Sun Wukong, fifth of his name, sat on a pile of bodies. The battle lasted long, and death got its reward. He looked at his bloodied hands and was disgusted. The eyes, he could see their eyes, they stared at him from within the crimson stains on his fingers and palms. He heard their screams, their pleas for mercy, and their brains splatter as he ignored their cries and killed them. Not a single ounce of regret touched his soul, or he tried not to let it to; he wouldn’t allow himself to feel it, because he had a job to do. So not yet, he couldn’t feel yet. Not till his father’s war ended. But no matter how hard he tried, he still felt it, the weight.
Sun Wukong knew he was destined for hell. It scared him, but it also relieved him that a monster like him would know justice. But what about the men around him? The men that followed him and the men that fought against him, would they go to hell too? Did they deserve it? Sun Wukong’s father dragged them into a pointless war, but did the common soldier bear the same sin he did, or the same as his father’s? Would all men who fought for their country be damned to hell? The thought depressed Sun Wukong. He accepted his fate, but for his men, he couldn’t, he shouldn’t. Was him alone not enough for the gods? But the day’s killing wasn’t over. A fort needed to be stormed. Killing, a lot of killing to do.
“Prince! prince!” A chubby messenger boy called.
“Yes, Hong?” Sun Wukong said.
“Word from General Luo, he and his men will arrive at fort Stone soon. One hour at the most.”
“Good, Hong. Always a great messenger, aren’t you?”
“Happy to serve, prince! Glory to the Flower Fruit Empire!” The chubby messenger boy saluted and ran off. He tripped, picked himself back up and took off again.
Sun Wukong smile atop the bodies he sat on. Happy to serve his prince, huh? Sun Wukong didn’t deserve the adoration. The boy should hate him for letting him so close to death. People became strange when war broke out. Death turned into nothing, just another thing, like rain or sunshine. A boy running around unbothered by corpses both amazed Sun Wukong and terrified him. Could that chubby little boy kill if Sun Wukong ordered it? Well, he couldn’t think about it forever. He had a general to meet. Jumping off the corpses, he made his way.
The Prince of Flower Fruit Mountain, Sun Wukong, carried a red staff. Orange haired and lean, he was a bright monkey. He liked his form, he rarely changed, why would he? He loved the hair. His eyes were an average brown, a prince couldn’t have it all, and he was tall, not a giant, but tall enough to grab things off the top shelf without any trouble. He wore a simple suit of armor with a peach symbol in the middle. Overall, he looked like a straight-backed, cut, and handsome orangutan.
Every step came with a snapped twig or disintegrated yellow plant. Before it became a battlefield, it was a green plain. Now, there were more bodies than blades of grass left, some patches remained, just some. A few blood-stained rocks littered the ground, it was great, it made the soot-covered surroundings even more depressing. Sun Wukong watched his step, pebbles were dangerous, he could trip. That wouldn’t be good for anyone. The smell of dead men and unclean latrines didn’t make the walk any more pleasant either.
After an unpleasant walk through a not-so-nice battlefield, Sun Wukong met with General Luo Cheng. He was a tall man dressed in an extravagant coat. It had a golden mane that covered the general’s neck and golden buttons that kept it shut. The man himself was blonde and blue eyed with a jaw probably sharper than the sword he carried at his waist. A handsome man, women went crazy for him, men too. That was probably why his men followed him to death-stinking-fields like the one they were at now. Any sane man would’ve gone home. If Sun Wukong had no responsibilities, he knew he would have. What did that say about his own men? They followed Sun Wukong. No, they weren’t sickos like Cheng’s. Just men dragged into a worthless war or maybe they were all dragged, including Cheng and his men. But they did love him a strange amount. Cheng’s men were the hardest fighters in the army. That’s how great of a leader Cheng was, or maybe how good looking.
“Hey there, friend.” Sun Wukong said.
“Sun Wukong, it’s been too long.” General Luo shook Sun Wukong’s hand.
“It has. How’s the war treating you? You make any girls fall for your devilish looks yet? I wouldn’t mind a nephew.” Sun Wukong said.
“No, no nephew yet. How about you? You’ve been putting your staff to work?” He pointed at Sun Wukong’s lower body. An embarrassing part of it too
“Now that’s just gross. Why did you have to make this disgusting battlefield even more disgusting.”
“Who wouldn’t want to think about Sun Wukong and his little staff.”
“Its average sized.”
“I heard something else.”
“Well, you heard wrong.”
General Luo Cheng, the Snow Lion, one of the greatest generals in all the Flower Fruit Empire. That amazed Sun Wukong to think about. The man in front of him a general? Crazy, just insanity. The two used to run down the halls of Flower Fruit Mountain together. Often getting into trouble and scoldings. Of course, Cheng always cried first. The pussy cub that’s what the children around them called him, children can be cruel. Cheng’s general’s attire suited him, he looked fearsome but wrong. He should be doing something else, anything else.
“Okay, okay, maybe I did. But let’s get to business, we have a fort to take.” Cheng said. Fort Stone, its walls stretched, and stretched, and stretched, and stretched, wow, it stretched. No wonder Sun Wukong saw no boulders around, just little rocks. They probably used them all and all their cousins to build the fort in front of him. A rock genocide.
“How are we getting in?” Sun Wukong said.
“Want to use your ‘mighty staff’? What do you need, about two inches to the gate?” Cheng said.
Sun Wukong smacked his friend on the shoulder. “What’s the real plan?”
“A lot of men dying and us leading the charge.”
“We’re just going to charge in? No plan?”
“That’s the thing about forts, you either take them quickly, or more likely, slowly, and I don’t think we have the time for a siege.”
“I know that. But aren’t you the ‘genius general’? Why don’t you think of something better?”
“There’s not much I can do. I can’t work miracles, Sun Wukong. We both know that if we went all out, the fort would be destroyed. We can’t do that, the fort’s vital for the war. But a couple of destroyed walls wouldn’t bother anybody. I was serious earlier, why don’t you use your staff and do some work? A couple of the archer towers gone wouldn’t hurt either. Plus, I think the main gate would be a lot more welcoming if it was gone. We’re much stronger than them, so it shouldn’t be too hard, but some of our men are going to die.”
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“Fine. I’ll take care of the walls. My men will be meeting with yours soon, lead them.” Sun Wukong said.
“Watch out for the keepers of this place. You feel their Ki, don’t you?”
“I do. They shouldn’t be anything too bad to deal with.”
“But enough to cause major damage to the fort. If you’re going to fight one of them, either kill them quickly or lead them away. And before you start, I know your way of fighting isn’t clean, just don’t break anything too much, please?”
“Alright, general.”
Sun Wukong strolled towards the fort. Men in the archer towers screamed out orders and knocked their arrows. He swung his staff; it stretched and tore the towers in half. How far did it stretch this time? At least a mile, Sun Wukong thought to himself. He still didn’t know the limit on his staff. Could it reach the moon? A thought for another day. Blares and alarms screamed out in the distance, and behind him, he heard Cheng order the men. “Dragons, go! Rain fire!”
Sun Wukong thought Cheng wanted to keep the fort intact. Dragon fire didn’t seem like the best way to preserve things. Well, what did he know, he was just a stupid monkey who also so happened to be a prince and a general.
“What are you doing, Cheng!? I thought we wanted this place?!” Son Wukong had to yell; he was a bit aways from the main army now.
“Don’t worry! I’ll freeze things before they get too messy!”
“Fine! Just make sure you do that!” He might as well trust Cheng, people called him a genius after all. Sun Wukong swung his staff again and destroyed the front gate. Next came the walls, not too many, but enough to make the fort vulnerable. Every blow, he felt his staff rip through flesh and shatter bones. He wondered if the men he killed screamed? But he continued destroying. Eventually, the army behind him caught up. They nodded their thanks and charged off to kill and die.
Blazing orange fire and death-touched white lighting rained down upon the fort. The dragons did their jobs well. It looked like hell. The first stage of the assault looked like it was near over; the fortifications were softened up. Now, it was time for Sun Wukong to kill one of the leaders and end things. He searched for the strongest Ki signature near him that wasn’t Cheng’s and found a power that felt like a calm stream. It was wet, cool, and refreshing. The person he was going to kill today, other than the nameless corpses that cursed him from the walls and towers, followed the path of water. That was fine, Sun Wukong needed a bath anyway. All the blood and dirt from the previous battles stained his orange fur into a dirt speckled mess. A nice wash-up might make him feel better, maybe the dead in his dreams would finally go to the afterlife too. He just needed to wash their blood off his hands first.
Sun Wukong’s target was near the front of the destroyed gate. A woman who summoned water dragons. Her dragons ate Sun Wukong’s and Cheng’s men then drowned them. Some of the men transformed into their other forms in a hope that it would help them escape, it didn’t. Giant water bubbles swelled in the bellies of the water dragons, in them, tigers, dragons, pigs, and all other forms of beasts and men died. The woman’s hair was frizzled, unkempt, and brown. Her face was etched in lines of fear, desperation, and acceptance. Maybe she knew the fort was lost.
Jumping towards the woman slinging her dragons of water, Sun Wukong swung his staff at her head. A quick blow. Hopefully, her head would detach and explode, and Sun Wukong could get his job over with. But she dodged it and sent one of her dragons towards him. He thrusted his staff into its mouth, and it burst. Water flew all around him and drenched him. It looked like he was right, this fight would help clean him up.
“Why don’t we make this quick? Just stop and die for me, won’t you?” Sun Wukong said.
“You’re the one who’s going to die.” She sent another water dragon at him; he spun his staff and grinded the dragon into droplets.
“You’re going to die anyway. No use in getting all sweaty and tired before you die, right? I promise I’ll make it quick.” He pointed his staff at the woman’s head, and it shot out like a bolt of lightning. She dodged. Sun Wukong tried again, but aimed at her chest this time, she jumped out of the way in time. But her right arm trailed too far behind her, and the staff took a bite out of it. A hole bled in the middle of her forearm. A pluck of flesh gone, it looked like she always had a hole in her arm, it would be wonderful for parties, she could be a magician that pulled rabbits out of it.
“See, I told you. Lay down and die. I hate killing, don’t make it any harder for me.”
“Then stop, turn around and go home! Stop killing!”
“Don’t say that. You know I can’t. We’re at war. Killing’s the game. I simply haven’t lost yet. But you will, and I know you know you will.”
“You bastards started the war!” She opened up, this was the opportunity Sun Wukong was looking for, his staff flashed and went through the woman’s head. Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed. Blood pooled and stained her frazzled brown hair red. Sun Wukong walked to the corpse, prayed, and burned her image in his head.
“I’m sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I was against the war, but you’re dead, and I killed you. I guess you probably don’t care for my excuses, huh? But still, don’t haunt me too hard.” He went around and prayed for the rest of the soulless bodies around him. For every face he came across, another soul haunted his dreams.
“Feng, what are you looking at!?” Liu said.
“Nothing.” He blushed. Liu knew what the little pervert was looking at. Gigantic breasts. The woman had no shame. Her clothes were barely clothes, more like a see-through sheet of mesh, insanity.
“Stop it. Quit being gross.” Liu said.
“I’m not.” Feng said.
Liu and Feng, after being transported, went to the golden domes and spires they saw in the distance. Once they arrived, Liu was overwhelmed. Men and women sold things from colorful stands, people yelled at sellers for ripping them off, and children zigzagged through the crowd. Chaos. It baffled Liu that so many people could live in one place. The street they walked down alone held more people than her entire village. Smells assaulted her nose too, urine, cooking meats, and garbage.
The city’s architecture amazed Liu, not only the domes and spires, but everything else as well. Buildings made of the whitest stone she ever saw, and paved streets that awed her, she knew dirt roads, not cobblestones. Glass was everywhere, every building she walked past had a giant window. Not the little eyes of light she was accustomed to. How did they afford it? Selling their firstborns? Liu’s father always told her to never trust city people, they were liars, cheats, and evil seducers. He was right, an evil seducer already got to Feng. If they wanted to live, Liu would need to lead the way. Her friend was compromised.
“What are we going to do, Liu?” Feng knew it too, why else would he ask her?
“Don’t worry, little Feng. I’ll figure something out.”
“You have no idea either, huh?”
“Quiet, you’re crying isn’t going to help.”
“Well, think of something then.” Feng said. Critics, they always wanted somebody else to do something for them. But Liu was the leader, the responsibility fell on her. The only problem was she had no idea what to do. Her father’s stories about the outside world helped. But only so much. She could spot evil seducers, cheats, and liars that hid in the dark. But she was still young, they could outfox her. Slavery, death, all of it, breathed down Liu’s and Feng’s necks. Planning and caution would need to lead the way.
“You two lost?” A woman in front of Liu said. An evil seducer. She had curly black hair and dark smooth skin that glowed a beautiful brown under the sun. It looked vibrant and amazing, like the gods wanted to show off their creation. Her eyes were brown, and her body would make a mountain move and kiss her toes. She wore one of the see-through tops Liu saw earlier. It was unfair, she already turned heads, but with the outfit she wore, people would worship her. A golden necklace in the shape of a hunting hawk hung around her neck. Its eyes glowed green. Excellent craftsmanship that added to her beauty. Men and even women around them stared at her. Their eyes held admiration and wonder. Disgusting, Liu saw through the woman. She couldn’t seduce Liu.
“Yes ma’am.” Feng said. He looked like a dumbass.
“We’re not.” Liu said. She wasn’t going to die because of Feng.
“Oh, is that so? You don’t have to worry; I’m not anybody dangerous.” The woman said.
“I don’t care.” Liu said.
“Liu, what are you doing? Why are you being so rude?” She can help us.” Feng said.
“He’s right. I can help you. You don’t have to trust me, but at least humor me, won’t you?” The woman said.
“Fine, food. We need food.” Liu didn’t know if she could trust the woman, but she and Feng carried no money. If she bought them food, good, if not, Liu would find another way.
“That’s all you need?” The woman said.
“Do it, or we leave.” Liu said.
The woman laughed. “You’re a prickly one, aren’t you? Follow me, I’ll get you two fed and I promise not to eat you.”
“I can do without the jokes.” Liu said.
“Adorable. Come on, those tummies won’t feed themselves.” The woman said.
As the woman led the pair, Feng whispered into Liu’s ear. “What are you doing? She’s trying to help us, Liu. We won’t ever get home if you scare off everybody who wants to help.”
The idiot! Didn’t his father ever teach him anything, never trust strangers. Liu’s father taught her to be careful. A tiger was most vulnerable after a kill. If she relaxed, they might die.
“I’m keeping us alive.”
“By being an asshole?”
“No, by being aware. I’m not going to let her pounce on us.”
“Still, can’t you be more subtle about it?”
“What’s she going to do? Kill us in the middle of the street? She’s not going to do that, what’s the harm in making sure she knows we’re not weak prey?”
“You sound just like your father.”
“Thank you.”
“That wasn’t a compliment. You know everybody hates being around your father, right? He’s scary to be around. I never know what he’s going to do next.”
“Exactly, that’s how you stay safe. We have to be unpredictable, Feng. Just listen to me and everything will turn out fine.”
“Okay, Liu. But what if she turns out to be a good person?”
“Then I’ll apologize, and we can move on. But if she turns out to be a monster, don’t cry to me about it.”
“Fine, keep an eye on her then. Just try to be quieter about it?”
Liu nodded. She guessed there was no harm in that. A tiger hunted in silence.
“What are you two whispering about?” The woman said.
“None of your business.” Liu said. Oops, Liu would be more subtle next time.
“Liu, what did I just tell you.” Feng said. “Sorry, I was just telling Liu to stop being so rude.”
“It’s fine, I think it’s cute.” The woman said.
“Cute!?” Liu said.
“Oh, we’re here.” The woman said.
Liu wanted to tear the woman’s head off, but she needed to focus. The building the woman took them to was white like all the others. It had frosted pink windows and a sign that read “Yanmei’s pleasure.”
“Welcome to my brothel.” The woman said.