prelude:
"One can win a man by carving him down, but never defeat the man who stands back up." - Cong Gurong, 19
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Two vagabond-looking people sat on the ground of a dilapidated cabin, both bleeding out to death, glaring vehemently at one another.
"You stab me, then chase after me a day later to die with me?" complained the first, a larger man with thick black hair past his shoulders, and loose, his face quite handsome other than his nose which was large, and crooked, breaking what could've been a very fearful character that he wished to portray, clothed completely in black, the garish ribbon on his crooked blade to add to his 'mystique', but only made one realize the thinness of its mask over what lay below. "Can you be any less disrespectful?"
"You get almost killed by someone several realms stronger than you, who definitely has taken your assassination earlier personally, and instead of running as far as those skinky legs can carry you, you stop to find a retreat not even 7 li away???" Snarled the other back in annoyance, it was clear she was not very thrilled at the thought of dying with him either.
"OH? And who made me so wounded I couldn't go farther than 7. Sultry. Li." gritted the other man, coughing blood from shear frustration and annoyance. "It's not liked I wanted to die here, in this rotting house, bleeding out slowly, butt wet from the leaks in the ceiling! Anyway, I claimed this spot first, so why don't you just choose somewhere else to go die instead?"
She shrugged her shoulder, grumbling quietly, "not my fault it's the only shelter around these woods and rain came down so quickly after I escaped. Even if I did stab you to death, you can't really wish me a cold, wet death, bleeding out under the heavy rain??"
"Oh I could and I Do, in fact, i would rather you not only bleed out in the rain, but also be gnawed to death by ants before you go!"
"Ants don't even come out in the rain," she complained.
"Whatever, anyway, you owe me, how about letting me kill you with my own hands, you get to leave this world quicker, and in less pain, and I get the satisfaction of killing my murderer! A win win!"
"A win win?" She scoffed. "Did you forget why you are lying there, with a gaping hole in your chest??? In fact, how about i offer you the same deal, you still owe me for what you did to xiao Li!"
"Why are you taking that so personally?" whined the large man back, "It's not like I even know the kid, I was just told to kill him and followed orders, if you really wanted to avenge him, go after my boss instead! Besides," he coughed out some more blood, he really was at the end of his rope, almost spitting out the words from pure pettiness before death took him, "Why are you so protective of him anyway, is he your brother or something?"
"He would've been," she grumbled in annoyance, "If you didn't go and ruin it for me! Now my future husband is hard set on killing me, and my brother in law is still at death's door! If I weren't…"
She was interrupted by snide chuckling, "Brahaha, so your wounds are from your fiance, brahahahah! Talk about bad luck! You better give up risking your life to save his brother then getting beat to death, brahahaha, you deserve it, cheap shot artist!"
"You!" she suddenly used the last of her strength to lunge at him, "shut up!" but ended up failing, and just falling across him, her bloody hands attempting to grab his neck, while his arms attempted to wrestle her away, as the rotten door suddenly blew open, and rain scattered across the dirt floor, only to reveal emptiness beyond it.
The empty space hovering over the empty door frame was slowly occupied, as slumped, dirty figure slowly arose out of the muck of the ground, formed from old dirt, tree sheddings and animal feces.
Death. That was what it was like facing him, as if death had come for them early. Not the kind of death that comes slowly, in the dead of night, nor the kind of death that is sudden and painful, no, this was a dirty, gross death. A terrifyingly morbid, senseless death. Not only to die, but to die in the most disgusting manner. She shuddered, gripping into her companion that she had been trying to strangle moments before, now with the desire to hold onto a fellow sufferer, and he gripped her back, even more fiercely, trembling with fear.
Two men, having accepted their position on the brink of death, now had other plans.