The Tiger's Journey to Heaven

Sun Jian stormed out of his headquarters and made his way down the stairs to his personal quarters. He had obviously received the news that the rest of the officers had been told several minutes before: Yuan Shao wanted Sun Jian's head. Sun Jian had used the Imperial Seal to gather more forces so that he could take the land of Wu. Yuan Shao knew that Sun Jian was obviously not the one next in line to take the throne. Shao reported this to the Emperor, but his Highness just shooed him away saying that he had more important things to do. Yuan Shao just became more infuriated and decided to pursue Sun Jian himself.

"Your father seems upset." Said Huang Gai to Sun Ce.

"Well how would you feel if you received a death note from someone?" asked Sun Ce, also slightly nervous about his father.

Sun Jian's force had been preparing to take the land of Wu that was rightfully theirs. Huang Gai hoped for his men to be in good spirits but after hearing about their lord their morale had taken a nosedive.

"Huang Gai," Sun Jian's strategist Zhou Yu called from across the camp in his tent, "hurry you must ready your troops." Gai gave a small but visible nod towards his direction and he set off to give his speech to his troops.


The land of Wu was beautiful; the sun glistened off of the small rivers that intersected the battlefield. Huang Gai started off the battle by taking a small, nearby castle by surprise and swiftly disposed of its troops, securing a forward command base for Sun Jian.

"Good work Gai," Jian said patting his friend on the shoulder, "We can't lose with you on our side." Gai opened his mouth to speak when a soldier who had gone to put Sun Jian's red banner over the fort had dropped the flag due to the wind and it landed gently at Sun Jian's feet.

"Oh," said Jian with a relaxed tone of voice, "I'll just go to return this." Huang Gai had a bad feeling in his chest. He couldn't get his mind over the fact that that could have been a bad omen and it lingered over his lord. He dismissed it as he had work to do and he and his men were doing flawlessly.

All of Sun Jian's forces had swept through the battlefield effortlessly and had left only a handful of enemy positions left standing. All was looking well…


A messenger came panting his way up to Sun Jian's forward command post.

"Sir…" he gasped for air, "Yuan Shu, he has taken a position towards our rear and right flank. What shall we do sir?" Jian was shocked only briefly by this news.

"Yuan Shu is a tyrant," he said, "He comes here to take the land from us, we'll ride out and meet him. Send word to the other officers." He demanded and the messenger complied.


Huang Gai had received news of Yuan Shu joining the battle and also learned of his lord riding out to meet him face to face. He turned around and immediately rode towards the Northeast. It wasn't long before he saw Sun Ce close on his trail. It crossed his mind that this wasn't the wisest of decisions to abandon his post on the front but his lord was in danger.


Sun Jian and his army had held off Yuan Shu fairly well and Sun Jian had made it to only several yards away from his main encampment.

"Yuan Shu!" he shouted, "Come and face me man to man! I will gut you like a pig you traitor!" He caught a glimpse of a disturbance in the enemy ranks and realized that it was soldiers parting a way for someone: Yuan Shu.

The man had arrived with a feeble sword and an undeserved sense of confidence. Sun Jian had only meant to enrage Yuan Shu into doing something rash, he didn't mean to actually confront him.

What an idiot! Jian thought, does he have a death wish? Jian new of Shu's ability as a fighter and it was less to be envied. Jian couldn't recall a time when the man had even scored a kill in battle at all; all he ever did was hide behind his men and let them do the work while he shouted orders at them like they were dogs.

Their swords crossed and already Jian had the upper hand, the sudden force from the clash had caught Shu off balance. Shu did his best to parry any attacks thrown at him but Jian was merely warming up.

After Yuan Shu had embarrassed himself for several minutes, Jian decided to end it with a sidekick to Shu's chest and it knocked him to the ground. Jian held his blade at Shu's throat and he was shocked that he did not have that look of fear in his eyes at all. Jian heard the cries of men around him and he recognized them as shouts of triumph from his men. He dared not break eye contact with Yuan Shu and asked what had happened.

"It is Huang Gai and Sun Ce!" he heard someone shout, "They have come with reinforcements!" Sun Jian decided to end it there and he lifted his sword over his head and Yuan Shu still had a look of triumph on his face. In fact he started laughing and Jian stopped and looked at him with suspicion.

"What do you find so funny?" he yelled. Shu then laughed harder and gave a wave of his hand. With that Jian heard more cries of war but they were foreign to his ears. He turned around to see a mass of yellow-cladded men swarm on a nearby hilltop, many of which armed with bows and arrows. He saw a wave of a soldier's hand and the men released their arrows. He disengaged his fight with Yuan Shu and tried to bat away the endless stream of arrows. The archers were alternating back and forth keeping up a constant assault of arrows and Sun Jian found it harder and harder to defend himself. Yuan Shu then jumped up and kept the fight going between the two. Jian knew that he was doomed; he couldn't do both tasks at once despite being the great fighter that he was. He became caught in a deadlock with the warlord and it was then when his eye caught an arrow at the vary time it was released. He watched it soar through the sky like it was a bird and it seemed to hang there for an eternity like it was taunting him. He saw it fade into a single dot in the sky and he followed it as it sank through his armor and pierced through flesh.

He took a step back and tried to pull it out but Yuan Shu took the initiative and struck him with a slash to his midsection. Jian's armor blocked what it could of the weak blow but it still sliced through his skin. Jian tried to engage Shu again but was again brought to his knees from another arrow and Shu stabbed him through his shoulder and Jian let out a yell in pain.

"Do it!" Jian yelled, "Take me!" But Shu just smiled as he pulled his blade from Jian's shoulder and walked away leaving him there to suffer. Jian knew the pain wouldn't have been this bad if he was in a different circumstance but the aggravation of Shu just walking away added to the pain tenfold.

Jian looked up and watched as another storm of arrows descended upon him. He raised his hands up and let out a shout the made everyone stop and stare at him.

"For the Sun family!" His voice carried far across the battlefield and did not fall on a deaf ear anywhere.

He welcomed his impending doom and yelled triumphantly until the arrows obscured everyone's view of him. When the storm had ceased, he lay on the ground lifeless, but with a smile on his face.


"No," Sun Ce gasped as he fell to his knees, he had just witnessed his father's death. "Father!" he shouted to the heavens. He kneeled on the ground for several moments and Huang Gai bowed his head in respect and in sorrow. Ce then stood up enraged,

"Assemble the men, we are going to launch a counter-attack." He said sternly.

"But Ce-" started Zhou Yu, but Sun Ce glared directly into his eyes with the fierceness of the tiger that they had just witnessed fall. He was blinded by rage,

"I said assemble the men." He said with the same lack of intensity as before, but he might as well have screamed it at the top of his lungs, it would have been more merciful to the ears.


They charged at Yuan Shu but were being beaten back by the large number of troops and the archers picking them off from the hills. They had to pull back. Once they had retreated to the castle that was doubling as their main camp, their other front line had been pushed back as well by Wu forces. Their morale had taken a huge nosedive.

When they were just about to give up hope, they had received a message that Liu Bei had come in from the South to help and couldn't have timed it more perfectly. Sun Jian's forces' morale then rose as quickly as it had fallen and they stormed out of the castle and overwhelmed Wu forces guarding the main castle. Sun Ce had met up with Liu Bei and they coordinated a plan: Liu Bei was to attack Yuan Shu while Sun Ce took the main castle.

Huang Gai assisted his lord's son the best he could but Sun Ce was more than a match for any one that got in his way, except for one. Upon reaching the courtyard of Wu's main castle, a lone soldier came to fight him and engaged Sun Ce in a dual. Huang Gai watched, the whole time being overcome by a sense of déjà vu in seeing his lord's son fight the same way that his father did before he died moments before. The death of his father had seamed not to affect him at all. Both warriors were exceptional and evenly matched, it wasn't until the other warrior, now known as Taishi Ci, had become tired out trying to keep up with Ce's fast and aggressive fighting style and succumbed to fatigue. He kneeled before Ce in surrender and waited for death. Ce, being the young merciful lord, had offered the warrior a chance to join him and he agreed. Not long afterwards, Sun Jian's forces stormed the main castle and were victorious. Liu Bei had destroyed Yuan Shu and was victorious on that side of the battle as well, it was over.


Sun Ce had thanked Liu Bei graciously and Liu Bei had returned it. "I don't know if we could've survived without you Liu Bei." He said,

"It was an honor, Sun Ce." He replied, "We will meet on the battlefield again my friend." And he turned around and set off to wherever he came from.

"With people like him around," began Sun Ce, "Maybe there's a chance for righteousness in this world after all."

"Ce," said Zhou Yu, "he said that you two will meet again 'on the battlefield'. You two are destined to fight against each other some day."

"When that day comes I'll be ready." Said Ce.


Huang Gai stood overlooking the corpse of his former lord. He thought back to all of the battles that he had fought with him and he was grateful to have fought alongside him. He snapped back to attention when he heard the hooves of horses drawing nearer. He turned around to se Sun Ce and Zhou Yu ride up to him.

"Father!" gasped Ce again. He ran up and kneeled beside his late father. All of the men around them joined together in several moments of silence and Sun Ce broke into tears as he embraced his father.