Chapter 0104- Unbelievable
"Nighttime has come. The demons and goblins have come out to play." A voice came across the forest canopy, birds thrush from the treetops..
"Such a strong, familiar, strength of soul." The voice started to crackle in thirst.
A rush of wind kept steady pace while it flush to the desert.
"Not much further!" A dark figure emerged from the cloak of the forest and rushed into the sandy mire of the western desert.
A streak rode the sands for a few hours and finally saw the destination.
'"ZAO CLAN!"' Pausing for nothing, the streak rushed toward the distant mountain.
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The nightlife was a bit more grand that it had been, people walked the city at all hours of the night. The two mountains seemed like beacons in the surrounding. Howls of festivity and merriment were followed by chants and song. The hyper-inflated numbers of the Clan didn't hurt the morale, only the security.
People and Beastkin were celebrating their anniversary as a City.
Everyone was drunk.
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The stealth team had been having it easy, all the children had gone to bed. The Princes were a handful, but there was not telling what to expect when they felt left out. Normally there would be patrols around the city at night by the stealth corp. Their normal route included checking in on the Sect Leader and their family.
{'all clear'} Hand signals were exchanged and silently the group left the castle.
{'You three, go check wall. You four, go mid. the rest, with me'} Guzhe finished signalling and left to check the western mountain.
The festiveness of the slaves was no less of a security risk, and their duties had been doubled because of it.
The Moons above highlighted the stars like dozens of pairs of ever watchful eyes. The other planet in the distance often seemed insignificant, but its residents were quite powerful to escape its gravity.
Occasionally, streaks would cross the night sky. While most were Qilin, sometimes a Vishnan, sometimes it was something else. The great calamities of the past could by easily summed up as the adventures of an otherworlder, even in the casual stories of the Earth. The Threats were real enough that entire expeditions from distant nations or groups would spare no effort or violent act to retrieve or control the threat for their own advantage.
Corruption happens always.
And then it happened, as the groups in the City cheered and drank the night away. A crushing sound approached the city, it didn't break the sound barrier. There was no Sonic Boom.
"Incoming!" An Alert went out over a loud speaker.
People dove down and behind things but the damage seemed unavoidable. Much of the area within 2 meters of the Target was torn into debris before it finished passing and the speed was as good as the Sect Elders.
{'TURN AROUND'} Guzhe gave the signal and slammed his fists together in frustration.
He had left the Area a bit earlier. Guzhe's team stopped and went back to the City.
The ruckus was enough to throw the non-empowered people into a devastated mindset. Many instinctively ran, some didn't stop. People were having problems identifying the target, it moved quickly and stuck to the Shadows.
"What the everloving fuck is happening?!" One on looker turned his head around a corner, it was a dreadful mistake that cost him dearly.
"Where? ..Where? ..Where is my place in this WORLD!" A Tormented Voice could barely be heard among the grinding of stone to powder.
A Shadow appeared and several of the Stealth Corp were blown away by Bolts of Lightning.
"OUT.of.MY.WAY!" a force brought the few stealth corp members that remained together, grinding them into a paste.
The wad of bile infused meat scraps and broken armor fell to the floor in a massive heap. There was no escaping it, the attack was merciless and showed no hesitation.
'Further' The singular thought ran through the mind of the Shadow.
Slipping back into the walls and working its way to the Castle, the Shadow seemed like it was locked directly on target.
Guzhe and his Stealth Corp team arrived on time to see the remains of his comrades in an unidentifiable state.
Guzhe opened his mouth "The Patriarch"
"GO! NOW!" Motioning to pursue the suspect Guzhe used a few of the movement techniques he had learned from his mentor.
The Castle Guards were nothing particularly outstanding, but they were more than enough for the average traveling assholes that needed to be kept in check. Guzhe only heard several their deaths in the distance when the first Castle Wall broken.
"Intruders!" Abi was still working in the western mountain.
A single explosion was an accident, but a second was intent.
Abi looked out across the valley between the peaks and saw the many scattered peoples fleeing from the scene, then she saw bolts of lightning streak toward the Castle from Pagoda.
"WE GET HOME AND THIS HAPPENS!" Mike was furious.
"Yes, Brother. Seems like we get no rest Tonight." Wu Hai flickered and crossed the span between the Castle and Pagoda in what seemed like an instant.
He crashed through one of the external walls to catch up to the intruder.
Mike was still in his human form and couldn't fly. He watched from below.
"Be Careful Brother." Mike sighed, things happened really quickly in this world.
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The inside of the Castle was lit with torches and glowstones. The Palace wasn't something that would be left unguarded. The first responders were the unfortunate deaths that Guzhe had heard on his arrival. It was not a pretty sight, especially for the patrols who first came across the bodies.
Another crash came out when Wu Hai arrived, Guzhe had already gone to look for the suspect moments before.
"FAN OUT!" The Guards spread themselves out and began to clear each room.
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When they came to the Prince's rooms there was no reply, the boys were no where to be seen.
Searching further, they rushed to the Princesses' Room. Inside they found the boys hovering near one of their nieces. Ho had the Darkflame blade drawn and fully charged.
"What is going on?" Patriarch Ooran heard the commotion but was busy on the other side of the Castle.
One of the Guards answered, "Intruder, their in the childrens' bedroom. We're unable to get closer!"
"What do you mean unable to get closer?" Patriarch Ooran looked down the hallways and felt like he was being pushed down and away at the same time.
The force felt like a tidal wave was drawing him further from the doorway.
"What is the meaning of this!!?" The Sect Leader was abhorrent with the situation, his children and grandchildren were in danger.
"MASTER!, FATHER! GRANDFATHER! UNCLE!" The boys cried out in distress, Ho was defending Xi with his posture.
'Xue' Patriarch Ooran couldn't stop thinking about where his granddaughter was.
Another hallway gave way to Zao Wu Hai and he appeared in the girls bedroom.
"The Fuck!" Wu Hai didn't even have to see the situation to know it was already beyond pleasantries.
Wu Hai grabbed the Darkflame blade from Ho and threw up an earth wall behind himself.
"You switched again? You make this easier for me." The figure threw off its visage and revealed its true face.
"Why are you doing this?" Zao Wu Hai's eyes were drawn to what was grasped in the intruders clutches.
"Release her." Wu Hai swelled with energy.
His powers were causing the castle to shake.
"Goodbye." Darkwing touched a spell circle and disappeared into nothing.
He was gone.
"Xue. Darkwing." Wu Hai stood there for a moment and turned around to take down the barrier.
"Boys.. Where is Xi?" Patriarch Ooran ran up as the wall came down.
For a moment Ho was silent, as the leader of the group he was often the voice among the Quartet. Now their Master had just betrayed the sect and kidnapped their niece, a princess of the Sect.
"Here.. she's ..master... Grandfather, Why did he do this?!" Ho couldn't hold it any longer.
The boys all stepped back and revealed their niece. She was in tatters. Darkwing didn't even spare the Foil Vipers.
The boys might have survived because of the Darkflame Blade, or their being students but the Sect leader didn't care. He was furious, proud of his sons and terrified of the betrayal that had just happened.
Darkwing was with them from the beginning.
"INFORM ZHAN, GET RACHAEL AND KHAN NI HERE NOW!" Patriarch Ooran stopped his emotions as fast as he could and sent out soldiers to inform his Son.
Xi was dead. Xue was taken.
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Wu Hai held his hand over his mouth. He had expected that loss in his life would come eventually, but never to the children at such a young age. To see such an act done to a child, Wu Hai almost lost his rationality.
The Family was betrayed by a loyalist and major part of the Sect. A Child was taken, a Child Murdered. Dozens of deaths along the way.
"Xi." Rachael had rested earlier, it was her children who had carried them back to the Castle.
The City Festival hadn't even come into her mind, she was always with her girls.
"My.Babies.." Rachael broken down crying.
Zao Zhan was close behind, when he saw the wreckage in the surroundings he had already feared the worst. When he arrived he understood his lack of imagination on the subject of 'worst' as his heart sank into despair.
"WHO!" Zhan's face sank further and it looked like he couldn't take the situation.
"It was Master." Taincho spoke up after staring at his dead niece's mangled body.
"!!!!!?! GET OUT, GET OUT NOW!!" Zhan seethed and knelt beside his daughter's remains.
"Everyone Out. Now." The Patriarch gave the order.
The Princes grabbed Rachael who was still crying and dragged her away.
"You too Wu Hai." Zhan shoved his brother out of the room and sealed it.
The room was quickly entombed in Ice. Wails of anguish could be heard even outside of the Castle Walls.
Everyone within the City Walls knew something terrible had happened.
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"GATHER THE ELDERS, ALL GUARDS, HIGH ALERT. FAN OUT, SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!" The Order Went out.
As the Sect Leader, Patriarch Ooran was ashamed and infuriated. As a Father, he was proud; His Sons continually stepped up to the challenges in front of him. It was a situation no one could have prepared for. As a Grandfather, it was personal beyond the mere betrayal of the Sect. Darkwing's destructive path killed a number of citizens, not just guards.
"This is a Priority. I want to know what he was doing. Why did Darkwing Betray us? Why Kidnap Xue? Why kill Xi? This, none of this makes any sense. Genba.. Where is Genba? Get Abi to see me when she arrives." Sitting down beside his grieving daughter-in-law, Zao Ooran held on tightly while she wept.
"Yes." The Stealth Corp immediately went out to gather the Elders who hadn't yet arrived.
"Father." Wu Hai didn't know what to say as he approached the Sect Leader.
"It is not your fault. Darkwing was a trusted family member. I don't know why he has done this, before we kill him.. I intend to find out. Whatever excuse he might believe, doesn't matter to me. There is no rational explanation for murdering such a sweet child and kidnapping her sister. It is too cruel." Zao Ooran never ran from a fight before, not even a Kingdom baring its fangs could scare him.
"I will kill all of them." Wu Hai's fell to tears in front of his father after hearing him.
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In a cave 1k away, Darkwing materialized with Xue under his arm.
She was uninjured.
"A Bit Further." Darkwing collapsed to the ground.
It was morning when Xue woke Darkwing up.
"What is going on?" Xue had a lot of questions, she went to bed in the castle but woke up in a Cave.
"Its dirty! Where is Xi? Can we Eat? What's for breakfast?" Xue kept prattling them off.
Darkwing had a plan, "Everyone is dead."
When he spoke, all expression left his face.
"What?" Xue didn't want to believe him, but saw the blood that covered Darkwing's face and clothes.
"Mother? Father? Uncle? Tiancho? Wong? Ho? Han? Xi? Qu?.... " Xue started crying and the sound filled the small cavern.
She didn't stop for hours, not even the food helped to quiet her screams of pain. It wasn't until she passed out that things quieted down.
"Finally, she stopped crying." Darkwing stood over the tiny girl with the same expressionless face.
Taking out a Deep forest green crystal, he placed it into a mortar and began crushing it to dust. The Dust was dissolved into an electrochemical solution soon afterward.
A trick he had learned from the many books on solvents. The mixture roiled with explosive arcs that changed the properties of the materials it came into contact with.
Darkwing looked at the bubbling mixture and sank another crystal into the slurry. Soon, the Deep Green mixture adhered to the crystal and increased its mass.
What was once a single colored Gemstone was now two colors. A Singular Mass, down to the atomic bonds. The process didn't end there and Darkwing brought out another Mortar to start with another crystal, this time.. a violet one with silver lines.
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Zhan remained in the Frozen bedroom in the Childrens' wing of the Castle. It was a grieving process that the Elders and Patriarch would have to accept. To lose ones children, in such a situation no one would be expected to handle it gently. The process would be filled with complexities that couldn't be described.
Wu Hai had to go back to Yunnan to get the Crusher back from Gefest. It didn't take very long to explain the situation to the Forgemaster. Gefest didn't understand fully, but had realized that his students had a much more complicated background than even he imagined.
Wu Hai came and went before Zhan had come out. He needed to know what Zhan's intentions were, not that he would stop him from getting his revenge. Zhan didn't seem to have an impure thought in his mind for his whole life, now that he had lost his daughters The Prince was easily swayed to his emotions. Locked in his dead daughters bedroom, Zhan grieved for 3 days, then prayed for anther 3 days for Xue.
He didn't know whether Xue was safe, the boys had seen him take her away rather than destroy her body. All Zhan could do was hope. Darkwing teleported away, there was no tracking him. They would have to look for him in the future and it was impossible to tell when that would be.
Zhan finally came out of the room on the 7th day.
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'Why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why!' The questions didn't help derail the damage that was done.
Zhan was about to have another child, he could lose what he still had. There had to be a solution, other than abandoning his family. Zhan was committed to killing Darkwing. When he finally decided to speak to the Council everything became clear.
"I'll never forgive him, so don't think I'm defending him or his actions. Darkwing's been depressed ever since Marcus. He's been ignored, and with the exception of personal interests he is mostly uneducated. We are partially to blame, for his entire life he was attached to the Prince. Then he became humanoid, but shortly afterward Wu Hai stopped adventuring to build a home. Then, after the sect was built, Wu Hai left again only this time he left without Darkwing. That feels like abandonment. I don't know why he murdered my daughter and kidnapped the other, I'm not sure If I care about the reason anymore. My tears may fade but my sorrow will be forever. GUZHE! Come here, I have a job for you." Prince Zhan finished his statement and walked to a corner to discuss details about his plans for Guzhe.
"I want the fliers rewarded when they return. If we get news of his location you'll be the first to know." Ooran looked at his son with pained eyes.
Calistown did her best to console Rachael, losing a child was too much for any parent. Lei's arrival in the coming days soothed her soul a bit while they made plans to bury the dead.
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Ho took it really hard, the funeral for Xi and who died for the Sect didn't help the shame he felt from being frozen in his place during the altercation with his teacher. Watching his Master pull his fist from Xi's chest was enough to send Ho into a spiral, the betrayal he felt alongside the shame helped temper his resolve.
The tears for the fallen were never going to be enough, and soon everyone tried to get back to work. Zhan didn't do well during the funeral, his rage was contained but contagious. There was no one in the audience that didn't understand that Darkwing was now their Blood Enemy.
"I will kill him." Zhan held his head to Rachael's.
"I will return with our child." Releasing his hands, Zhan slipped out of the crowd and disappeared.
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After the Funeral Ho talked it over with his father. "Patriarch, No.. Father. I want to fight."
All hesitation was absent, Ho was serious.
"Master Jiang and Nana will be the best to talk to. You should follow in the footsteps of Wu Hai, but not in his shadow. Create your own light bright enough to make your own shadows. Make sure to see your Mother. If she sees you like this, she might accept it in her heart." The Patriarch was impressed with the youth of the next generation, it was refreshing.
The Elders were aware of Zhan's intentions. They all prepared Khan Ni for the news of his disappearance, but the strange part was her understanding.
"Let him go. He will never forgive anyone who stands in the way. Our husband. He will return." Khan Ni held her belly with one hand and Rachael's with the other before continuing.
"Tell me I'm wrong. If you stop him, he'll resent you forever. If you love him, support his decision. There is little we can do except accept it. I loved Xi too, to me she was precious family. All of our hearts are breaking over this, I will be here." Khan Ni wasn't sure what future she would see, but her family had already been burned out of her home once and she would never flee again.
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