Star Crossed In Time

An older man with grey hair clears his throat and says "As I was saying, we need to find a way to prevent the barrier from being destroyed. Does anyone have any ideas?" The others look to one another as a younger man says "Why not just let them break the barrier. Once they break it, we'll be waiting for them on this side. They won't be able to fight all of us."

I frown at the suggestion as the old man does the same. A middle-aged man with short hair steps forward and says "As great as that sounds, we can't take that kind of chance." The older man nods his head in agreement and says "Exactly. You're young and ambitious but we have no idea how strong they are or their numbers."

Bai Lei and I quietly sit and watch the men argue back and forth. The old man sighs and continues "You're too young to really know how monstrous these people are. One of their men can take on twenty of our men! Waiting for them to break the barrier would be like us signing our own death warrants." 

The middle-aged man nods his head as the others in the room silently nod their heads in agreement. I look around the room at all the men and instantly see the worry and fear on their faces. I bite my lip in worry. All the men in this room can all be called powerful but they were all scared... 

I don't know what kind of people are in the Under Realm but I suddenly feel like I never want to find out. I'm still new to this world and all its rules and magic so I feel a sense of helplessness. All these leaders and not one of them have a single idea? 

Suddenly, all the men in the room start looking at Bai Lei with a mixture of determination and guilt. I clench my fists and say "No. I know what you're all thinking and I'm telling you now, Bai Lei will not be sacrificing himself as his Grandfather did."

"You're all leaders and rulers are you not? This is all you've got?" I say giving all the men in the room a cold look. Some glare at me while others look away in embarrassment but I ignore them all and lean forward as I say "Besides, it's obviously not a permanent solution as we can all see..."

I stand up and continue "It's like killing an ant but leaving the ant pile and expecting not to get bitten again. We need to take care of the root of the issue." The men in the room look at me in shock as Bai Lei reaches up to take my hand.

I turn to him and say "I thought I would hear something useful but I was obviously overestimating them. I think I'd rather waste my time watching grass grow." I lift Little Bun up by his tail and lightly shake him while saying "Let's go."

Bai Lei's eyes are large with shock as the room quickly disappears. I look around the familiar courtyard and lift Bun up to my face. He hangs by his tail with a guilty look. "What happened to staying in the courtyard?" I ask with a forced smile.

Little Bun nervously rubs his tiny paws together as he says "I'm really sorry... I'm new to this and didn't know that would happen!" I look at his innocent eyes and sigh as I place him on my shoulder saying "No use crying over spilled milk. Maybe you should practice a bit more before we start playing around."

Little Bun nods his head and softly rubs his head against my cheek causing me to smile. I reach up and pet him as he says "Master was really cool though! You told them all!" My hand freezes as I start to worry.

I hope I didn't cross any lines and make things harder for him... 

~~~~~~

The men all look to Bai Lei after the beautiful woman disappears, leaving them all shocked. What the woman said was true... They were all guilty! The older man with grey hair clears his throat and says "What the young lady has said is true. We need to come up with something better. Something that  will fix this once and for all."

He then turns to Bai Lei and asks "May I know who the young lady is?" Bai Lei scans the room of men before saying "My woman." The men all want to yell at him. That's all he's gonna say!? Suddenly, the door to the meeting room opens causing everyone to turn and look.

Bai Lei's eyes turn cold as the air around them nearly freezes. Lei Wei walks in with his Shadow guard as everyone looks back to Bai Lei with unease. Lei Wei smirks and walks over to the table without a care as he says "As the new King of the Heavenly Realm, I should be here as well, right?"

Bai Lei remains sitting in his chair as he narrows his eyes on his brother while saying "Of course. I'm so glad you decided to come..." It'll just make it easier to kill him! Lei Wei's smirk grows, knowing all too well what his brother was thinking. 

The other men in the room swallow hard at the tension in the air but no one dares to say a word. They had all heard the news of what happened before... Lei Wei's Shadow guard pulls a chair all the way to the other end of the table, straight across from Bai Lei. 

Lei Wei sits in the chair and faces Bai Lei with the same cold look Bai Lei was giving him. The men in the room swallow hard and nervously scoot their chairs back. The older man with grey hair works up his nerve and clears his throat as he says "We should call this meeting to an end for the time being. We need to come up with some better options. How about we meet up again tomorrow?"

As soon as Bai Lei nods his head, the men quickly dismiss themselves and nearly run out of the room. "How's my dear older brother feeling?" Bai Lei says with a cold voice. Lei Wei gives him a dark smile and says "Thanks to Nova, I'm good as new."