Run! I must run! Before they catch up to me!

The acrid tang of fear, desperation, and her instincts for survival screamed at her from the top of her lungs.

Branches and leaves snagged her long hair as she flew past them, twisting and turning down the long road ahead. She couldn't stop the tears streaming down her face, dripping down and soiling her royal robes.

She didn't give a damn about ruining the expensive material.

She couldn't care less about such superficial beauty, not when she never had anything to flaunt. Distantly she felt the roots and twigs catching the exquisite hem trying to drag her down. Focusing her energy on running, she watched the distance stretch between her and the only kin she's left with, and the scorching flames that enveloped her courtyard.

"Xue-Er, remember I love you always. Run and hide. Stay away from this god damned place. It is the damnation to hell." Her mother cried distantly behind her. Chun Xue choked on her breathing as she struggled to force her body away from the lady standing between her and their killers.

From the corner of her left eye, she saw five figures dressed all in black moving towards her mother. Each of their movements trained with stealth. Instantly, they surrounded her. Something flashed in each of their hands. They are not the imperial soldiers I see training at the palace grounds every day. Her 14-year-old self may not know who these deadly captors are, but she knows they do not move like the soldiers in the palace. Their attire is all wrong - black against black with leering faces of silver masks that concealed their faces.

From her periphery, she saw her mother lunged towards one of them, a hairpin in her hand. The assassin dodged her easily like swatting a fly, however, it was a feint. She watched in shock as her mother twisted to the right in a sudden maneuver and plunged the pin into the man's neck. The man's eyes rolled back and a gurgle of surprise left his mouth before he slumped to the floor.

The other captors froze in surprise, but it only lasted two seconds.

"Continue Xue-Er! DON'T STOP! Not even for me." Her mother screamed as she spotted her standing in the middle of the forest staring in horror and shock.

Chun Xue looked at her mother and saw the desperation in her eyes and at that moment, she conveyed whatever she wanted to tell her through that look they shared. I love you, mother. Farewell. Chun Xue knows that this will be their final exchange, her mother is not going to make it alive. But she won't go down not without a fight.

"Shut up you noisy whore." One of the captors hissed as they circled their prey.

Chun Xue heard her mother lashed out something distantly as she forced herself away. Whatever she told them threw their captors into action as they lunged for her. Minutes or seconds later, her mother's dead body laid on the grass in a pool of her blood. But she did not turn back to see, as she bolted through the woods that surrounded the palace.

***

"What a pity. She was such a beauty." A gruff voice said as the man knelt to check the lady's pulse. However, before his hand made contact with the porcelain skin at the base of her neck, it was slapped away crudely.

"Who said you could touch her?" A commanding voice said. It was his leader's voice, and he recognized the tiger mask, the one and only in their group. He dropped his hand immediately and bowed his head. "My apologies. My actions have been out of place."

His leader only grunted in response and gestured with a flick of his hand. After three years of training under his liege, the subordinate understood his command and scooted away to make space for him. He watched as his leader held a leaf to the dead concubine's nose and noted its stillness. The other three men stood around them watching.

"Watch and learn. This is how we do it. No one is to lay their hands on a royal, dead or alive. Carve this into your heads or I will carve it into yours." The leader did not bother masking the cruelty in his voice. "Second lesson, no matter how beautiful our target is, he or she must be dead. It is the orders given by our master."

"Even if they are his concubines?" One of them whispered.

"Especially if they are his concubines." The leader said in a menacing tone as he fixed a pointed stare at the person who spoke. The person in question trembled under his scrutinizing glare. They all knew what awaits him later in the afternoon.

"What are our orders now, my liege?" The man beside the leader asked him, catching on quick. Questions were not tolerated, only their orders were to be seen too. "Ah, guess we will have to catch the little welp. It's a hassle to search the forest, some of our men are stationed along the way. They should catch her soon." He tutted. "The king wants her alive, such a difficult thing to ensure in this trade of business."

The sound of rushing footsteps and shouts broke the silence. The Imperial guards have arrived.

"Took them long enough." The leader muttered under his breath. With a twitch of his head, the assembled group dispersed, hiding in the shadows of nearby trees. They waited and abated their breaths. The leader of the men dressed in black peered down at the dead concubine's body as the noisy group of soldiers came. Orders to bring her body back to the palace were issued quickly.

He took one last look at her graceful and rare beauty, pity flashing across his eyes. He doesn't usually reserve feelings for his dead targets, however, this concubine's story is too full of tragedy. It really is a pity. With such great looks and named Hanoi empire's top ten beauties, she was given only the title of a lowly concubine, left in the harem to fend for herself. Then ended by her husband.

With another flick of his fingers, he gave the command to his shadows to continue with their mission of securing the last loose end.

***

"Catch her! QUICK!" The man with a plain silver mask shouted the order.

They rushed towards her, but all she needed was a single step to make them all stop in their tracks. In this situation, Chun Xue would have been laughing at the heavens if it wasn't for the plunging cliff and raging river that awaits her below.

"Move again and I will jump." Her voice is raw with overuse from screaming at the top of her lungs for help when the shadowed men chased after her. Their leader had anticipated her escape route, and planted men to intercept her. No matter how much she screams and begs, no one came to her rescue. There's no one here except the forest and animals. What an absurd way to die. Alone and quietly inside this godforsaken forest.

Her mother had been right. This place is their damnation to hell. In her next life, Chun Xue swears she will never set foot into the palace.

The man nearest to her paused midway of lunging towards her. Wise decision.

"We will not harm you, princess. We have orders not to." He said comfortingly as he stretched out his hand towards her like an offering. "Come down from there. Please."

They were standing above the edge of a cliff and she could hear the deadly waters rushing below her feet. It sounds so inviting, a quick clean death. However, she knows she has to survive. For the sake of her mother, who has given her life in exchange for hers. So she laughed. It was a single hysterical bark of a laugh, sharp and full of desperation.

"I might be only fourteen but I'm not an idiot. Whoever wants me isn't going to be kind, especially after how you ended my mother." She said roughly eyeing each of her captors with narrowed eyes.

14 years old and she was considered to be a prodigy. Excelling in her studies, both politics and the arts of war. But she doubted that it was her intelligence that warranted her safety. Whoever wanted her family dead is after something else, she was sure.

"Please, your highness. We won't- " His words were cut off when she shifted another inch closer to the yawning pit as she let out a chilling laughter.

"Thank you very much for the kind offer... Now, I think I'm pretty sure who wants me alive after seeing all of you. Tell that man this. Even as a ghost... I will haunt his existence forever because I will never forgive him."

She saw him calculating the distance between them and the flicker of a message that passed between them. The muscles of the man bunched before he is springing forward with his arms towards her. So she did the only thing she could do, she leaned back and felt her balance tilt sideways. Gravity pulls her down. She watched with a strange sense of detachment as the man's arms closed upon empty air, cursing.

She smiled. That was the last thing she saw as she plunged down to her death from above and towards the turbid waters of the yellow river. Her life flashed across her eyes and tears stung them as she recalled her mere 14 years of existence. Mother, I miss you already. How does Death feel? Will it be quick and painless? Does it hurt?

Her eyes closed as her body hit the raging waters, agony rips through her and ice enters her body. She screamed under the currents, fighting against them to breathe. But her small fragile body is nothing against the raging currents and she was pushed under. Down and down she went. I'm so tired. Her consciousness whispered. I'm tired of this life. Sick of this twisted world. Why is my life so unfair? I have so many things I wanted to do, years I wanted to spend with my loved ones.... With my mother.... And him. Sadly... gods don't exist. If they did, they would have taken pity on us.

If I can do this all again, I vow to make that person pay. I will rise to the top and make them fear me as I exact my revenge against them. After all, in this world, only the strongest and the most vile wins.

She watched the light dims underwater, and the last bubbles of air trickled out from her mouth and floated above to the light. Darkness enveloped her and coldness embraced her like a dying lover. She cursed the Heavens and Gods with the last ounce of energy, her consciousness fading away into nothingness.

Everything turned dark.

***

- Please Vote and Comment! Thank you!!!!^^