5 year old Wei Ying

Hungry.

So hungry...

Ma Ma.

Ba Ba.

My eyes flutter open to see the sun shining down on me and I immediately close my eyes. It's paining. My whole body is aching.

Where is Ma Ma? I haven't seen Ba Ba for days. They promised to be back soon. They broke their promise. They never came back. They never will.

The pain is unbearable and I am pulled back into a dark oblivion. Here I can dream. Here I am with them. Here I hear their voice, their smile, their warmth.

Please take me with you.

Please...

Please...

Please...

A week ago

"A Xian" Ma Ma giggles as I blow kisses on her cheeks.

"Ma Ma" I grin and hug her as I take few locks of her hair and try to braid them unsuccessfully.

"A Xian loves Ma Ma's hair?" she sweetly caresses my face and I nod. "I love your hair. I want my hair to be as long as yours" I tug her hair and my gaze lands on her red ribbon.

She notices my facination towards her red ribbon and the next moment she unties them from her hair and hands it over to me "Do you want me to tie this in your hair?" she enquires and I nod.

With a warm smile she gathers a bunch of my small tresses in her palm and neatly ties a small bow for me. Her ribbon was longer than my hair but she somehow managed it to look so pretty.

Facing the mirror she held for me, I was ecstatic. "Who is the prettiest?" she probes and I grin and answer "Ma Ma!" together we laugh when I hear a gruff voice from behind "What about me?". I squeal and run into my Ba Ba's warm embrace. Kissing my cheeks, he smiles "My lil' A Xian".

An imperceptible look passes between both of them and I was too young to understand the meaning behind their silence.

"A Xian" Ba Ba calls my name softly "how would you like to go to a city filled with lotus?".

Lotus?

My ear perks up "I would love that" grinning, I look around our small house. We never had much belongings and that made it easier for us as a family to travel around the realm.

Leaving was never a problem and I was happy as long as my parents were with me. Ba Ba helped me to sit astride on the donkey and Ma Ma was walking by my side to support me.

We were so happy. I remember his antics and her laughter.

Never did I realise that was the last time I would get to hear them.

That night we took shelter in an Inn just outside the lotus city. Ma Ma looked pensive but when I crawled into her lap, her eyes glistened with an unnamed emotion.

"A Xian, Ma Ma and Ba Ba have been summoned for some work in a nearby village. Wait for us here, alright?"

I nod as she kisses my forehead. Retying my red ribbon, she kisses my cheeks "A Xian is the prettiest". I grin and her eyes linger on my smile "Promise me that you'll keep smiling, A Xian?".

"Promise" I smile back.

Little did I know that she would never be back to tie the red ribbon.

The red ribbon that I lost.

The red ribbon that "he" found.

They never came back. I waited for two days inside the Inn. Third day, I was thrown out for lack of money. I didn't give up. I waited day and night outside the Inn.

I was hungry. I hadn't eaten for days. With no morsel of food, that left me with no choice but to beg for some.

My clothes were filthy and so was I. Some pitied me, some cursed my existence. If they gave me food, mostly they were stale but as one says beggers can't be choosers. I had to adept.

During my time on the street I understood one thing, if I smiled, people out of sympathy gave me food. It didn't always work though. I have scars and punches on my body to prove.

The scars given by humans were far better than being bitten by dogs.

As days passed by, a voice within me started to believe that Ma Ma and Ba Ba were never coming back. My body and mind were too weak to retaliate as I succumbed to my wounds and pain.

Days and nights merged for me as one and my prayers were for those dogs to leave me alone.

Being pushed behind the dumpster in an lonely alley, the only solace for me was my Ma Ma's red ribbon. Her only heirloom. I had to protect it.

That night I dreamt of them. Dreamt of her.

Her smile. Her warmth. Her heart.

But something told me I would never see that smile again. Dreams turned into bitter nightmare.

I never did see them again. I was termed as an Urchin from the street.

Maybe that is who I was. That became my identity.

Until "he" arrived.

And that changed my destiny from a street urchin to The Yiling Patriarch.

(On the joyous occasion of celebrating 1st Anniversary of The Untamed, here is to the start of a new book
~ Wei Ying's Untamed)