ROTK - War of the Gods

Chapter 3

A shockwave emanated from the top of the mountain upon which Zhang Jiao stood and was sent off in every direction. Not only did it pierce through the physical realm, but it also shattered into the spiritual realm.

It was a spell as old as time itself and had been created to counter the power of the Gods. Now the force was unleashed and nothing would ever be the same again. The shockwave slammed through the gate between the physical and spiritual realms and killed all of the spirits that resided there except Cao Liu Sun. When it hit the father of the Gods, it split his psyche into three. Violently knocked from the spiritual world, he fell to the earth and shattered into three separate Gods, each awaking in a separate place there.

One of the three new Gods found himself in the city of Luo Yang. This God had acquired all of the wisdom and cunning of the great father Cao Liu Sun. This God's name was Cao Cao.

One of the other new Gods found himself in the city of Cheng Du. This God had acquired all of the humbleness and humility of the great father Cao Liu Sun. This God's name was Liu Bei.

The last new God found himself in the province of Jiang Dong. This God had acquired all of the strength and courage of the great father Cao Liu Sun. This God's name was Sun Jian.

Each one believing himself to be the true ruler of Heaven and Earth, all three leave their places of birth in order to find Dong Zhuo.

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At that fateful moment when the Titan leader Zhilim Xemi was cut down, all of the Gods fell to their knees when the powerful shockwave Zhang Jiao unleashed hit them. Zhao Yun quickly pointed to the top of the mountain where Zhang Jiao. "Look there!" he screamed.

Dong Zhuo quickly teleported to the top of the mountain and laid hold of the human. "Who are you sorcerer? What sort of demon have you unleashed upon the universe?" Dong Zhuo saw that Zhang Jiao had in his hand an ancient scroll written in the language of the Titans.

"Please do not kill me!" Zhang Jiao pleaded with Dong Zhuo.

"Where did you get this scroll human? Tell me how you were able to read it or I will rip your limbs from your still living body."

"It was the Angel Yin Yang," Zhang Jiao said through thick sobs. "Please do not hurt me. I was only doing what I was told to do."

Suddenly, Dong Zhuo realized that he had been betrayed by his own Angel. The realization of it was enough to make him sick. Dong Zhuo bound the human and together they teleported to the top of an active volcano somewhere out in the Pacific Ocean. The fumes would have killed Zhang Jiao if Dong Zhuo had not been there to make sure the smoke did not enter his lungs. "Toss that scroll into the volcano, or I will be forced to throw you in with it."

Zhang Jiao did as he was told and let go of the ancient Yellow Scroll. It fell down into the lava and disappeared. Then, they teleported back to China and to the Palace of the Emperor. The great ruler, who had been visited many times by the Lords Angel, quickly fell down and worshipped Dong Zhuo.

"Human," Dong Zhuo said to the Emperor. "Because of your support against the Titans, China will always be blessed in my eyes. I have come to tell you - The age of Angels is over. I was betrayed by my own representative and so now I have come down here to live among you all. You are to begin construction of a Temple, even greater than your own Palace where I may reside. Do this immediately."

The Emperor gave the orders to his Prime Minister and the man quickly saw to the preparations. "Also," Dong Zhuo said to the Emperor, "This man was in collaboration with the Angel Yin Yang. His name is Zhang Jiao and because of his actions, his entire family is to bear the shame of being related to him for all time. Can you make this so?"

"At once," the Emperor said. Dong Zhuo then took Zhang Jiao out into the city square and made it known to all that he was the God of Heaven and Earth. Then, he had each of Zhang Jiao's five limbs tied to a certain horse and each was made to run away in 5 different directions, never to return. In this way, Zhang Jiao was ripped asunder in a most gruesome manner as a demonstration to all who would oppose Dong Zhuo's rule.

Dong Zhuo blessed the builders of his temple and it was erected in an outstanding time of only one month. It was the tallest and most beautiful structure that had ever been created by the hands of man. It was made of gold, and marble, and ivory, and jade. After Dong Zhuo had begun his residency there, he called for all of the Gods to meet him there and said to them :

"The spiritual plane has ceased to be and our great Lord Cao Liu Sun has been killed along with the rest of our family. It is up to us now to remake Earth as it was in Heaven so that I may rule forever and ever."

All of the Gods were saddened to learn that their father had been killed and many weeped openly. Some of the more vengeful of the Gods went and sought to punish the humans of the world for the death of Cao Liu Sun. In this way, many civilizations were destroyed before Dong Zhuo ordered that attacks on humans were no stop.

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A year later, three very important guests arrived at the Temple. They were Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Jian. They did not arrive together and each had arrived claiming to be the one true ruler Cao Liu Sun. Dong Zhuo had all three of the men arrested and thrown into prison. Because they were clearly Gods and not men, the shackles and bars used to contain them needed to be enchanted by Dong Zhuo himself.

Though he claimed not to believe them, secretly, Dong Zhuo knew that the three Gods were in fact all different parts of Cao Liu Sun's psyche which had been shattered by Zhang Jiao's powerful spell. He forbid any of the other Gods from visiting the three prisoners in fear that their true identities would be revealed. Luckily though, even the three had no clue who or what they were. "Cao Liu Sun... Brother... Everything is exactly how should be." Dong Zhuo laughed and threw away the enchanted key to their prison doors. He alone would rule Earth and Heaven.

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Affairs in China quickly took a turn for the worse. The Emperor had become like a puppet of Dong Zhuo and the Lord was always concerning himself in state matters. It turned out though that Dong Zhuo knew more about war and battles than he did about running a state. Famine and rebellions quickly swept across the land and people stopped worshipping Dong Zhuo. He was helpless to stop it anyway because the people stopped supporting him. Without their prayers or worship, he grew weaker and weaker...

One day, Zhao Yun visited Dong Zhuo out of desperation and pleaded with him : "My Lord, something must be done. The city of Chang An has recently fallen to barbarians. Please, allow me to lead an army of humans there and I will surely take it back in your name."

"Never!" Dong Zhuo said, standing from his throne which raised high above his court. "If barbarians have captured Chang An it is because I ALLOWED them to capture Chang An. Do you really think that human affairs are lost on me? Do you think I know nothing about politics or bureaucracy? Leave me now or I will imprison you as well!"

Imprison him as well? Zhao Yun was unaware that Dong Zhuo was keeping prisoners. If a certain human ever lost favor with Dong Zhuo, he was usually killed instantly in a most gruesome fashion. Was Dong Zhuo keeping a human as a prisoner? Or maybe even a God?

Zhao Yun left Dong Zhuo's chamber and went deep into the Temple to where the secret underground basement was. It took much questioning of the buildings engineers before he found the secret dungeon. It was several stories below ground where no light reached.

The first cell he came to was one belonging to Liu Bei. When Liu Bei saw his son, he rushed to the metal door and began to weep openly. "My son, Zhao Yun! I thought I would never see you again! Please, come closer so that I may look upon your face one last time." The man looked different than Cao Liu Sun, but his kindness was unmistakable. Zhao Yun began to weep as well as he rushed to the cell door and embraced his father from through the cold metal bars.

Thus father and son were reunited. How Liu Bei was able to escape will be explained in the next chapter.

To be continued....