Sunrise

[Jiang Wei]

SUNRISE

You will never redeem yourself... Jiang Wei...

With a great jerk, the youth forced himself into a sitting position as he took deep breaths following the sound of the voice in his head...

Jiang Wei... Jiang Wei...

Who was this Jiang Wei? Falling back onto his back, the youth once again relaxed his body, resting, but for some reason, now unable to sleep. A few hours passed, as the youth was illuminated in early sunlight coming from the window, the sun was rising at about the third watch.

Rising from his bed, the youth steadied himself, after bobbing to and fro in an unbalanced manner. The sleep, though strange it was served its' purpose, reseted the youth was. Leaving the room and taking a few northward paces, a feast could be seen on the table, consisting mainly of wheat and grain.

Though not as amazing as the meal prepared for him the previous night, the selection of food was better than nothing, as the youth had by now adjusted to. Taking a seat, the youth, as he had done the night before, emptied the plates.

Afterwards, he headed back to his room in a relaxed pace, and selected appropriate clothing for the day to come, and long it would be. Taking loose light brown linens along with a dark shirt and leather boots, the youth made his selections in preparation for a long trip.

The youth wasted no time in exiting the residence, as he allowed himself to be escorted by the waiting... Guards. After traveling for what seemed like an hour in the cool breeze of the morning, the youth arrived at a rather imposing structure.

One of the guards took a peek inside, and signaled the youth to enter. From there, he was escorted through to the study of what was now revealed to be Liang Zhi's house. Opening the door, the Commandant came into view, seemingly in a state of thought.

"Commandant, I have arrived as you had requested."

[Liang Zhi]

Liang Zhi had an uneventful night, but as expected while sleeping, you aren't exactly going to do much worth talking about, simply lying next to your wife breathing through your nose, which didn't need to be told.

Awakening at the soft call of his wife Zhi rubbed his eyes, strectched and rolled out of bed, the servants carried in a bucket of warm water for him to wash his feet and face, he did so and then his wife handed him his clean official robe. He threw it over himself and tied it with his belt, and tied his hair up and put on his official hat. Zhi walked out of the chamber with his wife and had a meal with his family.

After breakfast he bid farewell to wife, son and daughter, and walked off to the yamen with Shui Xie who he met halfway there as he did everyday. Each walking their horses the way, chatting idly about things old and new until they reached the yamen.

The two bid each other farewell and each went to do what they did for a living, Shui Xie went over to the drilling fields to instruct the soliders for the morning, Zhi went for his prefectural business. Court opened at noon however and it was only in the eighth hour of the day, so Zhi as planned went to his study in the rear complex of the prefectural building.

On arriving Liang tidied his desk up a bit and had servants lay out a tray of wine and sitting place, for the guest he was expecting.

The room was decorated with calligraphy hangings quoting the Tao, Confucius and many philosophers of times past and had candles dotted all over the place. Rare swords were racked up in the corner and musical instruments were shelved. The room enjoyed a peaceful feel and sense of zen and spiritual importance, such was the atmosphere that Regent Liang enjoyed.

The escort eventually arrived and directed the young guest into Liang's presence who was painting a scene. What was the painting of? It depicted two forest wolves together attacking a dragon in it's heavenly palace. What did it mean? Only time will tell.

Liang put down his brush and greeted his guest with clasped hands and a bow from the waist, he invited him to be seated while standing, then sat in his place and then said, "I trust the accomodation last night was comfortable enough and you had a good rest?"

[Jiang Wei]

His eyes adjusting to the noticeably bright light within the room, the youth was able to make out what exactly the Commandant was doing; painting a picture, and what a picture it was. After staring in wonder at the strange painting, a throbbing similar to that he had experienced a day but the day before.

Within moments, the youth was once again in his half-conscious state, experiencing flashbacks in a de-ja-vu manner. Vision of the color spectrum limited itself to black and white as the wolves in the painting that the youth was viewing morphed into two armored silhouettes.

The silhouettes wielded pikes, cornering a what looked like another man's silhouette. "Run... Jiang Wei!" A masculine voice called before the victim's silhouette was driven through by a spear, shadows imitating the violence and death that later ensued.

Afterward, the image faded away, as the silhouettes morphed back into the paintings that Liang Zhi had drawn, the youth, now realizing that he had called out "Run... Jiang Wei!" at the same time that the vision occurred.

Bowing his head, the youth spoke.

"Please excuse my sudden outburst of words... It was very rude. I have not been myself lately...

Returning to the current situation, the youth replied to Liang Zhi's statement saying;

"Yes, Indeed, the accommodation was splendid, I cannot express my gratitude to the servants.

[Liang Zhi]

((Will be short, brief and rubbish, its 8am and i'm tired, but wanted to get it done before I went off to college, as I fell asleep forgetting about this last night, and I don't wanna keep you waiting.))

Liang watched the man's reactions, and his almost traumatic response to the painting, listening to him have a sudden yell mid-flashback, Liang was confused but at the same time understanding, to the man's reply concerning the accomodation he replied himself, "Good, i'm glad to hear you were well provided for." To his reasoning for his outburst he said, "It's fine, so tell me..." Liang paused for a moment and then said, "Jiang Wei? Is that your name? What happened in your past that causes all of these concerning memories?" Zhi poured the man a drink of wine, ready for when he replied.