[Authors Notes]
Greetings everyone! I know it's been a slight bit of time since I updated but I made myself clear upon my return that I would essentially write whenever I felt like it and we're finally here today!
I won't lie, writing the first chapter for this story was oddly… Refreshing, to say the least. Not to mention the fact I also had another spontaneous idea quite recently involving a kung-fu school A.U… I know, I know. I couldn't be cheesier if I tried!
I've listened to all of your feedback and not only did it warm my heart, but it also gave me some pointers as to where I should take this in the future. I am still sticking with the original plot as we all know what happened when I diverted from it - I'm looking at you, Bounty Hunter… But I will change or provide context to things if necessary.
You will find this context at the end of each chapter moving forward if I use a word that may not seem too familiar, such as one used from China, Mongolia or Japan! - I also warn that moving forward, some of the lore might become overtly extensive. If I do decide I am rambling about lore more than I am contributing to the storyline, I will be opening up a book named "The Mandate of Heaven: The Lost Chronicles" which will be updated in a chapter-like style that purely accompanies the lore of what I'm writing and nothing else.
Alright, I think I've rambled enough for now, don't you think? I'm so glad I'm clearing these for newcomers so people can only see these for roughly two weeks on average before they're gone! - Without further ado, Dashishen proudly presents to you…
The Mandate of Heaven - Chapter 2 - Redundant Royalty
Several days of the perpetual pitter-patter belonging to the roaring storms in the sky with raindrops lashing onto the Jade Palace had passed since the grand meeting inside of the Hall of Heroes. The sun had set many hours ago and many of the masters addressed inside of that sacred meeting had returned to their own respective valleys whilst they went off to prepare for war.
Ah, war… A word Po never thought he would utter in his life. Was China seriously about to plunge into war and would he lead one of the biggest counter-offensives to drive this northern menace back? - All of these questions had shaken his uneasy mind as of late, not to mention the fact he finally lost his patience with Monkey and Mantis; Po had no choice but to present them with an ultimatum as days had passed whilst both questionably stable members of the Furious Five were off suppressing their sorrow with their spare time.
Po pondered whilst gazing into his rippling reflection staring back at him from within the Jade Palace Moon Pool. The rippling nature of the unsettled water bothered him, he had run across countless valleys chasing the stories of Master Shifu before he left the Jade Palace upon forfeiting his full mastership responsibilities to the Dragon Warrior. It was believed that there was a prophecy involved with the Moon Pool, that it could sense the turbulence contained inside of the energy that flows within the universe and it would naturally ripple alongside the universal wind whenever something bothersome approached the horizon.
"I just… Don't understand, Tigress," Po broke the eerie silence in the room by addressing his faithful lover, idol and best friend in a concerned manner. "I didn't even know there was a nation bordering us until that strange scroll came into my paws! I mean, it's awesome that we have neighbours… But those neighbours happen to be playing their erhu's too loud and now they're beginning to blow through our northern borders! I just wish I knew why people sought after glory- hey! You were the one who wanted the Dragon Scroll… You wanted glory, right?" Po's emerald eyes glistened against the Moon Pool alongside Tigress' fiery amber orbs. "Can you perhaps… Give me a little bit of perspective?"
"You've heard the story before and you've even understood it, Po… It's the reason why I fell in love with you other than all of your wonderful quirks that are contained within your personality and your looks. You have the spirit of a warrior, yet you understand many things about the world that I or perhaps others could not. You understood that I wanted validation, I was about glory because I thought glory would win people over… For them to stop calling me a monster but instead for them to consider me as a hero," Tigress lightened up whilst placing her paw on Po's shoulder. "You taught me a lesson no master could ever teach me, not even the late and great Master Oogway… I already was a warrior, I just considered my emotions a weakness instead of a strength. You taught me how to live and experience things once again. I'd dare say I'm fangirling a bit but you brought some light into my life as well as some colour. Things aren't as black and white as they used to be thanks to you, my Dragon Warrior!" Tigress's answer eased the tense panda but other than some reassurance, it didn't present him with any logical explanation.
"I doubt I would have any confidence nor understanding of kung-fu if it weren't for you, Ti… I may have brought colour into your life but you allowed me to actually see colour within my own, it's not easy being black and white!" Po quipped whilst letting out a subtle cackle. "Of course, I've made it clear there's obviously more to you than that… Your personality, your intimidation, that glare that could melt me into a peaceful puddle."
"Alright..." Tigress held up her paw whilst her face crumpled. "I love you, but you know how much I hate your fluffy side!"
"Nope. You just hate the truth," Po took his dull claw from his right paw and pressed it into Tigress's nose. "Or you'd rather live a lie," It was safe to say, Tigress had distracted Po from his initial pondering… However, an angry bolt of lightning raging across the swirling skies would shake both warriors into a state of unease.
"I'm more looking forward to when Zeng arrives. I'll be astounded if that message arrives in one piece. I can't believe Vachir's brother, Zachir, is now in charge of the Imperial Army. That guy's almost as brutal as Vachir but worse!" Tigress exclaimed whilst holding up her paws to exaggerate her point. "Seriously! I'm beginning to lose faith in the Imperial Army! They don't serve the emperor anymore because he's seemingly retreated from Kaifeng to fight in the war, leaving the country essentially powerless whilst his delegations and diplomats do their best to save the country… I don't even know what's happened to the royal guard because the last time we heard from them was quite a few days ago now and our armies are being stomped on because they hold an advantage over us and we're still trying to figure out how on earth they managed to reengineer Shen's cannons so quickly!" Tigress felt a sharp tingle shoot up her spine after repeating the name of the long defeated Lord Shen.
"Is it just me or did you get the shivers when you mentioned Lord Shen? I've long kung-fu kicked away my memories after finding out where I came from and who I am whilst attaining Inner Peace but something just feels… Off about repeating his name," Po even admitted the Moon Pool was beginning to ripple a lot more violently since Tigress's name dropping of the disgraced and presumably deceased warlord. "It's really hard for me to wrap my tongue around this specific noodle but it's almost like his energy lingers with his name… And I've learned that usually means that specific individual is still alive out there somewhere. I think I'm just overthinking a bit, though..." Po let out a sigh whilst the various candles lighting up the Hall of Heroes flickered. "Now that was a little spooky."
"It's probably just the wind, Po. You've got to think about the fact we've basically been trapped up here whilst floods rage on across China… I really don't like these signs. I know this northern warlord has preached about claiming the Mandate of Heaven but what if he's right… What if our current emperor and dynasty have lost the blessing of heaven? I've never specifically believed in it as we follow the prophecies of kung-fu legends more reliably compared to those created by those who wish to rule over us but it's slowly but surely beginning to add up now," Tigress' open pondering whisked around Po's mind as he could feel the raindrops of thoughts pouring into his mind and subsequently preparing to flood out of his mouth.
"What's this whole 'Mandate of Heaven' thing about, anyways? I heard it's quite a big thing amongst the royals but I've been a panda that works in my father's noodle shop for most of my life… Royal news never really spread that far," Po inquired whilst taking up a seat, crossing his legs whilst continuing to overlook the swirling Moon Pool.
"It doesn't surprise me that you don't know and I'm not insulting you for it. A lot of people genuinely aren't aware of this prophecy… It's not like you'd find archives of it here because Master Oogway was unsurprisingly very shaky about royalty considering he saw them as puppet masters who would command wars without knowing much about them and Master Oogway happened to be a warlord back in his early days of roaming through China," Tigress crossed her legs whilst sitting down, glanced over to Po as he returned the gesture by shooting his eager and shimmering jade stare into the fire burning inside of her orange eyes.
"I still find it hard to believe whilst reading through the archives that Master Oogway used to be a warlord. I mean, I have my dad training himself using the guidance of some old dusty book called Fallen Phoenix that I found… It's some fantasy tale involving an owl that redeems herself after her multiple failures and it's believed to be based around the Jade Palace. It's got a few spices of kung-fu advice here, there and everywhere, so I handed it to my dad and he seems to be doing quite well… He says it's quite exciting! Ah, I'm rambling again..." Po twiddled his fingers between his paws, switching to scratching his own chin as Tigress looked onto him with an expression of pure admiration swimming across her face.
"It's fine, I'm about to go on a mighty ramble about the Mandate of Heaven so-"
*BANG BANG BANG*
"LET ME IN! LET ME IN!" Zeng cried whilst pounding against the gates guarding the Hall of Heroes. "IT'S URGENT NEWS AND I'M FREEZING! LET ME IN!" Zeng screamed whilst pounding against the door as both Tigress and Po rushed to open the gates.
"Well, there goes my ramble," Tigress deadpanned with a sly grin on her face. Po released a soft chuckle and a soft smile in response before opening the gates alongside Tigress to provide some shelter for Zeng.
"Zeng? Are you okay?" Po softly asked as Zeng basically threw himself onto the floor whilst shivering from fear and from the bitterness of the weather outdoors.
"CHINA… DANGER… W-WAR… FOX… PANIC!" Zeng was speaking nonsense as he released the scroll alongside its casing that he was carrying under his wing. "IN-IN-INTERROGATION… C-CONFLICT… P-PAIN… MISERY… H-HELP!" Zeng appeared to be having some messenger as Po picked up the panicking goose to reassure him.
"Hey, buddy… You're safe now! You're in the Jade Palace! You're home! But- what do you mean by all of that, pal?" Po's soft reassurance of Zeng alongside his warm hug was enough for Zeng to quell the panic inside of his soul as he released one gigantic honk in relief.
"I-I-I… Uh… Have a lot t-to say but- you need to r-read the message- now!" Zeng anxiously scratched the back of his head whilst he picked up the large scroll and handed it to the Dragon Warrior. The scroll was surrounded by a sapphire casing, with an inscription of a fiery horse scratched into the sapphire whilst it was painted with a pastel-blue hue.
Po anxiously opened up the blue cap belonging to the scroll as it spilt out onto his paw. The mere presence of this seemingly foreign design of casing, as well as the dark blue handles belonging to the scroll, was enough to unsettle everybody in the room. He cracked open the scroll and started to read its contents, only to discover that it was filled with nothing but horror.
The scroll, upon being exposed to the air, began pouring smoke that was crafted by Xiuru himself whilst being contained within the scroll. The smoke poured up and the smoke animated itself so it was able to replay a vague recollection of the events occurring inside of Gongmen Factory. It showed a red portrayal of Lord Shen, a gold portrayal of Po and an orange portrayal of Tigress.
The portrayal of Tigress beamed the most, almost pulsing as if it were following Tigress's heartbeat as it intensified with every single second Po stood in front of the cannon. Po's golden aura was washed out when his smoke started to lose its colour to represent his fear as Shen's smoke emitted auspicious rays of crimson light to portray his courage
The smoke moved so when Shen's cannon fired, a white and red cannonball fired into Po's heart. Po's light was immediately extinguished as a white husk flew into the darkness and Tigress' silhouette shattered after watching her best friend alongside lover perish, collapsing in the process whilst her smoke was turned grey to reappear as two Chinese characters (死亡 - Si-wang) which spelt out 'die' as the smoke blew into the Hall of Heroes accompanied by a singular strike of lightning barreling through the skies above.
"That… Didn't make me shiver at all," Po sputtered whilst gazing into the scroll, which was plagued with a writing system he vaguely recalled researching and learning about during his spare time at home. He soon deduced that it was a traditional form of the Mongolian script, a script that he could read with enough effort. "This is written in Mongolian but why do I feel like you're the main target of this warlord and his rage? He's not after me specifically, he's not after the entire Jade Palace… Sure, he might want to claim this Mandate of Heaven thing he keeps talking about but the fact he made your smoke melt down and spell out 'die… I actually wouldn't be surprised if he has links to your mysterious past," Po looked over to see Tigress frozen in a state he had never seen before. She mindlessly stared ahead of her whilst her entire body twitched with fear.
"Um… Tigress?" Po snapped his fingers in front of her face a few times, yet it was in vain as she refused to come to. "Tigress! Wake up!"
"AAH!" Tigress screamed whilst recoiling backwards. "Oh, it's just you… I'm safe, everyone's safe… Breathe, Tigress… Breathe. Inner Peace, Inner Peace," Tigress tried her best to relax herself. Unfortunately, she wasn't going to get away with playing the hardcore card in front of the Dragon Warrior.
"What's wrong, sweet tea-"
"We agreed we would just call one another Po, Ti and perhaps I could call you my Dragon Warrior… I'm okay- I just saw something- OW!" Tigress fell onto her knees after hearing an explosion as if it had detonated on her eardrum as with every blink came a flashing image of her being cradled and carried by an unknown shadow as burning tents could be seen in the background. "CLOSE THAT SCROLL!" Tigress roared back with untamed ferocity as Po shut the scroll before he had even read it. This seemed to alleviate Tigress' pain but it would only be temporary.
"What do you see? What did you see?" Po started recalling his time dealing with his flashbacks with Lord Shen as Zeng stared at Tigress wide-eyed. Po helped Tigress up by wrapping his arm around the top part of her shoulder so she could lean into him. "I've dealt with this sort of thing before… Is it like the time I told you about my visions with Lord Shen?"
"Yes, kind of… It's different but it has a lot of- OW! Parallels!" Tigress held her paw to the side of her head as if she had been shot there. "I can see tents engulfed in fiery orange flames… I can see two robed figures carrying me as their orange orbs stare into my own, with one appearing to have eyelashes whilst crying. I can see several orange-tipped arrows whizzing past… And that's where the vision ends- that's all I know… It happens really fast, too," Tigress tried to recall other fragments of this vision but all she knew is she felt small whenever she was engaged with them.
"Also… One more thing. I feel extremely small, almost like I'm a cub being carried away. Agh! I don't understand why that scroll triggered something in me!" Tigress grabbed hold of the scroll and opened it up. She was met with a small signing made by Xiuru himself (羞辱) and these specific characters glowed as if they were swallowed by an inferno on the page. "It's his signature! Cover it!" She exclaimed as Po covered the signature with his paw. He tried to lock away the memory of seeing his childhood crush as well as present lover falling to her knees over a mental image… Was Tigress really about to endure the same thing as he once did?
"Are you sure you want me to translate and read this? I don't want you to feel uncomfortable," Po's soothing voice was something Tigress needed to hear, yet she couldn't help but feel like she was still in that same position as she was in that vision except now she was in Po's warming arms.
"Yes! I'd like you to read it, Po… I'm not a child! I can deal with this! You do remember that you're talking to the most hardcore kung-fu master in China, right?" Tigress raised her paw and drew out one of her claws. "And if you dare say I've gone soft because I fell in love with you, I'll have you know that I can remove your mating capabilities at any time with these precision-based claws!" Tigress' threat merely brought a ray of sunshine onto Po's face as his smile was reflected by Tigress's own subtle smirk.
The Dragon Warrior looked into the page, started translating what he saw into a language he could speak, cleared his throat and started reciting what he could decipher.
"Your royalty has been reduced to a state of redundancy. I have successfully executed Prince Zihao and Princess Yuxi. Prince Jeiru awaits the chopping block. Western Xia and Liao are mine. I will find your emperor and have him personally beheaded before me by my paws. You do not stand a chance against me, Dragon Warrior… Nor does your Mistress alongside her fractured Furious Five. You severely overestimate your own capabilities. We are not living in an age where the Chinese people are unable to defend themselves… They can defend themselves and are perfectly capable of doing so, yet you took away the one weapon that would've led to your dynasty retaining the Mandate of Heaven. Heaven's will has fallen out of your grip and into mine, I shall prove that once I march on Kaifeng and declare myself the new emperor… Fate dictates my victory whilst your defeat lies a trip away. I encourage you to fight me, for it will be your last act of futility other than the fact your entire nation worships a sleazy fat panda who's sleeping with the enemy of my people. I have personally led campaigns past the Ural mountains, I have campaigned into Arabia, I have subjugated the nomadic tribes and have forced them to bow to me. If you were not guilty of any misdeeds, heaven would not have sent me to punish you. You have disarmed the Chinese people for too long, I am merely compensating for what you have neglected for your own people. I am not here to appease you, I am not here to surrender to you. This is a war declaration. This is reality. You shall be watching the blood of your allies pour from their necks as they foolishly remove the arrows we have fired alongside cover the holes piercing their chests. I refuse to see such incompetence spread through the lands like one of the many plagues that somehow manage to breed amongst your people every single year. Once your emperor is deposed, and I'm sure that will be done in due time… You are next. I think your head will fit nicely in my throne room. I have accomplished things you could only dream of, I rule alongside an Empress that you could only wish to have. If Kai was the maker of widows… I am the one who siphons blood from those who stand in my way and drinks that blood like a warm glass of milk. I am your demise. I am your humiliation. I am your fate. I am Xiuru and the Dragon Warrior prophecy will be the last prophecy you fulfil… Other than the one ordering your death."
"Holy mother of-"
"ZENG! GATHER THE FURIOUS FIVE, IMMEDIATELY!" Tigress blew through Po's shock by interrupting his verbal reaction.
"But I didn't get to tell you my side of the story-" Zeng was cut off by an angry growl from Tigress as she started to lunge at the innocent messenger.
"THAT CAN WAIT UNTIL YOU GATHER THEM! QUICK! NOW!" Tigress picked up Zeng and threw him out into the stormy abyss that was the outside world as she felt her blood boiling. "Redundant royalty. Mistress. Enemy of our people. Sleazy fat panda," Tigress angrily mumbled to herself as she seethed. Po closed up the scroll and stuffed it into the side of his patched-up pants whilst gripping hold of his yin-yang staff, which felt oddly cold to him.
"Tigress? Are you alright?" Po softly asked whilst clinging onto her waist. "I've never seen you lose your patience like that before, other than when I was first here..." Po shook like a leaf thanks to his nervousness as Tigress sighed.
"I'm sorry, Po. I would say I wish I knew what came over me but I do. That sick warlord has just made himself a very powerful enemy. Nobody gets away with insulting the love of my life alongside myself like that, let alone the dynasty of China. Sure, they've done horrible things in the past but they don't require execution..." Tigress huffed whilst gazing into Po's eyes. "The reason I called the Furious Five together? We must mobilize for war, as what you just read was a very egotistical war declaration that's been sent to the Jade Palace personally," Tigress explained whilst rain blew in from the open gates and collided with her face.
"You know what, we don't have time for that. Let's go," Po grabbed Tigress' hand with his objective of meeting up with the Furious Five in mind. He was hoping he would get to the dormitory far before Zeng had a chance to summon them to the Hall of Heroes. "We're not going to be getting much sleep tonight, are we?" Po tried to lighten the mood whilst rushing through the rain with Tigress, who just pouted whilst scowling at him.
"I honestly don't know how you manage to maintain your composure during times of crisis. First, you managed to keep it together in the meeting and now this… Let's just hope those two ingrates who are currently resting peacefully in their beds take kindly to the fact we're now at war with an enemy we're still learning about. I don't like how that was meant to be a message from Zachir… This can only mean one thing-"
"Zachir was captured or executed and that's how Zeng sent back that message. I'll be asking about that as soon as we get the others together, Ti," Po practically brought Tigress up into his arms whilst sprinting through the lashing rain. "As for now? Try to keep your mind on what's happening now instead of what's happening later! We don't want to end up dropping the dumpling bowl before we've eaten everything up now, do we?" Po's soothing metaphors were enough to quell the inferno tearing down Tigress's mind, with him skillfully sliding through the rain and down a few trails leading to the Jade Palace dormitory.
Po and Tigress would travel at a rapid pace to the Jade Palace dormitory, sliding through a few puddles of mud that had formed as well as weathering the storm above them alongside the wind and rain as they were soaked head to toe thanks to the relentless weather. Tigress hopped out of Po's arms at the very last moment whilst delivering a palm strike to the door to swing it open, accidentally detaching it from its hinges as the flying door barely avoided Zeng, Monkey, Mantis and Viper.
Monkey was surprisingly mellow whilst Mantis was also surprisingly sober. Tigress merely pointed forward towards the kitchen, which would become their makeshift meeting room as the others swiftly followed her lead. All three were left to ponder as to what this urgent matter was about. The only thing they could clearly remember was finally getting off to sleep before being awoken by the thunder that was Zeng's honking.
"We have received a war declaration from our enemies up north," Tigress snatched the scroll alongside its casings from Po's hand and placed it on the table. "This scroll is not to be opened for we have already read its contents but you should know that we will be evacuating the Jade Palace shortly. Po will be weathering the storm to wake up his dads in the noodle shop so they can travel alongside us and Zeng will be accompanying us as we send messages all across China… If they haven't received the news by then already," Tigress pointed towards the scroll whilst retaining a stern expression. Viper's face melted from happiness to being more focused… Even Monkey and Mantis were shocked by the war declaration instead of them being spaced out like they usually were.
"You're saying… We're at war with what you've dubbed the 'northern horde'?" Viper practically shook whilst coiled up on the table. "This scroll is a war declaration? It looks kind of snazzy, if I'm being honest," Viper commented whilst getting a closer perspective on the scroll.
"How do we know this isn't some kind of prank? We all know we love some of those," Mantis loosely spoke as Tigress slammed her clenched paw into the table.
"This is not a prank! This is a serious matter! Why do you think I woke you up when you were enjoying your slumbers?" Tigress snapped for the second time in the same night as her roaring voice reminded the Furious Five of those times when she would constantly berate those who stood below her in the totem pole with her somewhat egotistical speeches. "Zeng! I need you to explain how you got hold of this scroll instead of the one that was destined for the Jade Palace from Zachir!" Tigress pointed her claw at the shaking goose as he stepped foot on the table, cleared his throat with a nervous honk and retold his story.
Flashback - Sunset - Southern Liao - Zeng's Perspective
It was just another day of me flying through the turbulent atmosphere that was a warzone. I had always been somewhat used to the stresses of the job but these stresses were destined to reach a whole new level of getting outside of my comfort zone.
I had been sent with your objectives in mind… I was to ask Zachir about the ongoing offensive as it seemed to be the only thing going well for the army. I will admit, he always seemed to be mildly egotistical and was constantly consumed by his own ambitions. Unfortunately, nobody could predict what would happen on this day, even myself.
The philosophy of 'don't shoot the messenger' was a shared principle that all sides during this battle followed. I was merely talking to Zachir about the upcoming offensive when one of his guards stomped over to him with a concerned look.
"What is it?" Zachir grumbled. He was too fixated on the campaign to care for anything else other than the fact he was reciting some of the details from the recent battles to send back to the Jade Palace. "Can't you see I'm busy securing my own glory?" He continued. I hated these sorts of messages, even when it's my responsibility. Hey, you don't always need to enjoy the job you're doing to actually work on behalf of the Jade Palace.
Right, I'm getting back off track. The guard was carrying an imperial message from another commander on the frontlines. As soon as Zachir opened it, his jaw dropped to the floor as he threw the scroll into a burning torch and ignited it.
"Send a counteroffensive! Now! The eastern flank will hold!" He declared with all of his might… Some would say, his might would only go into his declaration of the offensive and nothing else. Sorry if I'm being quite ominous, I've never really experienced anything… This terrifying.
From this point on, I was left to fill in the gaps of the message and so I decided to try and finish up what I was doing before it was too late and I wouldn't be able to retreat. I had written the line 'danger is looming across the horizon' at the bottom whilst preparing to lift off when I felt a firm paw grasp around my neck. It was none other than the empress of this foreign horde herself… Fara.
"To which side do you belong to, young goose?" She inquired, she had quite a sweet voice but it was clearly a ploy to cover her psychopathic nature. "From the last time I remember… I don't think myself or Xiuru employed
geese, hm, sweetie?" Xiuru emerged from the shadows soon after as the sound of his infamous Qiangs ripped throughout the lands.
"That trap really worked? That bigoted rhino would really throw his forces into a warzone just because his sense of security was compromised? I would happily sign his tombstone with his own blood but I think I shall allow one of my generals to claim the glory for himself," Xiuru leaned on his lover whilst peering into my soul. He wore a light set of imperial armour that was dyed blue. He possessed his Qiang on his back whilst wielding a sword in his left paw. "They say don't shoot the messenger… But they don't say anything about executing them with a blade," I felt Xiuru tickle my neck with his blade whilst flicking it with his dull claws.
His sky-blue eyes contrasting against the sunset are burned into my soul, so is that sadistic smirk of his alongside that lovesick giggle from his lover. Fara forced me up to a wall inside of the very fortress that was supposed to be defended as the screams of the shattering army around us echoed throughout the lands whilst Xiuru composed a message.
I am unsure of what he did next, I assume he used some form of cursed Chi to infuse the message with some smoke which I assume you've already seen but I remember him being quite enlightened by his own work. He threw his Qiang from his back and into his paws whilst pointing the shiny barrel of his weapon directly at my head.
"Deliver this to the Dragon Warrior and that… Floozy he calls his mistress. It's a declaration of war if you're wondering… I've just decided to include my own anecdotes," Xiuru's barrel of his gun was still warm as he forced me up to the wall until I could feel the weapon virtually swallowing my head. "This country is destined to be mine, little messenger. I was being sarcastic about your allegiance. I could tell from a mile away that you belong to that wretched Jade Palace. They may be inhabitants of a place far away from Kaifeng, yet please still make them aware of the fact it won't be long until their own warlords begin to turn against one another… If that hasn't happened already," He stopped pointing his weapon at me, let off a chuckle whilst the eyes of his female companion glared into my soul.
"I bet your loneliness reaches unrivalled levels when you're travelling through China alone… Don't you worry, little birdy. Just like we're finding someone suitable for that miserable old bird we have locked up in a cell, the one that made our campaigns possible… We will one day find you a bird that you can travel within harmony if you deliver this message," With that, Fara released me into the wild whilst tossing me the scroll her presumed boyfriend handed her prior.
Present-day - Jade Palace Kitchen
"I'm surprised I've been able to tell this story whilst keeping my anxiety in check but you are not confronting your run of the mill warlord. He's more like an empire builder. I didn't even include the various parts where he rambled on about building a realm where peace will reign supreme and that he will maintain that peace through multiple massacres if he must. With China in this versatile state, and I would know as a messenger… You would have to hold your insanity close to your chest to be willing to fight an unwinnable war," Zeng's recollection of the events he had faced shook everyone to their core whilst his soul appeared to be sunken in… Almost as if his very personality had been twisted into oblivion ever since his interaction with Xiuru. "This is not Lord Shen you are dealing with. I seriously question whether or not he's deceased judging by the messages I have received from Gongmen City in the past… You are dealing with an emperor, not a lord," Zeng was soon held up by Po's anxious sputtering.
"Wait-wait-wait… Woah-woah-woah! Lord Shen may not be dead?" Po started shaking in his chair as he started biting on his claws. Tigress inched herself close to him and wrapped her paw around his side for support. "What do you know, Zeng?"
"That the meeting that was called addressing Lord Shen's lack of a corpse or a trace of him was unnecessary when this has been a problem burdening the Gongmen Intelligence Agency for several years now. Nobody knows where Lord Shen went, yet all of the professionals suspect he never perished in that explosion but instead managed to escape… How? I wish I had a clue," Zeng darkly replied, sucked of life as he reminisced on his messaging experience. "I have never encountered a foe more powerful than Xiuru and Fara… Tai Lung had a dark aura to him… These two have a sadistic aura whilst their hearts remain tainted. The fact they've somehow found love during all of this astounds me and it makes me think that's the one big difference between Lord Shen and this 'Xiuru' guy… Lord Shen was working for his ambitions whilst Xiuru is working for the ambitions of two," With that ominous statement, Zeng mindlessly wandered off into the darkness as the Furious Five alongside Po were finally able to discuss the matter at hand.
"Did Zeng seriously just tell us that Lord Shen may be alive, that Xiuru and Fara may be the strongest foes we've ever encountered whilst also remaining completely withered away on the inside?" Viper was on the verge of having a mental breakdown thanks to the sensitivity of the situation. "All of this Inner Peace and yet we can't expect the unexpected..."
"I mean… Shouldn't we have suspected this from the very beginning when we were unable to locate his body? Plus, I don't know what you're talking about… This Inner Peace thing is awesome!" Monkey quipped whilst wearing an overly enthusiastic smile.
"This is seriously not the time to be preaching a message regarding peace," Tigress huffed as the wood beneath her clenched paw physically groaned, her anger flowing through her paw whilst her strength further contorted the wood on the table until her paw went straight through it. "China is at war. We've been sitting in here for far too long. Our plan is simple… As Po would put it. It's time to save China!" Tigress was met with optimistic smiles from Viper and Po whilst Monkey and Mantis just deadpanned at them.
"Haven't we uh… Done that countless times already? What makes this so different?" Mantis snobbily answered back. "I'd rather enjoy my life and let someone else save China instead-"
"THIS IS NOT OPTIONAL!" Tigress swung a chunk of the wood she had broken off the table into Mantis' face. "Either you two are helping us or you two can kiss your residence at the Jade Palace goodbye. The last thing we need right now is someone who can sleep with ladies or get drunk until they can't count to three. We need warriors. I know you may have lost sight of who you were a long time ago but this is your chance to fix that and I refuse to allow you two to stumble through life any further," Tigress rather aggressively showed her care for her friends whilst stretching out her paw.
"Now, I can endure your ignorance on the trail to the frontlines… But I need to know if you two are in," After Tigress asked her question, Monkey raised his hand up and nervously shook hands with the frustrated feline.
"I'm in… Perhaps I'll finally find someone I can show true love and appreciation for. I can have my own Tigress to my Po or my own Fara to my Xiuru," Monkey cheesily remarked as Tigress looked down at Mantis.
"You know what? I think I've finally got one more run in me. I might be letting my lust for some appreciation get me down too much. Perhaps I can prove to those willing to listen that Mantis is still the best!" Mantis nervously leapt back onto the table and did his best to shake one of Tigress's fingers with his front legs.
"I also believe you've been looking at the wrong coping mechanism… I'm always here to talk, Mantis," Viper had admittedly pitied Mantis and wished to help him ever since he plunged himself into oblivion, even if the others looked down on him… Minus Po, respectively.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever… You're not getting in bed with me, you're just travelling by my side during this little mission thingy," Mantis jumped on top of Po's head whilst looking down into his worried emerald eyes. "That reminds me, big guy… Aren't you supposed to go and wake up your dads or something? We'll follow you down to the noodle shop afterwards, right, guys?" Mantis jumped off Po's head afterwards after silently celebrating the fact he felt happy for the first time in quite a while.
"Oh, dumplings with a sprinkle of sugar on top! I need to go and do that!" Po lifted himself from his chair and started running out into the corridor. "LET'S GO AND SAVE CHINA!" He decreed from the corridor whilst rushing out into the outside world.
"Is anyone going to remind him that we actually need a plan before we just rush out of the door like that?" Monkey blankly stated.
"Nope. This is war. Our plan should be getting to the frontlines," Tigress sprinted after Po, which is where everybody else soon started to follow her. The Jade Palace felt empty without Crane's presence, little did they know that Crane would be eager to make a return alongside his faithful girlfriend sooner than they thought. For once, on this night… The Jade Palace would end up cooperating with one another and were able to prepare for war. If only if this weren't the only relatively peaceful thing happening in China at the moment.
Midnight - Remnants of Liao - Xijing Fortress…
The fortress was set ablaze, the twinkling of the stars in the night sky were the only source of consistency when the only thing that could be seen was the explosions booming from within the city alongside the infernos that burned away treasured monuments and memories.
Xiuru alongside his lover and companion, Fara, stood overlooking the burning fortress from afar. An invigorating sense of deja-vu washed over them as they watched their armies charge into the fortress, executing anyone they found that attempted to defend the burning city.
This would be the last campaign needed to capture Liao, as Prince Jeiru had made significant advances to retake the lost state as of late. Xiuru was mildly infuriated at best as this put a dent in his plans, he couldn't believe the prince could rally this many warriors against him. However, Jeiru's army was destined for defeat as the fortress could only burn for so long until it was set alight.
With the light of the distant flames glowing against his silky white fur, plated within a thin leather armour alongside his trusty Qiang and longsword being strapped into his back alongside being wielded by his paws… Xiuru gave one final order that would lead to him personally capturing the prince.
"It's such an exciting sight, isn't it, my love?" Xiuru made small talk with his equally psychopathic other half, glancing into her charming amethyst eyes for approval. "With the fall of Xijing and the hopeful execution of that ghastly prince, we will finally rule over Western Xia and Liao with an iron fist. We will truly begin to teach the Chinese people what a true powerhouse feels like, to feel safe and secure under the rule of a foreign emperor will surely bring harsh consequences onto those still bickering inside of China… It's only a matter of time until that house of cards collapses and the warlords begin declaring their segregation from the dynasty," Xiuru released a sick chuckle whilst Fara did her best to cling onto her lover as she was not wielding her Qiang as her primary weapon.
"With China under our joint knees, your business with the tigers finally concluded and our claiming of heaven's will… We will finally have control of the heartland of Asia. Not to mention India is looking to be quite a nice vacation spot this time of year, yet I do not want to show too much optimism for our campaigns as our soldiers deserve to rest like the rest of us," Fara slid down a muddy hill alongside Xiuru as they prepared to breach the wall belonging to the fortress with a mighty cannon. "It's a shame their nation has been driven to its knees, with the only real beacon of leadership being a fat panda who was a fanboy of kung-fu… Kung-fu is irrelevant. This is not a fantasy tale in which the 'good guys triumph over the bad guys'... This is reality," Fara slid onto a cannon that was primed to fire and lit the fuse.
The cannon had to be at least three times larger than a normal cannon wielded by Lord Shen during his short-lived reign over Gongman City. The fuze took ten seconds to light and the cannon took another two seconds to fire. With a gigantic roar from the dragon's mouth that made up this cannon, it spat a metal fireball that was soaked with a red flame as it blew through the only wall of the fortress that had yet to fall.
"HAHAHAHA! That never gets old!" Xiuru emerged from the smouldering ashes of the newly carved out hole in the stone wall of this great fortress, fired his Qiang at an archer and drew it back to swap to his longsword. "Now this, right here… This is my finest creation," Xiuru gawked at his own longsword, which had a sapphire-tipped ending as the handle was lined with gems and the blade was stained with blood. "Now, onto finding that prince… Then that emperor with abandonment issues is next," Xiuru growled whilst sprinting into the heart of the fortress, which is where he met some direct combat with some soldiers.
"THEY'RE HERE! EXECUTE THEM!" A crocodile roared as several troops with wooden spears with metal tips turned towards Xiuru and Fara. "This ends now, little man," The crocodile swung his tail at the slick foxes, who backflipped in mid-air whilst dodging his swing. Fara and Xiuru joined their eyes together, shared a lustful gaze as their silky fur beamed against the torches the soldiers were holding as they sent their feet into the jaw of the crocodile.
"The only thing ending here… Are your lives," Xiuru snarled whilst swinging his blade into the neck of an ox, drawing blood as the warrior cried out in pain before the blade was released from his neck and he was executed. "Anybody else?" He cackled as the soldiers looked onto him with disturbed looks.
"Y-you barbarian! I'll kill you for this!" An eager rhino looked down at his fallen comrade, huffed and drew up his blade with a dragon carved into the steel before pointing it at Xiuru. "Your reign of terror ends here- ARGH-" The only thing left in the sight of the fading rhino's eyes as his neck poured with blood was the visual of Xiuru's terrifying ice-blue eyes consuming his soul as this rhino would soon depart to the spirit realm.
"Hiyah!" Fara swung her blade at a few of the standing rhinos whilst using her knowledge of kung-fu to strike them in the chest with her paws whilst slicing them to pieces. "Nobody makes empty threats around here. If you wish to threaten us, you should actually follow through with them instead of leaving up false promises… Which reminds me, you people really do that a lot, don't you?" Fara sarcastically remarked whilst driving her sword into the back of a screaming rhino.
"Your kung-fu knowledge is worthless when you can barely wield a weapon. If this pacing of combat doesn't relent anytime soon, I may not need to tap into my abilities," Xiuru reloaded his Qiang and fired it at a panicking and retreating ox. "Now, I won't ask again, where's that prince?" He hunted down the rhinos as he chased them through the central plaza of the burning fortress, pinning them up against walls whilst asking the same question before executing them.
"THE NORTHERN TOWER! HE'S IN THE NORTHERN TOWER!" After searching through quite a few panicked rhinos he was holding up to a burning wall, one of them finally yielded and provided an answer.
"Fantastic. You can try to escape if you wish," Xiuru planted his clenched fist into the jaw of the rhino, knocking him out cold as the flames of the burning fortress would soon consume his entire body and reduce it to ashes. "My dear! We have a new objective!" Xiuru gestured at Fara whilst using his shining sword to point at the Northern Tower.
"Our destination awaits," She cackled before hopping up onto the burning wall, leaping between spots where flames had yet to consume the fortress as her claws dug into the bricks. Xiuru closely followed behind her and even outpaced her before landing at the entrance to a fairly large tower which appeared to mostly be intact, other than the crumbling of the first floor thanks to the fire.
"I guess we're skipping the first floor and moving to the second… Heheh..." Xiuru grabbed Fara's paw and rocketed her up the side of the building, with her using the momentum she had gathered to throw Xiuru ahead of her before they both landed on the stone balcony belonging to the second floor of this tower. "Greetings," Xiuru alerted one of the snow leopard guards by firing one of his shots from his patented weapon through the skull of the snow leopard, with the thunderous roar produced by the weapon echoing throughout the entire tower.
"He's here! Everyone, he's here!" A snow leopard called out as several bells started to ring. "Don't tell me the prince didn't evacuate..." Xiuru's ears picked up on a gem as the distant snow leopards started to bicker.
"The prince is too stubborn to evacuate! If his movement is destined to fall, so is he! He's the heir to the throne, god damn it! No one else can get to him in time as he's too delusional to believe his father would abandon him for Kaifeng and to hope to negotiate peace with those barbarians! They've massacred people, executed them in front of their peers, thrown them into fires whilst they cry for mercy!" A female snow leopard responded, with her jade green eyes shaking thanks to the might of Xiuru staring at her from across this large carpeted room filled with guards and various weapons.
"You're telling me… He'd rather die for his own honour instead of retreating to China and possibly save it from collapse?" The male snow leopard with ocean blue eyes scratched his nose with the tip of his sword whilst keeping his eyebrow raised. The female snow leopard merely nodded in response whilst securing her armour around her torso. "This is it. After the heir falls and ultimately the emperor does as well… China will be ruled by that Dragon Warrior as he's next in line… All of this because of some prophecy," He huffed whilst several snow leopards rushed in from behind him in the hopes of encircling Xiuru and Fara.
"Honestly, I'm beginning to think China won't survive. As in, the nation will be wiped off the map. We've had our close calls in the past but we're now being confronted by a national threat. They call themselves the Mongol Empire, from what I've heard… They are far above any nomadic barbarian like we have described. They have an army, they have weaponry… They are constructing a navy to invade a place called Japan… To them, China is just another pit-stop to them- AGH!" One of the snow leopards crowding Xiuru was thrown directly into the servant as Fara tossed another at the snow leopard she was once talking to.
"WE'VE GOT YOU SURROUNDED! SURRENDER!" A snow leopard with golden eyes and a battle scar running down his cheek stepped forward whilst wielding a loaded bow with a poison-tipped arrow attached to the end. "You've come far enough! You've destroyed our homeland, you're hellbent on bringing anarchy to China… Let's make this quick, hm?" The snow leopard, wielding golden-plated armour and a royal plated robe protecting his lower half, drove his bow and arrow into Xiuru… Or so he thought. "Huh?"
"You can do a lot with Chi… Especially when you have your own form of it," Xiuru wrapped his paws around the unsuspecting snow-leopards neck as Fara put on a smoke show with her own Chi which replayed the executions of his younger brother and sister. "I encourage you all to watch the show… Prince Jeiru, isn't it?"
"And what do you want, barbarian?" Prince Jeiru, the very same leopard with the golden eyes and the scar that was now trapped within Xiuru's clutches, spat for one final time as his life was gently squeezed out of him. "You've got me… You may bring me death," Jeiru was surprisingly accepting of his own fate as he watched Xiuru and Fara join their paws together and unleash a wave of energy that stunned the army surrounding them with their most torturous memories of their childhood. Their Chi twisted and turned the memories of the army until many of them were on the floor weeping.
"Fara, if you wouldn't mind… Bring me the snow leopard with the jade eyes and the stern expression," Xiuru clung onto Jeiru whilst Fara lifted up the jade-eyed snow leopard, washing her memory clean of this spell as she slowly awakened. Fara was sure to disarm her whilst ensuring her paws nor legs could be used for anything offensive. "How would you like to defect to our side? You seem to know quite a bit, considering you're the first enemy to mention our official name… What a smart lady you are," Xiuru held onto Jeiru's mouth, choking him as he slowly faded into unconsciousness before he would reach death.
"I'd never work for traitorous scum like yourselves… Even if your empire is mighty, impressive and unfathomably organised compared to enemies that have opposed China in the past..." Xiuru could already see the female snow leopard with her tanned yellow tunic alongside black silky jeans, not to mention her silver chest plating, already had her mind turning. "What's the consequence if I refuse?"
"Simple. We find ourselves another smart lady or man who knows a lot about our empire," Xiuru grunted whilst Jeiru fought for his life inside of this desolate room filled with whimpering, screaming and crying. "Alright, I think you've lived long enough..." Xiuru threw Jeiru onto the floor, stomped on his throat, allowed him a moment to try and recover to send a swing at Xiuru before the sly fox used the barrel of his Qiang to concuss the snow leopard… Delivering the final blow by shooting him in the heart once he was down.
"I accept your proposal… I guess I have been working under the boots of the selfish royalty for far too long considering my talents," The female snow leopard stared into the psychotic eyes of the two arctic foxes standing before her. "If you want a name, it's Jade… My parents named me after my eyes-"
"What a cliche," Xiuru and Fara groaned at the same time whilst their ears rippled to the beats of distant explosions.
"I guess we should be getting out of here, shouldn't we, dear?" Fara offered her blood-stained paw to Xiuru, who gladly accepted her request and joined paws with her. "Follow us, Jade… Unless you want to miss out on your only opportunity to live and potentially work for us," Fara called Jade along as they exited the burning tower with the same finesse they entered, by scaling the wall and backflipping off the wall as they retreated for the countryside with the hopes of their army mopping up the destruction as well as subjugating the population.
Liao, alongside Western Xia, was now in full control of Xiuru's realm. His next stop was Kaifeng, which is where he hoped to execute the emperor in front of the Chinese population whilst claiming the Mandate of Heaven for himself. However, it would be quite some time until he would get there and Xijing would only add onto the list of cities where executions were performed on royalty.
He was no longer after the royalty of China, as he knew pursuing them this far into the heartland was a fool's game surely leading to his execution if he were to misstep… His focus would now be twisted into prioritising individual warlords alongside their ancestors to ensure this perpetual cycle of royals owning land alongside the people they are meant to care for comes to an end inside of China.
? - ? - ?
"This isn't what I signed up for!" A distraught set of crimson orbs called out from beyond the shadows.
"You didn't sign up for anything. It's thanks to us that you're alive and well," The shadows called back to this figure, who had no sense of direction as it felt like he was travelling in a void surrounded by thick steel bars. "You should also be thankful we're willing to find you a companion and potentially a mate. I don't care what you get up to inside of this void, so long as you don't find a way to ascend to the Spirit Realm. We wouldn't wish that upon ourselves, would we?" The shadow cackled around the set of crimson orbs as he felt his entire body shaking. "What? You'd rather die?"
"Why do you think I accepted my fate on that warship! You claimed to have laid eyes on it! I looked up and saw my greatest creation looming over me, preparing to execute me… And then I woke up here! Why on earth do you think I wish to live in a realm in which I feel my heart further decaying to my own darkness?" The figure slammed themselves into the bars belonging to the empty void they were contained within. "Seeing how my own life has turned out has sickened me. My relief would be death. I spent three decades chasing a prophecy that could've easily been twisted by the revelation that I was the Warrior of Black and White and that I would fall to my own darkness… But I never died. I allowed a prophecy to dictate my life and now I am merely a slave whose creations have been contorted into a superweapon. I promise you, the day I escape from this void will be the happiest day of my life. I refuse to allow China to be eradicated by barbaric brutes such as yourself," The crimson-eyed figure scowled into the darkness, which only returned with the harsh reality of the situation.
"You've repeated this same statement for six-almost-seven months now. Just be happy you'll have someone else to burden this with eventually. You're not getting out of this, weakling. I am greater than death, for I will punish you with your past until you perish inside of this very void. The day you perish, it will come as a relief to your spirit… If it's not already tormented by the suffering you have inflicted upon yourself. Then again, you were fated to be defeated by the 'Warrior of Black and White', right? - No defeat from that bumbling idiot can compare to the fact I have picked you apart feather by feather… I don't plan on stopping, either. You best get comfortable, for you are about to see your nemesis be executed by the tidal wave of war. At least, this way, you can breathe easy once you exit this world for good."
[To be continued…]