Qiao Zhun - The Everlasting

700 years ago, the world had been enslaved by a massive war. Countries killed and died all because of a gem that contained the powers of the gods, the soul jade. With even a single touch, a person could ascend to godhood, ending lives with a single touch. Now, that very gem that which people thought was a divine blessing was now seen as a curse, with fragments being scattered all over the world. It was said that whoever found even a fragment of the gem, they were cursed for all eternity.

But in the wasteland people called China, the place where Qiao Zhun called home, the shard was seen as a death sentence. It was no curse, but simply a silent omen of a fate that would soon come. Shooting stars weren't blessings anymore, they were arrows that brought mayhem, destruction and sickness wherever it was headed. Once it lands, that area and it's people would soon be fated to fall to their demise.

The arrows came from what people called The Reaper, an angel of death that foretold the deaths of whoever it's arrow aimed for through songs. The night before someone was about to meet their end, the melody of a song being played by a violin would sound out through the air, and once it ends, the arrow would be shot, tearing through the night sky and all it's stars. People said the arrows were a warning sign, one last chance to repent for your sins in a few mere minutes, while others said it was a sign of respect, a final song to honour the soon to be deaths.

Qiao Zhun's family had been subjected to this cruel fate when he was but a boy. The arrow had landed in front of his family's estate, and soon his life of prosperity and every single happy day he ever had were ripped away from him in a single fleeting moment. The deaths began slowly, with his brother's sickness worsening day by day until he eventually met his demise, then it quickened with his parents. His father, exposed of treason against the imperial family had been executed, and his mother who had been burned at the stakes for usage of dark magic, leaving only Qiao Zhun alive.

People pitied him, but even so refused to let them anywhere near their houses. He was seen as a curse, a warning sign of what the reaper could really do. And so, Qiao Zhun had made it his life mission to find the reaper and make them pay for ripping away everything he held dear and then some, even if it was the last thing he did.

As he grew up scavenging for food on the streets and sleeping whenever and wherever he could, he'd also be documenting every little thing he knew about the reaper, calculated their patterns and even did research on all their past victims, anything to help him find them. It wasn't until one of the royal officers, Zhi Ming, offered him a job as a royal guard, meant to serve the Imperial family. Qiao Zhun wanted to turn him away, but when he realised how much easier his search could be in accepting, he took the role without a second thought. Zhi Ming knew of the risks, and the shame that would come with taking in a former member of the Qi clan, but in his eyes, he saw nothing but a helpless child.

2 years after becoming an official guard, Qiao Zhun continued on with his search, using the nightly patrols he had been assigned as a way to get information out of anyone who knew about the reaper and to listen for their melodies of death. He finally had a place to sleep, food to eat and friends he could rely on. But that didn't stop him in his endless search.

He would never truly rest until he had killed the reaper with his own bare hands.