Dragon's Soul: An End's Beginning

by Tony Tran

  If you are going to Aurora city, then you must pass through the Dragon’s Maw. If so I know a short cut through it.” Xi Ning said as he pulled out a large map.

  On the map Xi Ning pointed to a certain hill on the map.

  “This is a secret pass that not many know about. If you traveled through here than your travel time will be halved. Also there is a hidden spring along the path that is great for cultivation.”

  “Hmmm intriguing.” Zhang said.

  “And from the looks of it you my lord have conflicts with the Jin clan.” Xi Ning said.

  “Yes.”

  “Then you must take this route because they control the entrance to the Dragon’s Maw”.

  “How did you know about this path?” Zhang questioned.

  “Before when I was still a general within Red Mist city I happened upon an ancient map that described this secret path. And when we were scouting for places to build our village we stumbled upon the entrance. However, we never fully explored the inside.”

  “Then it’s settled we will take this path.” Zhang decided.

  After talking briefly with Xi Ning, Zhang decided to give him another task. Leaving him with more gold coins Zhang had instructed him to recruit and train more men. And begin the construction of a certain project.

  In the morning Zhang’s group now in possession of the map leading to the secret passage and a guide provided by Xi Ning headed off.

  The guide quickly led them through the forest. Once the guide led them to the entrance of the oath Zhang ordered the man to return to the village.

  This secret path had only enough space for three people to walk side to side. So the group entered it in a single filed line. The path lead to an opening in the side of a cliff. Zhang took point and walked into the cave.

  Within the cave the walls were lined with glowing stones illuminating it.

  If the group used this group, they would go under a part of the Dragon’s Maw. And since the path did not have twists and turns like the surface above they would be able to travel much quicker.

  After traveling for a few hours the group decided to pitch camp. It would take them a few more days before they reached the end of the cave and there were in no rush to tire themselves out.

  Like before Zhang, Yuying and Ai would be staying in the same tent. While everyone else would make their own arrangements.

  The group started cooking dinner after setting up their tents. And after a light meal everyone retreated to their tents.

  “Now is the time.” Zhang thought.

  “Ahhh.” He yelled he sat onto the ground.

  “What’s wrong brother!” The two girls asked as they ran into the tent to see Zhang on the floor rubbing his back.

  “I stumbled over a rock and hurt my back.” Zhang said while continuing to rub his back and with a painful look on his face.

  “Here I’ll help you up and you can sleep on the bed and we will sleep down here on these blankets.” Yuying said as he gently held Zhang’s arm and began helping him up.

  After Zhang got up she lead him toward the bed and let him lay down.

  “Step one down complete now on to step two.” He thought.

  “You two I forgot to do something can you both come and help me get up?” Zhang asked.

  Yuying and Ai each came to one side of the bed and put out their slender hands to help Zhang up. Zhang reach out both of his hands and held onto the hands of the two beauties.

  Then with a tug he pulled them down. Taken by surprise both Yuying and Ai fell over landing on top of the bed.

  “Gotcha!” Zhang yelled and he let loss of their hands and embraced both of their waists.

  “Mission is a success!” He yelled out in his mind.

  The faces of the two beauties turned deep red as he embraced them.

  “You rascal.” Yuying cried out as she worked her way out of his embrace.

  “You made us worry for no reason you jerk.” Ai yelled as she also worked out his embrace.

  “Hehehe.” Zhang chuckled with a grin on his face.

  “As punishment you are to sleep on the ground again.” Yuying said as she pointed to the ground.

  “Okay okay.” Zhang said as he got up and jumped onto the small den of pillows and blankets on the ground.

  “Next time if you want to you should have just said so!” Yuying said with a blushing face.

  “What was that?” Zhang asked with a grin on his face.

  “No-nothing!” Yuying yelled as she jumped on the bed and covered herself with a blanket.

  Soon Ai joined her and the trio fell asleep. Zhang slept soundly with a wide grin on his face that night.

  After a few hours of sleep, it was time to continue their journey so the group began packing away their tents. However, something odd happened one of their horses was gone.

  Through the night they did not hear a sound and everyone slept peacefully. Had a horse ran off they obviously would have heard its hooves hit the stone floor.

  “Maybe we were all just too tired and didn’t hear it.” Jian Wei said as he tried to calm everyone. The worst thing to do now was to join to conclusions.

  “Yea let’s get moving staying here and jumping to conclusions won’t get us anywhere.” Zhang said backing up Jian Wei.

  So the group began their journey once more. The man who had ridden the horse that disappeared had to share a horse with someone else.

  As they got further the cave opened up more and more.

  “You could fit a small city down here!” Ai yelled out.

  An echo of her voice could be hear passing through the empty space in the cave.

  After half a day or so of traveling it was time to set up camp once more.

  This time the two beauties ignored Zhang and went directly to sleep.

  Tonight however Zhang would not go to sleep. He decided to stay up and make sure that there wasn’t something else inside this cave with them.

  Zhang sat on the ground inside the tent and began meditating. He had not had the chance to cultivate for a long time so now was the time to do so.

  He pulled out a small bottle from his interspatial ring and drank it. This bottle was filled with Phoenix blood. Once the Phoenix blood entered his system Zhang used the Underworld Heart to circulate it throughout his body.

  Normally a person would only receive fifty percent of the Phoenix bloods power however thanks to the underworld heart Zhang is able to utilize one hundred percent of its energy.

  The power within Zhang surged and pushed him through the next level. Now spiritually Zhang had reached level five. while physically he is still behind his old self and is only level four. But thanks to being a combination of both and along with his high level equipment he can outclass most of his opponents.

  Zhang sat there through the entire night regulating his energy increase. The entire night he did not hear a single sound.

  However, in the morning another horse went missing and to everyone’s horror one of the sailors also disappeared. When examining the man’s tent there was no sign of any struggles which made it even more odd.

  So it was decided the form now on that everyone would sleep in the same tent as someone else. Two people per a tent.

  The group consisted of seventeen people now so besides the trio there would be seven pairs. After traveling through the cave the group once more pitched camp.

  However, the festive and adventurous feeling that sweeper everyone’s hearts was no more. Everyone was vigilant and afraid.

  Maybe they would be the next person to disappear was the thought that was constantly on everyone’s mind.

  Fear of the unknown and fear of death filled the air and suffocated everyone within the group. Well everyone besides the trio of course.

  Of the entire group the trio would most likely be the ones to survive. They simply have to sleep dressed in Lightning Eater scale armor and their chances of surviving most ordeals would drastically increase.

  Tonight instead of one c
ampfire several were lit and almost encircled the camp. It served as a sort of barrier to reply the darkness and the vile creatures that lurked within it.

  And so the third night passed and without a sound more people disappeared. This time it was two horses and four sailors.

  These four had their tents pitched on the outer ring of the camp.

  Zhang swore that tonight would be different in his mind. Tonight he had arranged for everyone to break up into groups three tents and for two people to be on constant watch.

  And after certain intervals of time they would signal to each other by whistling.

  Zhang could've had everyone sleep without a tent in a large group. However, his goal was not to ensure everyone’s survival but to find out the reason as to why everyone is disappearing and stop it. In the process of doing so if he found out those who disappear were killed he would avenge them and by doing so ensure everyone’s safety.

  Minutes passed as if they were hours and hours stretched on endlessly for those who stayed on watch.

  Zhang was one of the people on watch and a few hours had passed without any disturbances. Then suddenly a scream could be heard in the tent next to his.

  Zhang pulled out his dagger and slashed at his tent splitting the fabric. This would be way quicker than making his way to the flap of fabric that lead out of the tent.

  Once out said he saw a man being dragged away by something.

  Seeing this Zhang sprang to action he launched out his dagger into the darkness. Once the dagger connected with something a loud shriek could be heard. And the man although panicking was able to get up and run toward Zhang.

  “It it came out of nowhere as I went to go take a piss. I couldn’t tell what it was but whatever it was is big and strong.” The man said to Zhang.

  By now everyone had woken up and ran out of their tents.

  “What happen brother?” Ai asked as she saw the panic filled face of the man

  “We caught our perpetrator.” Zhang said calmly.

  And began pulling on the chain in his hand. As he pulled a loud shriek sounded out.

  Chapter 27: Creatures

  As Zhang pulled on the chain the shrieking came closer and closer toward the group. Moments later a large black shadow descended upon the camp. Once light from the surrounding crystals and fire shone on this shadowy figure the group saw something horrendous.

  “Wa-wa-what is that!” A sailor cried out.

  “It’s a Titanic Golden Spider.” Zhang said calmly.

  Before him was a giant spider that was easily twice as large as a human. Its body looked just like any other spider however all of its limbs was a golden yellow. Zhang’s dagger was lodged in the beast’s abdomen and it seemed like the dagger had managed to sever a couple of its legs making it unable to stand up.

  Once the spider was in full view Zhang pulled out his 2nd dagger and shot it toward the monster’s head. In an instant the dagger punctured one of its eyes and plunged into its brain killing it.

  After ending the spider’s life Zhang began cutting it apart.

  Titanic Golden Spiders rank at level six but are one of the more dangerous demonic beasts to run into. Their silk is extremely durable and hard to deal with. While they also possess neurotoxins which would render those that are bitten by them unable to fight back. That and the fact that they live in massive colonies of hundreds of thousands and may even reach up to the millions.

  Each colony had only one queen spider that was vastly stronger than the rest of the colony. And since each colony could only have one queen when a new queen is born the old queen kills it and absorbs its undeveloped powers.

  So the longer a queen Titanic Golden Spider was around the stronger it is.

  “Brother! That’s gross what are you doing!?” Yuying asked as she watched Zhang cut open the giant spider.

  “I’m collecting it’s silk and venom of course.” Zhang replied as he formed a canteen with essence and began storing the spider's venom within it. Unlike the Lightning Eater’s poison, the spider’s venom was not as power but it would have its uses.

  After the poison Zhang began gathering the spider’s silk. Its silk had many uses such as making clothes, rope and this and that so Zhang made sure to collect as much as possible.

  Once he collected all he could and store it within his interspatial ring Zhang turned back toward the group.

  “Everyone go rest we should be ok for now. But tomorrow we will not rest and push toward the exit.” Zhang said.

  “Why? Didn’t you just kill the monster that was making everyone disappear?” One of the sailors asked.

  “We killed one but there are probably hundreds of thousands of them. However, the fact that we are alive still and not all dead yet means that we are not close to their colony.” Zhang replied.

  A mixture of relief and fear fell upon the group. Relief that they were not close to the colony of spiders but fear that there were hundreds of thousands of those monsters lurking around down here somewhere. Just knowing that they were out there chilled the members of the group to the bone.

  After resting for a few hours the group decided to head out they were roughly two thirds through the underground passage way and would reach the exit in the next day or two. So the group would continue moving without rest until they reached the exit.

  While galloping through the passage on top of their steeds the group began encountering large spider webs. They had not encountered any before on the trip so seeing the webs made the group remember the horrifying beasts that made the webs.

  Zhang’s would collect as much webbing as he could and store it away for later.

  However, the group did not encounter any more spiders and soon a light at the end of the tunnel could be seen. Light shone in from the exit of the cave and once the group reached the exit they would not have to fear the Titanic Golden Spiders anymore.

  But something else that everyone noticed was that the ground would occasionally vibrate. At first the vibrations were very subtle and unnoticeable but as time passed they became noticeable but not the extent that the group had to worry.

  Although the Dragon’s Maw is dangerous it is definitely not as dangerous as encountering a whole colony of hundreds of thousands of man eating demonic beasts. Inside the Dragon’s Maw there were demonic beasts but these beasts stayed in their own territories and did not attack unless provoked.

  And the most dangerous things one could encounter besides demonic beasts were bandit so the Dragon’s Maw could be compared to heaven for the group.

  “WE MADE IT!!” One of the sailors screamed.

  That was when the ground began to shake and tremble. Soon cracks could be seen on the walls of the cavern.

  “Quickly! Rush for the exit now!!” Jian Wei cried how.

  However, before they could make it to the exit the floor of the cave collapsed and a pit full of darkness appeared right under their feet. The horses and people alike all due to gravity fell downward into the pit.

  “GRAB ON!!” Zhang screamed as he tossed his chains to everyone. And with a sweeping motion of his hand he sent one of the Inferno Wind Walkers into the Ruler's Domain. There were simply too many people to all fit within the domain and he was not going to play favorites.

  As for the steeds only one could possible fit within the domain so Zhang picked the best one there was and sent it inside so he could use it later.

  Zhang launched his dagger into the wall of the pit lodging it between the rocks. Thank to this the group was no longer falling. Well besides one man whose gripe slipped when the chain jerked as the dagger lodged itself into the wall.

  Now they were hanging god knows how far from the ground. When suddenly a shriek could be heard coming from the top of the pit. Moments later a Titanic Golden Spider could be seen crawling downward.

  “Fuck… Of all the times for it to appear.” Zhang cursed.

  “Everyone hold on tightly!!” Zhang screamed as he let go of the chain.

  Using the wall
as a kickstand Zhang propelled himself away from the group. Then from his hand shot out his 2nd dagger which pierced one of the spider’s eyes. Had it landed a few inches elsewhere then the spider most likely would have died. The dagger that he launched although missing the spider was able to lodge itself in one of the walls preventing Zhang from falling down deeper into the pit.

  With its eye destroyed the spider shrieked and jumped at Zhang. But out of nowhere an arrow shot through the air and pierced the spider's head. The arrow had ended the spider’s life making it hang lifelessly from the strand of silk that was coming out of its behind.