The Messenger of Death

"When their grandfather found out what happened, he almost killed Hassan. But he couldn't afford to lose another family member, so he decided to give Hassan a punishment. He was thrown into the lowest part of the den."

"For how long?" Jamila asked.

"For 5 years."

"He stayed in the den for 5 years and he came out alive, with his cultivation being that low?" The feats that Hassan had accomplished kept on leaving Jamila speechless.

"To be able to kill your parents in cold blood, your mental strength has to be something. The lowest part of the den torments its tenants mentally. It was probably nothing for Hassan.

5 years later, when Hassan was released from the den and he came out in one piece, some people were happy that he was out while some were bitter. Those that were happy were like that because there was a predicament that could easily be solved if Hassan was to be involved."

"What predicament?" Jamila questioned.

"You know that our village shares a border with two other villages, right?" Her companion asked.

"Yeah," Jamila answered.

"A blue high-density energy crystal mine was found in the middle of the border and to decide who had the rights to start mining its properties first, the three villages agreed to have a little competition, the winner of the competition will have the right to be the first to mine the properties of the mine. Hassan was given the responsibility of obtaining that position for our village, with him participating it would have been an easy win for us.

But he chose to lose purposely and our village got last, we reaped the lowest rewards from the energy crystal mine. His grandfather was so angry that he beat Hassan halfway to death. It didn't stop there, Hassan kept on disgracing and embarrassing the clan chief and the village whenever he was chosen to represent our village for any occasion.

That's how Hassan came to be despised by the majority. At one point, the village chief stopped sending Hassan to represent our village, he allowed Hussein to do it. Hussein brought a lot of glory and reputation for the village, both the ones that were tarnished by Hassan and more." Her companion finished.

"I understand. Although I do not know how the death of Hussein's mother affected Hassan, I can guess that his change was due to that." Jamila concluded.

"Hussein has been ahead of Hassan for a while now, we don't even know what cultivation level Hassan is in now. Some say that he has stopped cultivating and is only focused on his Sword Dao. But, that is a story for another time, no more questions Jamila. Let's finish here and head back."

"Okay, thank you." Jamila thanked her companion for the detailed information about Hassan's and Hussein's past.

'Hassan only did that so that I could be the one that brings glory back to the village. It's all part of his plans of pushing the chieftaincy position to me.' Hussein thought as he stood up.

"I should go and check on that pink-haired lady now." He whispered to himself and walked out from behind the tree that he had been leaning on.

Jamila and her companion noticed him when he walked out, they gasped and froze in their positions because of how scared they were of Hussein. Jamila's companion had started to pee on herself as she was shivering in fear.

"Keep up the good work," Hussein said to the two of them and disappeared from their sights.

When he left, they could finally let out the air that they held in their chests. Jamila's companion was breathing heavily as tears gushed out of her eyes, she looked at Jamila. "I told you that Hussein hears it all," She sniffed.

"Please don't ask a question like that again, he might have forgiven us now but we might not be so lucky in the future."

Jamila nodded her head and decided to kill her curiosity…

*******************

"Mamma, when is she going to wake up?" Hussein could hear his brother's voice coming from within the clinic.

Mamma chuckled. "Hassan, I haven't seen you this worried about anything in years. Is it because she is your brother's woman?" The head of the clinic asked playfully.

"Hussein's woman? No, she's not his." Hassan replied with a frown.

"Ehh, then is she your woman?" Mamma questioned.

Hassan was about to say yes, but he paused and contemplated his answer. "No, she's not mine either," He said truthfully.

"Then who is she?"

-Creak!

Hussein opened the door to the clinic and stepped in. "I thought you were going to claim her again," Hussein smirked at his brother as he joked.

"Although she is beautiful, I don't know why I did that in the first place, forgive me." Hassan apologized sincerely.

"I also don't know why I fought back, something must have gotten to us. I am sorry for my past actions brother." Hussein apologized too.

"Wait, the two of you fought, over a woman?" Mamma was stunned to hear this.

"This is the first that I've heard of such. The two have never fought with each other, over anything. Why do I get a bad feeling from this?" Mamma began murmuring to herself.

Hassan and Hussein looked at themselves, they chuckled. "It was just a one-time thing," Hassan said.

"Exactly, we wouldn't fight like that again, right brother?" Hussein asked as he looked at the pink-haired girl first before looking at his brother.

Hassan understood what his brother was insinuating. "I'm sorry brother, but for some reason, I cannot give this woman up for you. May the best man win?" Hassan smiled at his brother.

"I thought so," Hussein smiled back.

Mamma looked at the foreigner that was laid on a bed in her clinic. 'Do I kill her or let her live. The love between these brothers have never faltered, but for this woman, they openly challenge their selves, is this a good thing or a bad thing?'

Mamma didn't feel good about this, she had watched Hassan and Hussein grow since they were young, and since the deaths of their mothers, they got closer to her and she had grown to love them like her own children.

It didn't matter what it was, if the two of them want something that is limited, one will willingly give it up for the other without any regrets. Now no one was backing down for the other.

"The two of you haven't even asked the lady if she's interested in being with you, yet you're already fighting for her, did you hit your heads or something." Mamma scolded them.

They chuckled at her scolding.

"When is she going to be awake, Mamma?" Hussein asked.

"Hmph. She should be waking up very soon. The injuries she has are very serious, all I could do was to heal her temporarily." Mamma answered. "Where does she come from? When I inspected her core, I found out that her cultivation was something that I couldn't measure." She added.

"Ask Hassan, he found her first." Hussein ratted his brother out and looked somewhere else just so he could avoid his gaze.

"Found her, you don't know who she is and yet you brought her back here?!" Mamma exclaimed. "By the gods, have the two of you lost your minds!?" She shouted at them.

"Calm down Mamma, don't get angry. She's gravely injured, even if she plans on harming us it wouldn't be an easy feat for her. We just couldn't let her die." Hassan said.

"Calm down? You foolish boy, what if she's being pursued by powerful people. Her cultivation is already something that I can't fathom, how powerful do you think the people or person that gave her such injuries is? Ahh, I only treated her because Hussein said that she was his woman, if I had known I would have left this foreigner to die." Mamma began fuming.

"Mamma, don't say such things, look at her, she's too beautiful to be harmful," Hassan mentioned.

"Idiotic!! Don't you know that beautiful women are the most dangerous beings alive!!? Look at what her beauty has done to your brains, it has fried your minds, that is why the two of you couldn't think properly before bringing this stranger into your home!!" Mamma bellowed at Hassan.

"If she plans on causing any harm to us or our family, or if powerful people are looking for her, then we would end her with our own hands. Be at ease Mamma." Hussein interjected.

"I cannot be at ease, this is the first time that I regret treating an injured person. Take her away from the village, now!!!" Mamma was breathing heavily when she finished speaking. She turned her back on Hassan and Hussein. "I have a bad omen about this." She whispered as she placed a hand on her chest, just above her heart.

The brothers glanced at each other, the two of them had an expression of surprise. They had never seen Mamma like this. They could understand why she was angry, but couldn't understand why she spoke about a bad omen.

"You don't need to be alarmed." A raspy, yet alluring voice disrupted the tense atmosphere. It was the voice of the pink-haired girl.

They all turned and faced her. Mamma looked at the foreigner with fear in her eyes, while Hassan and Hussein looked at her with affection in their gaze.

Her voice had enchanted them completely.

"The people that did this to me think I'm dead, even if they found out that I was here they wouldn't be able to do anything." The pink haired lady said.