Hello and welcome to this very, very little sequel. I couldn't stand it to keep Shen in such a cruel prison, and I wrote an after-story for the pre-story "Eternal Damnation". It became too long for one chapter, so I will write this short story in two parts. The second part will take a while, because it will be a dialog. But I don't want to leave you in the dark any longer. : -D I wish you a good reading time. :-)

Fading Punishment

Part I

Everything stands still in the dark. Even the time. And when time stood still, you stopped breathing. But, as if by a miracle, his heart was still beating. Even if it was only very weak and laborious. But there was no more active life in the shell of the white peacock. He didn't even have the strength to lift his head. He hung quietly and motionless on the wall, tied with chains, just waiting to take his last breath. In the deepest tunnels of the prison in the lonely, abandoned Jinzhi Mountains, the former warlord, who had intended to conquer China, had lost all sense of and connection to the outside world. He didn't know how long he had been locked up in this prison, or whether it was day or night outside. He only knew when it was time to turn everything off.

The lord blinked weakly. Someone opened the dungeon door. A wave of fear hit him. The guards were bored. And when they were bored, they needed something to do. Lord Shen let himself hang heavier in the chains.

It was one thing what prisoners did with their time. But it was a different thing what prison guards did to their prisoners. And the worse thing was this: no one outside the prison walls cared.

The guard, an old rhinoceros, released him from the chains. Shen fell forward and his limp beak came into contact with the dirty ground. He couldn't walk anymore. The guard knew that, but the peacock received a huge push from the side as an incitement to stand up. Then, he was pulled up by the top of his prison shirt and dragged away. The peacock kept his eyes closed. Because of the darkness in the solitary cell that lay in the deepest tunnel of the dungeon, his eyes had become extremely sensitive to light. But nobody cared. The lord just let himself be pulled away and ignored every sound. His body only reacted when he was thrown on the floor.

"Today is painting day!" one of the guards shouted into the room.

Only with great effort did the lord manage to crack open his eyes, but he had to squint again because of the bright light. The guardroom was in the foreground of the tunnel. The exit was only a few yards away. And yet the lord could not reach it. Only a few meters separated him from possible freedom. But even if he had been lying right in front of the door, he would never have been able to muster the energy to open the gate.

The peacock felt someone tearing off his shirt. He did not oppose. His illness had robbed him of the strength he needed to defend himself. In the next moment, he felt paintbrushes on his plumage. Disgust spread in the ex-ruler, but he could not prevent the guards from painting his white feathers, or even his feet or break, with bright paint. With every stroke of the brush, the peacock's anger grew. How much he hated his color. White as paper, just to brush something on it.

Someone cut off a part of his long feathers and dipped them into a paint bucket. The load of paint hit him somewhere between his neck and shoulder.

"Okay! Painting time is up!" echoed the redeeming words.

The next guard grabbed the exhausted peacock and threw him into a vat of ice water. The lord went through a cold shock, which only elicited a wailing croak from him. He no longer had any power over his battered body, which had been ruined with loads of insignificant brushstrokes and was gradually blurring in a puddle of paint in the water.

Suddenly, the light went out. A loud cry of protest rose from among the guards. Nobody paid any attention to the lord anymore, who sat shivering in the tub. The bird wrapped his wings around himself, trying to keep himself warm. He longed for warmth to release him from his acute suffering.

"Turn the damn light back on!" someone ordered.

"Who turned off the light? Who was that?" somebody shouted back.

Shen's body went numb. He sobbed and dropped into the tub somewhere, coughing badly. His already damaged lungs were simply no longer usable. He wanted to fall asleep and never wake up again.

Still in the dark, the peacock slid deeper into the water. His head rested somewhere on the wooden wall of the tub. He didn't notice the ice water that seeped into the corner of his beak.

He gave a hoarse gasp when he felt fingers on his head, then on his beak, and finally on his neck, touching him carefully. If he had had the strength, he would have loved to push them away. He didn't want any more. Why wasn't he allowed to find redemption?

Suddenly, the fingers became paws that grabbed his feathers. The wet peacock moved his wings a few times, but his resistance consisted only of puny twitches. The pain got worse when the furred hands jerked on him and dragged him out of the tub and onto the floor. Shen thought his mind was going to fail at any moment. He wondered if they were playing a new "game" with him.

The angry voices of the rhinos still echoed in the room, booming through his ears like gong strikes. The determined paws became arms that wrapped around him. Shen thought heaven had caught him. It was getting warm. The warmth he had so longed for. This time, the tears came to his eyes and dripped down his face. The flow of tears only stopped when someone tied a cloth over his eyes. The peacock wasn't afraid. Anything worse than death, he couldn't expect, although he longed for death. He just wanted to get away from this world. Just get away. Shen let himself fall and inwardly gave in to his fate before falling asleep.

A rumble like the hooves of a herd shook the air slightly. Slowly, Lord Shen got a feeling in his body again and the feeling in his feet and wings returned. Carefully, he moved his wing fingertips and toes. He felt that he was lying on something soft. Next, his sense of smell returned. He smelled fresh herbs. Then, the sound of a cracking fire made him sit up and take notice. He turned his head to the side and opened his eyes a crack so that it didn't hurt because of his high sensitivity to light. A few yards away, someone was sitting at a small campfire. A coat covered the large body. The figure's back was turned from him. Shen blinked vigorously. His eyelids were partially glued together. Everything still looked very blurry.

Eventually, his thinking started again and questions were formed in his head. How did he get here? Or was this the anteroom to the afterlife?

There was another deep rumble. A thunderstorm seemed to be raging somewhere nearby. Carefully and slowly, the white peacock pushed his wing out from under the blanket and he touched a hard stone floor. But it wasn't a cave. The walls were too vertical for that. Maybe some kind of stone house with no windows. It had to be night.

He took a deep breath to say something, but his intention turned into a hoarse, hollow cough. He hastily pushed the blanket away a little. Now he knew where the smell was coming from. There were leaves on his torso, covered with a cloth on his chest.

He was startled when the shadow moved around the fire. His limp heart tried to give him the force to escape, but he was not able to do so. He could only lie down, completely at the stranger's mercy. He closed his eyes. If the stranger wanted to make short work of him, that was fine with him. A hand came to rest on his chest. Again, the peacock had a coughing fit. The hand let go of him again. Now Shen dared to open his eyes. It was still too dark around him. He couldn't see the person's face. Finally, he couldn't help himself and he let out a pitiful, gasping peacock cry. This breath enabled him to try to get a word or a few syllables out at least.

"W-W-what do... W-w.-he..."

"You shouldn't overexert yourself," were the first words of the stranger.

But that was enough for Shen to make his head crystal clear again. He opened his eyes, despite all the pain in his face. It was still a bit dark, but the black and white fur that he now recognized in the weak light of the fire made him feel the horror.

The figure smiled at him. "You were gone for a long time."

Shen's last reserve of strength allowed him to shake his head in disbelief. The lord wanted to cry out loudly. It could only be a nightmare. First, all the voices and illusions of his parents. Now, he got complete delusions that he never wanted to live through.

The Dragon Warrior, Po, looked down at the peacock worriedly, who lay helplessly in the blankets, breathing heavily, and had trouble breathing with his damaged lungs.

"Shen, calm down," the panda said. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Try to breathe calmly."

Slowly, the lord forced himself to calm down, but saw, to his embarrassment, that his wings were trembling. After his last meeting with this panda, he had only scolded him for being dragged away and taken to prison. He could hardly utter a word now. Still, he tried again.

"How did-"

"Don't talk," the panda interrupted. "You aren't doing well at all. You need rest."

"W-where is... the... d-doctor?" the peacock asked with a croaking voice, looking around hastily, as if looking for someone who could offer him protection from his archenemy.

The panda smiled sheepishly. "Well, I'll be your doctor now."

The peacock looked at him in horror. Po raised his paws reassuringly. "Don't worry, I've asked around a bit and I have a lot of reading material with me about medical treatment."

He reached into a corner where there were piles of scrolls. "The soothsayer also gave me a few tips and hints."

"Why is... she not... he-re?" Shen gasped with difficulty.

Po shrugged his shoulders. "Well, she wanted me to do it."

Before the lord could take a breath for another sentence, the panda leaned forward and looked at the herb cover.

"Well, maybe I applied a little too much." He smiled again, which drove the peacock's anger up. But, before he could say anything, he had another coughing attack. From the corner of his eye, he watched as the Dragon Warrior crawled to the campfire and took out a bowl, which he immediately held in front of the lord.

"Here, this should assist with the cough. I've already prepared it. It's even still warm."

Shen was still coughing too hard, so he didn't say anything, and just turned his head away. Po held the bowl out to him from the other side. Shen dodged again.

The panda rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. Stop behaving like a baby... Drink. It will help you."

Po was a bit scared when Shen, although still powerless, pierced him with looks like the feather knives he had once thrown at him. The peacock's breathing quickened for a moment. His lungs gave a creaky whistle. Then, he pointed his wing: first at the bowl, then at the panda.

"Oh, you want me to drink this first?" Po wasn't particularly surprised and shrugged. "Well, I don't have a cough, but seeing as you do…"

The panda took a sip from the bowl. "Doesn't taste bad," he judged. "Even if a bit too bitter. Could use some sugar or honey. I think I left it to draw too long. Well, I was always better at making noodles, but teas and so on…. My father had to instill it in me sooner after I had something..."

The lord made a cutting movement with his wing which let the panda know that he wasn't interest in hearing it.

Sighing, Po cut off his speech about teas and was relieved that the peacock was at least accepting the drink now. After handing him the tea, Po put the bowl down again.

"Okay, I'll put another batch of this herb on your neck. It'll help to clear your airways."

Shen endured it, even if reluctantly. After the work was done, the panda let go of him, much to Shen's relief.

"Try to get another sleep," the panda encouraged the peacock. He went away again. Shen was still very nervous, but then he sank back down on the bed and closed his eyes.

(To be continued...)

Translation from German into English by me. Correction by Starless echoes.

You can read the German version on fanfiktion . de, or the Chinese version on lofter . com. by AO3 user Glacier3205628024 (you can find the link on wattpad or fanfiktion . de)