Chapter 0068 - Fate and Family

Under the Kings Order, many of the houses of the people from Herl were searched heavily, their interiors turned upside down and destroyed. None of them were spared due to the association with the Zao family and Old Man Jiang, most of the survivors had lost anything they owned before they were forced into becoming slaves. The ransacking of private homes and property was the first order after the fires from King Wang Wei.

"Why couldn't you find them?" King Wang watched another of the slaves driven through by a spear.

"Trackers were led north, Herl is a blasted graveyard and more of the devils are coming down the Mountains. My Lord, reports from forward scouts say that the Vampires were party to the group that slaughtered Herl. We've also lost an entire squad of our Cavalry as a result, the only reason we know of this is because we had a turn of luck, there was a lone survivor." A Soldier reported to the King while sweating profusely, he didn't want to be blamed for failure. Each of the King's soldiers had seen it more frequently, anyone who disappointed the King was put to death.

"Bring him in!" The King ordered. With the surviving Soldier in front of the King, he continued, "How did you survive?"

"Your Majesty, I was at the rear of the forces. When we searched Herl to look for the escapees, another force was already present. There was a Sect were present, if it wasn't for the dead bodies covering my body, I would have died instantly. I was fortunate enough to have a horse land on top of me, saving my life long enough to report to the King." Pouring all of his feelings into his explanation the soldier passionately reported to the King, he didn't want to die.

Mercy was not on the menu.

"Take this Deserter to the City Gates and hang him." King Wang stood up and started to pace around the man, he was being stripped of his dignity. "While you have brought information back, your job was to capture them. Yet, you live when your orders were clear and your fellow fighters are laying dead in the distance." Wang Wei pulled a dagger from his belt and cut off the Man's left thumb. "Guards, make sure to strip him bare before you hang him. Let everyone see the coward in all his glory."

Nodding, the King felt like he had just made the correct decision and took a deep look over at his Magistrates.

"You three, Investigate Herl. If demon forces are still present, don't interfere, return back and report. I also want better trackers!" He slammed his fist into the prisoner's jaw, knocking him over. "That Old bastard Jiang will work for me whether he likes it or not. Pass it down to your subordinates, report to me when you find something." The King paced across the court for a few minutes and walked to his bed chamber.

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Time kept flying for the Zao Clan, they traveled to the East without fail. None of them knew where they would end up but there was no route for their return. The plains were vast, traveling with so many people caused a lot of stops that kept them slow and an easy target for beasts. Master Jiang was a vigilant driver and Ooran was swapping with Zhan to stand guard.

Calistown and Rachael were resting quietly on the cart when they saw a glimmer in the distance at about the same time that Ooran and Old Man Jiang. "I think there is something ahead!" Almost simultaneously everyone was looking, pointing and shouting.

"It looks like a bunch of stone statues." On further approach, they noticed it was a in the shape of a face, it was half buried but it was definitely a face carved into the stone. Fearful, they all kept their distance and began to pass through the area carefully. Bandits had a habit of keeping close to things that the attentions of others. Obstacles of any kind were commonly used for ambush attacks and robbery.

"No one make a sound, lets pass through here quickly and quietly. I don't know what will happen but this place gives me the creeps." Master Jiang was unwilling to risk anyone, he knew the dangers the open world held. The Giant statues had hands larger than his companions, if they were indeed alive, they were not something that he would choose to enrage or trivialize in any way. Such a large creature could swat them all to death, accidentally.

None of the Stone Giants were interested in the Cart or the people, there was no movement or reactions. Everyone remained quiet, even their breathing had calmed until they were surrounded by the enormous statues. The stopped moving like mounds of sand when they saw one of the Giants slapped its hand to it's chest and crushed something on its body. The noise, a detestable and disgusting popping noise could be heard by all that were around.

'BOOM' Another, altogether different noise rang out but it was muffled. The explosion sound was followed by a crackling and the sound of shifting sands.

In the distance ahead, a large pit started to swallow up the landscape. Something had collapsed underground, it was likely that a tomb had collapsed under the weight of the sands. The explosive force made the ground tremble and spooked the cattle that were driving the carriage into a frantic sprint. The cattle were running for their lives.

Choosing not to stay anywhere near the depression that suddenly showed up in front of them, Master Jiang pushed the carriage faster in an effort to exit the immediate area. Those on foot ran at their fastest. It was impossible to tell what dangers laid ahead but their situation was even worse if they decided to stick around and find out what would come out of the sands. If it was a tomb, there was not telling what sort of creatures would be loosed onto the surface and anything that was disturbed to such a degree would undoubtedly become violent.

"Manage yourselves, don't fall off and make sure to hang on tight." Master Jiang could see several figures exiting the sinkhole, all of them had horns on their heads. They did not look happy and the horned humanoids were rushing off into every direction like a stirred Anthill.

None of the escaping horned, beast-like men were headed after the carriage. Instead, most of them were fleeing for their lives in panic.

"They aren't coming, we might be able to escape this." Zhan was looking back with his bow drawn, he had pulled an arrow from the quiver on his back and it was lit. He wasn't willing to engage them without reason or cause but he kept aim on anything that looked like it would come after them.

Zhan held the bowstring tightly. 'The Zao Clan has to survive,' He grit his teeth and scanned his surroundings with intent.

Minutes passed into hours and the still collapsing sinkhole was now in the background. The Suns were starting to set and the evening sky made navigation easy. On a flat ground they could only point themselves in one direction and pray they were on the correct heading.

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Pushing off the Ground, Wu Hai had the direction he needed and the group flew away from the collapsing City. It was not long before sunset and none of them were interested in staying in the area to watch the pit expand.

Genba held onto the Jiao tightly, he had never been off the ground. Knowing that he wouldn't fall if he just held tightly, his fingers were close to digging into the waist of Khan Ni.

"You don't have to hold me so tightly, Jiao Jiao flies straight and is easy to stay on top of." Khan Ni relied on her wits most of the time and as a Wood-Elf, she was use to leaping from branch to branch.

However, as a Minotaur, Genba was completely unfamiliar with the concept.

"Don't worry, just relax. We're out of that problem and onto our next." Khan Ni consoled Genba one more time. They followed behind Wu Hai, Darkwing, and the Twins into the horizon while there was still light.

"Master, A pack of Humans is fleeing the Ruins.." Darkwing pointed at the ground, spread his wings and dove down to take a closer look. They hadn't seen any humans in Minaur but anything was possible.

When he arrived, he found a number of people hiding in the carriage and three men driving the cattle at full speed. They were completely disinterested in approaching monsters, several of the children were already whimpering. A Black Firewolf was running alongside the carriage, it spat fire into the air to ward Darkwing away.

It was no surprise when the Oldest of the three men threw a large sharp spear toward Darkwing.

Darkwing quickly disintegrated it. By the time any of it met his body, the spear was already dust. Flying further ahead, he noticed that a hail of flaming arrows was rushing toward him in expert fashion. Dodging them was not difficult, Darkwing had spent most of his life as a bird, he was very familiar with hunters. The arrows were well aimed and if he hadn't dodged in time, he could have been in a lot of pain.

Soon, Darkwing felt a Crushing pressure. It came from no where and after scanning with his perception, he still couldn't identify the energy source.

A small and tiny human rushed out of the carriage against the wishes of the others. It sped toward Darkwing and he could feel himself having a difficultly remaining in the air. It was like his power was being ripped from his body.

With a whoosh, The small human swept past Darkwing in an instant. It didn't stop for anything.

Stopping in midair before Wu Hai, the small human screamed, "BROTHER!"

As tears ran down her face, Lei kept repeating herself while clinging to him. "BROTHER, BROTHER, BROTHER, BROTHER!" Leaping onto his chest, her voice was absolutely unexpected.

Wu Hai couldn't believe his eyes. They were hundreds of miles from the Capital, in a random direction. A Chance encounter with his baby sister, so far from the Capital was not only improbable but downright impossible, it had to be Fate. Realizing that his Sister was actually in front of him, Wu Hai stopped flapping his wings and stalled in the air.

His elemental body was able to manipulate itself into many shapes, giving himself wings required no effort at all. "Lei Lei!, What are you doing here!!" Wu Hai couldn't help but search the surroundings, he looked down to where Darkwing was pointing earlier and saw the carriage.

"COME DOWN!" Ooran stared up and saw Lei hugging the man in the sky. Worried and terrified at the same time, he kept calling out. No one else in his group could fly, if the creatures above had malicious thoughts then there was nothing Ooran could say besides goodbye.

Soon more of the passengers on the carriage also exited to call out, "LEI! GET BACK HURRY!"

All of the Calls for her return fell on deaf ears, Lei was not letting go. She had missed her brother a lot, he was not going anywhere. "Mother and Father are below. Brother and Rachael, even Master is with us. We should go down, they sound mad." Lei smiled and looked up at her brother to speak, it was the first time that Wu Hai had actually heard his sisters voice and she spoke so elegantly.

'Master, Father, Mother, Brother, Sister.. What happened?' Wu Hai had so much going through his mind, he couldn't figure out the details quick enough.

"Un." He nodded then gave the signal to land. The group descended from the sky and slowly approached the carriage. Zao Lei led Wu Hai directly to their Father and Master Jiang near the front.