Three sworn brothers; Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, connected by an oath to live, fight and die together. After years of fighting, the Shu Kingdom, with Liu Bei at it's head, had finally come to a stable era, until one battle changed it all. The battle at Fan Castle. Guan Yu lost the battle and was captured by their former ally Wu whilst they were retreating. Wu's leader, Sun Quan, decided to kill Guan Yu whilst he had the chance. Liu Bei was devastated by this news ...
In a long throne room sat Liu Bei with his right hand covering his face and Sun Shang Xiang, his wife and the sister to the Emperor of Wu (Sun Quan), stood behind him near the window. Zhuge Liang, his strategist, and Zhao Yun, one of his best generals, stood in front of him waiting for his reply. Sunlight flooded the room, it was nearly sunset.
"Yes, we must defeat Wu." Liu Bei finally spoke. Zhao Yun stepped forward in response to this.
"But Cao Pi is the true threat, what is the point in attacking Wu?" Zhou Yun announced. Liu Bei's clenched fist sharply hit the arm rest of his throne.
"What point? You - " Liu Bei rose whilst speaking, Sun Shang Xiang looked unsteadily out of the window. "How dare you say that? Avenge Guan Yu's death." Liu turned to face Zhuge "What other reason do we need?" Liu sharply pointed at Zhuge as if to silence him before he spoke. After a momentary silence of uneasy looks between the three men, Liu sat back down and once again covered his face with both hands. "I'm sorry." Liu exclaimed.
Running feet could be heard filling the corridor. A guard suddenly appeared and stumbled to a kneeling position just behind Zhao and Zhuge, stating "I bring news. General ... General Zhang Fei ... He has been killed." The guard leant forward and faced the ground before continuing. "By his own men" Shang Xiang gasped in shock. Liu undid his locked fingers and moved his hands away, revealing a jaw dropped shocked face "The traitors have taken his head and fled to Wu." Liu's heart emptied of all emotion for a split moment as he slowly, unconsciously rose from his chair. Shang Xiang melted to the ground as she was hit with the overwhelming distress that this inevitably meant that her husband and brother would now meet in battle and one would surely die.
Liu Bei took a couple of steps forward whilst mumbling " Zhang Fei ... Zhang Fei is dead?" Grief and anger quickly filled Liu's heart. His whole body started to ache. In a fit of anger, he quickly pulled his sword from its sheaf, turned and slashed his throne in half. They were swore brothers, meant to fight and die together. Now, Liu was all on his own, left to carry on all three brothers hard work by himself. Surely this couldn't be happening.
All energy was drained from Liu's body as anger started to wear away. He quickly fell to a sitting position on the ground. His cries of grief could be heard all through the citadel. Any happiness that night was soon washed away with those cries.