Night descended upon the land like a black, heavy shroud, and Su Vaen stood on the shattered parapets of the ancient Su Clan mansion, this is home to his mother—a reminder of a heritage that he had grown to despise.
In the quiet, shadowed courtyard, there were memories of a life once loved entwined with the bitter bitterness of betrayal.
Tonight, all he ever had loved behind him, shutting off his mind and heart to the final battle in the offing which awaited him.
Gingerly he walked through house ruins, step by step along halls of his past life resounded.
The tattered murals on the walls, which had long promised honor, sacrifice, and prosperity, now taunted him with their broken promises.
They were remnants of the past when his mother's kindly leniency held sway over the clan, when Su family stood for protection and guardianship of the people. That legacy died, consumed by greed and the insatiable quest for power.
Su Vaen stood before his mother's grave—a lovely woman whose serene face had once filled every spirit that beheld it with new hope.
Now, the same face suffocated him with a wild, gnawing sorrow. His fingers traced the chill stone as if holding on to a fragment of lingering heat that long ago had seeped out of his heart.
"I have to let you go,"
he spoke softly, his voice regretful and resolute.
In that moment, all the memories of her selfless struggles, all the soft words, and all the sweetness moments engulfed him.
He was uttering a silent goodbye, not just to her, but to the last shreds of a bygone era that had defined him.
As he walked deeper into the courtyard, scraps of family photographs and personal memories flooded the space—tokens once symbolic of belongingness and unity but now mere shadow of a tarnished heritage.
He picked one token of remembrance—a rumpled piece of paper his mother penned, replete with fantasies and aspirations of a time when the folk would be protected by the clan, not pillaged.
Craddling the weight of loss against himself, Su Vaen embraced the labor of a born determination.
Stepping out under the night sky, under the boundless expanse of shining stars, his breath crisp beneath the distant throb of maniacal township he once lived in.
The resonance of every step on cobblestones was pure. He was departing the world that did not accept the virtues he acquired from his mother.
In doing so, he was preparing himself for what had to be done—wiping off the tainted name of the Su Clan to clear the way for a better-balanced tomorrow.
At the boundary of the estate stood a solitary oak tree that silently witnessed centuries of glory and shame. Under the ancient branches, Su Vaen knelt, allowing his mind to be calm.
His mind strayed about the last few days' worth of occurrences—the dark realities unearthed in the clandestine lab, the innocents' pain abandoned to worthless experiments, and the chilly coldness of the people who once said they were kin.
Each memory was a wound festering with betrayal compelled him to choose.
For years, he had grappled beneath the burden of duty—to the Su name, to the integrity of his late mother, and to those who had trusted before in the integrity of his family.
Tonight, however, the choice was clear. His duty was not to defend a discredited custom but to cleanse the decay that had crept into his line.
In that serene glade, Su Vaen made up his mind that the final showdown would not be an idiotic act of vengeance.
It would be a purification fire—a blaze to burn off the karma that had haunted the Su Clan for so long.
His pained, tender heart beat with the resolute tempo of change to be. He foresaw that his fate would take him to meet his father, the ambitious rival for clan leadership, whose stubbornness had tainted their honor.
Not just his father but the entire Su Clan, his kinfolk.
And when he rested under the ancient oak, there was accumulating within him a tranquility of clear-sightedness.
Su Vaen was aware that what he was doing would not only be a matter of hacking his clan to bits, but a matter of reclaiming the honor and decency that had always been the bedrock of his people.
The lofty ideals of his mother—scandalous charges of a clan that protected its people rather than destroying them—must still have their hold, even if the ancient taproots had to be torn away.
One tear cut its path down his cheek, mixing with the dirt of the old courtyard.
A silent farewell to the past—a farewell to principles shattered by ambition and greed.
And that tear, he shed the weight of the Su name so that he might forge a new destiny.
Gasping with slowness, Su Vaen breathed deeply, drawing into his lungs the bite of the night air.
The stars overhead, unmoving but endless, appeared to be a vow of new beginnings.
His resolve crystallized into one unshakeable resolve: to battle corruption within his clan and maybe even become its executioner, no matter how much it destroyed everything that he loved.
He left with him his meager personal items—a treasured fragment of his mother's diary, a small memento which testified to his humble beginnings, and his loyal sword, now a symbol of his journeys and perseverance.
These, he left behind the desolate remains of his clan's past.
this, cursed the Su Clan for eternity.
As he walked towards the great gate of the clan house, his mind was a whirlpool of feelings.
Love for his country, sorrow for the lost heritage, and a raging, hot anger at the corruption that had gripped it.
But in this whirlpool of feelings, there was also a calm hope—a belief that by burning the old, a new dawn could be brought.
Su Vaen's path had come to its turning point.
Abandoning his past life had not been an end, but a start toward revolution against the darkness that had plagued his family.
With each step, he shed the weights of the past and walked toward a destiny shaped by his own volition—a destiny which would light up the mortal world with the radiance of truth and the power of redemption.
So, under the constant gaze of the stars, Su Vaen went on his way, away from the debris of a defiled legacy, to face the final fight that would seal the fate of his clan, and, consequently, the fate of all those who had been suffocated beneath its tainted name.