Dragon's Soul: An End's Beginning

by Tony Tran

  Thankfully the Queen of the Night’s vines had expanded their reach and coiled around both of the giant’s legs and slowly made their way up its body.

  “Soon you’ll turn into plant food.” Ai said with a snicker as she controlled the massive flower and its vines.

  However right after Ai’s words, something unexpected happened. The giant’s entire body broke apart and scattered everywhere. Then, in almost an instant, it’s body was reformed, but this time it was no longer rooted by the huge flower.

  “Hmph you think you can escape just like that?” Ai snorted as the huge thorns appeared on the petals of the dozens of flowers and then the petals folded and fused with each other until something that looked similar to the mouth of a ravenous beast was formed.

  Moments later, the flower’s thousands of thorns latched onto the giant and once more pinned it to one place. The Queen of the Night began ripping off chunk after chunk of the giant.

  As this happened, the green mist had dispersed and the bone dragon fell apart, turning into a huge pile of bones. The green mist swirled about, and then, almost in an instant, was absorbed into Yuying’s body. Once this happened, she stumbled towards the ground, but thankfully Zhang was there to catch her or else she would have fallen over.

  “Let's get out of here, this isn't working.” Zhang said and he gestured to Gan Ning, Zhang Liao and Leng Zai.

  Zhang carried Yuying in his arms as he bolted out of the prison to where Ai was.

  “Ai! Retrieve the Black Thorn Whip!” Zhang yelled as he sped toward her.

  Without questioning Zhang’s words, Ai plunged her hand into the stem of the Queen of a Night and when her hand came out the whip was in her grasp.

  Once Ai retrieved the whip, the massive vines and flowers began withering away and fell apart.

  By then, Zhang had reached Ai, and without saying a word, he slung her over his shoulder and continued running.

  Since the vines that were keeping the giant rooted were gone it was now free to continue its rampage, and of course, it's target was Zhang.

  The giant lifted its leg and was about to crush Zhang, but before it could, a large spear of ice pierced through the air and knocked it onto the ground.

  “Ai take care of Yuying!” Zhang yelled as he lowered Ai and Yuying to the ground and ran off.

  Soon a purplish stream of energy shot out from his hand towards Ling.

  “Ling kill it!” Zhang bellowed as he began concentrating on streaming essence to her. The amount had to be just right or else it might overwhelm her and do some harm.

  As the essence gushed into her body, Ling began controlling the water in the lake. Soon, dozens of pillars of water shot out into the sky. All of the water in the lake had risen up and created massive walls that towered above the giant. These massive walls surrounded what used to be the Black Wind prison, enclosing the giant in a ring of water.

  “Ice Demon’s Prison!” Ling yelled as the walls of water toppled over toward the giant. It looked as if someone was pouring water into an invisible cylindrical bowl.

  Moments later, the water began freezing, and soon enough, the giant was encased in ice. The entire island where the Black Wind prison was built on had turned into a solid piece of ice.

  After using the Ice Demon’s Prison, the column of water that Ling was standing on had begun shrinking and eventually lowered her to the ground. Once on the ground Ling staggered and almost fell over but was caught by Zhang.

  “Brother! We did it!!” Ling murmured as she hung her arms around Zhang’s neck. Suddenly a big kiss was planted on her forehead.

  Being taken off guard, Ling’s cheeks turned a crimson red as her bright twinkling eyes stared up at Zhang.

  “You two get a room!” A voice rang out behind Zhang. Looking back there was a familiar looking pirate with bells dangling by his side staring at the two of them.

  In the distance, thousands of cheers could be heard.

  “We made it!”

  “We survived!”

  “Woohoo! I won't die a virgin!”

  Before anyone could celebrate, loud cracking sounds could be heard coming from the ice prison. Small cracks ran along the ice and began combining together to create larger cracks.

  All of the cheers died down and was replaced with an eerie silence that filled the air. All of the men felt as if someone had walked up toward them and punched the air out of their lungs.

  Everyone's eyes were now glued on the ice prison as the cracks continued to grow larger and larger.

  After a while, the cracks stopped in their tracks.

  “Phew. It's finally over.” A soldier said with a voice full of relief.

  Suddenly, the ice began cracking once more.

  “Fuck me….” The soldier yelled as he face palmed himself.

  The ice continued cracking for a bit longer and then stopped once more.

  “It should be dead by now.” Zhang murmured as he stood beside the three beauties with his generals and soldiers behind him.

  All of the soldiers in the Black Wind army who survived had agreed to join Zhang’s army along with Zhang Liao while all of the prisoners joined under Gan Ning.

  Of course, now that they were a part of Zhang’s army, they would be pardoned. However, if they reverted back to committing crimes, they would be dealt with using military law.

  Now Zhang’s army had swelled in numbers and consisted of roughly eighty thousand men. With fifty thousand being split between Lu Xun and Sun Ce, ten thousand under Zhang Liao, and twenty thousand under Gan Ning.

  “Onward to Black Wind City!” Zhang yelled as his eyes twinkled while thinking about the mountains of treasures that he will obtain.

  Chapter 69: Forsaken Land

  As the thousands of soldiers under Zhang’s banner marched through the empty roads of the Black Wind province, they passed by what could only be called desolate. There were no signs of life left after the entire province was mostly wiped out by the countless heart borrower worms.

  No people nor animal stirred as they continued their march toward Black Wind city. Only the eerie howling of the wind, the rhythmic marching of the soldiers and the rocking of carts loaded with villagers could be heard.

  Over the last couple of days, Zhang sent his men to comb the surrounding area of the Black Wind Prison, looking for more survivors. Amazingly, there were actually a few pockets of villages who had been able to fend off the undead. After gathering them up, the army moved to the next area and then began the search for survivors once more.

  By now, Zhang had gathered thousands of civilians who were going to follow him back to Red Mist City. The Black Wind Province could not be rebuilt or sustain a large population due to the devastation the worms caused. Fields were littered with dead bodies and the water was not safe to drink due to contamination.

  Without a ruling government, many of these people would suffer. Knowing this, Zhang tried his best to convince all of them to follow him and move to Red Mist City. At least there they wouldn't have to fear bandits or lack food.

  “Brother, is that Black Wind City?” Ai asked as she pointed into the distance at a large expanse of walls. Behind these walls were high towers that reached into the clouds.

  “It used to be Black Wind city.” Zhang replied as he looked off into the distance.

  “Lu Xun, order the men to clear out the city. We will be staying inside for a few days to recuperate.” Zhang ordered.

  “Yes my lord!” Lu Xun replied.

  Moments later, Zhang’s army and the civilians entered the empty city through a pair of massive gates that were wide open.

  The inside of the city was left in shambles. Blood was splattered everywhere, buildings broken down, some even burnt down to the ground.

  Once inside everyone broke into groups to find places to sleep in. Since they were staying inside an abandoned city, there would be plenty of places to sleep in.

  Zhang, the three beauties, and a group of people were currently headed toward the
city lord’s mansion. Their goal was the provincial vault where most of the riches of Black Wind City was kept.

  “My lord, this is the city lord’s mansion.” Zhang Liao said respectfully as he stood in front of a pair of exquisite looking gates.

  “Alright quit with the jibber jabber let's go inside!” Gan Ning said with a laugh as he kicked one of the gates in.

  “Okay let's go. Zhang Liao lead the way.” Zhang said as he gestured to Zhang Liao.

  Once inside the former lord’s mansion, they walked passed hundreds of empty rooms. Although the city was only abandoned recently, it seemed like it had been ages since anyone had set foot inside.

  Unlike other abandoned cities or mansions, where all of the valuables had been looted, every room they walked pass was filled with valuables.

  The infection had happened on an unprecedented scale and at an unbelievable speed, which did not allow people the time needed to pack their valuables. That is to say if anyone even survived the outbreak.

  Almost the entire population of Black Wind City had been wiped out due to the infection. Be it man, woman, or child everyone turned into undead.

  “We are here my lord.” Zhang Liao said as he pointed to a very plain looking wooden door. This door looked extremely ordinary and almost exactly the same as the rest of the doors in the hallway.

  “You shitting me? How does that look like a door that leads to the treasury of a province?” Gan Ning said with furrowed brows.

  “You rogue! Are you saying I’m lying to our lord? Had I not gone with the previous lord to the treasury once before, I wouldn’t have even known it was here.” Zhang Liao yelled back at Gan Ning as he put his hand on the hilt of his sword.

  “Both of you shut up! No bickering. We will know if it’s the treasury or not once we open the door.” Sun Ce yelled toward the two.

  “Open it…” Zhang said in a displeased tone. The last thing he needed was conflict between his two new generals. Honestly Zhang did not want to promote these two so quickly but if he didn't then the men under them might start complaining and he did not wish for there to be strife within the ranks of his army.

  The plain looking wooden door was opened and behind it was another door. The second door was made entirely out of metal and looked extremely solid.

  “Move out of the way.” Zhang said as the Slaughterer blade appeared in his hand. The crimson blade glinted beneath the light that shone in through the window as Zhang plunged it into the door. With a single stab, the blade sliced cleanly through the lock and the door creaked open.

  Behind the second door was a flight of stairs that spiraled downward. Glowing crystals illuminated the walls as the group began descending. Much like the treasury of the Heilong Kingdom, the stairs spiraled downward as if they went on endlessly.

  “I’ll see you guys at the bottom.” Zhang said with a smile as he jumped off the spiraling staircase with his chained daggers in hand.

  “Wai-wait my lord!!” Zhang Liao yelled out as Zhang jumped off the ledge.

  As he shot downward, Zhang anchored his daggers to the walls around him and used the chains attached to them as a tethers to stop his fall. The chains rattled as Zhang continued plummeting downward until the bottom of the staircase could be seen.

  Once Zhang landed, he noticed there was a huge set of silver gates with delicate looking carvings engraved into them.

  “Hmmm I wonder what these carvings are depicting.” Zhang said while scratching his head as he tried to decipher the carvings on the two gates.

  One of the engravings showed an image of a small boy wearing a long black cape that flowed behind him. Another engraving showed the same boy defending his village from many monsters. The last engraving Zhang could make out was of the boy commanding an army of monsters to follow him in battle.

  “Interesting.” Zhang murmured as his hand traced the delicate engravings. Oddly, after being touched by Zhang’s hand, a few of the engravings began lighting up and sounds of clicking gears was emitted from within the two silver gates.

  Moments later, the twin gates parted and a river of gold coins flowed out onto Zhang’s boots. the room behind the gates was filled to the brim with gold and sparkling jewels, but, of course, Zhang paid no mind to these things because he had plenty of them within his interspatial ring.

  After walking over a mound of gold coins, Zhang’s attention was caught by a large altar off in the distance.

  As he ascended the white marble steps and reached the top of the altar, Zhang saw an exquisite looking chest made of silver and lined with gold. that appeared to be within arm’s reach.

  “What do we have here?” Zhang murmured as he reached his hand out to open the chest. As Zhang pushed the lid of the chest open, he could feel something wasn’t right and jumped back, landing at the bottom of the altar. As soon as he landed, dozens of needles shot out from inside of the chest and lodged themselves into the room’s ceiling.

  “Phew…. that was a close one. I almost had to go see father in law….” Zhang thought as he made his way back up the altar.

  Once Zhang was back at the top of the altar, he looked into the chest and saw what could only be described as a black torn up rag.

  “What the…?” Zhang murmured as he picked up the rag and looked at it. The rag had a raggedy texture and many loose threads showing that it had seen a lot of use. Oddly, he could not recognize what material the rag was made out of, but Zhang knew that this rag had to have some sort of significant importance to be placed on top of the altar in a booby trapped chest.

  While holding the rag in his hands, Zhang noticed faint trails of purple energy traveling from the Underworld Heart in his robes, to the rag. The trails of purple energy continued streaming into the rag until a strange phenomenon happened.

  “Strange…” Zhang thought as a purplish glow enveloped the entire rag, and it began mending itself. The tattered threads began growing and intricately crisscrossed each other.

  Soon, the tattered rag weaved back into a seamless piece of cloth. However, it did not stop there. The cloth continued growing until a long black cape laid in Zhang’s hands. That was when Zhang remembered the engravings on the gates of the boy wearing a cape.

  Without a thought, Zhang tossed the cape into the air and then draped it over his shoulders onto the floor.

  “This cape should be a magical item, but I wonder what it does?” Zhang thought to himself as he felt silky smoothness of the cape with his fingers.

  After a short while, due to his lack of interest, Zhang decided to try to figure out the ability that the cape possessed later and thought it was wiser to spend his time looking for other useful things in the treasury.

  “Ling will like this.” Zhang said as he picked up a choker from a pile of jewelry on the ground. Despite looking around the treasury for a while, he could not find any magical items. So Zhang decided he might as well pick out gifts for the three beauties.

  “A gift is never wasted on a beauty!” Zhang snickered as he continued picking out things for the three girls.

  “Hey brother, what do you have there?” A voice rang out in the distance as Zhang was picking up a beautiful looking anklet with intricate looking flowers carved onto them.

  Looking back Zhang saw Ai waving at him from afar with a broad smile on her face.

  “Took you guys long enough.” Zhang said with a chuckle as he saw Gan Ning off in the distance tossing gold coins into the air while laughing.

  “My lord I’m amazed you got the silver gates to open.” Zhang Liao said as he walked out from behind a mound of gold.

  “What?”

  “There was only one way to open the gates without destroying them and that was to activate the inscription patterns on the gate.” Zhang Liao added.

  “They sort of just opened by themselves.” Zhang stated as he began searching for magical treasures once more.

  “He’s one lucky man… Luckily he didn’t trigger the explosive mechanism in the gate. That would have set thou
sands of kegs of black powder off.” Zhang Liao thought to himself.

  After searching the treasury for a while longer and not being able to find anything useful, Zhang stored away all of the treasure into his interspatial ring with the promise of sharing it with his soldiers.

  “Despite being allies with the Aurora province; the Black Wind province was not very power from the look of things. However, they may have an interspatial ring or two filled with magical items.” Zhang murmured after storying away the gold and jewels. There was a chance that all of the magical items that was owned by the province was within the provincial lord’s interspatial ring, but that ring could have ended up anywhere within the province.