Epilogue (2)

Chapter 67: Epilogue (2)

When the night left, the time to rest was also over. Li Song woke up to a great, oppressive silence. His body weighted too much to lift it from the bed, but he had to, and with a praiseworthy effort he took a sitting position.

"Agh…"

He said, burrowing his face in palms. The previous day still was vivid in his memories, but more than that, a feeling of loose, a hole was in his chest.

"What a fucking trash I am…"

He shook his head and dejectedly stood up. His first instinct was to dress up, but then he noticed that apparently, he went to sleep still in his armor the previous night.

Without any further thoughts, he left the tent.

He expected it to be gloomy outside, but weather rarely can read the mood, so a bright sun greeted him, and blinded. He blinked several times, and on the third blink, his servant suddenly appeared before him.

"Good day, young master." Said Feng.

"Good, how's situation?"

"That… Well, you better see yourself." Hesitation appeared on his face.

"Better, let's go then."

Li Song went down the slope and toward the army camp.

"Where the smoke?"

He asked, seeing a perfectly clear sky.

"Everyone is a bit depressed, so no one ignited bonfires yet."

"Depressed…"

Li Song repeated the word, as if testing it on his tongue, and then speed up toward the nearby hill. From it, a sad scenery of the army camp revealed before him.

Grave silence permeated the place. Most soldiers were sitting close to their tents, some not even bothered to use logs, their backs on the ground. Fires weren't lit, nor was any food in making. For a second, Li Song remembered slums near the capital when it was a year of a bad harvest. Countless peasants gathered around the city back then.

During that second, he also felt sad, but then the opposite feeling appeared in him.

"How pathetic."

"It is."

Feng tried to support his words but received only a scary gaze from his master.

"That is our elite army, acting like a bunch of homeless bums. A fucking joke."

He shook his head.

"General Du Fu was too soft with them, look what they turned to be. Their spirits died with him."

The youth deeply breathed in.

"That will be a lot of work."

"Work, Young Master?"

Feng suddenly felt a bad premonition.

"Work, now that Du Fu's dead I'm the general. Official this time, that how the system works, still. While commoners can hold any other positions, only descendants of mighty clans can be generals. And I'm only one present."

"But, isn't that simple? The task is completed, right? Just lead the army back, to the mainland."

"Not that simple, we still can't be sure we've dealt with all beasts, also need to search the forest for the remains of that black wolf…"

Feng wanted to say something when suddenly another voice sounded from the side.

"I object, young master."

The boy looked down and saw a pair, a woman in a loose blue dress and a mummy-like man with his face completely in white bandages. Head full of disheveled hair.

"Ming Chao, Wang Jing, glad to see you safe."

Said Li Song, also looking down at them with a genuine smile on his face.

"No need." Coldly answered the man.

"I have to ask, young master. Are you not going to help to deal with the other army? Or the forces there already sufficient?"

Li Song's gaze froze, a wave of cold clouded his heart. He blinked several times, then appeared just before Wang Jing and looked straight into his eyes between the bandages.

"What "other army"?"

Wang Jing also froze, so did the girl in blue.

"The other army that we mentioned in the letters; the beast's horde of hundred thousand divided, the elite battalion of thirty thousand was destroyed here, and the other army went to the south."

"Other army, seventy thousand…"

Li Song suddenly looked toward Feng, his eyes so severe that the boy almost felt down out of shook.

"Feng, where's Se?"

"I, I don't know he hasn't returned yet…"

Before servant could finish explaining Li Song raised his fist and punched the ground. Earthquake followed, so strong that it attracted the attention of the half-spirited soldiers hundred meters away.

…

…

…

"…I see."

Mo Guang was sitting on a stone close to a stream, stroking a black eagle's head. The bird silently looked at him, its eyes shining with a deep blue radiance.

"I am afraid you can't return anymore, not that it matters. Go, find yourself some food."

The eagle flew to the air, and Mo Guang's eyes switched to a large yellow horned lizard that was staring at him from the other side of the stream.

"Everything is completed, Lord Mo. The invasion has started; three human's villages already were pillaged." It said, looking down and trying to avoid Mo Guang's gaze.

"I see, proceed as planned, and remember, no slaughter can be allowed until the crystal is unsealed. When it becomes completely black, stop, switch to other and continue with the cleansing."

"Will be done, Lord Mo. We have already filled ten crystals."

"Not enough; send them when it will be at least twenty."

"Yes."

The lizard nodded and crawled under the bush, vanishing in the forest.

"Well then."

The grey wolf looked at its leg, still black, though the bleeding has stopped.

"I need some rest."

He stood up and left the place, walking toward his tent. White and lavish just like the one that his brother used. Well, it was that one. Considering how many maneuvers the whole operation required, it was the best possible choice.

"I am tired."

He said and stepped through the white veil. Inside there was a long white table and several chairs. A black wolf was sitting on the table, holding a black round crystal, his eyes closed. The grey wolf looked at him for no more than a second, and walked by, entering the third room.

Inside there was a bed, several lockers and a bookshelf full of white papers.

"…Rest."

The wolf crashed into the bed.

Outside, the ground trembled and both earth and trees moved, like on a wave. A large beast spread its wings, rising toward the sky above a flat ground with several hundred meters of forest on its back, and a white tent.

The wolf felt that tremble, and it reminded him of the wagon, of his childhood when he and his brother were driven somewhere while in cages.

"…"

Slowly, he closed his eyes succumbing to the memories.

He will never open them again.

In several hours two shadows will appear, one with large bunny-like ears, the other in a black garb. They will kill the wolf in his sleep, and then the flying beast will crash on the ground, burying the black wolf under its remains. Forever.

However, that will happen after. Right now Mo Guang was still in his past, in that wagon on a stony road.

…