The City of Herl was demolished, there was nothing left and no survivors. The rampaging forces of the Undead had all but washed it's presence from the landscape. The trampling march of thousands passed over the corpses of the flattened region and former residents.
Elder Gong had led his troops to Herl, the Townsfolk that didn't immediately perish claimed that the Zao family had never come to Herl as a group and only one of the sons had passed through on his way to the capital. Knowing that he had been led down the wrong path, his march north turned toward the south.
The rise and fall of gravel under the constant beating of feet, hoof and claw against the terrain signaled the coming destruction. The Horde crushed anything it passed, Elder Gong marched his forces to the Portano and watched as the panicked City scattered like bugs under a log. King Wang Wei was no where to be seen.
"Surround the City, watch the directions they choose to flee. Send out troops in each of the directions to scout. If they fled this City then maybe some of these pests will lead us in the right direction, rats flee sinking ships." Elder Gong instructed Elder Lan. "Bring me that Fat Fuck, I have some things to ask him."
Watching the City being razed to ruins, the Castle was the last to stand. Losing an arm while trying to flee from his captors, the King was injured. Wang Wei, the King of Portano, Sovereign of the City of Err was bleeding out like a stuck pig from his wound as he shit and pissed himself down to Elder Gong's position. "Don't kill me, I will serve you.. I will serve you."
"We found him trying to flee. His arm came off." One of the Soldiers explained, then threw the arm down to the soil. Elder Lan was in charge of the retrieval, not safety or life.
"Take him to the cages and await my order. I want him alive.. see to it." Elder Gong looked over a map of the area and stood in contemplation. His body was disfigured, more than it had been in the past. He had, like many other Elders, been tortured because of failure and his scars left untreated. "If I was a struggling family, which way would I want to go?" Staring at the map he noticed a few key features on the edges of the map. "If the go north, the beasts would do our work for us. They wouldn't march into the desert without preparation, and they wouldn't go west.. that's our territory."
"Passing through the plains..." Elder Gong had a feeling he was right and called out.
"Call the troops back, regroup, we march to the East!" Elder Gong wanted battle but more importantly he wanted the Weapon. "At all cost, we must locate them. Send out the Drakes, I want to know where they are, immediately!" Gambling on his future, he set the armies to the East.
Elder Lan had brought forces to the Capital, crushed it and started his march of destruction again.
Condemned, the City was a pile of bone, blood and rubble. What little survived the devastation would likely never be usable again, no stores, shops or homes were spared from fire and darkness. The Army of Undead tore down walls and ground stone to powder. Anything that moved was pounded to dust as they crossed each road and alley toward the East.
Passing the final City Wall, a large tree was cut down and a massive pike erected. Elder Gong issued one more order. "Place this Fat Fuck's family on the pike and then catch up with the rest of the Army, make sure he lives through it and then convert him into a host."
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"Creating a Kingdom" Zao Zhan was stunned for a moment with the concept and words just kept coming from his mouth. It was uncontrollable. "What do you mean, isn't that going to attract a lot of unwanted attention? Wu Hai, are you really certain you want to do this? It could take a long time to build a Village, let alone a city. Its difficult to say when matters will allow you to go back out to randomly travel once we start." He sighed, "There is no return for anyone who starts the road of politics, once your in, you're always in the bigger picture and a bigger target."
"What do you think, Father?" Wu Hai asked.
Ambition was not present when it came to Wu Hai's Father, he was content on the Mountainside. Zao Ooran had a long life but his family was the most important thing to him. Escaping capture and death changed his prospective several times. "Wu Hai, Zhan. This idea, it has a lot of problems. When we start this road, many will wish to see us dead. People will come from far to test our strength, to see if they can walk on our heads. They will do whatever they can, whenever they can or want." He tossed his hands into the air and scanned the room.
"I do not disagree with the idea of starting a Kingdom but it will cost lives. More than we have and those to come. It will be a bloody path regardless, we could have already been dead if not for your Teacher's intervention. I think its important that you seek his advice on this as well, perhaps he will have something a bit more kind to say." Ooran finished up his pep-talk.
"Father, we cannot be under someone else's rule, I want to find a place where we can live freely. We were living without rule or hesitation in the mountains and bandits came to destroy us. We moved to the capital and the King tried to murder us you. If we do not look after ourselves, who will?" Wu Hai was furious, he had lost everything except his family and now that he had them with him, he was unwilling to simply give up on the idea of freedom.
Zhan stared dear Rachael, his parents and the rest of his family. "Whatever you choose, I'll stand beside you. There was never any return for me when I abandoned my post, if I were to return now, I'd be hanged or worse."
Calistown mostly understood both sides of her children, she had seen first hand the viciousness of each event that drove them from their homes, it showed when she spoke. "Greed blinds most, if you're to build a kingdom, it has to be for the people. Not for us alone. Great Kings receive a lot of hatred from those who stand in their shadows, your Father is right about that part. Your Grandparents were also driven from their Homelands, hunted like Beasts. Make no mistake, we will be hunted if we go on with this plan.. but I still think its the right thing to do. Freedom for a day is better than slavery and death, especially when your only crime is existence."
Zhan looked over at Wu Hai and stopped in front of him. "I asked you once, I'll ask you one last time. Are you sure this is what you want to do?"
"My mind was set the moment the words left my lips. I do not back down from my promises or commitments." Wu Hai knew he had lots to do, he had to form a plan and quickly.
"If we build a kingdom here in the East, we can rely on the space to make farmland for food but there are a lot of monsters in the plains." Zhan grunted and muttered gently.
Ooran had a wild idea. "What if we just buy a city and fix it up? There is so much gold here, I bet greed could be overwhelmingly convincing."
"Buy a city? What city? I don't want to go back to Portano, King Wang was more than disgusting before he tried to have you all killed. The reach of the Kingdom doesn't stop at their borders, to buy a city, we would be painting targets on our faces. Who's to say the territory wouldn't betray us after finding out that we simply bought the City." Wu Hai summoned Qu, he had him transport everyone back to the lobby. "Does anyone have a better idea? I won't be remaining in the City after its built."
"We can build one fast enough." Chang Yu and his Bother both agreed.
"We go with Wu Hai, from one place to the next. This won't change, just say the word and we come." Cheng Mu added in his two cents.
"Well then?" Darkwing looked over at Genba.
"I go with Darkwing and Master." Genba agreed.
"What about you Khan Ni?" Wu Hai was not too sure about her, a few times she seemed ready to leave but lately, she was more of an integral part of their group. Her absence would be felt.
"Me and Jiao Jiao will stay with you. We have no plans and I'll need your help retrieving that world tree seed from the Ruins eventually." Khan Ni couldn't help but want to fulfill her greatest wish, to see the rebirth of the World Tree. It was safe in the Ruins, no one would find it and she knew its rough location.
"So, You're are going to build a City then?" Qu cut in. "That will take a great amount of effort."
"Looks like it," Wu Hai calmed everyone down and started to explain. "First, We need to find a good place to start building. Personally, I like the Mountain that's just a bit to the north, there is a river nearby. We need a water source, a mine, and plenty of space to grow. I'm going to travel northeast as fast as I can. I'll look for a spot near the River, If I can't find one tonight I'll continue until I do." Wu Hai was serious, more serious than he had been when he left his parents for adventure. The decisions he made would impact his future greatly.
Wu Hai looked over at Darkwing, "Darkwing, you're with me. Lets get in the air, I want to put as much distance between here and yesterday as possible." Spreading his Elemental wings, Wu Hai walked out of the Tower with Darkwing. He put the tower into his storage and rose into the sky.
With a quick flap of their wings, Darkwing and Wu Hai pushed their speed to the max for the first half of the night and cruised the winds for the remainder. When the suns finally started to crest in the East, the light filtered across the Continent below. They had flown over a bunch of rivers and arrived at a delta near a forest covered mountain range that stretched down the coastline.
"This is the place. This is where we will build our City. The Zao Sect, the Zao Clan.." Wu Hai mumbled to himself, found the central mountaintop and dropped the Pagoda on its Summit.
As it expanded, it cleared the mountaintop. Rubble skid down the mountain pass and trees gave way, buried underneath its mighty structure. There was a lot of room around, room enough to expand. They were surrounded by Mountains, it was impossible to see them without crossing over at least a few obstacles.
"Everyone, We're Here." Wu Hai opened the doorway and led everyone out.
"What's first boss?" The Cheng Twins shrugged and wondered what they needed to do.
"First things first, if we want to keep our people safe from outsiders.. then we need a wall." Wu Hai flexed his fingers and cracked his knuckles.
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It had been four years since Wu Hai set out down the Mountain, he became a disciple, a friend, an adventurer and obtained many powerful treasures. His story had only begun, the Wheels of Destiny kept spinning even when no one was looking. The City's basic outline and outer wall were the first to go up. Building the city went a lot faster than anticipated and its sudden appearance brought travelers daily once it stood along the Coast.
"Patriarch, we've got guests." Genba was in charge of waiting for new people. There were a lot of travelers in the area despite its remote location.
"Bring them in but keep watch over them. How many?" Zao Ooran had taken the position as family head. There had to be some structure to the Sect and Clan.
"This time, thirty-six. The Doberamon Villages near the south river have been overrun and wish to move into the City." Taking his time to explain it right, Genba spoke the Patriarch about their numbers and strength.
When it was over, Genba escorted the Poocha refugees to a building. The Cheng Twins had been a two person construction team. At first, the buildings were really awful but they got much better as time went on.
"Wu Hai's busy reading again?" Mu asked his brother.
"Yes, he seems stuck on something and can't find answers." Yu pointed and another wall grew out from the soilbed. "I'm sure he's doing everything he can but you know what troubles he gets into when no one's paying attention. Whatever he is looking for must be special, its hidden well enough."
Mu slammed a brick into place then started a set of stairs. "We should really just ask, its better than guessing."
"Oh, wanna bet?" Yu laughed. "I bet he's doing something so weird, we won't see it coming."
"You're on, I bet he's working to get stronger in secret." Settling on a bet, they both punched out at each other. "We'll see who wins this one."
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Inside the Pagoda, Wu Hai was toiling away in the library. There were dreams that haunted him, every night, he would see something new in them. "Qu, I know we've talked about my visions, and that you refuse to divulge information but really, isn't it time to give me some sort of clue?" Wu Hai asked as gently as he could.
"Hmm. I can answer questions. However, if they relate to my construction, my purpose, I cannot." Qu seemed like he had compromised. It was good news to Wu Hai.
Wu Hai had questions, "Okay, lets talk."
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