ou are the brave one, my general, you are the good one. Go, destroy them, and protect my kingdom.”

Chanyeol rose his head and looked up at his king. The Emperor was so young, so fragile, and so breakable. Even though there was strength in the words of the man, Chanyeol could tell that the Emperor was close to breaking. His king, the ruler of their grand kingdom, lacked courage, lacked strength. While the man was a benevolent ruler and loved by the people, he was unable to fight on the battlefield, unable to bleed, unable to kill. But that was alright, because Chanyeol could fight in his steed, could bleed for him, could murder for him.

“My lord Suho, rest assured, I will destroy them all. Whoever dares cross the border into our Kingdom of Chunyu will die. No one will remain but those within whose veins runs the blood of our own.”

The Emperor nodded, a slight smile painted on his weary face. He was tired, tired of ruling a kingdom that was constantly under attack and falling apart at the seams. Chanyeol felt sympathy for the man. The Emperor had rose to the throne at such an early age. If only the old emperor had not died so suddenly.

“General Park, it is a good thing I have you. Without your bravery by my side, what would I do? This war that the Kingdom of Shanxue threatens to wage on us, their emperor, Yifan, all of it weighs heavily on my heart. I worry for my land, for my people. Thank the heavens that the gods bestowed you upon me. To think that you are even younger than me…”

Chanyeol smiled reassuringly at his king. He respected the man. What the Emperor lacked in valor, he made up in wisdom and conduct. The people were under good rule. Chanyeol would serve his emperor well. That was a promise.

“Do not worry. I was born for this role. Tomorrow, I will leave for the border villages and stop the Shanxue troops from proceeding any further. That is my promise to you and to my kingdom.”

Chanyeol rose from his kneeled position and turned with a flair, his battle fashion rippling in the air behind him. He exited the court room with an earned confidence in his stride. Only he was capable of making such promises. Only he was brave enough to undertake the task of going to war against the infamous troops of Shanxue.

He was General Park, protector of the realm, wielder of the Bow of Courage. He was strong. Chanyeol was made strong. He was molded by the events of life to become fearless; Chanyeol had to be strong, had to be brave.

He had promised himself, a long time ago, that he would never cower, never shake in fear, because Chanyeol had to be strong in order to protect the people he loved. Even if the specific person he wanted to protect was no longer around, he would keep his valor and strength so that if the person in his heart ever returned, he would be able to become his shield and armor.

In that sense, Chanyeol was not brave for himself, but brave for that one specific person who he valued more than life.

As Chanyeol stepped out into the openness of nature upon exiting the palace walls, he glanced up at the skies. The blue was open and raw, in the sense that freedom was. Chanyeol wondered if his love was seeing the same sky from the place that he was at in the world. That is, if his love was even still alive.

“Byun Baekhyun,” Chanyeol whispered, speaking to the skies, “where are you?”

♥

Baekhyun wiped the cold blade of his long sword, polishing the sharp blue of the metal. The surface gleamed back at him and Baekhyun caught the reflection of his own eyes in the cold blade face. His eyes looked so cold, so merciless.

Had he always looked like this?

Baekhyun tried to remember when his eyes held more warmth. There was a time where he was not so bloody. But that time was so long ago that he could no longer remember it correctly. He remembered only the reason why he smiled. A man, his age, tall, handsome. He was a general in training.

Park Chanyeol. Chanyeol was the only thing he remembered clearly, because Chanyeol was that one bright spot amongst the canvas of grey.

Chanyeol had given him a reason to smile. Baekhyun remembered laughing with the man as the sun set on cold winter nights, he remembered staring up at the stars in the lit night sky as summer fireflies settled around them. He remembered the time when he almost fell off the cliff, Baekhyun remembered how Chanyeol had refused to let go of his hand, refused to let Baekhyun fall, even as holding on risked the chance of Chanyeol falling as well.

He remembered the late nights when Chanyeol would whisper of legends to him, would talk about his dreams and aspirations. Baekhyun could almost hear Chanyeol’s voice, whispering his deepest secrets into his ear even now.

“Baekhyun,” the man would often say, “once I am out of training, I want to protect my kingdom. I want to become the best general Chunyu has ever seen.” Then Chanyeol would lean in closer until he was right next to Baekhyun’s ear, “But only because if I am strong, I will be able to protect you.”

It was too bad Baekhyun didn’t need protecting. It was too bad that Baekhyun would be the reason Chanyeol would be unable to reach his dreams. Baekhyun rose his eyes from his sword blade back to the hanging body in front of him.

His voice was void of any emotion as he addressed the bloodied man in front of him, “I asked you a question.”

The body gave no response, only staring at Baekhyun blankly.

“I’ll give you one last chance, which village is the easiest to break through?”

When the body still did not answer. Baekhyun gave a low growl before standing up, clutching the sword in his hands. He rammed the edge of the blade directly into the body in front of him. There was no hesitation in his actions. The sword went straight through the flesh, its end coming out red on the other side of the body.

Satisfied with himself, Baekhyun pulled the sword out, letting the blood drip onto the ground. Disgusting, filthy blood. Now he would have to clean his sword again.

He turned to one of the soldiers that was standing guard. Baekhyun pointed at the body. “Take it away and dispose of it, then bring me the next one.”

Baekhyun was not worried. They had captured more than a hundred Chunyu soldiers, sooner or later one of them would value his own life more than the safety of his kingdom. When Baekhyun found the best place to invade he would go and ravage. He would raze the land to the ground.

What other choice did he have? He was Shanxue’s general, he was Emperor Yifan’s personal assassin. He didn’t care who he had to kill in order to complete his task, he didn’t care what he would have to destroy. Because just like his reflection depicted, Baekhyun had no heart.

When you had no heart, it became easy to kill. When you had no ties to the world, it became easy to be brave. That was Baekhyun; the brave one, the murderous one, the heartless one. He was the one who succeeded.

Soon, Shanxue would take over Chunyu completely, and the credit would be completely his.

But even as he told himself this, he couldn’t help but remember Chanyeol’s dream. Chanyeol wanted to protect his kingdom and Baekhyun was about to destroy that dream…Baekhyun quickly shook his head, removing the thought from his brain. He was never meant to establish ties with the man. Baekhyun was sent to Chunyu only to spy and observe the future general. He was never committed to the relationship, not like Chanyeol was.

Baekhyun was just a fake.

“Hurry up and get me the next man.”

He was heartless. If he saw Chanyeol on the battlefield he would not hesitate to ram his sword through the body of the man and if the man hesitated, Baekhyun would use that to his advantage. This was a bloody war, there was no room for romance during war. No room for feelings. On the war ground there existed only enemies and Park Chanyeol was an enemy.

As the next men was brought in front of him, Baekhyun did not even bother asking his question. He simply rammed his sword deep within the body of the man, watching with slight amusement as the man crumpled to the floor.

This was his way of relieving stress and fading anger. This was also why Shanxue’s troops were feared throughout the world; because their commanding general was a devil with no soul.