BOOK 5: CHAPTER 44

I donned my robes and gear and made my way to the deck not knowing what the hell to really think. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised that a scholar like Zin Tai would have the mental fortitude to endure seeing a creature like that with ease, but the fact that he knew exactly what it was, told me he had done his fair bit of research into the unseen world as well.

It was a reminder that I was now the topic of that same research by him.

At least he was too chicken shit to come to the surface with me, else I’d have to take him out for good, just like Hun Wu. But the jury was still out on whether this guy was friend or foe in my mind. He’d certainly helped, but more so for his own purposes than for mine.

If he ever learned the truth, I had no idea how he would react.

Would he blow the whistle on me?

Or would he view me as some bizarre specimen to study?

Or would he even do both?

Blackmail me to reveal all my secrets.

I pondered these thoughts as I entered the main hangar bay, where the drop skiff, was already being prepped for launch. Captain Teng was on deck with a small crew of infantry tending to the skiff. Master Zin Tai was there as well, conversing with him as Blue Rose, Hun Wu and Mal’Kira looked on.

I approached the three ladies with a smile. “We all ready?”

“As good as we can be,” Blue Rose said with a shrug. “This should be easier than Fhae I’ung, right?”

“What is Fhae I’ung?” Hun Wu said.

Even I had forgotten the name for a second.

“That’s the name of the Hell World we were marooned on,” I said.

In truth it was a lot more than just a name though.

That was the name of the World Spirit that birthed the Aetherite crystal powering Du Gok Bhong and who knew how many other places. It was a person. A living embodiment of all the souls that were lost to the demonic hordes of the Cursed Stars. The thought of that reinforced the importance of the second mission of my Twin Dao. What was at stake if Du Gok Bhong ever failed and the Hell Worlds ever breached their bounds.

“So what’s the plan, boss?” Mal’Kira said.

They all looked at me expectantly then and I didn’t have much of an answer. I only had that one glimpse of the Chainmaiden’s domain and the details of the book to work from. Considering what I’d read, the place had some distinctions though.

“We’re looking for an island, I think. Or something with a coastline nearby. A three-day journey from there will be a deep valley. At the bottom will be ruins, like an ancient city or mausoleum. That’s the place we need to find.”

“What’s there exactly?” Blue Rose asked. “This thing you need to save your son. Is it an artifact or something?”

Hun Wu shot me a look, as if to keep my mouth shut.

As if she were truly my superior.

I could almost laugh.

“Yeah, something like that. Something ancient.”

That needs to die, I added internally.

“I believe we’ve found a spot to land then,” Zin Tai said from nowhere.

I didn’t even look over my shoulder at him, so used to his impromptu conversational intrusions by now. “Did you?”

He walked from behind me, with Captain Teng in tow.

“It’s the former capital of the southern continent,” he said and produced a well-worn map for us to look at. He pointed to a piece of land that’s shape reminded me of Florida—a long peninsula stuck into a large ocean. “A place once known as Shēn Gǔchéng if my research is accurate.” ＲἈℕồ฿Ěȿ

“If its as dangerous as rumored, landing by the coast would be a sound decision,” Captain Teng said. “You would only need to defend from one side, keeping your back to the sea.”

“That’s assuming the sea will not have the undead crawling out of it as well,” Zin Tai said with a chuckle.

That caused the temperature to drop a few degrees.

“Well, will it?” I asked.

He then shook his head. “Oh, how would I know? There are no records. But that’s exactly why I’ve come. You must record everything for me, Marshal Iron Bull. If you survive, the details you bring back will be crucial.”

I stifled a sigh of irritation with [Indifference]. “Fine.”

Captain Teng then pointed out exactly where our skiff would land and traced a rough route for us to proceed. The map wasn’t very detailed, but it did show a river and what looked like a road that ran alongside it.

“I doubt the road will still exist, but the river should not have changed much,” Zin Tai said. “Follow if for two days and you should find the valley.”

“That’s two days of walking, right?” Blue Rose said. “We can get there a lot faster by taking to the air.”

“If you can navigate that way, certainly,” Zin Tai said.

A loud klaxon sounded, and Captain Teng immediately looked up.

“That would be the blockade,” he said. “We’ve reached Dokumu.”

* * *

I didn’t understand what Captain Teng meant by blockade until I saw it for myself. Within minutes of the klaxon sounding, we entered orbit and the hangar doors opened allowing us our first view of the planet.

It was barely visible against the black backdrop of space. A sphere of dark grey clouds, with occasional flashes of lightning. Hovering in front of it, however, was an imperial battleship, shaped like a dragon and made out of brass and stone.

A small skiff flew from out of it and within minutes the craft was landing within the hangar bay next to us. Captain Teng assembled his platoon and stood them at attention as three men in Imperial uniforms disembarked.

Two were low ranking infantry, merely retainers perhaps, but the man they flanked looked a seasoned military officer. He was bald and clean shaven with deep olive skin. His robes pegged him as an admiral and as he approached Captain Teng, the salutes they gave confirmed it.

“Welcome aboard, Vice Admiral Tau Lai.”

The man barely responded with a head nod. “You’ve entered space restricted by Imperial edict. I certainly hope you and your men were not planning some kind of tomb raiding expedition, Captain.”

“We have indeed,” Captain Teng said with a smile. “But it’s not for us. I have orders from the High Council to allow this cohort access to the surface.”

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Captain Teng produced a letter stamped with the imperial seal and handed it to the Vice Admiral. He studied it for a moment, his brows lowering with scrutiny. He then let out a harrumph.

“Which one of you is the Imperial Marshal?” Tau Lai said.

I stepped forward with [Struggler’s Resolve]. “That’d be me, Vice Admiral.”

I gave him a bow deserving of his rank and he gave me a head nod just like before.

“Says here you aim to liberate this world from the curse upon it. That true?”

“I came to liberate something,” I said with a grin.

That got me a corresponding grin from Hun Wu, just like I had hoped.

We were about to head into the thick of it and the least suspecting she was of my ultimate betrayal the better. Still, it wasn’t a lie, either. I was going to liberate this world from I’xol’ukz’s unholy influence once and for all.

Vice Admiral Tau Lai gave another nonplussed harrumph. “That’s a new one, I suppose. Most times it’s some dipshit royal brat wanting to retrieve a so-called family heirloom. Those ones never make it but a few hours. This though. This should be interesting. And a High Council backing you as well?” He finally looked at me and gave me a wry smile. “I suppose being an Imperial Marshal counts for something. Who are you taking down there?”

“The four of us here,” I said, gesturing to Mal’Kira, Blue Rose and Hun Wu. “We’ll be heading down to the surface.”

“Us as well,” someone said.

I looked perplexed towards the platoon of soldiers on deck and was surprised to see about eight of Teng’s men had stepped out of formation. I looked to Teng questioningly.

“What’s this?”

“A few of my men have been inspired by your tales over the last few days, Marshal,” Teng said. “These here have volunteered to assist, if you would have them.”

Admiral Tau Lai scoffed. “You’d allow your men to throw their lives away like that?”

Teng merely smiled. “They’ve been inspired by the Iron Marshal here, and so have I. Did I not have responsibility for the ship itself, I myself would have joined them.”

Tai Lau cocked a brow at me. “The Iron Marshal?”

“A conjoined moniker incorporating his more widely known name of the Iron Bull,” Teng said.

It felt kind of weird to be talked about in almost the third person, but I couldn’t deny the amount of lemonade streaming from Teng and his men. Still, this wasn’t some picnic either.

“Alright,” I said, addressing Teng’s men. “The Admiral speaks wisely. People don’t come back from this planet. And when I say don’t come back, I mean your very souls. You’d be trapped there for eternity. Even I don’t know if I will make it back or not. But the mission I’m on is personal. It doesn’t have to involve any of you in the slightest.”

“With respect Marshal Iron Bull,” one of Teng’s men, a sergeant it looked like, said. “Opportunities like this come along only once in a lifetime. Perhaps only once in two lifetimes! For you to have survived on a damn Hell World for over a month, something like this will be child’s play. Your name will go down in history and I’m willing to risk my soul to be named as one of the brave mortals who went with you.”

“Here, here!” another one of Teng’s men shouted and then all of them, gave a salute.

Admiral Tau Lai chuckled. “Well, they’d be right about the history part. My battalion has guarded this forsaken rock for the last ten thousand years since the emperor finally stopped fools from trying to explore it.”

“And it’s been forsaken for much longer than that,” Zin Tai added. “You’d be restoring an artifact from the Taun Dynasty. The princess of this region would especially owe you a debt of favor.”

“Oh yeah?” I said. “Which one is that?”

“Second Princess Valerina from the Emperor’s 3rd marriage, 9th Heir to the throne.”

My eyes widened. “Damn, that sounds pretty high up there in terms of status.”

“A large factor in determining your granting of access by the Council, I would think,” Zin Tai said. “A great number of people will be awaiting the outcome of this excursion with keen interest.”

“Ah… Admiral?” one of Tau Lai’s retainers said. “Do you think that perhaps some of us in the battalion could volunteer as wel—?”

“Out of the question,” Tau Lai said, cutting him off. “This is no place for glory seekers.”

In that instant I got a sudden appreciation for what was happening here. It reminded me of my endless days of playing online games as a kid, where some whale, max level player would invite a bunch a of noobs to clear the hardest raid in the game. They’d all rush to tag along with him in a fervor, everyone trying to get a spot on the train to instant and easy success. It made me almost laugh to think of myself in that way now, but clearly these guys all did.

“I don’t care how good the damn odds seem right now,” Tau Lai continued. “That world is cursed by something grave. Cultivators for generations have tried, and their failures only make the place worse.” He looked at me and chuckled. “I’ll say one thing. If you don’t make it, that world will be doomed forever. Cursed by a revenant of your strength? Forget about it.”

That gave me a bit of pause. I didn’t stop to think about what kind of unholy zombie version of myself I might leave behind if I failed.

I merely smiled. “All the more reason for me to succeed then.”

That got some cheers from Teng’s guys and another burst of lemonade.

“He’s the empire’s best hope to achieve this in over ten millennia,” Teng said. “My men want to lend their help to ensure every chance of that success.”

Tau Lai finally shrugged and looked at the letter again. “Well, there aren’t any restrictions other than what the Iron Marshal here deems necessary. The choice is yours’, marshal.”

Teng’s men looked at me with hope in their eyes.

I could literally be dooming them to their deaths.

But I didn’t know what I was facing either.

I felt a sudden hand on my shoulder and Mal’Kira leaned down to speak to me. “I’d take any help we can get. They can hang back with me guarding the skiff. I’ll take care of them.”

I glanced at Mal’Kira and gave her a nod.

With her looking after them I felt a bit better, and she was probably right too.

“Okay, but you all know the risks,” I said. “Considering that, I really appreciate the added help.”

They gave a final cheer and Captain Teng smiled. “I suppose you have your rear guard now, Iron Marshall.”

Admiral Tau Lai shook his head but smiled. “I wish you all the luck in the heavens. Truly. Captain Teng, you are free to land upon the surface.”

“Thank you, Vice Admiral. We’ll prepare to launch.”

Tau Lai then gave me a bow, a proper one this time.

“I pray you return victorious, Marshal Iron Bull, for heaven help that cursed planet if you do not.”

* * *

A morbid sense of déjà vu ran through me as I hunkered down in the belly of the drop skiff, tossed back and forth by the violent forces of reentry. I was surrounded by my small team and a dozen of Captain Teng’s men. The sergeant who had spoken earlier was heading up the platoon. I’d learned his name was Xu Chow, but nothing more, save he looked about forty and had a thin mustache and a broad face.

He was speaking tactics with Mal’Kira, discussing how to best establish a defensive position as soon as we landed. I sat next to Blue Rose and opposite Hun Wu. Blue seemed pretty chill for the most part. I suppose for her, this was easier than a Hell World dive for sure. Hun Wu on the other hand was pulsing with excitement and fear both.

She was about to meet her god.

Guess that would make anyone excited.

Too bad for her she was going to end up just like him as well.

“Approaching landing zone!” the pilot called from above us. “Prepare to disengage!”

We stood to the ready at that and a few seconds later, the landing skiff popped from out of the belly of the drop skiff. Freezing rain blasted us like a sheet of ice, causing us all to recoil. Flashes of lightning painted the dark sky in a staccato of still images as thunder rolled near endlessly.

As my eyes struggled to adjust, I could just barely make out the edge of a beach head less than a mile away. Roiling beneath us was a pitch-black sea filled with white caps and who knew what else. I couldn’t sense any Dark Frenzy specifically, but it was humming in the background that was for sure.

The skiff lowered on the tethers as we got closer to the beach and Blue Rose and I instinctively positioned ourselves to detach them. Cracks of lightning illuminated the drop zone, a patchwork of jagged rocks and black sand.

As the skiff touched down with a thud, we went to work and detached the tethers, releasing the main skiff to return to the safety of orbit again. It would be back in six hours to check on us. That was the time frame we had decided upon.

Hopefully I could get this all done and dusted, before then.

“Form the perimeter!” Xu Chow shouted. “Eastern Wedge formation!”

As the infantry men clambered out, and went into action, I jumped down with Blue Rose and Hun Wu close behind. My feet sank into the damp sand and instantly the stench of rot hit me like a slap to the face. It mixed with the constant drizzle falling from the darkened sky, causing the smell to stick like a sickly perfume.

“What is that?” Blue Rose said, crinkling her nose.

“I think it’s just how the place smells,” I said. “You okay?”

“The Qi here is strange. Feels… negative almost… if that’s a thing.”

“I sense it as well,” Hun Wu said. “We are definitely in the right place.”

I knew what that meant.

I’xol’ukz was here.

Just as she said it, the ground began to shake beneath us and a huge surge of Dark Frenzy came from just ahead. A forest of rotted trunks and stumps formed a broken tree line about a hundred yards away, and the sounds of snapping branches filled the air.

“Something’s coming!” I shouted. “Be at the ready!”

I jumped ahead of the defensive formation, manifesting my Axe and Glaive.

The fear of the unknown sent my Flame stirring with Frenzy as I prepared to finally face the horrors this planet was known for. Motion stirred in the distance as the snapping of branches was accompanied by the felling of rotten trees.

Something burst through the tree line, sending ancient branches and trunks flying.

My mind took a moment to make sense of what I was seeing.

In the flashes of lightning, I made out the stark ivory of bleached bone. Something two stories high was charging towards us. Something that might have once been an elephant or a damn triceratops for all I knew. There were at least six of them, but that wasn’t the worse part. On top of each of them was an enormous, humanoid skeleton, clad in rusted armor and wielding massive axes and swords. At their feet, smaller skeletons were scrambling while being haplessly trampled underneath. I expected to hear war cries or screams to come next.

But there was nothing.

Nothing, except the sounds of trampling feet, clattering armor and rattling bone.

An unnatural chill filled the air mixed with Dark Frenzy.

An army was descending upon us.

A silent army of the dead.