24 The Hopping Dead: The New Kingdom

The last of the Professor's vampires had been overpowered by the wild Jiang Shi. The villagers had long since given up trying to fight the bloodsuckers and were now blindly fleeing.

The Professors vampires had fought to the end, and they had taken down dozens of the wild Jiang Shi, but ultimately they were simply outnumbered by their enemies and the villagers were of little to no help. Still at the very least the wild Jiang Shi's numbers had been dwindled to a mere twenty or so, though that was still more than enough to rip slaughter what was left of the villagers.

The wild Jiang Shi cut off all the exits and gathered together to chase down the surviving villagers who were forced to flee back into the burning ruins. The monsters however were suddenly stopped in their tracks by the sight of their former pack leader, now standing with the Professor and the others, who emerged from the sea of fleeing, helpless villagers.

The Emperor was completely under the Professors control. Despite his greater strength, all of the Jiang Shi were just as vulnerable to this particular spell.

The Emperor jumped into the crowd of wild vampires who almost all backed away in fear from him.

One of the vampires tried to stand up to its former master, only for the Emperor to punch a hole in its chest and then rip its head clean off.

As the other vampires fled in panic, the Emperor chased them down and disposed of the lesser demons just as easily.

A few of the villagers were distracted by the spectacle and started to cheer on the Emperor which soon drew the attention from the rest of the fleeing civilians.

"I knew that evil would never consume him. Our Emperor is far too strong. He shall use the evil to destroy itself." One of the villagers cheered.

"Let us not forget who it was that brought this down on us." Another said.

The Emperor slew another five of the vampires before the rest scattered into the woods, except for one bloodsucker who hopped past the Emperor and grabbed a young girl who had become separated from the rest of the crowd.

The vampire held its talons up to the terrified child's throat as the Emperor advanced towards him.

"Stop" The Professor commanded which caused the Emperor to halt instantly.

"Clever little bloodsucker" Lindsey said.

"Please, please, don't let him hurt my baby." One of the villagers begged. In her panic her child had been swept up in the fleeing crowd. She had tried to find her, but in the stampede she was almost crushed.

"Don't worry. I promise we won't let that monster harm her." Lindsey said reassuringly, whilst the Professor rolled his eyes.

"Honestly I do wish she wouldn't keep promising things she can't deliver." The Professor said to himself.

"How are we supposed to get her out of that vampires clutches." He thought to himself.

The vampire holding the child hopped back a few more feet, still clutching the child in its talons. Every time the Professor, Lindsey, Kirsteen, Hu or the Empress would make a move forward, the vampire would stop and thrust its claws back up to the terrified child's neck.

Suddenly however the vampire started to claw at the air behind it. It was Asika. The ghost was still terrified of the vampires, but ultimately she was even more scared of just being left in this state forever. Even if the vampires did manage to destroy her spirit, it would still be preferable to being left as a ghost, able to still see, but unable to ever interact with the world again she thought to herself.

As she tussled with the vampire however, her old fears started to come back. Still Asika's actions helped for the child to get away, and whilst the vampire was struggling with the ghost, the Professor sliced its head off with his enchanted sword.

"Come we have to stop them escaping into the woods or we'll never find them." The Professor said.

Fortunately it didn't take long to find the Jiang Shi in the forest. The Professor with the Emperor in tow cornered three more of the demons against a small tree.

"I don't know if any of you can understand me." The Professor said.

"If you can I just want you to know that I take no pleasure in this, but it has to be done. Emperor destroy every single Jiang Shi here."

One of the vampires in the forest meanwhile silently headed back to the village. This vampire had realised that the Professor was controlling the Emperor through the yellow paper. The creature was barely capable of any kind of advanced thought, but it had still been able to work it out when fighting the Professor's Vampires, when one of the Jiang Shi accidentally tore the paper off of one of their heads. Even with their more animalistic nature, the Jiang Shi still had limited cognitive abilities. This Jiang Shi however knew that it couldn't just walk up to the Emperor and rip it off his head, so it quietly crept back into the village to get something that could help it.

The Emperor soon cornered another four more vampires, whilst the Professor, Lindsey, Kirsteen, Lee and the Empress searched frantically for more of the bloodsuckers who were now cowering in the woods. Up ahead Hu saw one of the creatures had become stuck in the swamp outside the village. It was buried up to its waist, though the more it struggled, the more it was pulled under.

"Poor soul" Kirsteen said.

"Can't we do something? I'm not saying we should help him, but can't you put him out of his misery?"

"I'm afraid not. We could try and pull him out, but he'd probably try and kill us anyway. As callous as it may sound it is one less vampire to worry about." The Professor said.

Within a few more seconds the vampire sunk beneath the sand completely much to Kirsteen's horror. The Empress meanwhile was more focused on her husband. Whilst she hated seeing him in this state, in a way she was happy that his last act was to protect the kingdom he had sworn to die for.

Just then however she suddenly noticed one of the Jian Shi in the distance holding a flaming piece of wood. It was the vampire that had returned to the village. It had ripped a piece of wood off of one of the flaming houses, which it then hurled at the Emperor.

The Emperor's clothes instantly caught fire, and whilst he did not react at first, eventually the flames spread their way to the paper on his head. The Empress tried to run to stop the fire but it was too late and within a matter of seconds the paper had burned off. The fire from the torch also began to spread its way through the woods behind.

The Emperor then turned around and instantly headed for the Professor and the others, his body still ablaze.

The only way forward for the Professor and the others however was through the swamp, and worse, the three remaining vampires in the woods around the Emperor soon started to follow him again.

The time travellers stood their ground however, and Lindsey, the Empress, the Professor and Kirsteen all tried to attack the Emperor with their swords. The vampire managed to dodge every one of their blows, but at least they kept him distracted for the time being. Hu meanwhile used what little magics he had to push one of the vampires into the other two. Whilst they were down on the ground he then stabbed his enchanted sword straight through one of the vampires hearts, and decapitated the other as it rose up.

The vampire that had freed the Emperor however had wisely remained at the back, and it hopped backwards towards the blazing forest where it tore another piece of burning wood from a tree and hurled it at the warlock, causing him to throw himself to the forest floor. The vampire then jumped at Hu and started to slash his back over and over again. Hu called to the others for help, but unfortunately he only distracted them long enough for the Emperor to grab onto the Empress yet again.

Lindsey tried to intervene, but the Emperor knocked Lindsey backwards into the swamp.

"Go help Hu now" The Professor said to Kirsteen.

"But what about".

"Go now!" He shouted.

The Professor picked up the Empress' sword and tried to strike the vampiric Emperor again, but the monster simply threw the Empress' seemingly lifeless body into the Professor, who he then proceeded to beat viciously.

The Professor tried to fight back, but not only was his strength no match for the Jiang Shi, every time he struck the beast he would simply burn his hands on the fire.

Lindsey watched in horror as the Professor was easily overpowered. She tried to break free from the swamps pull, but it was hopeless. Just as all seemed lost, Lindsey felt something pull her up with a tremendous force. It was Asika.

As Lindsey was hoisted up she grabbed some of the quick sand and threw it at the Emperor, drawing his attention away for a few moments. The vampire stood in confusion at the sight of Lindsey hovering in the air, seemingly by herself, and the Professor used this opportunity to thrust the Empress' sword into the Emperor's chest.

The Emperor let out a scream and the Professor pushed the sword in so deep, that it created a mini explosion that hurled the vampire empire ten feet into the swamp to beside Lindsey, though unfortunately he took the sword with him.

The Emperor pulled himself a few feet through the swamp. He still sunk like the others, but his greater strength helped the vampire to resist the pull for longer and even move about to some extent.

The Emperor grabbed onto Lindsey's legs as she was almost pulled free and tried to drag her back down.

Asika tried to pull and pull, but the vampire held on tight. The Professor meanwhile stood powerless at the side. He desperately racked through spells he could use to hurt the vampire in his mind, when suddenly the Empress used her last ounce of strength to throw herself at the Emperor which caused him to let go of Lindsey after which they both sank into the quicksand together. The vampire did not die in the quicksand. It didn't need to breath after all, but it would be trapped, as not only could it not pull itself free now, but the lack of blood over the next few months would cause its strength to deplete greatly.

Kirsteen meanwhile had arrived to see the lesser Vampire standing over Hu's beaten and slashed body. Just as it prepared to land a killing bite on his throat, Kirsteen stabbed it in the back. The vampire reached out and grabbed her by the arm, but she pushed her sword in deeper and deeper until the vampire was thrown through the flames.Rather than stay and fight, the wounded vampire ran through the flaming woods behind, knowing that Kirsteen couldn't follow it.

Kirsteen pulled Hu away from the fire which soon spread throughout most of the nearby forest.

We need to get back to the ship. My magics can repel the flames but we have to hurry. Asika you can't come with us, but you should be safe here. Thank you , thank you" The Professor said as he and the others retreated to the teleportation site before the flames reached it. On the ship the vampire was able to whip up a quick spell which put out the fire below before it spread to the village.

The Professor, Lindsey, and Kirsteen would return to the forest to search for the surviving Jiang Shi. In some ways that was the easiest task they had ahead of them.

Hu decided that he had to be the one to tell the prince that his mother had not made it. That in his mind was his punishment.

"Where's mother? Please tell me."

"I'm sorry son. She died saving all of us. She was a hero to the end."

Hu's kind words didn't sooth the blow for the boy at all.

"Was it, was it that thing that took over my father that killed her."

Hu didn't answer. How could he? Still his silence told the boy everything he needed to know, and the young prince collapsed in the warlock's arms.

The prince surprisingly bore the warlock no ill will. He realised that if Hu had his way from the start, then all of this suffering could be avoided. The boy however also understood his mothers reasons and bore her no ill will either.

Sadly however the rest of the kingdom would not be so forgiving to the late Emperor's family.

The kingdom's capital lay in ruins and Hu was forced to take over, with the Prince being too young. The survivors in the capital championed Hu to be their new ruler after the bravery he had shown against the Jiang Shi. Whilst the warlock was reluctant at first, he soon realised he had no choice, as he had a far greater knowledge of the supernatural than anyone else in the kingdom.

The last of the Jiang meanwhile had managed to escape in the fire and confusion despite the Professor, Lindsey and Kirsteen's best efforts. On top of that there were various other survivors who were infected and would turn over the next few weeks. Though Hu would do his best to try and stamp out the last of the Jiang Shi, the monsters would continue to terrorise the countryside for many more centuries to come and make many more of their kind. They were never able to attack the captial again however, as Hu made sure every civilian knew the weaknesses of the beast. Some Jiang Shi would even be tamed by the magics Hu learned from the Professor and used to protect the cities, but the kingdom would never regain its former protection from the supernatural. Not only would they have to continue to deal with more vampires, but various other demons and supernatural creatures would soon begin to flock to the kingdom once they learned its magical defences were down. Hu would also have to deal with many more spirits and ghosts caused by the magical upheveal too.

Akira meanwhile decided to stay by Lee's side. After the Emperor's defeat, Akira had helped to rebuild the village during which she began to see how her powers could help people. Far from being able to see the world but not interact with it, like she had initially believed, Akira saw that she could influence the world to a greater extent than ever before. She did this with the full knowledge of what would become of her too, as the Professor finally told her just before she left. Whilst much like the Professor had been centuries ago when he first found, she was terrified, heartbroken and bitter that no matter what good she did, she was to be damned to Khastran's dimension. Much like with the Professor, that eventually inspired her to make sure that no one else would ever be damned to that wretched place. With Hu's help, Akira was able to evade being sent to Khastran's dimension for many decades. When she was finally banished however, the entire kingdom, who had worked together to try and protect her, grieved.

Arguably Hu's biggest obstacle when he first took power however, was to arrange a funeral for the Empress. Most of the survivors were against it, but Hu felt he owed it to the Prince who he would look after as his own son. Sadly however the Empress' grave was vandalised many times over the next few decades and eventually became unmarked.

The Professor, Lindsey and Kirsteen meanwhile stayed for just a few months to help Hu get settled in as the new Emperor, before quietly slipping away back to their ship.

Hu had not wanted them to leave at all. He felt that he could only protect the kingdom properly with the three time travellers help, but sadly they were needed elsewhere in time and space.

The warlock continued to rule as the Emperor for many more centuries to come, with his magics allowing him to remain immortal. Though he felt betrayed at the Professor, Lindsey and Kirsteen leaving him as the centuries rolled on, he felt confident that he would see them again. When that did happen however, it was not in a way he could have predicted. Hu in the centuries had become a very different person by that point, but that is a story for another time.