Yin Sha Prologue

          Night wind whistling, he covers the wound on his shoulder, clenching his teeth as he runs forward. Up on the forest's sky, the sound of a helicopter approaching along with search lights swept through the air. Behind him, vague dog bark blend with the cold wind.

          Blood continuously gush from the gunshot wound, the warmth begin to slowly leave his body, his steps become heavier and heavier as he goes on. He knows he cannot stop now, stopping means death.

          He cannot figure out what happened, years of carefully planning just to choose the perfect moment to escape the organization. He even bet his life just for this, but he never expected today to be the day the defense got pushed to maximum…

          The handgun only has 2 bullets left, 1 for the enemy, and 1 for him. But before he dies he still want to know why, why would they mobilize such a large force just to eliminate an ordinary a.s.sa.s.sin, even sending out "Power Users".

          These "Power Users" call themselves "Evolutionists", they have been operating in the deepest part of the organization, so deep that even he don't know about it until now. Regardless, they won't be deployed just to kill an a.s.sa.s.sin like him, so why is it?

          All the running combine with the blood loss has finally take its toll. His vision start to get blurry, as he run to the edge of the forest he realize that in front of him is a vertical mountain wall. There is a helicopter above, climbing up is suicide. He then runs along the wall until he saw a bright light emits from the corner.

          The helicopters quickly close in to his position, dog bark, more and more people voices echo through the trees. Thinking that this is his final moments, he slow down, peeking through the corner. Over there, a fire is burning, but upon looking at it he feels calm and transparent. He starts to tremble, then clench his hand and he saw a man standing next to the blazing flame.

          One of the "Evolutionists" of the organization.

          These "Evolutionists" have extraordinary powers beyond normal human beings. He is not sure about the number of "Evolutionists" gathering around here so he does not peek for long. But he only got 2 shots left, he then raise his arm, take aim, knowing that his life will end after this one.

          The gun is pointed precisely at the "Evolutionist", yet that "Evolutionist" keeps looking at the flame, turning his back against that corner, his hands are open in strange position. If that guy was an a.s.sa.s.sin, he definitely can't have that kind of opening, but screw it…….

          He clenches his teeth as he pull the trigger, fire flashes, the bullet goes directly through the Evolutionist's temple and send the body almost flying. ""Power Users", "Evolutionists" my a.s.s, a bullet to the head is all it takes"-he thinks, while pointing the gun directly at his head without hesitation. But it was during this moment, a strange, eerie voice suddenly sounded, a roaring fire torrent appears rus.h.i.+ng to him.

          The golden flame burst out, any trees in contact with it turn to ash immediately as he sees it quickly covers the forest, but he don't feel any heat coming from the fire. He look up, a giant red bird covered in flames rises to the sky, just like the Phoenix in Chinese legend.

          Fire rises to the sky, quickly cover the air, any helicopters got touched by the flame immediately explode and fall down. He stands and stare at all this in awe, then suddenly turns around as reinforcements have started to emerge from the forest. They too are caught by surprise, even forgetting to shoot. Fear then appears in their eyes as they started trying to escape. But in just a flash, the Phoenix dive down along with the raging flame, he then sees the eyes of the flaming bird. 

          ~B O O M !~

          The flames rain down upon him!

          No death, no pain, as the slight panic has pa.s.sed, he can clearly see himself standing amidst a devastated forest. He is now wrapped by some kind of fluid, and it feels soothing. No sound, no voice, the world around him is in total silence, just like the moment heaven and earth was born. He then looks past the flames, the world outside move extremely slow. When the fire rain down, the ground are filled with cracks and embers, all the trees turned into ash, the reinforcements and the hounds also, nothing escapes the fire, not even just a moment.

          In an instant, he understands everything.

          According to legends, after a set period of time, the Phoenix will start molting and die, turning to ash. Then from that ash, a flame will rise and the Phoenix will be reborn. He choose today to escape from the organization, coincidentally enough today is also the Phoenix Nirvana , all the forces they send out are just to deal with this Phoenix alone. Phoenix Nirvana is they day its power is at its lowest, so the "Power Users" gather here to subdue it. His gunshot opened up a corner, allowing the Phoenix to escape.

          From the nothingness, a voice asks him:

          "Thank you, what do you desire?"

          "I…"

          His eyes open wide

          "…I want to be free."