Mulan belongs to Disney!!!!! I own nothing!!!!!!
The air was warm and humid. I lit several candles on my dresser, making the room illuminate in their wake. I gazed around the room. Red dominated every corner. Simple furniture was scattered around the sparse area. Home.
I brushed my hair from my face and walked over the straw mattress. Sinking in, I slide off my slippers and place them on the side of the bed. Although I have been living here for a while now, it still doesn't feel like my home. No, my home is in a small town, the town where I grew up. As I try to remember my childhood, all I can remember is training. My father was in battle for the majority of my years of youth. When he was home, he would train me. Every day. I remember how he had perched a bucket of water on the top of my head. I ran my hands down the smooth wood of the staff I was holding. He explained the importance of finding my center, and picked up several pebbles from the pathway. I tried to dodge them, but only was able to let the bucket fall from my head as I tumbled from the grassy shore into the warm river. Even from the water I could see his disappointed expression. It ate me up inside. I craved his approval, in everything I did.
I shook my head, trying to clear my mind. I hadn't seen my father in over a year. Ever since my mother had died during war, he had been constantly working, while I had finished my schooling, and more importantly, my training, at a camp. I had learned to be a soldier. If you didn't fight back, you didn't fit in. Not that I had any friends to begin with, but then I was completely alone. I became quiet and antisocial, and I knew it. I still know it. I'm better off anyways, not having any close relationships. I never let myself get close to anyone. That's the way my father lived. My hero. I strove to be like him, to reach his approval.
The candles had long since burned down; the flames sat in a pool of wax, flickering dangerously, warningly. A knock at the door made the light wave. I slowly got up from the bed and made my way over to the door. I slid it open to reveal an older man with dark eyes and a thick moustache standing in his emperor's uniform. I didn't recognize the man, but, then again, the emperor had many message runners.
"Li Shang?" His voice boomed throughout the tiny space.
I swallowed. "Yes?" I tried to say with the most steady voice I could manage.
"You're needed by the Emperor." My eyes widened in horror. This could only mean one thing. The man nodded, and I felt my stomach drop like an anchor.
"Huns."
Okay, I know this chapter is short, and I usually do chapters that are at least 1,000+ words, but this is just the prologue! Feedback would be appreciated!!!!!!!