Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 3 2018 | Page 184

They proceeded west, until dawn arrived. That evening, they decided to settle down near a rocky
cliff. “We will stay here for the night. Hopefully the Xi troops will not find us here.” said one of the men.
The sky turned pitch black. The sun rose and the very next morning, one of the elite men realized that half
of the food supply had gone missing and that some of the men had been killed. “General, I think we have
been raided, some of our supplies have disappeared and a few of our men are dead.”
The general was examining one of the dead bodies. Stab wounds covered the entire body. “It looks
like thieves scavenged through our supplies and killed these men. The thieves usually patrol around these
trade routes.” the general explained. “They make a living by killing traders and by stealing their goods.” The
general got on his horse and placed the remaining supplies on the horse’s back. “Let's get out of here. The
thieves are long gone. We must hurry or else we will run out of food and water.”
Another 1500 kilometers later, they had finally arrived at the western side of China. It was bitterly
cold and humid there. Strong gusts of wind blew towards them. The men continued to advance in this
atrocious weather, the horses ran as fast as their legs would allow. Nothing would stop them from retrieving
the sword.
“We are nearly there. I think I can see the temple from here.” the general said, pointing at the
horizon. Surely enough, a tiny triangle appeared on the skyline. The men approached the temple and slowly
got off their horses. The temple was a marvellous triple-garbled circular structure. The floor was made from
white stone marble, the walls were made from oak wood which was painted bright red. Statues of golden
dragons hung from the walls. “Wait here, I will go into the temple to retrieve the sword.”
The general took a step on the marble floor. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a dozen guards appeared.
They surrounded the men and pointed their spears at them. “Drop your weapons now. Who are you? Why
are you here?” said one of the guards.
The general obeyed the guard’s order and placed his sword on the floor. The rest of the men
followed suit. “We were sent from the Tao Kingdom to retrieve the Goujian Sword.”
“This Goujian Sword belongs to the Ming Kingdom. Only a member of the Ming Kingdom can
retrieve it.” the guard explained.
“200 years ago, the Ming Kingdom was destroyed. Nothing remains in the Ming Kingdom.” the
general said in a calm tone.
“To take the Goujian sword, you must destroy the Ming emperor.”
There was a huge force field as all of the guards merged together into one giant emperor. The men
were thrown backwards from the blast. The emperor picked up the Goujian sword and charged towards the
general. “I will destroy you!” the emper