Prologue

“General, we’ve got a prisoner.” The soldier forced the captured man to his knees, hundreds of corpses strewn across the battlefield. “What shall we do with him?”
    “Free him.”
    The prisoner was about to be freed but then the general unexpectedly changed his mind. “On the other hand…,” he said as he was about to step away.
    Puzzlement and disgust washed over the soldier’s face as he watched the general leave, the prisoner now lying on the ground as blood spurted out of his neck, his body convulsing. “General Mark, weren’t you going to fre—”
    The general fixed his gaze on the soldier. “I am Karm.” He stretched out his arm and the soldier began choking. “Don’t you question my will!”
    “I…am…s-sorry, General,” the soldier muttered, gasping for air, his comrades recoiling in horror.
    “Forgive me.” He released the soldier who breathed a sigh of relief. “I....” He shook his head and regained his composure. “The battle is over. Dismissed.”
    The soldiers left, but the general still stood there facing the sky, his eyes closed. Raindrops fell on his eyelids and like tears slowly slid across his cheek, before dropping on the back of his black coat and snaking downwards, over that which represented his whole being: the black-and-red yin-yang symbol.