Back in the Sol Islands, a strange homeless looking man had demanded an audience with the Council of Masters, saying it was urgent. The independence declaration of the islands rocked the news and social media. It had caught the world in complete surprise, and the Council of Masters was busy plotting its next military move, he was refused an audience. Instead, the militiamen and women, tried to arrest him where they found him on a beach with a fishing boat it seemed he had stolen. The man was Phoenix Guan and he retaliated defeating the militiamen and women with ease.
The doors to the Council of Masters flung open and the guard guarding the entrance fell inside, as the doors opened, sliding on the floor. Stepping inside was Phoenix Guan, 'What is this nonsense!' grunted Boris Subek. 'I have something urgent to tell the council!' said Phoenix not backing down. 'Let him speak,' said Great Grand Uncle Kek. 'Before he does that, we need to know who he is?' asked Grand Uncle Kazak as he frowned at Phoenix. 'I am Phoenix Guan, of the Guan family, a direct descendant of Yu Guan also known in antiquity as General Red Crow,' said Phoenix with pride as he looked around the chamber. 'Impossible!' scoffed Ren Sud, 'the man you say you are, disappeared years ago, the patriarch of the Guan family,' he added. 'Disappeared…but not dead,' responded Phoenix, 'You have announced to the world your independence from the Union, but I have socialised with Separatists members. This council is the main leadership head of the movement,' taking a pause he continued, 'I am sure you have all heard of the Brotherhood, this force is not just what is running things in the Union with the help of Gaia Corp. The man behind the Brotherhood is an ancient evil our forefathers fought!' shooting his gaze at Ren Sud. 'What do you mean?' asked Ren whose shield of scepticism was cracked. 'Years ago, when I became friends with Daniel Faris, he introduced me to a man called Dr Tet Watson, I am sure you guys have heard about this man?' The master's looked at each other more confused than before. But Phoenix continued, 'This Dr Tet, or Tet as he began to call himself was an archaeologist whose career had come to ruins many years ago, I was surprised to…' Boris Subek on the ends of his last bit of patience interrupted, 'What is the point to your story!' 'Boris! Let him finish,' said Grand Uncle Kazak glaring at his impatient son. 'I was surprised because this Tet character was said to have gone missing, I do not know if you all remember the
Sword of Carnage?' 'Of course, it's family folktale amongst my family members,' said Ren Sud. 'Same with mine,' said Phoenix and continued, 'The Sword of Carnage was claimed to have been discovered by Dr Tet Watson…his peers, however, did not believe him. They ridiculed him, but this is not what led this man to obscurity. As you all know the sword as told by myth, was the short sword Emperor Fei Yue, had found in his village after his return from the Dragon's Lair. The sword that raiders who had raped and pillaged his village had left behind.' 'I remember such a tale years ago, yes of some crazy archaeologist making these claims…so it was this Tet character?' asked Great Grand Uncle Kek. 'Yes, and it was no myth, my ancestor Yu Guan saw the downfall of Fei Yue, but Fei Yue knew he was going to fall he sensed it with his fear. This set him on a quest to find out how he could be immortal, but not on the goal to just live long but to be truly indestructible,' pausing Phoenix gazed around at the masters.
Then he resumed, 'Fei Yue one day after frustration on pondering how to be indestructible, held the Sword of Carnage, and in holding it managed to transfer a part of his consciousness into it. This was his greatest secret, hiding it and not mentioning the events to my ancestor, his trusted disciple. In doing so, he had achieved some form of indestructible immortality not the long immortality of Daoist sages of antiquity but one that was perverse.' 'So, you are saying that his soul or consciousness lives in the sword?' asked Grand Uncle Kazak, intrigued by the tale. 'Yes, but there is more, Dr Tet Watson is a man that lived about ninety years ago, he was not a martial artist, how could he have lived this long? You see, the ridicule he received from his peers broke him down and his reputation as an academic was tarnished. Holding what he knew was the Sword of Carnage one evening and planning to stab himself with it. His weakness evoked what was left of Fei Yue in the sword and he entered Dr Tet Watson, killing the man that was inside and possessing his body. Then Fei Yue or Dr Tet Watson disappeared into obscurity and over the years plotting his return, he created the Brotherhood an organisation that was behind the formation of Union of Nations and has become its main driving force. He's not as powerful as he was in the body of Dr Tet, but he still a force to be reckoned with.'
'This is ridiculous! You must think we are fools!' snarled Boris as he crossed his arms. Phoenix ignored him and continued, 'Our family secret or possession is that we have maps leading to Fei Yue's burial place, where his remains are. I gave this information to Daniel Faris after I confronted Dr Tet due him fucking my wife…' Ren interrupted him this time, 'So that is what this is all about!' Phoenix sighed not shaken by their disbeliefs and resumed what he was saying, 'Tet threatened to kill my family and Daniel Faris told me if I revealed where the remains were, my family will be spared. And I did, then disappeared into my own obscurity. To conclude, Gaia Corp's life tank, its new innovation will be used to recreate his body cell by cell using those remains. He will then possess that body and return to his full power. You all have doubts, but as I tell you all this, it could be happening now!'
Boris scoffed at what he had just heard, and Grand Uncle Kazak remained silent. 'If what you say is true, then our enemy has been the Emperor the whole time. The same demon our ancestors fought to bring peace to the world,' said Great Grand Uncle Kek.
Phoenix Guan had his say and agreed to be taken as a prisoner, but he told them that the only way to kill Tet was to find out where the Sword of Carnage was and destroy it. He said the sword was his only weakness, and anchor to the living world. If it was destroyed, Fei Yue would be dead instantly. The Council of Masters then broke into a heated discussion of what had just occurred, after Phoenix was taken to custody by the guard guarding the doors to the chamber. The guard regained consciousness after having been knocked out by Phoenix, who did not resist as the guard took him to his cell.
Back in Feiville in an underground secret laboratory were Daniel Faris and a team of medical doctors monitoring a man that was floating in the life tank. 'His ready I see,' said a voice, and Daniel Faris turned to see an old white man who wore spectacles. 'Tet,' he said and turned back to gaze at the man in the life tank. 'Soon you will call me by my original same,' said Tet as he walked next to Daniel, 'And soon I will be back in my original body,' he added.
The man inside the life tank was a tall man, darker than Daniel in complexion with epicanthic folds and narrow eyes. He had the body of an athlete with long white hair stopping at his shoulders. 'It's actually ready, you can give it a try if you want,' said Daniel. Dr Tet closed his eyes for a moment and then suddenly fell unconscious to the floor. The man in the life tank then shot his eyes open, they were light blue in colour and the glass enclosing the tank started to crack, and then it exploded into pieces causing the others to take cover.
Daniel and the medical doctors slowly got up and they caught a glimpse of the man floating naked in the air, with surges of electric current flowing around his body. He floated above them and then slowly vertically descended until his feet touched the ground. He then faced Daniel and the rest who gazed in awe.
'Emperor Fei Yue,' muttered Daniel as he kneeled and so did the medical staff. Fei Yue looked at his feet and hands, himself surprised that he was back. 'Daniel as promised, I will make you a king and you others will have your pieces to the pie. Provided you swear your allegiance to me,' he said as they all did not dare look up but the ground.
Hours after his return, Fei Yue visited the eight permanent elders of the Union of Nations at the Fei Tower, a skyscraper that was the headquarters of the Union and the tallest in the city of Feiville. Barging in he took them by surprise as they discussed the Sol Islands matter.
'Subjects! The emperor is back!' he arrogantly exclaimed. 'Who are YOU!? And how dare interrupt such an important meeting!' one of the elders shot out of his seat furious and fuming. Fei simply laughed, as a smirked appeared on his face and he then pointed his finger at the elder who was a man. The elder looked around anxiously, as he started to float up feeling unbalanced. Fei moved his finger to one side and the elder went flying straight for the wall, hitting it hard and then he fell unconscious. With an evil grin, he scanned the room looking to see if he was to receive further dissent. All the other seven permanent elders looked horrified at what just happened.
'I am Emperor Fei Yue and I have returned back from the ashes of time!' the tone of his voice expressed excitement, mingled with some anger as he spoke to the permanent elders who listened attentively to each word. Fei Yue described how the Brotherhood had taken over and that each Union general was under his thumb and members of his Brotherhood organisation, and that all he wanted from the elders was their allegiance and loyalty.
Later on, Emperor Fei Yue had an audience, the media was on him like ants foraging on leftover food. The Sol Islands' breaking news was overshadowed by this event. Online, in the social media sphere, people called it a farce, others commented that it was the end of the world.
Watching the news, the Council of Masters in the Sol Islands, had an emergency meeting and they had sent a militiaman to collect Phoenix. However, the militiaman returned pale and shocked as Phoenix had escaped by smashing his prison cell wall, leaving a big hole. The alarm went out and a search party searched for him, but the man had vanished from the Sol Islands.
'Fei Yue is back…that explains a lot, his whole goal like during his time in ancient history was world domination. The irony is that the war our ancestors fought those thousands of years ago, is now our fight,' said Ren Sud in the chamber of Council of Masters and then went silent, into deep thought. Everybody was silent for a moment reflecting and then Boris broke the silence, 'It would have not made a difference, but if Phoenix were here, I would apologize for my arrogance…there is hope though, we have to find the Sword of Carnage and destroy it.' 'If what Phoenix said about the sword is true, yes there is hope,' remarked Great Grandfather Kek. 'Emperor Fei Yue is back, and he warned us about that. The story about the sword must also be true then,' said Grand Uncle Kazak. 'Have we heard news about Carl Sobek and his son?' inquired Ren. 'Yes, the mission was accomplished, they managed to free Carl Sobek. However, this information comes from the Dragon,' said Boris and he further explained that Drasul had used his dragon power to allow Felix and the rest to escape. When they asked him where Drasul was, he explained that Drasul was not with them. That he had changed his mind meeting them at the safe house in Sud City, because of the current events that have recently occurred. It was then agreed that Boris would make contact with James and the rest. Advising them that Drasul was still alive and that they would be picked up off the coast of Sud City, to be taken to the Sol Islands.
When James received communications from Boris, he was filled with joy knowing that his uncle did not die, in the explosion. He informed Felix and the rest on what was happening, and they all went straight to the coast, where they were to meet up with some militiamen and women, so they could be taken to the Sol Islands. Rochelle had fallen into some form of depression and kept quiet, holding back her tears. The betrayal from Jeffrey Mins had cut her deep and Felix could pick it up, but he focused on his own stress and anger. Eddy had betrayed the family and he did not tell his father yet, but Felix felt that they needed to have evacuated Aunt Catherina and Charles. The paranoia that Eddy was going to harm them, tormented his thoughts and then he remembered
Mrs Wilkins. He still struggled to understand what Eddy was doing with the Union troops, but James explained to Felix that Eddy was most likely part of the Brotherhood. James explained the Brotherhood to the rest and how he came across them in Feiville, telling them it was when he was re-investigating Felix's case, also recounting his encounter with Medil.
It was early morning when they arrived on the beaches of the main island of the Sol Islands, the sun was up in splendour, but the good weather did not reflect the mood of Felix and the rest. They were met by the whole Council of Masters and a furious Ren Sud rushed towards Rochelle, slapping her across the face. That she flew backwards, falling on the water. Felix protested by yelling and received a look of disgust from Ren Sud who marched away. Carl Sobek hid his grin and laughter as everybody gazed at Rochelle, she slowly got up finally letting out the tears she held back. Felix felt like comforting her but did know how to begin. He finally walked towards her as she got out the water and muttered, 'Everything will be okay.' 'It's my fault,' said Rochelle sniffing. 'We all mess up,' he said patting her on the back.
Sun wondered if there was going to be another Lei Tai with the return of Emperor Fei Yue. The
story on the media was that Dr Tet Watson who had disappeared ninety years ago had indeed discovered the Sword of Carnage. Fei's soul or consciousness was inside the sword and it had possessed his body killing him off, and for years the emperor was inside Dr Tet's body until eventually his remains which were discovered by Gaia Corp under the direction of Daniel Faris was found. Then it was rebuilt using the life tank. The body allowed Fei Yue to be complete again. Sun was in awe with all of this, his ancestor Yu Guan had challenged Emperor Fei Yue thousands of years ago, and he wondered if the emperor will exact revenge upon his descendants, his family. Historically Fei Yue was only viewed as a tyrant amongst the old families, but the to the rest, he was regarded as a powerful leader. The images on the news, showed the rampant riots that occurred across cities, with Union troops called in to calm the situation.
'This is unbelievable,' said Aunt Kelly watching the events, 'Phoenix where are you,' she added. The Guan family held a meeting about the unfolding events, coming to the conclusion that they stay on guard.
Fei Yue had the whole world under his feet; he announced that there was going to be a coronation. Where he will be crowned emperor of the world and it was to be held within a month.