Shadowed Love

Prologue

“What…..” a man mumbled in shock while reading a book of prophecies.

“So…. I quite need to sacrifice myself to let fate do the thing, huh?” he kept mumbling while turning the pages of the book.

“A mixed breed of the two most powerful clans…..”

“Huh, so they are all peculiar in their own way. It must be fun planning things with them….” the man grinned when he saw a picture suddenly appear on a blank page, but the one in the middle is yet to be revealed.

“As much as I am excited about meeting them, I can’t because if I didn’t go according to this prophecy, I won’t ever meet them. So I’ll endure this now, at least I can meet them soon.” he caressed a page in the book.

Even though he is moving according to what the prophecy says, he hugs the book tightly because he still feels scared. He’s in a corner, curling up from the coldness of the rain, but still keeps the book from getting wet.

“Oh no! I need to go!” the man immediately stood up from the floor, closed the book and hid it where the ‘one’ could only see, as he could feel them getting closer and closer to his location.

“Don’t even try running away!” a soldier shouted and ran to chase the man that had just got out of the room. “He’s here! Chase him!”

The man kept running, trying to lose them. Of course, this is just him acting like he doesn’t want to be caught. As he read earlier, he needs to go along with this so it will not get in the way of fate.

He planned on getting chased for a while longer but he didn’t expect that there would be an ambush just right after he got out of the perimeter of the castle.

“Ugh!” he groaned when a soldier suddenly jumped onto him and made him fall to his stomach.

“Tsk. You don’t have any chance to get away from us. Stop wasting our time.” a soldier that seemed to be the leader of the chasing unit stepped on his head while another soldier was kneeling on his back and holding his hands to prevent him from getting free.

“Just let me go!” The man struggled, still keeping his act. ‘I can finish you all in just a minute, bastards.’ He thought to himself and hid his uncontrollable smirk.

“You are actually the opposite of the rumors spreading about you, huh? That’s more annoying.” the soldier said and kicked him, which made him pass out. Of course, he was just acting. That wasn’t strong at all compared to his teasing fights with his friends.

He just needs to act passed out so he can feel his surroundings and memorize where they are going.

He felt the carriage stop and got carried by about three men. What some weak shitheads, he thought.

“What took you so long, huh?” he heard a woman’s voice greeting them.

“This bastard still tried to run away from us. He thought he still had a chance of surviving.” The soldier from earlier replied.

Once he felt he was thrown to the ground and felt his hands and feet getting chained, he kept his act for another five minutes and slowly opened his eyes.

He saw a woman and a man standing beside her, and ten other soldiers.

"Ugh! Let me go!" the man shouted while trying to loosen the chains that bound both his hands and feet. 

"And you think we'll set you free? Huh? Then why did we even chase you!?" the soldier that looked like the leader of the chasing unit from earlier said. 

“Shut up, Jasper.” The woman said and looked at the man named ‘Jasper’ with an irritated look.

‘Jasper? What the hell, that’s a soft name for someone doing evil. Just what the hell happened to him?’ the man thought while looking at Jasper with confusion.

"Don't worry, we'll just borrow your shell. We'll return it eventually, but do you mind if it's broken?..!!" Lanxiu added and laughed like a demon. She is one of the people desperate for the crown, to take and rule over Kalliah.

"What is this even for!? The 'One' is finally coming! You made the wrong move! You triggered it more! The 'One' will come soon enough and will destroy your group!! Ugh!" a groan came out of his mouth when a soldier kicked him in his side.

"You're too talkative!" Lanxiu angrily said and slapped the man's face again and again, stronger and stronger.

“Say, what did you find out about that stupid prophecy?” Lanxiu was kneeling on one knee beside him while holding a handful of his hair.

“I found out……. that you will all die soon enough.” The man then smirked more devilishly than how Lanxiu laughed earlier.

“Crazy bastard! Stupid fool.” Lanxiu slapped his face again, stronger than before.

“Hey Lanxiu, don’t hurt it too much. I will get to feel it when I’m in his body.” a man interfered and Lanxiu turned to him with threatening eyes. 

‘How dare this jackass interfere with my plans. I will forgive him since I will need him.’ she thought, and her expression immediately turned from threatening to kind.

“Sorry. I was just pissed and wanted to kill him now.” she answered and faked an apologetic look.

"Well then, prepare for the oration so we can finally use this man's body! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Lanxiu commanded and stood up.

"Are you ready?” Lanxiu asked the man who was going to take over the body. The man was about to answer when Lanxiu cut him off.

“No, there's no need to ask. You must prepare yourself. The plan needs to be successful." Lanxiu said to the man, clearly ignoring his feelings. It does not matter to her if he feels scared, nervous, excited, or even the fact that he is now ready. She just wanted to start her plan and rule over Kalliah in the end.

The soldier that was going to take over the body had this look in his eyes. How Lanxiu was treating them was not of a comrade, but just a pawn or robot that she commands. 

"Let me go! Let me go!" The man was still trying to get free from the chains. The soldiers beat him, so then he fell asleep.

When the oration finally started, the man was strongly shaking like there was an earthquake going on.

The whole warehouse was then filled with mumbles and whispers as they saw the man struggling but asleep.

“What the f**k, he looks like a fish out of the water.” someone inside the warehouse commented.

“He looked ugly with that...”

“Is this the right thing to do….?” another soldier mumbled. 

Some soldiers are circling the body, 5 meters away from it. They all have an ‘I know it is like this, but is it really like this?’ look.

Even with that thought in mind, they just felt lucky that they were not the one in his place but still felt empathy in that person. They didn't even expect it would all turn out like that.

“What, what’s happening to him?” A soldier whispered to the other soldier beside him.

“I don’t know either. We are lucky we caught him or that b***h Lanxiu will use us instead. Just be grateful they caught him or we are all dead meat by now.” The other answered and they both flinched when Lanxiu looked at them like she heard exactly what they said.

"Do your job properly or everything will be in vain. Don't disappoint me." she said with a serious and threatening face when she turned to the man that was beside her earlier.

"Yes madam." The other man said, and entered the chained man's body.

The body was shaking again while having a pained face. The screams of a man were the only ones heard in that warehouse.

The man opened his eyes and they could see that he was a totally different person.

"Are you ready?" she asked and caressed his face like it was a precious item while grinning. Lanxiu was also chuckling on the inside.

"Of course." The man also responded with a smirk and held Lanxiu’s left hand that was caressing his right cheek.

Lanxiu is so blinded by greed she's not even aware of her 'comrades' feelings, even the man's feelings and what his face was like when he entered the body of the tied man. They are all just her pawn to use for a successful plan.

All they wanted was a comrade and someone that could help them with their goals. But what Lanxiu is currently doing is so selfish, all they can do is to be hopeless and regret everything they did to achieve this kind of situation.