CHAPTER 93: REST WELL... BROTHER GRAY

Kai looked up with a startled face, looked at the monk for a while, then bowed, letting his forehead touch the ground.

And when the boy raised his head, the monk smiled, tapped on the boy’s shoulder, then walked out, entering one of the buildings where incense had been burning rapidly.

When the man shut the door behind him, Kai walked out of the courtyard, opened the main gate of the temple, and walked out.

Slowly, Kai brushed his fingers against the smooth body of the bamboo trees.

Taking a few steps, Kai stopped, noticing three of the disciples who always bullied him standing in the vast distance and staring in his direction.

Kai turned, hoping to dodge them, but at that instant, one of the young men rushed forward and held Kai’s arm.

"Where do you think you’re going?" the guy said as he pulled Kai’s arm and forced the kid to follow him as he moved backward.

Streams of laughter stirred as the guy finally halted, placing the skinny kid at their center.

The moment the guy released his grip on Kai’s arm, Kai stood there, tilting his gaze from the skinny but tall and broad-shouldered, short and big-headed, and finally at the tall, broad-shouldered and large-lip guy.

The large-lip guy frowned, raised his hand, and slapped Kai on the face, as he saw the kid staring at him and smiling.

"ARE YOU laughing at me?!" he said, screaming and ranting like a siren.

Though his arm was heavy, Kai didn’t stop laughing. He simply stood there, staring and laughing at the grey glow around the guy.

Before Kai could blink, two blows surged to his face, from the left and the right, striking him hard that it made blood seep out of his nose instantly, yet he didn’t fight back.

As the guys kept on slamming their fists on Kai, Kai’s mind reeled at the smiling face Gray always showed whenever they were done training.

Without noticing, Kai fell on the ground, hitting his head hard on one of the bamboo trees and breaking it.

Even as Kai fell on the ground, the three guys kept on kicking the kid roughly as if he were a ball, hitting him in the stomach... in the chest... and in the face.

And as he was receiving the kicks, all the memories he had had with Gray reeled in his mind like a movie; from the day he saw Gray, and to the night he saw Gray leaving him under Clara’s care and walking out of Clara’s room.

Cold breeze erupted from Kai’s mouth like his last breath.

Seeing how the kid’s movements stopped unnaturally, the three guys paused their kicks midair, then took two steps back.

"Is he dead?" the short one said, scraping his fingers at his scalp as fear struck him like lightning.

"Why should we care? He would have died even if we didn’t touch him," the skinny-tall guy said, tapping the back of the short guy.

For the huge-lip guy, he crouched down, placed his index finger at the front of the kid’s nose, and when the cold breeze touched his finger, he straightened himself, smiling.

"Let’s give him a break," he said, turning toward the two guys behind him. "...after he regains his strength, we can beat the hell out of him until he vanishes like the others."

All three of them walked out of the bamboo forest, leaving the kid there like a discarded rotten rat.

Three leaves of the bamboo tree fell, spiralling in the air and finally landed on Kai’s side: on his hair, his shoulder, and his waist.

Sobbing sounds echoed from Kai, forcing the leaves to slip from him and touch the ground.

For thirty minutes, Kai stayed still, hugging himself, and when the sun lowered, making way for the moon to take place, he rose from the front of the bamboo his head had cracked.

When he straightened himself upward, Kai brushed the side of his right arm on his mouth, dressing his arm with the blood that a moment ago filled his mouth to his chin.

And when the blood vanished from his face, leaving his facial skin dry, Kai walked toward the sea, sat on one of the jagged stones, then closed his eyes and began inhaling the salty wind as if it were an unfilted oxygen.

Consistently, his heartbeat echoed with the rhythm of the waves, and when he heard the cries of the seabird above the hastily moving waves, Kai cracked his eyes open.

And in the sky, Kai saw three black birds fighting against one blue-colored seabird, striking the seabird with their long claws and beaks.

Though the seabird wasn’t as big and fast as the black birds, it didn’t fall or retreat. The seabird fought back, striking its long beak at the wings of the two black birds and sending them crashing into the sea.

Spotting only one black bird hovering at the front of the seabird, the seabird ran, leaving the black bird slightly confused.

Few moments after the seabird vanished from the sky, the symbols at the back of Kai’s palms began to glow in sync with his eyes.

For hours, Kai sat at the seaside staring at the bright light glowing around him and beside him, while the clouds reeled like a disc.

As the grey moon and bright stars appeared in the sky, Kai stood up and walked to the front of where the waves touched.

He bent down, shoved his right hand in the wet sand, and moved his hand full of sand upward, then closed his eyes.

"Rest well... Brother Gray," he whispered on the sand, then threw them in the moving waves and turned back toward the temple’s wall.

...

Meanwhile, in the far distance away from the sea and the temple at large, birds soared high in the clouds, some moving in groups, while others moved solely as if the dark clouds had sucked their peers.

They surged at high speed, moving from cities and villages and finally stopping at the cloudless sky of Bion City.

When they reached the gate of the city, three of the birds that soared high in the sky diverted toward the trees at the front of the gate, hid themselves in the holes in the trees, and saved their feathers from getting wet by the heavy and fast-falling rain.

And at that same time, roaring sounds echoed in the wretched side of the city, as zombified humans chased after children and adults.

As two of the zombified humans neared a small girl with brown hair and brown eyes, they paused and tilted themselves sharply toward the alley where the green trash bin stood.

Before the zombified human could turn back to the girl, glittering blades struck them in the head, splitting them into two.

And as their blood sprayed in the air, a five-seven-foot guy stood in the direction the creature turned, holding two sharp swords.

At that instant, a strange wind blew, moving the slightly long brown hair of the holder of the sharp blades, and letting the strands of hair bounce on his shoulder.

"Oin, watch out!" a sweet voice echoed from the side of the guy, pulling in the direction she screamed at.

Oin instinctively turned, raised his right boot and slammed it on the heads of the halves of the first zombified human, smashing it completely.

"How many times do I need to save you..." The lady said, taking two steps closer to the guy and placing a soft hand on his shoulder.

Oin smiled, brushed his hand at the face of the white-haired lady, then smiled, "Thank you."

Immediately, he drew his palm from the lady’s face, brushed the lady’s hand from his shoulder, and then walked toward the small girl who was shivering profusely, and lowered himself to match the girl’s height.

"Where are your parents?" Oin asked, his voice echoing in the sweetest tone he could make it sound.

Yet, the small girl kept on shivering and crying madly, as if hearing the guy’s voice alone had made her more worried.

After ten minutes of allowing her to spill her tears out, the small girl pointed a shaky finger at the corpse of the slittered zombified human the guy had smashed its head, then screamed, "DAD...!"

"Mom..." the girl added, her voice cracking and breaking as she wrapped her left arm around the neck of the guy who had leaned to her level and moved her arm from the corpse and pointed at the figure moving out of the door of the green building.

As Oin followed the girl’s finger with his gaze, he saw another zombified human dragging itself out of an open door of the building beside which they all stood.

Before the creature could close in on the small girl and the guy, the lady who had spoken a few moments ago slammed the zombified human with big and jiggling breasts, letting it crash on the ground.

Roaring sounds echoed as the creature hit the ground, and when it tried crawling its way toward the lady holding the sword, the small girl screamed.

"Please... no... don’t kill my mom...!" Hearing the small girl’s worried voice alone left the lady speechless, but her sword had already carved a path through the head and was moving through the pluping brain of the zombified human.

When the sword pierced through the ground, the lady raised her boots and slammed them into the already split head, smashing it completely.

As the blood of the smashed head sprayed in the air, Oin covered the small girl’s face, then carried her and placed her on his shoulder.

Oin inhaled, then turned, letting his half-side face the ground, dressed with fresh, glittering, and stretching blood.

A few moments after slamming her boots in the head and smashing it completely, the guy carried the small girl on his shoulder and turned.

The lady swiped her sword, letting the blood dressing and clotting on it spray on the wall of the green building, then joined in with the guy.