Dragon's Soul: An End's Beginning

by Tony Tran

  But to be honest, it isn't because Jian Wei had become fearful or not; it was just the simple fact that Zhang, Ai and Yuying did not register the fear of dying any moment in their minds, even if it was right before their eyes. As for Ling, her perspective on it was slowly and gradually changing to be like Zhang, Yuying and Ai.

  ==========================

  The next morning, as the sun peaked out from the horizon and blessed the earth with its warm rays, thousands of men dressed in white armor could be seen standing in neat rows.

  While Zhang and Jian Wei could be seen standing atop a hill overlooking the enormous camp below. Countless tent were visible from atop the hill and then there were the spiraling columns of smoke from the hundreds of campfires used to cook meals. Lastly, were the sight of countless flags, fluttering against the wind.

  “Zhang, take this and keep it safe.” Jian Wei said as he pulled out a familiar looking cube of jade and handed it to Zhang.

  “The imperial seal of the Sai Empire. That is said to contain a map that leads to an artifact, which is rumored that can create or destroy an empire.” Zhang muttered as he held the delicate looking seal on his hand.

  “Why are you handing this to me my lord?” Zhang asked as he looked up at Jian Wei.

  “Damn it!! You’re still calling me my lord?” Jian Wei said angrily while glaring at Zhang.

  “Umm… Foster father!” Zhang said cheerfully, remembering how often Jian Wei would yell at him about this issue.

  “Good! I do not have a son nor will I probably have one. Zhang, I want you to know that I've come to consider you, my successor, as my one and only son. You can count it as the plea from a lonely old man who’s trying to find someone to treat him as a family. But no matter what, it truly makes me happy for you to call me foster father. With that being said, I wished to hand the seal to you, the person I trust the most, because the trip back to Aurora will be a dangerous one.” Jian Wei said as he appeared to have aged ten years older right in front of Zhang’s eyes.

  “Foster father don’t worry, what can those weaklings from the Heavenly Sword Army do when you're back in Aurora. They couldn't even fend us off here while having the advantage of being the ones defending.” Zhang said with a laugh trying to reassure Jian Wei.

  After chatting for a bit more, Jian Wei and Zhang headed back to the camp. It was time for Jian Wei to depart and rush back to Aurora.

  Once Jian Wei left with two hundred thousand soldiers in tow, Zhang returned to the commander's tent and wrote a letter.

  “Take thirty thousand soldiers and bring this letter to New Leaf City, deliver it to General Lu Xun.” Zhang said as he handed the letter to a soldier standing guard in front of the commander’s tent.

  “Thirty thousand soldiers to deliver a letter?” The soldier questioned thinking he misheard Zhang.

  “Yes, thirty thousand and leave as soon as possible.” Zhang said then he went back inside the commander's tent.

  “Yes my lord!” The soldier said as he kneeled on one knee, grasping the letter in his hands. Soon, thirty thousand white armored soldiers departed from the camp, headed for New Leaf City.

  Inside the tent, Zhang was sitting beside the table with the map of Green Clover City on it; as he immersed himself, trying to come up with strategies to take over the city while suffering the least amount of casualties.

  While Zhang was busy studying the map, the flap of the tent raised.

  “Sima Yi, come over here and see this strategy we will be using when attacking the city.” Zhang said without looking back.

  A perplexed look appeared on Sima Yi’s face once Zhang called out his name.

  “My lord if you don't mind me asking, how did you know it was me who entered?” Sima Yi asked as he walked beside Zhang.

  “Simple, there are only four people in this entire camp who can walk in here without being announced and that is you, Ling, Yuying and Ai.” Zhang said while looking down at the map.

  “Then perhaps it could have been one of the three madams.” Sima Yi said, unsatisfied with Zhang’s answer.

  “How long do you think I've been with them? Not days, not months but years. I could recognize their scent the instant they entered the room.” Zhang said.

  “Their scent?” Sima Yi asked with an even more confused face.

  “Ling smells like freshly picked apples, Ai smells almost exactly like roses, despite the fact she carries around a whip made from the Queen of the Night. And lastly, Yuying smells just like chrysanthemums, the flower often representing death.” Zhang said as he remembered the time he spent embracing the three girls.

  After hearing Zhang's explanation and description of the three beauties, Sima Yi was dumbfounded. Lastly, the part about chrysanthemums representing death did not make sense to him.

  “As expected of you my lord.” Sima Yi said deciding to stop the matter and focus on the more important things at hand.

  “I suggest we trick the enemy into believing we have left to Aurora and when they are caught off guard, we strike.” Sima Yi suggested.

  “Trick them into thinking we left?” Zhang asked.

  “Yes my lord, if we can make them believe that we too have left, to defend Aurora, they wouldn't know what was coming to them. If we moved to the east toward Aurora, then move north and strike from the west of Green Clover City in the dead of night.” Sima Yi said as his fingers traced a path on the map on the table.

  “That would take too long, we must finish here as quickly as possible and then aid Aurora.” Zhang interrupted while shaking his head.

  “Then perhaps we can lure the enemy into opening the city gates.”

  “How will we do that?” Zhang asked.

  “We have plenty of suits of armor and banners from the Heavenly Sword Army, haven’t we?” Sima Yi said with an evil smile as he picked up one of the iron statues off the map and placed them in front, where Green Clover City was.

  “You're saying we will pretend to be their reinforcements?”

  “Exactly my lord! Exactly. If we can enter the city and secure a single gate, then the city is as good as ours.” Sima Yi confirmed as he placed an iron statue symbolizing the soldiers of Aurora inside the Green Clover City.

  “Order the men to pack up and dismantle the camp! We are moving. I want armors and banners from the Heavenly Sword Army as many as possible! I don't care if we have to strip off the corpses.” Zhang ordered to a soldier standing guard outside the tent as he walked out.

  Chapter 75: Deception

  “General Chao Chang! General Chao Chang!!!” A middle aged soldier with saggy eyes yelled as he knocked on a sturdy looking door.

  “Buzz off!! I’m trying to have some fun in here!” A deep, rough voice pantingly sounded from the other side of the door.

  “But it is urgent general!” The middle aged man yelled.

  “Speak and leave!” The deep voice inside sounded out once more.

  “The soldiers of Aurora retreated after reinforcements from our Heavenly Sword Province arrived from the south!!” The man yelled cheerfully.

  “What!!? Why didn’t you tell me sooner!” The deep voice yelled with glee.

  “Wait you said reinforcements? Didn’t the correspondence from our lord say that the reinforcements would take about another month to arrive?” The deep voice said as the sturdy looking door crept open and an obese man dressed in a nightgown walked out. With each step this man took, his fat folds jiggled up and down.

  “My lord we haven’t finished our business yet.” A middle aged woman dressed in revealing clothes, stood partially hidden by the door panel, said in a teasing tone. This was the same women who had wrecked Lu Lingqi’s life, the former madam of the city lord, Guo Meiyan.

  “Get back in there. I’ll accompany you later.” General Chao Chang said without looking back into the room.

  “Hmph! If it was not for me then your plans wouldn’t have gone so smoothly, and now you're ignoring me?” Lady Guo Meiyan screamed.

  �
�Tell me where these reinforcements are now.” General Chao Chang said to the middle aged soldier, totally ignoring Lady Guo Meiyan.

  “My lord they are currently camped outside of the city, awaiting permission to enter.”

  “Accompany me to the city walls.” General Chao Chang said as he reentered the bedroom to get dressed. Soon, he walked out fully dressed in purple armor with a saber hanging from his waist.

  “Let’s go.” General Chao Chang said as he made his way out of the provincial lord’s mansion with the middle aged soldier.

  After they made their way through the city and arrived at the top of the city walls, creases appeared on General Chao Chang’s brow.

  “Zhuge Dan what are you doing here? Didn’t I tell you to return home?” General Chao Chang said with a sneer.

  “Hmph who are you to order me around? Our lord had specifically ordered me to stay here and make sure that everything goes smoothly.” General Zhuge Dan replied while glaring at General Chao Chang.

  “Go smoothly? Didn’t you fail to defend that measly city and ended up running with your tail between your legs?” General Chao Chang said mockingly.

  “Generals I believe we have some more important business to attend to.” The middle aged soldier with saggy eyes said.

  “Send a messenger out there and ask them to show us their Heavenly Sword emblem that every general in the Heavenly Sword Army possess.” General Chao Chang ordered as his hand traced a sword shaped piece of jade dangling by his side of his waist.

  Moments later, the city gates parted and a lone rider charged out heading for an encampment built a short distance away from the city where he was led through a rows of tents. Wherever he went, he felt many watchful eyes spying on him from a distance.

  As he made his way toward a large tent, located in the center of the encampment, something caught his attention. Beside it was a mid-sized tent and from a sliver between the tent’s flaps, he spotted three extremely beautiful women. But before he could admire their beauty, he was led into the large tent. Waiting there was a young man dressed in standard purple armor of the Heavenly Sword Army with a helmet covering his face seated on a chair behind the table.

  This young man was clearly someone of high social and military standing, so the lone rider took off his helmet to reveal a middle aged man with a long scar running across his face and then quickly saluted.

  “Gong Jiang pay his respects to the general.” He said while bowing and clasping his hands.

  “At ease.” A kind voice emitted into the messenger’s ears.

  “Have you come here to tell me that we have permission to enter the city?” The young man’s kind voice sounded once more.

  “I’ve come with orders from General Chao Chang to verify that the general, you my lord, is in possession of the Heavenly Sword emblem.” The messenger replied respectfully.

  “Ah yes! The Heavenly Sword emblem, I lost it on the trip here.” The young man said as he rose from the chair where he was seated and stood by the desk that was in front of him.

  “Lost the Heavenly Sword emblem?” The messenger who had had a long history in the Heavenly Sword Amy muttered as he questioned the young man in front of him. The emblem was something that was given to every general of the Heavenly Sword Army, to lose it was punishable by death.

  “Is there something wrong?” The young man asked, but the kind voice from before was no longer present and was replaced with an intimidating tone.

  Soon, a suffocating presence filled the air as the messenger knew that something was wrong and his answer would decide his fate.

  “My lord there isn’t anything wrong. I’ll go back and inform General Chao Chang to let you enter the city right away.” The messenger said hurriedly as beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

  “Then would you like for some of me men to escort you back into the city? If you can wait a bit, you’ll arrange for an escort.” The young man replied with a smile on his face.

  “It’s not a problem at all my lord, General Chao Chang would reprimand me if I made him waiting.”

  “But I insist. Once my men enter the city they can help explain the situation to General Chao Chang also.” The young man said.

  “If you insist then I will wait a bit for the escort to be arranged...” The messenger said as he slowly backed out of the tent. He bolted for his trusty steed as to inform General Chao Chang not to allow the soldiers of this camp enter the city because there was a high chance that they were enemy soldiers.

  However, before he could make it to his horse, the sound of something cutting through the air could be heard. A dagger embedded itself into the messenger’s back and pierced through his heart.

  “He asked for you to wait a while...” A familiar voice sounded as Zhang walked out from the mid-sized tent.

  “Brother, how we will have our way in now?” A young girl who smelled like chrysanthemum asked as she followed suit Zhang.

  “That’s simple, I’ll open the gates while you, Ai and Ling command the soldiers to charge into the city once you see my signal.” Zhang said as he walked up towards the messenger’s corpse, took off its armor and donned it.

  “My lord that is too risky.” The young man who conversed with the messenger said as he walked out from the big tent and removed his helmet.

  “Sima Yi ready the troops and alert our men positioned over the hill, I’ll be needing you to help Yuying and Ling in commanding the army.” Zhang said as he hopped onto the messenger’s stallion and rode towards the Green Clover City dressed in the messenger’s armor.

  As Zhang sped towards Green Clover City, the city gates slowly parted allowing him to enter.

  “Gong Jiang you’re back! Did everything go well?” One of the soldiers who had pushed open the gates greeted.

  “Wai-wait you're not Gong Jiang! Who are you!” The soldier shouted after taking a closer look at Zhang. From afar, it would be impossible to tell apart Zhang from Gong Jiang but up close, the two clearly had different built and height.

  Without saying a word, Zhang’s halberd appeared in his hand. After the Sky Piercer was withdrawn from his interspatial ring, Zhang jumped off from his horse and began slaughtering the soldiers by the city gates.

  “Enemy attack! Enemy attack!” A loud shriek sounded as Zhang’s halberd sunk itself into the soldier’s back.

  “Without further ado.” Zhang murmured as a flare appeared on his hands. A green light embellished the sky and the sound of thousand horses charging forth shook the ground.

  “Who dares to attack when I’m here!?” A deep voice rang out from atop the city walls. Moments later a small crater was formed as General Chao Chang could be seen jumping down from the city gates and landed a short distance from Zhang.

  “I dare!” Zhang roared as two chained daggers appeared on his hands. With a thought, the two daggers floated and shot through the air. However, their target was not Chao Chang but rather the hinges of the city gates.

  A loud bang could be heard as the daggers struck the hinges sideways and smashed into the stone walls.

  Seeing what Zhang was trying to do, Chang Chao rushed forward, withdrawing his saber from its scabbard. “As if I’ll let you do that!” He roared as he lifted his saber and slashed downward.

  “Hmph!” Zhang snorted as the chains attached to the two daggers shortened, pulling him back. With a yank, Zhang pulled the two daggers out from the stone walls and shot them at the two remaining hinges on the city gates.

  However, only one of the daggers was able to hit its target, the other was stopped when Chao Chang’s saber flew out of his hand and knocked the dagger to the ground.

  “One out of two is all I need.” Zhang said with a smile as one of the gates fell over and smashed onto its counterpart causing both of them to slam onto the ground.

  “Damn...” General Chang Chao cursed. If he had been able to stop Zhang, then there was a chance of closing the city gates and defending the city from the top of the walls. But now, with the gates la
ying on the ground, there was no need for Zhang’s soldiers to siege the city, they would just simply ride their way in and began rampaging.

  “Once your soldiers enter the city, they won’t be coming out alive.” A voice sounded out. General Zhuge Dan could be seen slowly descending from the top of the city walls, floating downwards to be exact.

  “You!!” Zhang yelled once he saw Zhuge Dan. But then a thought ran across his mind and a smile once more appeared on his face. “Was running away from my fiancé once not enough?” Zhang sneered as the rumbling sound of thousand hooves came closer and closer.