The King Of The Realm

Colt had just seen death from only a few feet below him, and he exhaled like a dying wolf as soon as he was saved. Neilus forcefully shook Vegas to snap her out of being unconscious, but he failed, and both of their eyes were looking at the terror that stood in front of them. 

The ghost looked more like a human body now, as each of its heads got decapitated. But it grew stronger and became unstoppable. It was still a pale white, faceless monster with a long, wavy beard that was also white. 

"Fuck! Everyone's dead! Colt man, I don't wanna die..." Neilus confessed weakly as tears rained down from his face. 

"Dammit Neil! You're a warrior. Even if you're gonna die, die bravely." Colt removed his knight helmet, and it revealed a handsome man with brown hair and fierce eyes. He picked up his longsword from the ground and stood up with a firm stance. He was ready for anything. 

Neilus was astounded at the man's nature, but he always knew that about him. 

"Get up and pick up your weapon, Neilus! This is what our commander would've wanted us to do." 

And then Neilus grabbed his sword and stood up with a bent posture. Both of them took a glance at their commander, Wes Grand's body and fought back tears. 

"You served us well, commander." They pronounced. 

"ZHWWWWW! FOOLS!" The ghost exclaimed and started sprinting towards the last two. 

…

!

A lightning struck from the cloudy, dark skies.

"Holy sh…" Neilus yelled.

The ghost figure halted immediately and lifted its last head to look at the sky. 

"Oh…My…" Colt breathed. 

"It is true, then."

It was Yin Kang, floating in the night sky, with a very unhappy look in the eyes, and he stared directly at the terrifying creature with no ounce of fear in his body. 

"This Is Impossible!" It said. 

"What Truly Are You Fool?" It asked him.

"A friend." 

Yin Kang zoomed near his friends through the wind while he was levitating.

"Colt, could you throw me your longsword?" He requested. 

Colt hurled it up in the air without any hesitation, and Yin caught it with a steady grip. 

Without wasting another second, he gravitated through the wind and slashed the sword at the creature. It went through its right arm as it tried to block it. 

"ZZZHWWW!" It squealed in pain. 

Yin withdrew the sword from its arm like a masterful chef, fluidly and with ease. And he did not give it time to recover, so he zoomed to its sides and tried cutting the body in half. But the creature pushed those attempts away and struck Yin as hard as it could. The attack was heavy and covered Yin in a dust cloud. But as it cleared, he seemed to be unharmed. The attack wasn't that effective. He was able to withstand the enormous pressure and damage. 

Colt and Neilus stood unmoved as they watched the God and the Devil fight against each other. 

"Too bad." Yin whispered to himself, and he clutched the longsword with both of his hands and dove forward in the air. The ghost took the chance, shifted its arms into blades, and cut him as he came closer. But it took the bait, and Yin dodged underneath the attack and flew behind the ghost.

"Goodnight, you white freak!" He announced and beheaded the last head with a single swing, and the creature turned into ashes and vanished completely. 

The White Freak was no more. 

"It's dead! Fuck yeah!" Neilus jumped with joy, and Colt put on his helmet again with a satisfied smile.

Yin Kang lowered himself from the flight and touched the snowy floors. 

"Should we bow to you now?" Neilus asked, doubted. 

"Shut up, Neil." 

"A pretty sword this is." Yin politely handed the longsword back to its owner. 

Colt grabbed it and hugged Yin. 

"You saved us. Thank you." He spoke through his helmet. 

"Yeah! It was a fuckin' fever dream." Neilus added to the acknowledgment.

"No. I didn't. I didn't save everyone. They all followed me, believed me, but I couldn't save them all," Yin answered with a dry tone. 

"Hey, you didn't know that the fuckin' spirit of the three Elders was haunting this place, and neither did we. What's done is done." Neilus argued. 

"We must all at least give Wes Grand a proper burial in the middle of the village for his bravery." Yin suggested. 

"Indeed."

"Vegas? She did not die, did she?" Yin queried with a shaking voice. 

"Oh no! No no! She's just unconscious."

"Good. I'd like to carry her down. Colt, carry the commander, and Neil, I want you to carry something important…" Yin ordered specifically. 

"Ready to rewrite history?" He smiled. 

…

The burning moon had almost vanished, and the dawn was arising, bright and warm. The hoots of the night owls were gone, and the morning birds took the throne. The people in the village were starting to lose hope on the return of the crew that went up. Some were restless, and some didn't care. But nothing could've prepared them for what was coming down to them. 

The sun was searing the crowd's faces, and they were tired of waiting.

"They've probably died." They spoke.

"Oh look! There are back!" It was the kids again who pointed it out. 

"Well, some of them…" They corrected.

The three members made their way into the center of the crowd and stood in silence.

The crowd looked at them, shocked. 

"What happened?" Slowly, everyone raised their voices and questioned. 

"Did it snow there?" The kids asked with wonder. 

"What about our Moon Goddess?" 

There were a stupid number of questions from the massively seated crowd. 

After a brief silence, Yin spoke. 

"I would like to start by saying that when we left last night, there were seven of us. Wes Grand, the commander of the Plateau's band, Colt, Neilus, and Vegas, who are part of the same crew. Redyn, Old Slinton. And lastly myself. Now, only four of us have returned alive. Redyn and Old Slinton had an unfortunate death on our way back. They fell. Wes Grand, the commander here, as you can see, is dead. The gruesome work of a wild dog. It cut straight through him, and we killed it afterwards. But we still want to give the man a proper burial here for his service." He lied to not make the situation difficult. 

The crowd stared at him in utter disbelief.

"What happened to Vegas? Where is she then?" People questioned.

"She's at home, safe, well, and alive. She just fell unconscious." He answered immediately. 

"Enough of this bullshit! What did you find? What about our Goddess?" The crowd raged.

Yin smiled and called forth Neilus, who stood behind him. 

"Show them Neilus." 

Neilus displayed the two engraved rock slabs from the graveyards they found. 

The crowd gasped in disbelief.

"It is true! King Kontello was buried up there." The crowd cheered for their great discovery.

"But who's Vienna? What does 'only true lover' mean?" They quickly realised this.

"Vienna was King Kontello's one and only wife, who perished eight years before he died. King Kontello spent his remaining years grieving and mourning over his beloved wife's death. Moreover, it was he who buried his wife up there, near the moon. The King believed that his wife was the moon and prayed to it. But no. it was still a moon, and when King Kontello's own death came, The Elders buried him there because they knew that's what King Kontello Greyfold would've wanted himself." Yin Kang unraveled the mystery of the Realm. 

The crowd was simply dumbfounded. 

"What about the blue moon, then?" 

"I may not have a concrete answer for that, but I assume when the Elders buried the King, they could've performed some dark magic to make the world believe that the Moon Goddess was true…"

The crowd was speechless, both the believers and the non-believers. 

Yin scanned their faces and understood the bafflement that resided. 

"Everyone wait here for me…"

Yin left the village and walked along the route that led to the Plateau. 

Colt and Neilus stood there in silence.

"What is the meaning of all this? Were we all wrong for all these years?" People questioned themselves. 

After a few minutes, the kids yelled again.

"Look up!" 

They could see a tall person standing at the edge of the Plateau, right in front of the sun, covering it like a shade. Only his silhouette was seen.

"What's he doing now?" They gazed upon the shadow man. 

"O' God!"

"Look out!"

Yin Kang took a leap of faith from the incredible height, and he was plummeting to his death.

"Oh god!" 

The crowd screamed, terrified. 

Yin closed his eyes and thought of Mei Chang, and smiled. 

Before his body could touch death, Yin Kang was levitating. Like a magician they've read in a book. He stood in the free air, looking down at the people. 

"God." 

"Dear God, it's truly you!" 

They exclaimed. 

Within a matter of seconds, the perplexed crowd assembled together and bowed with their heads touching the hot sand. 

"You're our true God! You're our true King! We bow to you!" 

And Yin Kang spoke,

"People of this Unnamed Realm, you're mine. Every single one of you are mine. I'm willing to help you, serve you, and even die for you, and so will you all for me likewise, and I will not let this Realm remain unnamed. I've become what I am only because of one person. And that is Mei Chang. My girl. My Vienna. My Moon Goddess. So from now on, this Realm will be named Meilands"

People cried to their new God, new King, that was Yin Kang. 

"Hail The New King Of The Realm!"

"Hail The New King Of The Realm!" 

"Hail The New King Of The Realm!"

They chanted loudly and joyously. 

Yin Kang bowed to his new appointment, as he levitated in the air. 

A new history was written.

…

The day went fast, and the beautiful moon was rising up. Vegas woke up from the long sleep, and her mother and Yin were the first things she thought of. She turned around and found that her mother was next to her. She was relieved. Juno was standing, supported by the wall, and she picked him up and headed out. 

Colt and Neilus stood outside, laughing and chatting. 

"Yo." 

"Oh, hey Vegas! How are you feelin' now?" Neilus asked first. 

Then Colt, "You all right?" 

"I'm all alrighty boys. Where's Yin?"

"Oh you don't know. He was named the King Of The Realm this morning, so you have to address him as King Kang or something..."

"Ew! He wouldn't like that." 

Colt and Neilus laughed at her.

"He's in the forest, near the lake." They said.

…

Vegas walked barefoot through the forest after a long day. She reeked of sweat and dried blood. 

"King Kang…" She called.

"Hey friend. You're finally awake."

She sat next to him in the dark forest; fireflies buzzed near them, and Yin admired them. 

"You know… You only look weightless, but when I carried you, I felt otherwise. Now my arms hurt." Yin joked.

"Ah! You shoulda left me there to die then." 

They laughed.

Vegas got up, walked over to the lake, and slowly started undressing herself, one by one.

"Woah! What're you doing, Vegas?" Yin yelled as he turned away from her. 

"I don't care if you look." She dropped her clothes and dipped inside the lake to wash herself. She played with the water like a kid and swam elegantly. 

"I'm just gonna sleep here." Yin informed.

He closed his eyes after two whole days of battle and bloodshed. But not once was he tired, hungry, or thirsty.

As his eyes shut completely, he was taken into a familiar place. A place he's already been.

It was the same dark, empty hall. The same place he found himself after he died. 

"Impressive start, Yin Kang. You're now The King Of This Realm."

"What actually is this place, Xil?" He didn't bother to respond to the praise. 

"The Astral Realm." 

"Oh."

"This is a dimension-less void. Every dead being roams as a soul here. Any being from any dimension. You are a three dimension being, while I'm a higher-dimensional being, and we are one. That's why you and I can only communicate in this place, as it contains no dimension."

"That is useful." 

"Yin Kang, your next mission is to retrieve my sword."

"You're sword?!" He asked excitedly. 

"The Sword Of Equilibrium."

"Right now, it's in the hands of the strongest guardian of the Under Realm." Xil continued.

"But will I be able to do it?" Yin was questioned with uncertainty. 

"Yin Kang. It is not about whether you can do it or not. You must." 

A vision of Mei Chang appeared in front of him and he felt at ease. 

"I will do it." Yin answered firmly now.

The vision of Mei Chang leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

…

"Wow. You slept so fast, Mr. King?"

There were no answers.

Vegas looked down at his resting self as she wiped her naked body. She had bathed herself with the memory flowers, and her body was now soft and fresh. 

Vegas sat down and laid beside him. 

She gazed desperately at his beautiful face and cried.

"Fuck, I can never be your Mei Chang, right?" 

She went close to his lips and kissed them passionately.

A tear ran down her face. 

…

~ END OF VOLUME 1

…

[FROM THE NEXT CHAPTER BEGINS "THE SWORD OF EQUILIBRIUM ARC"]