by Mark Swaine
“Xiaojian,” slurs Quon.
“Quon, stay back,” warns Xiaojian guiltily.
“I am hungry, so very hungry,” moans Quon.
“Quon, what have you become?” cries Xiaojian.
“Help me Xiaojian, please help me,” pleads Quon.
Xiaojian shakes her head in reply, sobbing wildly as she walks back. Stepping back over the twitching bodies, she raises her sword in warning as a thick stream of blood trickles down her temple from her previous tumble. Quon begins panting with his lower jaw jutting forward and he drools wildly with his eyes fully open, imagining how satisfying it would be just to taste a meagre sample of her rich, fresh blood.
In his primitive state, Quon realises he doesn't have to imagine, and would only taste a little, just enough to sate his appetite, and if she wouldn't give it willingly, then he will take it. Quon's top lip rises as he reveals his blood layered teeth whilst bounding toward Xiaojian. With a swing of her sword, Xiaojian strikes without further hesitance leaving a neat red line circling his neck. Quon's head topples from his neck as his body falls flat to the ground, then she sees the fallen people of the billage rising as undead and heading for the Healing Hut. The Healer's Hut, filled with incapacitated and wounded people, people screaming for aid as they watch the undead visitors stagger toward them. Xiaojian cuts them down, slicing of the heads of the unwelcome groaning guests before heading back outside, ready to guard her defenceless patients against the oncoming horde of starving undead who she once hailed as friends. In the Kang Fu Gardens, Péiyù and the Carer's sob and yell wildly as dragons lay waste to their precious nursery of plants and flowers. A dragon hovers above the burning trees, fanning the flames from heavy beats of its jagged wings. The teams of timid Carers find themselves surrounded by Raiders and Mercenaries rappelling down from the dragons ridged rolling backs. Amid the flames, the sword skilled Carers try their ultimate best to defend themselves from the Raiders, but are no match for their bloodthirsty ferocity. As they are hacked down in cackles of laughter and savage grunting, only Peiyu remains. Holding the treasured Orchid that her friend Yu-Huang had left in her care, she turns to face an attacker. A skinny Raider underestimates the slim and innocent teen and assumes a simple thrust of his blade will end her life. The Raider gasps as he is repeatedly stabbed by Peiyu's blade, and he gasps no more as she sticks her blade into his throat and out through his head. The other Raiders, a little more than amused at their comrade’s demise at the hands of a mere Gardener, advance together. In an uncoordinated attack, the raiders pit themselves against the girl swinging maces and thrusting rusty jagged swords.
“That is her, Peiyu,” sneers a Raider surely whilst tossing a scruffy parchment to the ground.
“Easy riches,” sneers another.
“Let’s have some fun,” adds another with leering eyes.
As they move in together, sprays of blood decorate patches of unburnt flower beds in an extravaganza of scarlet showers as Peiyu strikes them down without so much as breaking a sweat. But with more raiders leaping from the dragons rushing by over head, Peiyu finds herself outnumbered and so runs, and leads them to a place where she holds better advantage.
Peiyu leads the raiders through a gate reading 禁區，閒人就會被吃掉 (Forbidden area, Trespassers will be eaten). Peiyu runs through the gate, beckoning the raiders and mercenaries into the dense thick brush. The raiders charge on, hacking through the forestry until stopping suddenly as they almost fall from the ledge of a large bowled grassy pit laden with large exotic flora. Precariously regaining their balance on the ledge, those charging from behind knock them tumbling into a rolling slide down the grassy bank strewn with large pods, Orchids and various other alien looking flowers and plants. The pods vary in length and colour, and are mainly red, pink and yellow, but all are decorated with black spots or stripes. The raiders hear a shrill whistle from above, and they look up to see Peiyu balancing on a lattice of suspended planks held by vines tied to the trees above. Peiyu smiles at the men below as they aim their swords upward at her in a threatening manner.
“Do not step on the plants,” says Peiyu threateningly, and sneakily.
The raider smiles dastardly at Peiyu and maintains eye contact with her as he begins walking to the edge of the grassy pit. In his back tracking journey, he pretends to over step a cluster of yellow and pink feather shaped petals sticking upright.
The raider spitefully stamps his foot down on the beautiful collection of petals, but his smug grin changes immediately as he screams at the top his voice. As the petals drive through his foot, they spread out and clamp down. The raider desperately tries to rip his foot free and pulls repeatedly at the stems and uproots. The network of roots leads to a shaking pod beside him that slowly begins to open into four quarters. The sleek open mouth of the pod leans upright and the vine shuffles loose from the dirt and lifts the maimed raider up by his foot. The vine dangles the raider above its pretty colourful mouth and the quartered leaves of the pod peel open to lie flush against the ground. The undressed pod reveals its belly, a large bulbous transparent circular case with razor sharp filaments spinning at high speed in the base of its acid filled gut. The raider screams for aid from his partners in crime, but they flee as they're suddenly aware of the hostile environment. The living vine coils around the raider, asphyxiating him with tight choking squeezes. With no fight left in him, the vine neatly tucks the raider into the slippery pliable mouth of the capsule. Inside the transparent and gooey pod, the raider places his hands against the inside wall and slides them all across the surface looking for a weakness or a seam, some kind of hold he could use to rip himself free from the thick strong membrane. Within the pulsating steaming ovule, a fountain of digestive acids fills the enclosure, and although the raider's face preaches the most agonising fate imaginable, his scream can barely be heard. The long filaments rise through the ovule and begin spinning rapidly, blending him into a nutritious drink while the digestive acids melt his body into a bloody raider smoothly.
As the other Raiders make for the edge in a panic, they too become victims of the aggressive flora. One of the raiders steps onto a vine and a large square leaf flaps upwards from the multicoloured ground. The raider runs face first into the sticky red leaf, and his muffled screams can only suggest he is trying to free his face from the sweet gluey sheet. The raider pulls his face away revealing half of his screaming skeletal face as strands of flesh and skin dangle from his face to the leaf. With his body still attached to the leaf, the leaf begins receding to the mushy centre of its tall rectangular lilac mottled anthers. Begging for help, the raider is pulled into the thick crowd of anthers until all that can be seen is a gauntlet clad hand disappearing in a gripping struggle. A few seconds later a seam opens up in the centre of the lethal flower's ovary to release a vertical sheet of steaming blood. The last raider whimpers as he looks in all directions whilst backing into trees and jumping at the overhead brush touching his head. The raider cautiously leaps over a dangerously coloured pod and leaps into the centre of a puddle whilst laughing ridiculously at himself. The raider looks down at his spaced feet, and finds them stuck in the gelatinous gloopy transparent matter. The raider nervously observes the circular formation of petals surrounding the large puddle, and he suddenly feels himself lifting upwards. The flower rises from the ground on a wide spiral stem and the raider wobbles as he struggles to maintain his balance. Suddenly steam begins to rise from the pool of liquid and the raider howls in agony as his feet begin to melt. The raider's face is constant with torture as he finds himself sinking to his waist in bloody bursting bubbles. Using his hands to brace his further descent, his skin and bones melt up to his elbows as they liquefy into the organic acid. The dissolved raider is then sucked down the whirlpool and into the flower's spiral stem. Finally the raiders head disappears before issuing a short gurgle. Seconds later, the hollow thorns of the flower stem blows out bouts of whistling steam before ejecting blood in all directions.
“That
man is my brother,” says a mercenary before leaping onto the suspending network of planks to face Peiyu.
“Not anymore,” says Peiyu smirking, “You too will die for killing my people today,” replies Peiyu, gesturing him further forward.
The merciless marauder, followed by a few others, advance onto the planks and spread out to surround Peiyu. Moving in cautiously, they spin their blades threateningly whilst hopping onto various platforms. Peiyu watches two men heading her off at both ends of the platform and she sets the treasured Orchid down between her spaced feet. The two attackers run forward from both directions and Peiyu quickly pulls on a vine. An Orchid flips open on the sloped wall and shoots a short spray of pink, sweet smelling liquid. A raider stops in his sprint whilst clutching the back of his smoking head and he shrieks loudly as he pulls a clump of his skull from the back of his head. As he looks in shock at the piece of soft skull melting in his hand, he watches a large fragment of his brain melting inside it. In a panic, the raider topples from the platform and lands onto a large black and violet outstretched lily pad. Landing with a gentle thud, the back of his soft head splats open, leaving him too wounded to move. Though fully conscious, he watches the centre of the lily pad pulsating as his blood runs down the moist white hole in the centre. The paralysed man hopes his death is quick as he watches the centre of the lily pad sink lower beneath the ground. His wide eyes dart about as his body slides down the slippery ramped leaf and the white hole opens up to fit its mouth around his feet, legs and finally his torso. The man's mouth trembles as he slips into the void and his death is far from painless. The hole opens up again and shoots out the man's juicy skeleton and his bones free apart in mid air amidst a geyser of steaming blood.
A raider looking for vengeance attempts to replicate Peiyu's attack by yanking on a vine above his head. His luck pays of as a spray of liquid shoots toward Peiyu's face but with lightning-quick reflexes she removes a large fan made of leaves and flips it open to use as a shield. The acid impacts upon the leafy fan and she flicks off the poison before flipping it closed and placing it back into her slacks. Peiyu smiles smugly at the Raider before somersaulting along the plank and backflipping over him and cutting him from above in mid air. The Raider's arms drop from his shoulders as blood spurts from both his clean cut stumps. Peiyu cuts his legs from beneath him and the rest of his body falls to the hungry denizens of the forbidden flowerbeds below. Another raider tugs on a vine, hoping that he too will activate a plant to perform a savage attack in Peiyu's direction. Instead, he looks down at his chest to find it impaled by poisonous barbs. He falls from the plank and Peiyu begins attacking the other marauders amidst a heavy sound of munching and crunching bones. Peiyu kicks an attacker and he loses his balance and clutches onto a bunch of tightly packed vines. Peiyu appears alerted and spins her sword around her in a protective whirling shield to deflect a barrage of oncoming barbs shooting all around her. The dangling raider spins around with his face impaled with spikes and screams with fury at Peiyu.
“Bid hello to your brother for me,” says Peiyu before cutting the vine.
The Raider falls to his death and is diced into blocks by the defensive spinning petals flowers on his way down, still clutching to life as he’s scavenged by the plant life around him. With all the raiders dead, or still being consumed, Peiyu doesn't notice one of the vines holding up the platform slowly unravelling. Eventually the final twine snaps and destabilises the platform. As Peiyu loses balance, her cherished Orchid rolls along the edge of the platform and she gives urgent chase. The plant pot bounces off the edge and she tumbles over with it and grabs the Orchid by its stem whilst clinging onto the plank. The plant pot slides loose from the stumpy cylinder of soil, and Peiyu breathes a sigh of relief as she pulls herself back up before checking it from all angles.
Standing back to her feet on the unsteady platform, she admires the flower in entirety, thankful it is still in one piece for when her friend Yu-Huang returns. Suddenly one of the petals drops loose and blows away and Peiyu reaches out for it in a sterling panic and loses her balance. Peiyu topples backwards and drops to the ground below, and only her screams reveal her fate as she is devoured by that which she cares so much for. In the Lǜsè de Shān village, Laoshi fights back raiders and the undead whilst the other teachers escort children to hidden stairwells leading to a bunker. A teacher calls out to Laoshi and nods, signifying all the children are safe and out of sight. Laoshi nods sternly and continues fighting back the horde outside the school.
“Shuang Jinfei, you must come now,” yells Howin Yeo, a fellow teacher.
“Leave Howin Yeo, stay with the children, I will hold them here,” shouts Laoshi, ducking into a cutting spin. “Now!” bellows Laoshi, whilst driving a blade through a raider’s heart.
Laoshi is at peace as she thinks upon the safety of her innocent and frightened pupils. Laoshi fights without fear of dying knowing that her lost pupil Xunsu is safe with her guardian Samurai. Laoshi is proud of the girl for returning to the place that has caused her so much horror, and is even more proud that she found her way in the form of an honourable purpose. Laoshi has no favourite pupil, she loves all her children, but the tearful embrace that Xunsu had greeted her with upon her return had made everything right with the world. Xunsu's disappearance had weighed heavily on Laoshi's heart, and she feared she had failed the infant girl. But seeing her standing at the school gate beside the handsome frivolous Samurai, Akio, she knows she will be safe always with the Emperor as her surrogate parent figure. Laoshi fears not death, not this day, not anymore, but she will not go willingly, not with these undead beasts terrorising her homestead, enough bad has happened around these parts. She hopes Xunsu's father is rotting in the Liumang prison for he has done, even if she understands why de did what he did. By the time Laoshi stops thinking, she realises she had killed all in her path with bodies slumped over curved stone walls and blood running between the cracks of the cobbled country lane. With the children safe and the area secured, Laoshi assumes it safe to make haste to her grandmother's hut in the hills where she would surely be out of harms reach. Laoshi leaps over the gate and runs to a stop in the middle of the country lane as she sees a stooped, cloaked and hooded figure aided by a walking stick slowly making her way down the hill. Laoshi looks at a trail of blood dripping from inside one of the old woman's draping sleeves. The old woman's thin clenched hands reach below her sleeves, and one of them is soaked in blood. Her scrawny hand opens up to reveal her long bony fingers grazing the surface of the ground. Two small circular objects escape her palm and roll down the hill, stopping at Laoshi's feet.
“You have your Grandmother's eyes,” says the old hag in a hushed coarse whisper.
Laoshi wells up in anger as she instantly recognises the severed eyeballs. Laoshi watches the Witch transport closer to her in shifting movements of shadow, until they are face to face over a short distance.
“My Grandmother, she never hurt anybody. Name yourself, I desire the name of my Grandmother's murderer, I will remember it long after you die, long after I remove your head from your body,” says Laoshi, forming an offensive stance.
“I am Onibaba, the demon hag of Adachigahara, and you are the great Shuang Jinfei. Much power awaits me upon your demise,” replies the old Witch.
Laoshi moves forward to strike down the Witch and the old hag floats to the side and knocks Laoshi onto her back with a force of telekinetic energy. On her back, Laoshi coughs a burst of blood as she nurses her injured chest. Struggling back to her feet, the Witch swoops down and grabs Laoshi by the neck. The Witch flies forward and tosses Laoshi through the stone wall of the school, sending her into a bloody roll into the dojo and armory. As Laoshi lays bloody and wounded face down on her chest, she slowly opens her eyes to see the children looking up at her between the floorboards. The children cry hysterically with the protective hands of her distraught fellow teachers covering their mouths to muffle their cries. Laoshi smiles down at the children with a quick wink and fli
ps back onto her feet. Recalling the lessons in magic that her Grandmother had taught her, Laoshi throws her sword into the wall then wipes the blood from her mouth.
“Have care little girl, magic is forbidden in the great Huangha city, remember?” cackles the Witch, floating erratically around Laoshi.
Laoshi ignores the taunts of the Witch and closes her eyes to focus. Forming a meditating stance with her fist enclosed around the tight palm of her other hand, she breathes deep through her thin pursed lips. The Witch swoops down to attack Laoshi with an outstretched hand of long fingernails, and Laoshi roundhouse kicks the air before the Hag even can even reach her. The kinetic force of impact knocks the Witch's head through the stone wall and she falls to the dojo floor. The old woman rips of her hood to reveal her face popping with sores and insect eggs hatching and pulsating under her wrinkled wet skin. With one side of her head covered with grey frizzy hair, the scalp of the other half is completely ripped off to reveal her cracked skull. The Witch is powerful, but mortal, and she growls back into a hover making no more plan's to underestimate her target.