General Lixin accompanied by the soldiers of the king arrive at the capital in three days, thick wheat and flowers growing everywhere, many people pass with a plaintive look, talking about the villages or general Lixin and his army, the people walking with all kinds of colors on their clothes, the women having their cheeks filled with chalk walking with tight clothes that show their skinny bodies, the men trading with each other.
General Lixin continues without showing any interest in the people, he followed the shoulder at the stairs with lines of people holding something in their hands, they pass the open gates and enter inside, waiting for the doors of the palace to open, general Lixin look the view with his hands crossed, the short building and the many ships large or small that come and go, and from over the sea seeing the mainlands and the snowy mountains that pierce the clouds, the golden gates open and from it people come out smiling while they look at the things they hold, they enter inside and see the king having a small painting in his hands, he places them high and gives it back to the old man saying "you will see your family at the next life if you follow the teachings of the emperor and the three sages" the man kiss the hands of the emperor and leaves happy.
The king make a sign for the soldiers to leave except five of them who stand beside his throne and he look at General Lixin, saying with an authoritarian voice "I learned about the destruction of the village, my people dying for nothing" "I have more news, two of our own have been kidnapped and one returned with his stomach open and filled with flowers" the king look with his eyes wide open and he places his hands under his jaw "these creatures and now this, general do you have any theory about the current situation?" "It is possible I can conclude if you give me some answers" "ask me whatever is needed" the general cross his hands "tell me, when did the pirates arrive?" The king look him into his eyes "A month ago, one week before the creatures start appearing " "and they target only small villages in the two last islands on the east and the smaller ones" "I can see where are you going with this general, in all of this I have to add that many villages that were destroyed are in the coastline of the eastern islands and recently mist has begun to appear there" "the only things that is sure is that it's not one of the closest nations, but who can be?" "I will send my men to search every coner of our homeland, until then rest and continue your job" general Lixin's voice rise "I cannot continue further until I am assured of the safety of my men" the king sits back and smile "general maybe I cannot find better army but I can find someone who can solve this problem faster, our people are dying and we need fast results before they lost more faith on karma or me" General Lixin grit his teeth and then says "we will solve the problem immediately, if you mkae it sure that you will blockade the trade of zu huo" the king look at him without making any noise, with his eyes wide open towards the gener, after a while he whispers to the soldiers and them to him and he finally says "alright general, but I want you to solve the problem in one week, if you dont I will have another army or merceneries to cleanse the lamd" general Lixin shake his head down and opens the gate, hordes of people hit him and run inside while he oush them to pass. He
Goes to his horse and ride back to the camp along with two other soldiers, camping at night and continuing at the first song of the birdns, as they ride three arrows are heard, the soldier and the general draw their swords but the arrows smash the heads of the two soldier from behind and the other landing onthe shoulder of the general feeling his bones to break and falls down, looking at the arrows on the ground with all of them having a steel ball in the place of the head, the general gets up seeing his bones piercing out, his horse comes back, general Lixin grit his teeth with force and the horse start running, with more arrows falling towards them with most of them scratching the horse body snd legs, screaming and running faster, reaching the village as it leaves s trail of blood behind, the gates swiftly open and the one of the last arrows hits the horse on the one leg but the horse continue to run, the negin care hear to the village and the gates open and the horse runs faster entering inside and carrying general Lixin ready to fall the horses legs can't hold him and both fall down, he starts breathing heavy as he look at the luminous light, soldiers come to save general Lixin, striping his armor and letting him with his chainmail armor, six of them start carrying him with difficulty.
They place him on one of the beds and Ai comes forward looking at his shoulder with one of the bones piercing from the front, Ai quickly took whatever she can find, she takes herbs to ease the pain and with the help of one soldier manage to place the bone inside, cleaning the wound and placing bandages, The general grabs her and asks "Ai, is kage well?" Ai look at him with her eyes ready to cry "I'm sorry general, he spent his last breath to save you" general Lixin close his eyes and swiftly falls asleep.
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General Lixin gets up, wearing his armor and walks slowly towards the gates, the soldiers look at him as he goes outside, kneeling in the grave of his horse and burying the top of his blade in the ground, his face covered by his armor only the shining eyes looking at the ground, the soldiers watch from the gate their general and after some fallen leaves he gets up feeling his shoulder ready to explode and burning, he goes inside, eating some bread and meat and rests, soldiers visit him with Ai going first "general the soldiers told me to ask you what will we do now that you are wounded and the enemy is unknown?" "The king said he will se innd men to scout the island, they will find nothing but burned villages" Ai open her mouth again and before speaking an earthquake struck the village, the tent and them start shakingz Klaben shouts "the creatures are coming" Ai goes out and the General wear his armor and take his long sword, Swaiwan grabs his sword too and everyone looks around them, holes start swallowing the buildings t the villagers, the creatures come from the holes and start attacking on the first sight, the lonely soldiers place their shields and swords forward, defending themselves until they get swarmed, the others counter them with ease and general and Ai fight them off, with the generals shoulder feeling hotter with every attack, Ai use the varina to ask for help and soldiers run towards them making a large line with their shields, slowly they killed all the monsters, they lower their weapons and sit down to clean the sweat from their faces, from the walls footsteps are heard and before they manage to look at who it was the walls explode, The walls and gates fall and a rain of arrows starts, the soldiers run to the small boats on the shore with general running forward and leading them to the boats, he look behind him to see the enemy but they were too far instead focusing his eyes on the dead soldier and the wounded, he look forward and sees one fallen soldier with his leg bones out and screaming, general Lixin grabs him and place him on one of the the boats, Ai and the others ammanage to get inside and the boats fill, leaving with many warriors behind getting killed or leaving their armors and swimming only to get hit or for the cold to strike them and kill them, one come close to the boat and Ai extend her hand and hang herself to the boat, their arms gap becoming greater as the boat start getting faster, she stays for minutes looking at the man floating on the water with tears falling from her narrow eyes and she sits again and cover her face with her arms, Klaben look at her, feeling a pain in his chest.
They sail to the capital with their heads down, Ai's cheeks having been red from her tears, Klaeben look over the flames that rise high to the sky, the woman look at the capital as she holds the golden stone close to her chest, Swaiwan try to write but he just scratch the pages with his pencil, as the night falls the chill cold starts to hit them, their spines shiver and place their hands on their bodies as a way to try to stop the cold.
Soon they arrive at the port, general Lixin goes first and the others follow, they walked beside the lights of the city with crowds of people walking, they pass them without even raising an eye on them, abruptly as they walk they hear a scream behind them, Ai is the only one who turns and sees a young man to the ground and a crowd surrounding him and staying away, Ai runs to them and the people push her back and scream to her, a soldier shows up and gives his hand, Ai takes it and the soldier says "please do not intervene with this" Ai shouts "the man needs help and you just stare at him" the soldier looks at the crowd and says "don't you see? The people are scared because of the bad karma the man carried, that's why you must stay back and let the priests help him" Ai open her mouth but Klaeben grabs her and pulls her towards the others "Klaeben please leave me" Klaeben says with an exhausted voice "we can't do anything about him Ai, besides we have a mission and an enemy to find" Ai feels her eyes ready to cry but no tears comes from her dry eyes.
They reach out to the others and they walk the stairs and enter the palace, General Lixin goes first seeing two soldiers bowing to the king, the king extends his hand forward and the soldiers depart, general Lixin says "I believed you learned about the village" the king says with a pain in his words "another one burned to dust while our soldiers fought with the pirates" a silence occurred and then the king says "general I believe it is time for you to leave, you are no use here" general Lixin steps closer "I would insist you think again, I can contact the emperor and bring more men" "and how long will that take for men to come again from the corner of the east world? Two months?, Three?" General Lixin stays silent and the king says "your attempts were a total failure, now rest for tonight and leave at dawn" the general look at the soldiers that stand beside the king's throne, he stares at them for a minute and the king stare at Lixin with his eyes half closed.
General Lixin walks even closer and the soldiers raise their spears, the king raise his hands and lean his head, the general whispers "we will not leave, we will go inside the nest and burn everything and when we finish dead or not we will have helped the shakufu" the king lean his head back again and extend his hand and opening his palm "general you would be a perfect addition to our army" he crosses his hands and says "my royalty is for the true emperor" he walks away and open the gates and leaves.
Swaiwan walks in every direction outside the palace, back and forth, Ai comes to him and looks his eyes with sadness, Swaiwan walks closer and place his hand on her shoulder "at least we can be grateful that we and many others are still alive" heavy footsteps are heard in the stone floor and General Lixin armor shines in front of the luminous moon, the soldiers go forward and Klaeben asks first "general what will we do now?" General Lixin says nothing and walk to the port, the others followed him and the general look around the empty port and ships and cross his hands and says "we will stay here for tonight and tomorrow we will burn the nests" one of the soldiers says "general how will we go to the cave when the enemy is hunting us?" The general look again around the pitch black and empty port "I cannot tell you if the enemy hear us" the soldiers say nothing more and the general says again "tonight we will sleep on the ship, I want fifteen guards changing every hour" one of the soldiers says "general I understand you are afraid of the enemy but we must find a place to stay, I saw a warm building in the right side of the port for the outsiders" general Lixin look at him with his eyes shining and says loud with his voice vexed "I'm afraid of no one kid, especially an enemy who keeps his identity hidden, I only have to take some measurements for your own safety, now do not speak anymore and rest " the soldiers go to their beds, many of them laying with their backs on the wall and trying to force their eyes to close.
The moon sets low and many of the men sleep and many others try to force themselves, Klaeben sits outside on the edge of the ship and pensively look over the strong lights and the people of the city, general Lixin look at him from the back of the ship and he walks inside his room, ripping one of the planks with ease and lifting five large boxes, opening them and taking the gold and leaving from the ship, Klaeben stay focus on the scenery, the people walking freely and laughing, abruptly he hears soft footsteps behind him but ignores them, the footsteps become louder and after some more Ai soft voice is heard and says "Klaeben, won't you go to sleep?" Kleban says with a tired voice "I don't have the need to sleep right now, besides shouldn't you be sleeping?" Ai sits beside him and he sits a bit further, she look at the view and says "i stay awake to accompany people like you" "you have to rest, we will go inside the hebi gunda nests and the enemies are still hunting us, we can die at any time" Ai takes a deep breath and her voice soften even more, saying with a smile "I'm ready to die" Klaeben eyes turn at her "i lived a good life helping people enjoy their lkfe a little longer and trying to keep them happy" "so you trade your happiness for the happiness of others" "not exactly, it brings me happiness seeing the people i helped, like right now im happy that i treat you when you were exhausted" Klaeben says nothing and stares at the view, Ai continue talking "you know you are really close to yourself" Klaeben says nothing and Ai sits silent looking at the view, after some minutes Klaeben says "well if you not leave then i believe we can start a conversation" Ai smile extend to her ears "tell me something about yourself then" Klaeben sighs and says "i dont have many things to say, im an outcast that joined the army" "you must have a reason to be here, not many dehi are placed in the army except if they are special and worked ha-" "dont challenge my nerves"
Ai looks at him and backs down "sorry I didn't mean to anger you, let's change the subject" she looks with a smile forward and with a docile voice she says "do you like the view of the city?" "I do not, all these people there cause us only trouble and nothing more" "do not forget general Lixin provoked them most of the times with his pride and superiority complex, but do not think of the people, just tell me if you like the view" Klaeben eyes lower "yes, I can say I like it" "the silence, the waters and the lights of the city create a special feeling," Klaeben says nothing for a minute and he then says with a louder voice " every time a soldier dies, do you care and grief for them?" "I grief for every one of our comrades, some can make me grief for days" Klaeben then says "I believe they would grief too if you die" Ai's smile brightens, but quickly change and her voice became softer "Klaeben can i ask you something personal?" "It depends" "are you here because of the money?" Klaeben heart skips a beat but he says normally "yes, i need them to feed my parents and my siblings" "after the mission i can give you some money, we can even keep in touch with each other" Klaeben says with a cold but broken voice "thank you but its not in me to take money for doing nothing, moreover from mercy"
a silence occurs and they both stay silent, only for Ai to break it with her yawning, Klaeben gets up and says "I better go to sleep, you should do it too" Ai respond with a smirk "I will go in a while" "then I will stay with you until you go" he sits down again and they sit for a while before going in their bed
The sun rise and the waves wake everyone up, many soldiers walk with fear outside and many with black sacks below their eyes, swaiwan write his last notes and leaves it on the ship, clutching his fists or moving his fingers with great speed back and forth, the woman walking with tears as she hold the golden stone, Ai walking with confidence and Klaeben with no fear on his eyes, general Lixin stands with his arms crossed and look over the island, one of the soldiers says "general Lixin why are we sailing away?" "We will change ships" " change ships, with who?" "I convinced some merchants to take us with them and let us on the shores" three ships come from the land of shakufu and sail close to them, general Lixin says " get everything you can with you and some of you carry the four chests" the soldiers quickly grab the chests and general Lixin walls in a group of soldier "xinse, you will return home with a group of your comrades, i want you to bring a message to the emperor "we do not know if we made it, send more men to the lands of shakufu and the survivore will lead them to the nests but beware of an enemy hiding in the islands" the soldoers bow their head and grabs the last chest alone, he makes a sign woth his head to the merxhants and the soldoers throw robe's, everyone starts departing and when is Swaiwans turn he run inside the ship and leaves his notebook in his bed with his hands trembling and then comes back and goes down to the merchants ship with most of his comrades having their heads down with a serious face with only Ai smilling and try to talk to them with no results, having only convince Klaeben to talk and making him smirk.
Swaiwan look at the other ships and his comrades were identical in their angst and depressed faces except the general giving the money to the merchants and then giving a long cape to every soldier, along with making sign to the others to open the chests, being filled with capes and powder, cannons and bombs from their homeland painted black, the soldiers wear them above their armor and take the bombs inside their backpacks and hide the cannons on the chests and many sleep.
The ships arrive at the dawn of the nights at thw shores of the island with no one to be seen for miles, genral Lixin goes forward carrying the chest and opening it, taking the cannon and carrying it with half the strongest soldiers carrying the cannon they follow general Lixin and behind the other soldiers and behind them two other with cannons and some more with shields, general Lixin asks a soldier behind him "weissaw, look at the temperature and tell me if you see anything unusual" after some minutes weissaw says with a deep breath "there's no one close, at least for the next three hundred meters" general Lixin says "lets go faster, before the enemy see us" the soldoer arrive outsider the cave wiith most of them leaving their weapons down to take a breath, general Lixin shouts "soldiers, we will rest for ten minutes and then continue until we continue make no loud noises or light any fire, a soldier says "general with all respect but how are we going to see the enemy coming in the pitch darkness?" General Lixin cross his hands and raise his tone "the tanishka will watch over us if they are coming and because of the hills here we can stay assure that the enemy will not bombard us with arrows" the soldiers say nothing more amd rest, Klaeben and three other soldiers scout with their tanishka at the area, watching over the temperature.
Time passes and general Lixin gathers the soldiers he orders them to make two large circles and cover themselves with their shields and the cannons aiming fourth, back right and left, they start moving slowly and the tanishka check the temperature, as they go deeper Klaeben abruptly tells "general the monsters are close" general throws his torch and with the first young face he sees he open fire and burn them, most of the snakes die almost instantly leaving their last hiss while they try to escape or attack the invaders while the others run inside the holes or through the tunnels, general Lixin lead them forward and on their way many monsters try to ambush them from the holes but the shields, spears and flamethrowers keep the soldiers safe, as they continue and burn more nests while general Lixin keeps track on his mind the way they made and order them.
As they continue further they start feeling the earth shaking, klaeben quickly use the tanishka and feels waves of warm temperature beneath his feet and shouts
"general they are waves of heat under us" general Lixin stays silent for a moment and then look at his soldiers "we will continue deeper"
They continue burning more nests with the eggs laid on the walls and protected by walls of their coarse and hard skin, they slash the skin and burn them.
As they descend they find a narrow tunnel that fits two men at time, general Lixin look at it with wonder and the soldiers do the same, general Lixin snaps and orders them to swiftly go in pairs of two watching the complete darkness as they slowly descend and watch the lean surface and stairs of the tunnel, Klaeben says "this must be the work of preaka" the tunnel continues for minutes with Klaeben saying again "can this be the work of multiple or one preaka?" general Lixin says "one preaka would not manage to make a tunnel so long and detailed even with a hundred years training" a scream is heard from the end of the tunnel and the soldiers raise their shields, the scream continues speaking in a foreign language, general Lixin says "the language of the northern kingdoms" the soldiers eyebrows pulled together and Klaeben whispers "we have to kill them before they realize we are here" general Lixin says "patience, tanishkas check again and tell me what you see"
Minutes pass and Klaeben says first with his hand shaking "general i see wave heats everywhere" general Lixin says "our only option is to hit them fast, ready you bombs and cannons and wait for my sign" everyone gets ready and walk as slowly as they can, with each step hearing louder screams and an otherworldy sound almost like something try to communicate, as the sound becomes clearer they start hearing their hearts beats, feeling a pain in the back of their heads and a feeling unveiling to pierce their flesh or cannibalise their flesh of their comrades but the feeling slowly fleets except the sounds, they reach the end and general Lixin raise his hand and goes first, he sees soldiers raising their bows from the distant hall, before they could draw the bows general Lixin press the trigger and the flames reach the soldiers, burning them in an instant, the others come and they continue to the halls, picking around corners and seeing soldiers standing, they shoot arrows and kill them,
They continue to the hall, looking at the structure of the cave, their heartbeats are heard more clearly and as they continue they see a large stoned door, They open the door and they see a large structure attached to the ceiling, electricity runs through it and gets absorbed by a white crystal at the floor, and below two other doors, general Lixin looks around him and sees another two doors beside them and a stairway beside the right door, they follow him to the right one and the screaming is heard from below, now with a more deep voice. They enter a room with beds all over, people with their guts out and from the corner they hear breathing, General Lixin walks and push the beds with dead People, finding his two soldiers wrapped around with metal chains and their sotmachs opened and melding with the meat of other animals, their faces pale and barely keeping their eyes open, the general shout "soldiers come and help me" Swaiwan runs towards the general, with the first glimpse he looks at his comrades and he feel a knot on his stomach along with vomit coming to his neck, the general release Fenhua and Swaiwan helps him, looking as far away as possible from the wound, fenhua tries to speak and manage to say some words "hello again your majesty" he laugh but uts abruptly stopped by a cough, general release the other one and go back to the others, upon looking at them the soldiers feel a pain and a feeling of emptiness on their stomachs, they leave the room and they see enemy soldiers running around from the opposite side, they gaze at the general and the general starts running with the soldiers on the previous door, trying to open it with no use, arrows start hitting them and a shout infroms the enemy, the general shouts "run to the stairs, three divisions stay and protect us from above" they run with their shields abobe their heads, they go down and the enemy waits them,
The soldiers push through burning everyone, from above the enemy throw the soldiers start shooting with their bows or using gheir magic, covering their enemies with a dark shadow, taking their heat or opening holes in their feet or electrifying them or by soldoers coming infront of them and abushing them, general Lixin gets hit by an arrow but continues, shouting "soldoers, gather and raise your Shields, let us fight for our homeland and the divine emperor" soldiers raise their shields snd grit their palms, covering themselves and general Lixin, they march forward finding and breaking the walls with their bombs, general Lixin grabs the rock, feeling a warmth in his hands and and feeling of fulfillment, they start retreating, from the shadows and a scream is heard, the shadows flee and two men walk from the stairs, one an old man with a long black beard and black robes wrapped all around his head and body, his face calm, with wrinkles all over his cheeks and forehead, having his hands open and beside him a man with a smile reaching his ears, his eyes red and his face curved with cuts along his arms, he takes a knife from his pocket and starts cutting his face, the man beside him says "you should stay back, we lost two men trying to bring you back, we cannot risk another breakdown" the man cut himself deeper in his face and says "you are right, i better stay focused on keeping myself sane" the man steps behind and the man with the dark robes rush with his hands facing the soldiers, two soldiers push their spears to the man, he touches them and the steel becomes rust and dissolves in an instant, he touch the soldoers and their flesh rots and melts, other soldiers stay back placing their shields but they dissolve too, general Lixin pass the rock to Ai and Klaeben feeling the same warmth, he gives and a bomb to Klaeben and a rush with his cannon at the man screaming "all of you leave, Ai look still at the general and Klaeben shouts "Ai move, we have to leave" they start running with the crystal with Swaiwan holding fenhua and other soldoers folllowing them, the enemy starts shooting arrows from above and the soldiers place their shields, trying protect everyone but one arrow hits Ai to her knee but she still holds the crystal ,Klaeben grit his teeth and shouts "Swaiwan and you woman, come and help me with the crystal and give me your Shield" Swaiwan led Fenhua on the shoulder of another soldier, touching for a glimpse the rock, Swaiwan grabs the rock and feels the warmth in his hands along with the woman with the golden stone, Klaeben take his shield and run forward and protects Ai, he ooks behind, seeing the man touching the general and the generals flesh melting in an instant and the man staring at them as more soldiers attack him.
Klaeben shouts "everyone, leave the crystal behind, we have to leave alive" they throw the crystal and run to the door, Swaiwan takes Fenhua to his shoulder again and Klaeben looks behind, seeing the man walking towards them, Klaeben opens the door and push Ai to go through first, and as she enters she stops, she look with her eyes wide at theνanimals cut and open, men with their eyes and skulls cut and paintings on the wall along with pink fires on the ceiling and a man healthy looking locked in a cage, breathing heavy and above his head a map of the world along with a torn paint depicting a man holding threads that connect to the world and the universe.
Screams and beggins are hear behind her and she sees Klaeben oushing her back, Swaiwan holding fenhua and the man slowly walking at them, he stops and says "you can surrender and we will spare your lifes from the circle of death" Klaeben looks at Ai's scared face and tears and rush to the man, the man destroy his shield and before he touch the blade, Klaeben throws it to the others and takes the bomb, detonating it and looking at Ai with a sad face, the man place his hand forward and the explosion nullifiers, Klaeben look behind him and his hands shake, the man with a calm face place his hands on Klaebens chests and says "keep your sanity until i find you and kill you again" and Klaebens body evaporate in a glimpse of an eye, Ai falls freeze and the women stays the same, Swaiwan does almost the same, lplacing his hands infront of his face whimpering, leaving Fenhua layed on the ground, the man moves forward and says the same words before killing Swaiwan and the woman and then Ai, he reach Fenhua and says the words, Fenhua then adds "see you in hell handsome"
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