The demonic faction is made up of sects. It is largely assumed that each sect worships different aspects of the demonic dragons. The demonic arts that are used by the darkest aspects of the evil faction were created by the demonic faction.

  Tae held very still. Resisting the urge to open his eyes and spring to his feet. His body was in no state to handle that. He used sound to get some idea of where he might be. Birds, not the kind you’d find in a city. The rustling of leaves and the creaking of branches as a light wind flowed through them. A quiet rumbling noise that told him somewhere nearby was a waterfall.

  Everything was familiar and foreign at once. Odd. The movements of someone trying not to wake a sleeping patient. There was nothing in the movements that indicated a threat, though it seemed to be coming from just next to where he lay. He then heard voices. He couldn’t make out the words but he listened to the tones. One voice was familiar. Incredibly so. The moment he placed why Tae lurched upright, eyes wide. Min.

  He barely registered the soft fabric of the blanket he’d been under as he threw it off of himself. He only took note of the young woman in the room long enough to determine she wasn’t a threat. He surged from the bed and onto the wooden floor. Scrambling his way to the door. He flung it open and rushed down the hallway. He followed more than sound now, he’d caught sight of golden Qi. He didn’t question why it was so clearly visible. Tae hurried after it. He hit the walls a few times, thankfully it was the supporting pillars he stumbled into.

  The sound of Min’s voice getting clearer urged him on. Tae didn’t stop when he reached what looked like a doorway. He flung the door open with enough force that had it been locked he’d have destroyed the lock and at least half of the door. Sunlight hit him and he blinked to clear his vision. There seated calmly on what appeared to be a balcony was Min. Min rose surprise and joy clear in his eyes.

  The figure seated across from Min was unfamiliar. In a moment Tae had grabbed Min and moved his lover behind him. Tae stood between Min and the unfamiliar figure. Tae was crouched slightly in a protective stance when his brain registered more than that the man held himself like a warrior. White hair. Tae straightened slightly but stayed on guard. The older man hadn’t moved, he’d simply watched Tae with his eyes, eyes that were a familiar silvery-grey colour.

  “Tae!” Min yelled from behind him. He grabbed Tae’s arm trying to get around him. Tae didn’t budge, which made it impossible for Min to get out from behind him. “He’s not an enemy.”

  The old man set down his tea cup and stood. Tae growled a warning. The man moved slowly but deliberately. He lifted his hands up as if to say he was unarmed. Tae glared. Just because there were no weapons in his hands didn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous.

  “I mean you no harm, child.” the old man said.

  Tae watched warily saying nothing. It felt odd but old men tended to refer to everyone younger than them as a child.

  “Tae, it’s okay.” Min said. From the inflections in his tone he was trying to calm him down. Just because Min didn’t see the old man as a threat didn’t mean he wasn’t one.

  “There were no warriors near your bedside.” The old man said. “Had I intended either of you harm you wouldn’t have survived a week unconscious in our midst.”

  Tae lowered his arms and straightened. Min grabbed his hand and Tae felt reassured by the feeling of Min’s warmth. Tae glanced at his lover who now stood beside him. Min was smiling with… relief? Wait. How long had the old man said he’d been asleep?

  “A week?” Tae finally asked.

  “Two actually.” The old man seemed to understand what Tae was asking. “It took a week for you to get here.”

  “I…” Tae said.

  “Come, sit.” the old man gestured for where he and Min had been seated earlier. “I’ll do my best to answer your questions.”

  Tae looked to Min who nodded. He still wasn’t comfortable, but the man had had plenty of opportunity to kill him and hadn’t. It seemed that for now their lives at least were not under threat. Beyond that… Tae wasn’t sure. Min tugged his hand and Tae followed. He waited to sit until after the old man had taken his seat. Tae still didn’t trust him.

  “What’s the last thing you remember?” the old man asked. There was a hesitation at the end of the question and Tae had a feeling the man had wanted to call him child again.

  The red of freshly spilled blood flashed in his mind and with it pain. Tae winced and sighed. This was not a question he wanted to answer.

  “Killing. Death. Blood. Rage.” Tae said simply. He remembered more than that, but it was disjointed and painful. He wasn’t sure why he’d answered the old man’s question so readily.

  “Can you remember anything more?” the old man asked.

  “I thought you were going to answer my questions, not ask your own.” Tae retorted.

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  “My promise to your lover trumps that.” the old man said. “I need to know how much you remember in order to assess the state you’re in.”

  Tae wanted to bristle, but Min was looking at him with such a hopeful expression… Tae sighed again. He shot the old man another glare before hiding all expression.

  “I butchered them. I killed them one by one, ripping out their hearts and throats.” Tae answered. There was no emotion in his voice. Immediately after he’d spoken however, he remembered why he’d killed them. Rage boiled within him and he gritted his teeth in an attempt to control it. He could feel the monster trying to rip it’s way out of his skin again.

  “It’s okay, we’re okay, I’m okay, Tae.” Min reassured him.

  Tae focused on the sound of Min’s voice and the black mist that had started to creep over his vision dissipated.

  “Where are we?” Tae asked through gritted teeth.

  “The sanctuary in the White Jade Mountains.” the old man said calmly. “More specifically the home of the Seok clan.”

  Tae froze in shock. Home of the… but… how?

  “Your lover is the one who alerted us to your whereabouts. From what his message contained and what he had told me, he was looking to see if you had any family still alive.”

  Tae turned to Min. He looked almost guilty, but more apologetic than anything. Tae guessed that Min felt bad about digging into his past without asking. He still held Min’s hand in his own and squeezed it slightly to reassure Min that he didn’t mind.

  “So…?” Tae didn’t even bother finishing his question.

  “Yes.” the old man answered quietly. “This is where your parents were from.”

  Tae just stared at him.

  “You look just like them. Though your eyes used to be the same shade as your mother’s. These things change as children grow.”

  Tae shook his head. He wasn’t sure what emotions he was feeling anymore. He grasped at anything to keep the emotions buried a bit longer. He latched onto something the old man had said in his desperation.

  “They didn’t.” Tae whispered.

  The old man and Min both looked at him confused.

  “My eyes,” he continued. “They didn’t change as I grew. They’ll probably change back soon. I’m actually surprised they haven’t yet.”

  “What do you mean?” Min asked.

  “Remember that medicine I take?” Tae asked. Min nodded. “That's why my eyes are grey. If I stop taking it they turn blue again.”

  “Why hide your eye colour?” Min looked confused.

  “That was never the intent of the medicine.” Tae told him. “The change to my eye colour is a side effect.”

  “You said you had to take it regularly, what happens if you don’t?”

  “Originally… much like what happened before I fell unconscious.” Tae said. “Now? I’m not sure.”

  “Why specify a difference between originally and now?” the old man asked.

  “Because the medicine stopped working.” Tae spoke quietly. “It was supposed to help me keep the curse in check.”

  The old man did not look surprised at his words. Tae wasn’t sure whether to be upset by that or not. There was silence for a moment and Tae decided it was time to ask his next question.

  “Who are you?” Tae asked. There was a flash of pain in the old man’s grey eyes.

  “I am the patriarch and head of the Seok clan.” the old man said. “I’m also your grandfather, Tae-Hwan.”

  The emotions he’d been ignoring surged. Tae fought not to act on the simplest of the emotions, anger.

  “If that’s true, then where were you!” Tae yelled. “Where were all of you all these years!”

  Tae stood and marched away from the table. He couldn’t control his emotions and didn’t actually want to hurt the old man. He took a few deep breaths trying to calm himself before turning back to stare at the old man, no longer trying to hide his emotions.

  “Where were you when my father was killed? Where were you when my mother and I were imprisoned? When I was forced to kill or be killed as a child, when I was raped, when my mother was beaten to death right in front of me and I was locked in a cell with her corpse. Where were you then. If you’re my grandfather, my blood, where were you!” Tae’s voice cracked as a sob tore from his chest. Tears streamed down his face and blurred his vision. “Where were you when I was freezing and starving to death in the mountains. When the war broke out. When I killed my fellow captives knowing they had no choice in what side of the war they were on. When I faced my abuser and he killed the man I loved. When I was cursed by the demon dragon, when I slaughtered countless lives and levelled a city. Where were you!”

  Tae gripped the banister for support as his body shook. Min had rushed to his side and hugged him. Tae glared at the old man who claimed to be his family. If they’d existed all this time, why had they not looked for him. Why had he been left in that hell, left to watch his mother die, left to suffer and struggle to survive alone.

  “It took us too long to find traces of what had happened.” the old man said. Tears streamed down his face as well. “By the time we’d discovered where your father had been killed there weren’t enough traces of you or your mother left to track down.”

  He held Tae’s gaze. Pain, sorrow, grief, and guilt filled his grey eyes.

  “We searched the entire continent but couldn’t find you. No whispers of a mother and child with white hair and light eyes. No sightings of a woman with grey eyes or a boy with light hair and light eyes went unchecked. Each report came up with nothing.” the old man closed his eyes. There was something he wasn’t saying, something that weighed on him.

  “What about the reports of a soldier with the Seok name?” Tae asked.

  “We tried looking into that. But we couldn’t get close enough to confirm anything and couldn’t risk hindering things.” the old man stared at the floor. His shoulders slumped.

  “And afterwards?” Tae’s tone was accusatory.

  “It was as if you’d vanished.” The old man’s voice was quiet.

  “The whole nation knows of my ties to the Seong clan, I didn’t vanish.” Tae accused.

  “They were very closed lipped about you, and with very good reason. All we could determine was that you were no longer within their compound.”

  Tae’s anger had not subsided. He’d spent his whole life thinking that the only blood family he’d had was dead. Only to learn they were alive and had failed both him and his mother. He almost wished they’d been dead. It had been far simpler and less painful when he’d thought they were dead.