Fate Corrodes Me
Chapter One
Feast
Hua Man is a young woman, born of barbarians and daughter of King Meng Huo and Queen Zhu Rong. She was trained by the sword and spear, a savage hunter and a skilled fisher. Gao Ding, Zhu Bao and Yong Kai of Shu have led a rebellion and it is only a matter of time before Zhuge Liang invades Nanzhong and the Nanman Spirit. She must go against the peace she wished for in order to bring an end to these invaders.
Zhang Bao is a young man, born of a wealthy and famous family and son of Zhang Fei and Lady Xiahou. He grew up to be fond of war, a man of peace, an expert on the horse and by the arrow. Rebellions leashed in the south have caused his struggle to focus on Nanman. Despite these wars he does not want to fight, he readies his father's Cobra Pike and heads out to bloody his soul.
On the battlefield, these two warriors begin to battle each other viciously. As their forces head out to battle, is there more on the fields than blood, battle and war?
It was the dreams that inspired the heroes of the land. The wars that were waged were all for none other than good. It was chaos that plagued the lands, wars that burned a hole in the survival of life. It was the clashing of swords that made this world what it was. For example, Zhang Jiao of the Yellow Turban era wished to strife for peace. He wished to heal China while it was weak and allow it to be strong in heart. The more followers he had, the less his dream had come. His soldiers began to create chaos, not heal it, and they began to pounce on villagers and steal loot. Had it not been for them, great warriors now would be under control of a strong heart of Zhang Jiao's descendants, but like most idiots in the country, the people of the Yellow Turbans changed it, and now, the Han Dynasty was waged in war. The Shu-Han Empire, the Wei Empire - all of these empires had built separate countries.
Cao Cao had died with ambitions unfulfilled. Had Zhang Jiao conquered China, he would've had none of these ambitions and quests. Liu Bei died recently with his dreams vanquished, though many mourned, but had Zhang Jiao healed the Han, he would've treated them well. He would've sponsored this kingdom. Suppose he had ruled until 200 AD, then his son could've ruled and passed it on to his grandson and then... if things had continued like this, he would've been the ruler of China. Zhang Bao would've been the ruler of China. These ambitions and desires led Zhang Fei to abandon his grandfather who happened to be Zhang Jiao. Zhang Bao would've ruled the Han Dynasty with peace. But he was trapped under the essence of Liu Shan, his cousin and ruler. He wasn't jealous of him. He pitied him.
*** Zhang Bao's POV ***
My breath strung from my mouth in a cloud of white dust. The real dust was beneath my feet on these trenches. We were crawling, hunting for food, tigers, dogs. Hopefully a wild boar would cross us. I pulled the string of the bow and flung it, bending it and making the bow wobble. I grabbed an arrow from my quill and placed it on the bow. I pulled the string back from the bow and squinted my eyes to spot something. There was a deer crossing my path. I positioned the arrow when a voice crackled in my ear.
"You need to pull the bow back further, little boy," I heard Huang Zhong say.
I smiled at him as I stretched the bow back even further. He positioned my thumb to my lips and my elbow to my ear. I held the bow tight as I looked over. The deer was strolling forwards as it turned its head at me. I felt guilty, like I always did whilst slaying innocent animals. This arrow would be the last thing that fawn would see. I twinkled on the arrow as it spanked from my bow. Straight into between its eyes. Huang Zhong had wandered forwards and clapped cheerfully. Even the soldiers were clapping at me but I still felt awkwardly guilty. I did look forwards to war against the native warriors but to me, it was too much to handle.
"There's still life in me yet! Boy!" Huang Zhong cheered as he took a bow from a servant in competition and pulled an arow from his quiver. "This is how you kill a fearful creature!"
There was a cruel silence, and I could hear footsteps in the distance. Three pairs of them. Two pairs came from a deer, staggering around the deceased, and the other pair were from a native. He wore sheepskin around his waist and had cult-like paintings over his arms, legs and chest. His hair was messy and up in a bun and his skin was a dark as the soil. He had a javelin held in his hands. It was a Nanman soldier. I travelled towards the soldier and I looked at his face. His teeth flashed yellow. I waited to see what he had to say or do before reacting in my own way. Who was this man?