Chi Myst'wing

For weeks, Chi and her friends continued their mission to keep the peace, patrolling and guarding their designated areas against Solluna and redragon"s attack. Lord Benevence was in his mission too as he was planning for his next step, gathering intel and finding for more warriors of the same aspiration. With Lord Benevence"s strategic master plan and defence, they managed to thwart most of Lord Amo"s attacks. But the redragon"s attack was random and difficult to predict. Upon receiving the news of redragon"s attack, they hurried to the place which was under the attack to defeat the redragons. More cities and towns had their defence against the redragons. And more warriors of congenial mind had come to join the Warriors of Benevolence. Weeks pa.s.sed so fast that they never realised the summer had arrived.

Zhu Ming planned to treat Chi as a token of apology and decided to take her to a place where she could have her favourite meal with a scenic lake view. But she didn"t just go with Zhu Ming alone, and so he asked Zhanshi, Vincere and Mirai too. They went to the north lake, which was surrounded by villages, farmlands and fishing spots.

They had reached the dock. An otter-like Cyaian was waiting for them. In fact, he was the oarsman; he pulled the boat nearer so the warriors could hop into the boat. Once they had leapt into the boat, the oarsman dipped his oar into the lake and swept the paddle away from him, making the boat move further away from sh.o.r.e. From where they stood, they saw a thin green line around them separated the azure sky from the sapphire water. The scenic view was none like the other scenery they had ever seen. It did feel as if it was from another world.

Chi felt tranquil. Raising from her seat, she took out her bamboo flute and place the flute near her lips, and she blew through the opening. A soothing tune came out from the other end of the flute as she danced her fingers along with the flute.

Zhanshi and the others were baffled by her carefree expression and a talent to express herself. They were enjoyed by her music. After some time, Vincere raised from his seat and began to express himself.

A friend from afar comes forth,

Isn"t it a pleasant moment?

A friend shares a congenial thought,

Isn"t it a wonderful moment?

All beings are different and separated,

Only if all share the same dreams;

Imagine all beings when all are united,

A grand harmony it brings.

Once Vincere had finished, Zhanshi, Vincere and Mirai sang as their songs were accompanied by Chi"s music. Zhu Ming continued to look at the scenic view as if nothing had happened. He did have a look as though he was going to jump off the boat anytime.

"It"s had been long since me play this flute," said Chi once they ended the song. "And we should all sing together more often."

Zhanshi, Vincere and Mirai nodded to Chi"s statement. But Zhu Ming ignored; he just had a quick glance at Chi before turned to another view.

"Really wonderful," said Zhanshi. "Affinity has brought us all here. It"s peaceful when we can enjoy ourselves together, like now."

Once they reach another sh.o.r.e, the boat stopped, and the oarsman tied the boat to a wooden log. Zhu Ming led the heroes through a stair to a huge wooden building.

They walked into the wooden building, and they discovered it was an eatery with oriental architecture. At the entrance, a statue of an equine with its" head looking upward that it seemed to express grat.i.tude to heaven for making the heroes gathering here. The warriors sat at a bamboo table and ordered their meals. And when their meals came, they were more than happy to have meals while enjoying the peaceful scenic view of the lake.

As they were having their meals, a familiar figure appeared at the eatery"s entrance. His face was familiar that they could recall they had seen him at the heroes" a.s.sembly. It was Vincere Imperiare, but the fake one. The real Vincere looked at him with much antic.i.p.ation as he was advancing toward them. How did the fake Vincere know they were at the eatery? It didn"t matter how he knew. Spies were everywhere. Or perhaps it was a mere coincidence.

"h.e.l.lo, lady," said the fake Vincere. "And gentlemen. What a coincidence."

Chi and her friends stared at him, feeling disgusted.

"I"m Lord Vincere Imperiare, and I represent the alliance to speak to you."

"What the alliance has for us?" said the real Vincere.

"The very thing that you all are doing right now, the peacekeeping thing. Is a total waste of time and resources. You can"t really prevent Solluna and redragon"s attack. You all just come when the attack had happened. Why it is so hard to keep the peace? Is it worthy of your time? You all work so hard yet earn very little."

Chi, Zhanshi, Zhu Ming, Mirai and the real Vincere listened with much attention to what the fake one was talking.

"Well, serving Benevence is not a really wise choice," said the fake one. "I not sure whether you have known, but he isn"t as worthy as you may think. Everyone has his hidden agenda, and that includes him. Otherwise, why he did leave the alliance?"

"Lord Benevence left since the alliance are infested with the people like you!" said Zhanshi. "He left to found a better team."

"Do you think so? Too many opinions make one"s purpose harder to achieve. That"s why your lord prefers to establish his own army." The fake one sn.i.g.g.e.red.

"Liar!" The real Vincere shouted. Chi and Zhanshi had the feeling to shout too, but they suppressed their feeling instead. "You just want to sow discord within us," said Chi and Zhanshi together.

"There"s no point telling you this," said the fake Vincere. "Nevermind. I"m offering you a great opportunity. I hope you all can join the alliance instead. Only in the alliance, you can get what you dream of success, fame, luxurious life and enjoyment. Aren"t that you what wished for when you join Lord Benevence?"

Zhanshi and Vincere gaped at him, feeling the fake one was so scornful. So scornful and lowly that make him deserved no respect. He was probably a lowly Cyaian which was paid by someone to manipulate the alliance. Lord Benevence was wise that he could have seen that.

"You have disappointed your late papa! No. You disappoint the whole Eastern Land!" The real Vincere could not feel more than disdain toward the fake one.

"The Cyaians of the Eastern Land are unlucky to have the alliance under you," said Zhanshi. "You all just a selfish good-for-nothing Cyaians."

"Well then, good luck to you all." The fake Vincere"s grimace suddenly change. "Do you think Benevence is really selfless good Cyaians? I don"t think so. He had a hidden motive that you never know. He manipulates you all!"

"Enough! Stop dishonour my lord!" Zhanshi shouted. "He"s better than you a hundred times."

Zhu Ming stood up fast, the chair he had sat was dragged along the wooden floor and fall. His face was pumped with cold blood when he said, "let me kill this worthless sc.u.m!" and he drew out his pistol and aimed it at the leader of the alliance.

"No, Zhu Ming!" Zhanshi and Vincere were startled and came to hold Zhu Ming away. Chi and Mirai gasped and rooted on the spot.

"What are you doing?" The fake leader was alarmed too. But when Vincere and Zhanshi wrestled Zhu Ming away from him, only that he could be calm.

"Your lord master will soon be defeated. Lord Phopo is far better and more powerful than your lord. The alliance will soon attack Igniswing and defeat the redragons. After that, we"ll crush Lord Amo. Then, the Cyaians will have peace. You can join us anytime."

"Please stop the plan of attacking Igniswing," said Chi. "It"s a suicide mission. Redragons are very powerful." The words of attacking had affected Chi. She had a sudden yearning for Igniswing because it was her birthplace. Her only home where she had been with her mama.

"Everyone in the Eastern Land has heard the three of you defeated a redragon. Now everyone knows the undefeatable redragon can now be defeated. Lord Phopo has ama.s.sed large armies. With the armies, the alliance can crush the redragons like smacking bugs."

"You"re wasting your time here. We will not join you or the alliance." Immediately, the warriors: Chi, Zhanshi, Vincere and Mirai stood up. They were displeased of the unworthy leader. Each wanted him to be gone.

"So be it." The fake one gave a grin before he left.

The warriors had bitter looks when he left. It did leave too, an unpleasant dining experience to the heroes. Suppose they were having enjoyment from singing, expressing themselves and dining at the eatery with pleasant lake view. All were destroyed with the encounter with the alliance leader. Without any appet.i.te to continue their meal, they decided to return to the Lord"s mansion and told their lord everything the alliance leader had said.

"Just as I expected," said Lord Benevence. "When I went to Lord Vincere to discuss, it was not him that did all the talking. It was Lord Phopo. Lord Vincere is now a puppet under Lord Phopo."

"What must we do now, my lord?" said Vincere.

"There are not many things we can do to save the alliance," said Lord Benevence. "But we can still protect the Eastern Land and defeat Lord Amo. That is why I need so many heroes and warriors altogether. The reason Lord Phopo wants to attack Igniswing is because of the ignium metal. The metal is strong and powerful. Since everyone knows that the undefeatable redragons can be defeated, he has planned his attack on them."

"I hope his judgement isn"t clouded by his over-ambition," said Zhanshi.

"Of course, he doesn"t," said Lord Benevence. "He believes Vincere has the half-piece and Lord Amo the other half. Once he defeated the redragons, he can extract ignium to forge powerful weapons to deal with Lord Amo. Then, he can have both halves and soon, the whole Eastern Land will be under his rule."

"Looks like this battle could not be thwarted," said Vincere.

Lord Benevence sighed and then looked down with his fist supported his chin. He seemed to be pondering in deep thought. The warriors looked at their lord, and some did make into thinking poses. After some time, Lord Benevence looked up at the warriors.

"Alright, my warriors! let"s get started," said Lord Benevence. "Since this battle can"t be avoided, we must well prepare for it. We will set a camp on the East Coast. Vindicta Patriarca and Zhu Ming, you two go with me. Prepare around thousand men and necessary supplies. We will depart an hour later."

"Yes, my lord," Vincere and Zhu Ming answered, and they left the meeting hall.

"We must also make an alliance with the redragons," said Lord Benevence, looking at Chi and Zhanshi.

Chi and Zhanshi were silent, looking at each other.

"The redragons will not heed any offer unless we defeated them in a fight," said Lord Benevence. "They will accept the offer if you could defeat the chief. Do you have the confidence to defeat your former chief, Lady Myst"wing?"

"Yes, I do." Chi nodded.

"Excellent, Lady Myst"wing," said Lord Benevence, his lips almost curled up.

"What about you, Sir Yu Zhanshi?"

"Yes, me too."

"Then, you and Sir Yu Zhanshi shall go to Igniswing to offer an alliance with the redragons. Inform their leader of the incoming attack. I shall wait for the good news at the camp on the coast."

"Yes, my lord!" Both Chi and Zhanshi answered together and left the hall. In a few minutes, they have packed their belongings with some food and set their way east to Igniswing. With the fittest and the fastest equines, they would reach Igniswing by evening.

When Chi and Zhanshi were about a quarter of their journey to reach Igniswing, Chi still couldn"t forget the conversation with the fake Vincere.

"Zhanshi, was what the alliance leader had said true?"

Zhanshi was silent for a moment. Then, he turned to Chi and said, "Was it about Lord Benevence?"

Chi nodded without any voice.

"If Lord Benevence isn"t like what we think, then why he did so many things for the benefit of the Cyaians and the Eastern Land? Why he organised the tournament? It was not so easy to organised such a big event. Why the lord helped you with Zhu Ming? Perhaps it is Phopo"s plan to sow discord within us. He has been trying to crush our lord"s plan from the beginning."

"Would our lord help to find my mama?"

"Of course, our lord will…"

Out of nowhere, a sudden blast of wind hit them hard. Chi and Zhanshi were thrown off their equines as the equines fell on the gra.s.sy ground. They could find their feet and landed on the ground unhurt, but their equines had fallen with loud neigh.

A loud laugh sounded at Chi and Zhanshi"s right, demanding their attention. They looked toward the direction of the sound.

It came from Yexin Phopo. It was his shining body that gave out his location. His golden bodies stood out among the green leaves, and he was standing on the tree branches. Chi and Zhanshi were shocked. It seemed that the saber leo had been expecting them.

"How do you know we are here?" said Zhanshi.

"I sent Vincere to told you that I am going to attack Igniswing. And I expected Benevence will send his messenger to bring the news to Igniswing. But I never expect you two, as long as I can kill you, Yu Zhanshi, and you, Chi Myst"wing," Lord Phopo"s was gazing at them as he spoke. "Today, Benevence will lose two of his best warriors. Hahaha!"

Chi and Zhanshi knew Lord Phopo was a formidable fighter, based on what their lord had spoken. Could they stand any chance to defeat Lord Phopo if they fought hard, together?

"But, killing you two is such a great waste," said Lord Phopo. Both of you are the first and the third-place champions. Join me, together we will rule the Eastern Land!"

"Never!" said Chi and Zhanshi. "We"re the Warriors of Benevolence!"

Phopo sighed. "Then, both of you must die. What a waste." And he roared.

The ground was shaken, and Phopo leapt toward Zhanshi, with his punch readied. He was so fast that Zhanshi didn"t have any time for evading as he could only cross both his arms to brace for the impact.

The hit pushed Zhanshi several feet away. He couldn"t get his grip on the solid ground that he fell. Lord Phopo was far more powerful and swifter than Zhanshi.

All these happened so fast that Chi saw Zhanshi now laying on his back, groaning with pain.

As Phopo was sending another blow to Zhanshi, Chi immediately focused on her palm, an orb of energy integrated on her palm and she hurled it toward Phopo. The energy orb hit Phopo"s face with a loud boom.

Phopo was staggered away. He turned toward Chi and said, "Myst"wing gal, never before I was. .h.i.t on my face." He was so furious that he made Chi gasped. Zhanshi rose and hopped to Phopo to give his powerful punch… but Phopo had detected it and gave him a blow instead, sending Zhanshi a distant away.

Zhanshi was now laying on the ground, his breathing laboured with occasional groanings.

"The first champion of the heroes" tourney is so weak, so hopelessly weak," said Phopo in a mocking tone. "I wonder why Benevence even chooses you."

"I"m not weak!" Still trembling, Zhanshi struggled to pull himself up. "You haven"t tasted the power of my dragon conquering skill!" And he gathered all the force of the dragon in his fist, and he sprinted toward Phopo.

"What, dragon conquering skill?" said Phopo with an appalled look.

But when Zhanshi had come near Lord Phopo, the leo leapt and evaded, giving the greendragon a swing of feline kick... Zhanshi lost his balance and fall.

Phopo landed on his feet and sighed. "What a disappointment. The first champion. If Jing Myst"wing was still alive, he would be probably ashamed of his useless student. The Eastern Land"s most powerful skill now is in the hand of the weak and useless champion."

With that insulting remark, Zhanshi grew red with ferocity.

BOOM!!!

A large orb of energy had exploded at Phopo, and he was thrown off and landed on the ground.

Chi had launched her largest orb ever. It did have some effect on Phopo since his breathing became heavy. Yet, Lord Phopo could still pull himself up. "Lady Myst"wing, the daughter of the great Jing Myst"wing and the gentle lady Sunu Myst"wing. You are really somebody, seems better than the useless champion. But how can you have ended up in the third-place?"

"My friend is not useless!" said Chi. "And about how me in third place, it"s none of your business!"

"Benevence has always fail to recognise the true talent," said Phopo. "Because of his overconfidence and oversight." Phopo had a wicked grin. "Well, I will enjoy a great fight with you, Lady Myst"wing!" And then Phopo roared so loud that the earth trembles.

"Chi, be careful!" said Zhanshi, struggling to pull himself up but with no success.

Phopo sped toward Chi while she was throwing small energy orbs with high attack rate… while evading the orbs, he swung the orbs away like he was playing some ball game, causing them to fly and exploded some distance away. At the same time, the swift leo kept delivering his claws, and Chi kept deflecting his claws. The only way to defeat Lord Phopo was a large energy orb. But to create such large orb required her to have more time but there was no enough time. Phopo"s claw was coming in such high speed that when Chi had deflected his attack, another attack came. All she managed to do was grabbed Phopo"s arm and threw him only a few feet away...

"Lady Myst"wing," said Phopo. "I expected for your dragon conquering skill, and where is it?" Without waiting for her answer, Phopo swung another blow. Chi used her strength-deflecting skill to parry off Lord Phopo"s fist back to him, but it missed most of the time. Sometimes, she hit Phopo, but it didn"t hurt him. It was only some time before Chi drained of her energy.

In the fury of the battle, Chi spotted something red flashed past her, and it kicked Lord Phopo away. "Don"t you dare hurt Chi-de…"

Chi swung her head to look…

Emberfist.

"Chi, are you alright?"

"Yes, me"s alright," said Chi, though she had a little shock of his sudden entrance.

"A redragon. Another worthy opponent. I shall kill you and show the world that it is easy to kill a redragon. Then, I will kill Lady Myst"wing and Zhanshi afterwards," said Phopo as he sprinted, with his claw aiming toward Emberfist.

"Emberfist, buy me some time," said Chi soft that only Emberfist could hear and he nodded.

Emberfist flapped his wings, blowing gale of strong wind on Phopo. Phopo darted with his punch again… but Emberfist had lifted from the ground which Phopo hit only the thin air. Emberfist spewed fire… Phopo leapt out of the fiery path, and he jumped again, upward with a smackdown fist for the redragon. The leo was swift; Emberfist could evade just only an inch. Now that Phopo had landed on the ground, Emberfist dived toward him. Seeing the redragon diving downward, Phopo bent his knees as he was about to leap.

POOOWWW!!!

Chi had launched a large energy orb. It exploded so violently that it was powerful enough to throw Phopo miles away. Phopo"s thunderous roar dwindled and became fainter as he flew high and disappeared in the azure sky. Chi knew Phopo was still alive because of his super strength; he may have been wounded from Chi"s ma.s.sive energy orb.

"Thank you, Emberfist, for your help." Chi took out her flute and blew it. The melody was soothing and made the listener feel like they were in heaven. After some time, the equines had recovered. So was Zhanshi. When she returned her flute into her bag, she saw Emberfist had a frowned look at Zhanshi, and she could understand the reason behind his gaze.

Despite the two fights with Emberfist, which the first ended with Chi knocked out and the second having Emberfist being bashed up, they had expected Emberfist would hate them. But it turned out to be different from what she had expected; Emberfist had saved them. He was now like another person, heroic and righteous like Zhanshi and Vincere, or Lord Benevence.

"Thanks, Emberfist," said Zhanshi.

But Emberfist didn"t even turn to look at Zhanshi, as though Zhanshi was invisible. He was looking at Chi like he had finally found a long-lost lover.

"Chi..."

"Emberfist," said Chi. "Me very sorry for how me treated you at that city…"

"It"s alright, Chi." It looked like Emberfist was going to give Chi a hug, but instead, he seemed as he was restraining himself.

"How could you find us here, Emberfist?"

"I was just flying to Igniswing, and I heard fighting here. At first, I want to ignore it, but when I heard your name, I know I must come instead."

"How coincidence," Zhanshi spoke, and Emberfist turned his head in a way that he, at last, realised Zhanshi had stood there for quite some time.

"Chi, why are you here?" said Emberfist, "We hadn"t known your mama"s where-about yet."

"We have grave news for Igniswing. Yexin Phopo had planned to attack Igniswing."

"No one would ever dare to attack a redragon," said Emberfist with total overconfidence in his voice. "Moreover, to attack Igniswing."

"Emberfist, please don"t forget about the redragon incident in Kinma City," said Chi. When she saw Emberfist twitched his head, she said, "Sorry, Emberfist. Everyone in this land now knows that redragon can be defeated. Lord Phopo has already made enough preparation for the attack. This is one matter we shouldn"t take it lightly."

Zhanshi looked from Chi to Emberfist, giving the redragon a nod of confirmation to what Chi had said.

"Thought we had defeated Lord Phopo," said Zhanshi. "That doesn"t mean we have prevented the attack. We have only postponed it. We don"t know how long he would take to recover. Do take us to the chief. We need to bring the news to Chief Ti."

"Alright, let me lead both of you."

Chi and Zhanshi mounted onto the equines and lashed the reins so that the equines move, following Emberfist as he was gliding on the sky.

"Chi," said Emberfist. "How on Cyaia that you become this form? I wanted to ask you since the incident in that city." His head was looking forward when he spoke to Chi.

Chi looked up at Emberfist and began to explain. Since Zhanshi had heard her story many times, he felt a little sick of her story, and he could memorise her story. But this was Emberfist"s first time, and his deep feelings for Chi, he would love to hear her story over and over again.