WAR IN THE CELESTIAL REALM
Rebel soldiers rushed into the great hall through the open doorway under a bellowing cloud of smoke. They charged towards the podium where the emperor and his advisers were sitting.
Imperial guards brandishing weapons rushed to intercept the rebel soldiers.
Scenes of fierce fighting broke out as rebel soldiers and imperial guards engaged in one on one skirmishes. The intervention by imperial guards temporarily stopping the advance by rebel soldiers. However as more rebel soldiers continued to pour into the great hall, the numerical advantage began to tell. The tide of battle swinging decidededly in favour of the invaders.
The outnumbered imperial guards rapidly began to fall to the superior numbers of the attacking rebel force.
In the chaos of the fighting, field marshall Li Keng suddenly appeared in the midst of it all. He was fighting with the fierceness of a cornered tiger, cutting down an imperial guard, swinging, thrusting with the sword, jabbing. Cutting down another imperial guard attempting to halt his progress towards the podium. His advance was unquenchable like a raging fire, accounting for several imperial guards, single handed.
"Traitor!," shouted Kai Shek angrilly, sitting on one side of the emperor. "It is clear, Li Keng has betrayed your highness!" Kai Shek pointed out the obvious. As field marshal Li Keng fought his way with fierce determination past the imperial guards attemping to stop his advance.
"Your highness, it is too dangerous to be here. We must get you to safety right away," Liu Chang urged the emperor with a sense of urgency. As Li Keng and his men getting were getting closer to the podium.
"The grand dragon of jade heaven will not run," the emperor replied calmly, with a sense of defiance in his tone. "You and Kai Shek must leave immediately. I will stay with my men. Look how bravely they fight for their emperor and face down death," the emperor remarked calmly with a sense of pride.
The emperor with hi set on the podium watching as the fighting getting ever closer. Several imperial guards and rebel soldiers lay dead.
Some were still entangled together as they had killed each other in the heat of battle. Others lay strewn where they had been cut down. In the midst of the carnage fighting was resuming without pause in pace or ferocity.
"Your highness if you stay you will die", pointed out", Liu Chang pointed out. Do not let the imperial guards sacrifice be in vain", Liu Chang pleaded.
"Who will kill me, that coward Li Keng!?" barked back the emperor, the defiance strongly evident in his tone.
"You and Kai Shek must go, I will do what needs to be done. Wang Wei will need your wise counsel to guide him in the days ahead".
"Your highness..." Liu Chang began to protest but froze in mid statement.
Li Keng had just lept onto the podium. His sword dripping with blood. His face and hands covered in blood stains.
Li Keng walked over to where the emperor was sitting.
"You must go now!'the emperor ordered with a sense of urgency.
As rebel soldiers swept past the last remaining imperial guards blocking their towards the podium.
"No one is going anyway! field marshall Li Keng barked out fiercely drawing attention to himself.
As the emperor and his advisors turned to face him.
"Your majesty," Li Keng proceeded more respectfully as though suddenly remembering whom he was talking to.
"It is me whom you want to kill. Let them go. declared the emperor referring to Liu Chang and Kai Shek.
"You are asking me, your highness?" field marshall Li Keng calmly inquired.
"I am ordering you", the emperor declared with authority in his voice.
"Your highness, with all due respect you are in no position to be issuing orders at this moment", smugly announced field marshall Li Keng.
"Shows how little you know the emperor calmly replied.
"You two go", the emperor ordered, Liu Chang and Kai Shek. "No one will stop you. You have the assurance of the jade dragon. I will use the last of my remaining strength to cover your escaped
As the emperor spoke there was a new light in his eyes. Both Liu Chang and Kai Shek rose to their feet with a new sense of confidence.
Li Keng raised his sword to strike.
Do you hear that?" asked crown prince Wang Wei locking eyes with Chen Jun.
There was a perceptible deep rumbling sound. as accompanied by the ground beneath their feet shuddering violently. It felt like the tremors of an earthquake, lasting for only a brief space of time. Then it was gone.
"What...what was that?", asked a visibly shaken Chen Jun. "Did we just experience an earth earthquake here in Jade heaven?"
"It can not be, it just can't happen", declared crown prince Wang Wei.
Chen Jun knew that crown prince Wang Wei was right. The very thought itself was absurd that such a thing could happen here in the celestial realm. Where conditions where always perfect. Everything happened in just the right proportions. It was never too cold or too hot.
There was perfect balance, a harmony all of its own.
"I feel something is wrong, we must return to the jade palace at once", announced crown prince Wang Wei turning away from the edge of the celestial realm realm from where they had been looking down at Zhang Mei an Wang Li.
Turning back for the first time in the direction from which they had come everything seemed different. As they set out on the path back to the jade palace they could see devastation in every direction. The beautiful flowers they had passed moments earlier were suddenly seeming to be wilting and dying. Even the colourful birds that had been chirping happily in the sky above were no longer there. The grass and the trees were suddenly looking shriveled and burnt.
An eerie feeling hung in the air as they approached the jade palace. Corpses of dead imperial guards and soldiers with the insignia of the red dragon lay strewn all around, all the way leading to the entrance. Giving the impression that it had been the scene of fierce fighting.