Test, test can you hear me?
Zhenjin ran his claws against the surface of the chain metal, listening to each small clink as he inspected his armor.
Tsagaan blinked toward his set of armor being prepared. "You didn't want anything personalized such as your sister-?"
The Prince had found the balconies a safe haven amongst this seemingly never-ending travel with his family, everything and everyone was so close, too close. 'I'm starting to miss Khanbaliq's dull walls…' He mused with a sigh as they grew closer to Xiangyang.
A small sound caught his ear, and he couldn't help but blink several times at the tone, it was one he rarely heard much less remembered from his own past.
The sound of a child.
He was quick to spot the two small kids running alongside the steppe to catch up and witness the large and loud structure with unlimited excitement.
They were two snow leopards. Brothers maybe? He wondered.
Once they were close enough, they merely stood there pointing and watching them move at the pace of the workers.
Prince Zhenjin dimed to wave at them, and it was the smaller of the two that noticed him first.
And waved back with a smile.
"I wonder if this is what you meant by not knowing what tomorrow holds…"
The heat hit his face with no such remorse as the detailing of his chest armor was almost complete.
His mother walked beside him, not even her jewelry betrayed her grand yet silent entrance. She would make herself known when she deemed it and nothing more. Lilac eyes scanned over the symbol and he didn't have to look up to see her brow raise.
It was all in her tone. "You chose a symbol of unity for our conquest. Interesting."
Zhenjin nodded. "I couldn't help but think back to what Gan said to me weeks ago…"
Nadya looked downward at that, those sharp eyes of hers dimming in the dark of this small armory. "Go on. I know he's said quite a few things to you over the years. I can't help but wonder what stood out to you."
"That what I wanted as Khan was unrealistic and at first I assumed he doubted me." His shadow looked up toward his mother, they almost looked younger and smaller than they should so far away. "And I'm glad he did. It helped me realize what I actually desire as a leader."
The air was humid and no longer filled to the brim with pollen, it was sand and heat waves from here on out near the Dunhuang.
People watched from atop the dunes and even walked past the large structure, and observing them below really put his mind into perspective just how large and formidable this palace was. It made tall felines and the like seem as small as a rabbit. And the way they gazed up at it, almost craning their necks to take it all in was a sight in itself.
Zhenjin found himself waving to more children, his father had only come outside a select few times, merely looking down or ignoring the locals who watched them. He only looked toward who would join him.
Who would add to his already growing might.
His mother had garnered quite the attention aswell and he was thankful she was better at faking it than his father. Little girls especially seemed to adore her attention even if it was just a wave.
Evening struck as he watched one last child slide down a dune hill before heading back before it grew cold.
Mist filled his vision before he knew it.
The pace of the palace had slowed, its wooden wheels creaking in the night against the sands as he reached for a soft blanket around his shoulders. He was alone again as usual in the evening.
He shivered in his seat, debating on going inside or not. "I wonder how close they are." The young prince gripped the side of that blanket tightly as the ride started to jostle his body. "If they made it or not."
He tried to avoid thinking about it considering the journey ahead and what Tigress had said but despite his own fear toward his sister, he knew one thing for sure: She was a formidable but also dangerous foe moreso now that she was backed into a moral corner with their father.
He reclined back in his seat, noting with some dismay his cup of Hei cha was empty. "I want to believe in you but I also believe in my sister in some sort of twisted fashion."
They were both determined beyond anyone he knew, even his father couldn't match those two in their sheer loyalty to what they fought for, even if they were on completely different ends of the scale. It was a terrifying match, even more now than it was within that colosseum.
"There are no rules out here…" His eyes wandered into the dark, only the shadows of dunes and a few temples and their decorations stood out to his perception.
He breathed out slowly again, causing mist to form in the cold dead of night as he stood up to leave.
Before it cleared, he saw red.
Red circles. Red eyes. Bright and vibrant staring at him from afar.
Zhenjin took a step back.
The mist cleared to show a young feline with a child as they picked them up and rushed off to who knows where.
Their eyes had turned to slits, glaring at them. Him.
"Zhenjin?"
The prince lifted his head to see purple eyes, those of his mother's and not another.
He only had a select few servants help him with his armor, quite a few had already left after he'd made it clear he wanted to put on the remaining pieces himself unless he ordered them to assist.
"Yes, mother?" Zhenjin asked with a roll of his shoulders, reveling in the noise of his armor and the soon to be true weapon of his choice that he would shortly don. "I hope you aren't here to tell me to not join the frontlines. I have to this time-"
Xiangyang was close and soon, they would meet again, under the sky of China. Where temples touched the clouds and stars alongside the mountains.
Nadya simply shook her head. "No, never. For once, I do believe you know where you need to be, I'll always worry but I knew this day would come when you would become a conqueror but that's not why I came here."
He blinked confused as she was blocked out of sight by the placement of his helmet.
"I've come to inform you that your sister, Yuelen, has arrived back from her mission."
The sound of metal comforted him.
"Unity." His words echoed at that moment as he looked into purple eyes overpowering the color of red, orange, and amber all the same. "The people of Mongolia deserve unity and happiness."
He touched the symbol upon his chest, the one they had spoken about. The one his people gifted her. 'Maybe…maybe they got away…'
Surely, her story did not end here?
The palace jostled them slightly again, a common occurrence since they had entered Chinese territory. The terrain here was so different from the steppe.
Zhenjin looked up with shaky paws to the canteen upon the shelf to his right side as it reflected his mother's face but especially her eyes. 'Right…you said we would meet again-'
"They caught up to them southwest of Jinzhong. It seems as if those masters put up quite a fight against our finest." Nadya sighed as she watched him. "Yuelen as per usual boasted about her kill against the tiger. A shame really…"
The prince froze at that statement, a piece of his armor, an arm piece fell to the wayside.
"Considering, I wanted to kill her in the past for bringing that ambush upon us but alas…" His mother wordlessly moved to pick up that piece of armor as he stared into that canteen, unmoving. "It doesn't really matter who killed her as long as the job is done."
After she settled that arm piece back where it belonged gently, even going so far as to pat his arm in support for what was to come on the battlefield. He missed that smile of hers as the room slowly but surely grew empty and dark.
No color was alight in here.
Zhenjin sank to his knees, his armor felt heavier than he thought it would.
Not even a star shined.
The sound of metal was no longer comforting.
The world continues to turn without us.
The sound of fireworks, usually so bright and vibrant, was weighed down by the smog and terror of war.
Zhenjin watched with a neutral expression as the fuses were burned one by one to take out the Chinese and whoever was unlucky enough to be engaged below.
But the toll of these weapons paled in comparison to his father's greatest weapon, not the might of man nor mortals, but a dragon.
He stood beside Gan and Yuelen at the frontlines, before a group of equally unsettled soldiers as they watched on from this unscathed area of unnatural flames, reverberating stomps, and the gale of a monster's tail wafting its deathly smoke to all.
The prince grits his teeth at the scene before him. Not even Yuelen commented on the fact that he stepped backward at what greeted them below because it was the unknown.
The unknown fear; If you were to be a casualty of war or the rampage of an ancient?
'I don't want to die…' Zhenjin found himself thinking over and over again. 'I don't want to die in this place!'
He stepped forward first when no one else would.
And wordlessly everyone else followed behind him and somehow he knew, they were all thinking the same thing.
Zhenjin focused on the sound of Tigress' canteen he brought with him. It continued to clank against his armor repeatedly to drown out the sounds of death and agony in his wake.
The dragon still raged in the distance, and Yuelen and Gan thankfully were still by his side in the chaos.
He looked around quickly, keeping his sword at bay and his senses open so no one could catch him off guard. 'We've lost so many-!' Despite how easily their forces had taken out the enemy's defenses, many of them refused to accept defeat.
And faced their demise all too willingly.
He grunted as he blocked an assault from another soldier with his shield before pushing forth with his own in retaliation! The kill lasted for a few seconds before he moved on to the next, keeping up with his sister's pace as best as he could but…
'Their eyes…they aren't like that feral tiger I met in the field…' Blood stained his sword and shield. It even painted the ground he walked upon. He was surrounded by red.
More and more people fell, one by one he watched them struggle against their vicious assault, and yet dwindled into nothing at his feet.
'They starve in a different way from a feral…' He realized as they moved forward, getting closer and closer to the Dragon's side, he could feel it in the earth beneath him, the way debris quaked and fell around them was evidence enough. 'They starve the same way I do.'
The smoke thickened, so much so that even the most heavily armored of their forces couldn't help but cough in the madness they had to march through. Multiple times they had to move out of the way of falling buildings be it from their own fiery forces or of the Dragon's uncaring actions.
He witnessed many limbs in the rubble as he fought to survive, trying to focus on that sound but failing over and over again. The city in a way was mirroring its people, growing dark and dim without its stars.
A darker shadow somehow casts over them with another burst of flame and smoke.
The sound of the canteen stopped as he stilled, ears attempting to raise beneath his helmet at a distinct sound of a catapult, it was straining with its rope and the wood creaked in a loudly uncomfortable way that made his eyes widen!
"Everyone get back!" Zhenjin screamed while falling back and attempting to get everyone's attention.
But it was too late.
"Ugh!" Something hard hit his back and he keeled over as an arrow streamed through the air and penetrated the ground, far too close to his paw. He breathed hard as more and more random bits of debris fell upon him and his comrades. He witnessed Gan fall with shock at the debris as one of their men was hit with a large slab of cobblestone!
Even as he fell, the ground still shook, and the canteen rang out one last time.
Zhenjin awoke to ringing in his ears and even with that, it didn't negate the fact the ground was still unsteady, even in his blurry vision as he forced his head up, he could hear rubble tip over and fall again and again.
And water.
'Are we close to the river?' He couldn't tell within the veil of ash that surrounded him, it was all he could smell. It somehow even drowned out the scent of blood.
His own pained voice sounded foreign to his ears as others slowly stood up faster than he did, all he could see was shadows of felines, or what he assumed were, and a few shapes he couldn't piece together. It was all so foggy.
The only constant was the ground, the beast was near.
'Stay away…' He prayed, for the first time in his life as his muscles and bones screamed in pain when he forced himself to move. 'Stay away, please. I don't want to die alone-'
Did she think the same?
"Apologies, brother."
The voice of Yue tore him away from those thoughts of Tigress as he looked up to her, hoping for something she had never given him before; kindness. Her tone didn't indicate anything of the caliber but in his weakened state, as the ground continued to shake, even Yuelen's strong resolve and posture.
He hoped.
It was fast, she bent down for something, and pieces of her armor fell away, reminding him of the armory in one fell swoop, he felt the sharp swiftness of his naivete. It stung every part of his shoulder and he barely had the energy to cry out.
He hoped Yuelen gave Tigress a better ending to her story than his own.
His upper arms gave out, and the last thing he witnessed was a wave of blueish green piercing the dark ashcloud that surrounded them, as his own blood joined the canvas of Xiangyang.
He wondered as muddy water washed beside his face, if the light in his eyes faded with the same agony as the rest, if Yuelen even registered that part of him. Humored it even.
The cracked stone, broken wood, and arrows surrounding him made him wonder about many things in that single moment as he was left alone. 'What was there to hope for tomorrow here, Tigress?'
His eyes slowly closed, and soon he became a part of the dimmed sky of Xiangyang.
The two of us laugh, even though I can't see it I can feel it