it was so hard to please her. When she got her way though, it was one of the rare times that she was obvious about her euphoria. She reached one hand over the fireplace, and snapped her fingers.

Anyone looking the hut's way at that time would've seen an orange light suddenly leap alive from the curtains, crackling merrily as if there had been a fire burning there for hours with a healthy supply of dry firewood.