aekhyun returned his sword to the sheath. Finally, after fifty one kills, one man had finally decided to speak. Rosecreek. That was the place the forces would be weakest, that was also the most direct path to the capital. With this information, Baekhyun would be able to easily destroy Chunyu and take over the land completely for his emperor.

Emperor Yifan would be pleased. That was good, Baekhyun wanted to please his emperor. He owed too much to the Emperor to not repay it. Baekhyun knew that he owed Yifan his life. It was Yifan’s family that had saved him from the clutches of the slave traders when he was little. It was them who raised him within the palace walls, trained him, and loved him.

Now, it was his turn to do his part for them. He was trained to conquer. Chunyu would be the first kingdom he completely ravished for Yifan. In the future he would destroy much more. Baekhyun wanted only to make Shanxue greater, bigger, and stronger. That was his way of returning the years of effort the Royal Family had spent on him.

Baekhyun would let nothing get in the way of that. He clapped his hands and automatically a soldier came to his side.

“Yes, General?”

“Gather three hundred, we are heading for the village of Rosecreek first thing in the morning. Send news to the Emperor of our departure.”

“Understood.”

After the soldier left the room, Baekhyun, too, got up and left the prison cell where he had been questioning the captives. He made his way outside of the building and instead to a small piece of heaven. As he stood outside on the large, unending field of grass, the light from the stars shined down at him.

Baekhyun was suddenly reminded of that night. The night when he had danced his soul through his sword to the music of the guzheng. It was a beautiful night. As he danced to that melody he had felt all the burdens of life lift themselves off his soul. He wondered if he could dance the same dance now.  But as he pulled his sword from its sheath he quickly realized that he would be unable to. His sword was too bloody now, nothing so bloody could dance a dance so free and unrestrained. The blade was tied down now, locked in by the chains of crimson.

Baekhyun laughed bitterly, if he could not dance with his sword, then at least he could listen to the guzheng. He yelled for one of the guards. Automatically one came rushing to his side, bowing before him before glancing up and waiting for commands.

“Go get me a musician that specializes in the guzheng.”

“But Sir, all the musicians are probably asleep at this late hour.”

Baekhyun growled, “I don’t care. Get them up.”

The guard gulped before giving a quick nod and rushing off in the direction of the musician quarters. Baekhyun sighed into the night as he waited for the return of the guard. The cold bit at his cheek. He didn’t remember the last time the winter night had felt so cold…it had never felt cold when Chanyeol was by his side.

Unconsciously his fingers went to his neck, reaching for something that was not there. Who was he kidding? He had left the necklace behind when he returned from Chunyu to Shanxue, done with his undercover duty. Baekhyun couldn’t take the necklace with him. He didn’t have the right to.

That necklace should only be worn by someone deserving of Chanyeol’s love. Baekhyun scoffed. He was only a betrayer, a backstabber, a worthless idiot. He wasn’t worthy of wearing that beautiful agate ring around his neck. But even so, Baekhyun wished he had it with him now, thinking that somehow, its presence would warm him slightly.

“Sir?”

Baekhyun turn, setting his cold eyes on the guard who had returned. Besides the guard stood another man, one of the palace musicians. It was a young man, probably around his own age. There was a sense of fear on the face of the chestnut haired musician, aroused due to the bad name Baekhyun had amongst the people. He was the ruthless killer, he killed even his own.

“What is your name?” Baekhyun asked, staring into the light auburn orbs of the musician, who stood shivering in the dark night, clutching a sycamore guzheng tightly in his arms, as though it would somehow protect him from Baekhyun’s blade.

“Zhang Yixing, sir.”

“You are new?”

The man nodded. Baekhyun wondered if the new musician would be any better than their old ones. Most of the usual palace musicians were old men whose fingers were already stiff with age, it was high time the Emperor hired some new ones.

“Play for me.”

The musician glanced back at Baekhyun with a blank expression on his face. Baekhyun noted that the man seemed to have little emotions, seemingly lost in the world that he dwelled within.

“Here, sir?”

Baekhyun scoffed, “Where else?”

Yixing nodded and sat on the bare ground. He set the beautifully crafted instrument across his lap, holding it tenderly. The way the man caressed the wooden piece softly reminded Baekhyun slightly of the way Chanyeol used to hold the instrument. Baekhyun waved his hand at the guard, dismissing the man. He wanted to be alone when Yixing started to play.

Yixing hands slightly grazed across the strings that were crafted of the finest horses in the country. His fingers strummed and pressed against the near transparent bands. Soft notes flowed into the foggy night, cutting through the dark. Clear, high beautiful notes.

Baekhyun’s hand unconsciously came to his chest. Over the place where his heart would have been if he had a heart, he placed his fingers and clutched at the spot in pain. The way Yixing played was like the way angels would play, should they string their instruments in the heavens. Baekhyun felt like the notes were crafted of all the raw emotions in the world, twirled into one heartbreaking symphony. How could a man, so emotionless, so lost, play something so beautiful?

Baekhyun eyes never left Yixing’s. He watched as love poured out of Yixing’s gaze. Yixing was completely focused on the beauty of the instrument on his lap and seemed to have sunk into a world of his own. That was the difference…no matter how beautiful his song was, no matter how vibrant and vivid, it was not Chanyeol playing.

When Chanyeol played, he focused not on the instrument, but on Baekhyun, and only Baekhyun.

A sting spread in his chest. Baekhyun drew his swords and slashed it through the air, trying to refocus on something besides the evident pain in his heart. He twirled the long blade in the cold blue air, reflecting the silver full moon on the sword edge.

Anyone watching him would have been awed by the beauty in his jumps and spins. Anyone watching would have stopped breathing at the serenity of the scene, in the otherworldliness of the dance. As the moon encased Baekhyun within its mystical light, it was hard to call the scene anything but unreal, of dreams and heavens.

But if anyone cared to look closer, they would have seen the pain trapped within Baekhyun’s eyes. They would have seen the way he gritted his teeth tightly. They would have noted the way Baekhyun seemed to swing his sword with careless abandon rather than careful grace.

Baekhyun’s heart hurt. But it shouldn’t have, because he didn’t have a heart. In that moment, however, as he swung his sword in the furry of artistic representation, his mind was elsewhere. He remembered only the night that Chanyeol had given him that agate necklace. No matter how hard he tried, no matter what musician played for him in the background; he would never be able to recreate the perfection of that night, because Chanyeol was not here.

He threw the sword at the ground, growling angrily as the blade sunk deep into the moist earth below him. What use was the sword? What use was the dance? What use was anything if he could not find that slice of perfection that he had only tasted for a slight fragment of his life?

The notes stopped and Baekhyun turned, catching Yixing’s curious eyes settled on him.

“What are you staring at?”

“I’m wondering why you look so upset.”

Baekhyun laughed, amused at the directness of the man. It was rare that anyone dared to even observe Baekhyun, rarer for them to admit it. “And what conclusion did you reach?”

Zhang Yixing shook his head. He stood up and brought his guzheng up with him as well. “I’m not sure. But I wonder. I’ve heard many rumors about you, General. But I wonder how true they are. They say you’re heartless, but you seemed so pained as you listened to me play; only someone with a heart would be capable of such pain.”

Baekhyun appraised Yixing carefully. The man was observant and brave; or perhaps just stupid. Baekhyun walked closer to the musician and swung his sword upwards, pointing the sharp tip at Yixing’s neck.

“Are you not afraid of death? I could kill you for your words. How dare you downgrade my ruthlessness?”

But the musician only smiled. “I don’t think you’ll kill me, General.”

“You are a fool,” Baekhyun said, but he lowered his sword and replaced it in its sheath. He turned around and stared back at the silver moon in the sky. “But you know, it’s nice having a fool around, once in a while.”

He thought for a minute longer. Baekhyun decided that he liked having the musician around, if only for the music the man produced. Maybe as someone to talk to…as long as the man did not become too intrusive.

“Go back to bed Yixing and report to the training grounds tomorrow morning. You will be joining us.”

The man gave a clear, sharp laugh from behind Baekhyun. “I thought you would say that, General. Would you like me to bring my instrument along as well?”

Baekhyun slightly frowned at the mock amusement in Yixing’s voice but decided to let it pass. After all, the musician would be unable to play the music that allowed Baekhyun to almost fall back to the days of his past that he so desperately wished to return to, if he were dead.

“Only if you don’t want to die,” Baekhyun said chillingly, his cold voice masking the desire inside of him to hear Yixing play once again. But even more so, masking his desire to hear a different man play.