Author's Note: sooooo i got a disclaimer: i know next to nothing when it comes to chinese, so what you see here is all google translate, so if it isn't accurate i apologize in advance! and sorry if this is shit, i legit only have time when its 1-5am in the morning, because the rest of the time is filled with a lot of bullshit
The Emperor sat on his throne, seething with anger.
Where could he have missed? He had the whole world in his grasp, he held every single state and every single country and continent in the palm of his callused hands, each piece of land unable to slip through his fingers. He had no foes and no opposition, there was nothing stopping him from obtaining the immortality he sought for, for the power he could finally achieve. Yang Xiao Long, his only opponent in his quest for immortality and infinite power, was long dead from their battle at the Yellow Mountain, at the Bridge of Immortality. She could not have survived that fall, even someone with her semblance could never survive that fall. And none of her maidens could have saved her, they couldn't even stand after he was done with them. No matter how many hits she could take, no matter how much stronger she could become. And he knew she was dead, and that he stood unopposed. He saw her aura shatter before she fell, he saw the auras of her maidens shatter into pieces before they retreated, never to be seen again.
But yet, there was a hidden land beyond his reach.
He had heard the tales. He had heard tales of a secret land where strange, magical creatures had multitudes and all sorts of powers beyond his imagination and how they were plentiful in this land, of a land without a sky, where the waters shimmered and glowed and were so clear you could see every single sea creature, plants which glowed with magic that had healing properties. He had heard of great engineers that made animals out of steel and the energies that resided there and how they were truly alive, that they obeyed their masters and their masters only. He heard that he could achieve the Elixir of Immortality there, that the land he had long searched for had the very cure for the sickness that plagued his family. He didn't have much time left. He saw the signs of the sickness that plagued him start to take over his body. He felt the fatigue that weighed down his own parents and brothers, he saw the whites in his eyes yellowing. He couldn't even use his chopsticks today when he sat down to have his lunch. He could feel himself deteriorating, his body was failing right in front of his eyes. This was the only cure he had, and it could be in this land.
And its location slipped from his fingers every single time.
He yelled out of frustration as he slammed his fists into the table, his immense strength nearly breaking the table into two. The various tokens used to mark down certain territories of interest jumped from the table due to the impact, scattering all over the ground, rolling away from him and down the steps of the wooden platform where he, the table and the throne had been sitting on. The ink bottles set on nearby trays falling down, its pitch black contents spilling and emptying out the shell that held it, the ink spilling onto the tray, not one drop making it onto the wooden platform.
He took in angered, ragged breaths as his anger died down, his hands shaking when he unclenched them from his fists, blood leaking down from blood red crescents in the flesh of his palms. He heard a clutter of arrows fall to the ground behind him, and he swiftly whipped his head around to look at it, thankful when he saw that the fire dust in the arrowheads was inactivated and harmless, his Jian sword leaning against the arm of his throne, unaffected. He let himself relax before he tensed up slightly at the chronic pain in his side, his jaw clenching.
"爸爸?(Father?)" A small, timid voice called, and the Emperor recognized the voice immediately. He turned around to see a girl clad in lavender, loose-fitting, silk robes that swept the ground, her raven black hair disarray and messy. Her eyes were filled with agony as she clutched her side, her teeth gritted as she withheld the pain that stabbed her side. The Emperor's eyes widened as he quickly rushed to his daughter's side, his eyes wide with concern and worry. He recognized her pain himself as he guided her to the nearest chair and she sat down, doubled over from the pain that he experienced when he was her age. He didn't have much time left. She didn't have much time left.
"爸爸， 這傷害了很多。(It hurts so much, Father.)" She sobbed, barely able to look up at her father. His eyes filled with tears at the sight of his daughter in so much agony and all he could do was stare. And he knew that. He had seen the signs like his parents did, like his whole family had before him, he had sat in a chair clutching his side, feeling the exact same stabbing pain his only daughter had right now. And it hurt him just the same.
"我知道，花，我知道。(I know, Flower. I know.)" He choked out, wiping away his own tears as he comforted his daughter until the pain dulled to a mild throb. He helped her back to her bedroom, supporting her as she leaned on him, her steps tiny as to not worsen the pain. And when she finally reached her room and had fallen into an uneasy slumber, he called servants to stay by her door, to assist her if she needed anything in the middle of the night, to inform him of her state every passing hour. And when he was finally reassured, he headed back to his throne room, where that same wooden table stood, he took a look at the scattered tokens on the floor, the stack of letters he had received, and all the information he had gathered. He let out a huff as he picked up all the tokens, rearranging them to the places on the map, knowing them by heart because of how much he stared at it all day and all night.
"仆人！带给我一些茶。(Servant! Bring me some tea.)" He called from the throne room as he looked back at the information he and his scouts had gathered, opening the bottle of ink and picking up the calligraphy brush that rolled to a stop on the floor, writing down some of the new information he had, before he sat at his throne. The servant rushed to him, refilling his ceramic cup with tea before he ran away with his short tail in between his legs. And there he stood, pacing around his throne room, muttering plans to himself all night, fighting back the inviting arms of sleep by forcing burning hot tea down his throat, the burn of the hot liquid keeping his eyes from drooping. And he stayed awake through the night, constantly drinking cups of tea as he searched for other routes he could try, other ways he could obtain the Elixir of Immortality, and when he felt demotivated or tired, he thought of his daughter and the agony she felt, the agony he felt. He remembered his parents hiding the pain they felt as they went about their daily duties, even as they saw their own bodies failing them. And he knew he was close to a cure. This elixir had to cure him. It had to cure his little flower. Nothing else would. And if it could only cure one person, he would give it to his daughter, it wasn't even a question. He needed to help her., He needed to get rid of the curse that had befallen his family.
And with that in mind, he pulled himself back into his work, planning all through the night.
~~~~~~~~~~
"皇帝，将军 Cheng 希望与你见面。(Emperor, General Cheng wishes for an audience with you)." The faunus's words snapped him out of his thoughts, and he turned towards the trivial servant on his right, his ears long and tall, covered in fur. Darkened bags lay under his eyes from sleepless nights, when the pain ushered him to stay awake when his own determination to rid him and his daughter of the curse that haunted his family for generations surpassed any other temptation. His large upper body and arms lay lazily on the arms of his throne for once in his life, his fingers tapping impatiently as he tended to his duties as an Emperor. He preferred to be on the front lines with his men, fighting for his nation, taking down enemies with a single blow from his sword or from the fire dust infused arrowheads when his sword transformed into a crossbow, feared by all who challenged and approached him. His hands felt out of place when they weren't curled around his sword, he felt out of place when the iron string of the crossbow didn't dig into the flesh on his fingers when he pulled on it. He felt naked and unprotected without the plates of heavy armour that shielded every inch of his skin from most weapons. It helped him channel the pain he felt into every blow and strike. He rather spend his days leading search parties to find the Elixir of Immortality, his eyes scanning his surroundings for the only thing that will save his bloodline. Fighting helped him forget his pain and the limited time he had by forcing him to concentrate on defeating the enemy, and finding a cure helped him get one step closer to his goal. The Emperor sighed irritatedly before he asked rudely,
"我为什么要同意见他？(And why should I agree to see him?)" The servant cleared his throat, refilling the Emperor's ceramic cup of tea, the Emperor bringing the warm tea to his lips and sipping when the servant responded,
"他带了一个乞丐。乞丐说他知道隐藏的土地在哪里，并且可以亲自护送你到这个地方。(He has brought a beggar with him. The beggar says he knows where the Hidden Land lies, and can personally escort you to the location himself.)" The Emperor's eyes widened in shock as he nearly spat out his tea in response, placing his teacup down. Hope surged in his old veins as he registered the information. He knew the Hidden Land was somewhere out there, he knew he wasn't insane. He knew the so-called myths were true, and this could be it. This could be his key to the Elixir of Immortality, the key to helping him and his daughter. But he couldn't let his hopes rise too high. The Emperor composed himself, his demeanour turning calm and collected as he ushered the servant.
"带他进来。(Bring him in.)" He ordered, and the servant obeyed, gesturing for the gatekeepers to open the large, bulky doors, large enough to let a strapping young man he recognized as General Cheng walk in, followed by a lowly beggar dressed in rags. He recognized the young, humble general, remembering having trained the young man himself from an insolent little creature to one of the youngest generals in the nation. He carried himself not with pride like the other generals, but with self-worth and a humble nature. He accepted that he was talented but never boasted about his talents to young women and the elderly on the streets. He laughed with the villagers as if they were his equal. That was what made him different from the other generals, therefore making him the most tolerable.
"偉大的皇帝- (Great Emperor-)" General Cheng started, before he knelt before the Emperor's throne, the beggar going down on his knees before him as well. The Emperor waved a hand dismissively, telling him,
" 崛起，将军。这个人也可崛起。(Rise, General. This man may rise as well.)" The Emperor reassured the General, and he stood up, quietly ushering the beggar to stand up as well. The Emperor snapped his fingers, and a few servants rushed in, some with paws that patted on the marble floor, some wearing the thin boots provided or them, carrying pieces of parchment and bottles of ink in their hands and extra appendages, brushes in between their teeth and parchment between their antlers, carried by their tails and horns as they readied themselves to take down information. The Emperor waited until they were ready, until every single servant was ready to write, before he turned to the general and the beggar, gesturing at him, eager to hear what he had to say.
"现在，你可以说话。告诉我关于隐藏土地的一切. (Now, you may speak. Tell me all about the Hidden Land.)"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"爸爸， 我会想你的。(Father, I'll miss you.)" Flower told her father truthfully as he stood at the castle gates, his steed and legion awaiting for his arrival. She stood at the castle gates, wishing to see him off before he left. The Emperor's heart melted as he saw her standing there, holding her favourite toy stuffed with rice and wrapped in cloth. His tense expression quickly softened once he saw her face, her mocha brown, mono-lid eyes staring back at him. The Emperor smiled as he caressed her soft, round face gently, careful not to scratch her face with the armour around the back of his hands.
"我会在你知道之前回来，我的小花。(I will be back before you know it, my little flower.)" He reassured with a kind smile on his face, but the doubtful child looked up at him, clinging to the sash on his hip, still unable to let him go, her lower lip trembling. The Emperor sighed, a smile on his face as he knelt down so he was eye-level with his daughter, showing her a joyous smile.
"我的孩子，你会在下一个满月闪耀在天空之前看到我。我将呆着超乎像的故事和冒险回家! (You will see me before the next full moon shines in the sky, my child. And I will come home with stories and adventures beyond your imagination!)" He assured his daughter, knowing how much she loved hearing the stories he told, the stories of all the adventures he had travelling and claiming all the lands he did.
"爸爸，你能保证吗? 我不想让你想母亲一样离开。(Do you promise, father? I don't want you to leave like Mother did.)" She confessed, and his smile faded for a second as he remembered his wife, and how she fell when she followed him to the front lines, falling in battle. It was why he banned women from the army, trying to paint them as docile and homemakers so no child and husband will have to deal with the grief he and his daughter had from losing a wife and mother. Tears still stung his eyes at the memory, but this was no time to grieve. He needed to fight. And he needed his head clear so he could survive this fight and come back to his little flower, who awaited his arrival eagerly back home.
"我不会离开你，小花。我承诺。(I will not leave you. I promise.)" And that promise rang in his head as his noble steed led his army, the same beggar leading the wall down ravines and through caves, the same promise kept him going, from the first steps away from his palace to the Bridge of Immortality, where he had his final duel with Yang Xiao Long and her comrades. And only one thing kept him going through the sun and the rain, through the snow and the blizzards, and that was his determination to find the Elixir of Immortality. To save his daughter, and to save himself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"在所有应有的尊重，我的皇帝，你为什么厌恶Yang Xiao Long 和她的少女？她争取公平和平衡。这不是人类的目标吗? (In all due respect, my Emperor, why do you detest Yang Xiao Long and her maidens? She fights for equity and balance. Is that not humanity's goal?)" General Cheng asked the Emperor curiously as the two rode at the back of the travelling soldiers keeping watch and making sure the camp was secure, the half moon shining brightly above their heads. The Emperor frowned as he recounted his experiences with Yang Xiao Long, the foreigner that marched into the eastern parts of Atlas and demanded that he change the laws he himself put up and to pillaging the lands, threatening to take him down herself. She was just a foolish child, just wanting another adventure. And she turned from a public menace to the girl that challenged his views by bringing forth maidens armed with various different weapons and armour, a girl in a hood as red a blood who could dissolve into rose petals and solidify herself at will, a faunus girl with the ears of a cat that could create statues out of nothing, and a maiden with hair as white as the snow they trod on, controlling glyphs with the help of her sword, as thin as a needle but deadly as a venomous snake. They did not understand why the women had to stay at home, they didn't see the legions of women fall every single time they fought wars. They did not know how much children needed the cares of their mother. They were young, foolish, from other lands, from the other side of the world. And they needed to be wiped out. So he defeated Yang Xiao Long, sending her falling down from the bridge to the depths below, weakening the rest of the girls enough to cause them to retreat.
"他们为不仅是父亲而且还有母亲的死亡而战。如果我们失去生活中的女性，我们能成为什么样的人？(They fight for the deaths of not just fathers, but mothers too. If we lose the women in our lives, what can we be?)" The Emperor protested in response as he dragged his concentration back to the vast, dense forest in front of them, locking his gaze on what lay ahead, searching for a place to set up camp for the night.
"而且我不讨厌他们。我可怜他们。他们是儿童在战争的错误方面作战。(And I do not detest them. I pity them. They are children fighting on the wrong side of a war.)" The Emperor added, his words ringing true. He did feel pity for the four girls that put up a fight against him. He felt pity for Yang Xiao Long, whose life ended too soon. He felt pity for the girl clad in red, who couldn't save her sister as she fell. He felt pity for the girl with the glyphs, who had to drag the hooded girl from leaping down the cliff herself to save her sister. He felt pity for the faunus girl that fought alongside them, who had to witness all that, who had to suffer through all that. His heart burned with pity when he thought of them, but he couldn't afford to think of them or to dwell on the past. He needed to move forward, he needed to quicken his search for the Elixir of Immortality. Every passing second was a second wasted not finding the Elixir of Immortality, a second longer of them having to go through this pain. And those girls were just another obstacle.
Right?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One hit was all it took.
And he went plummeting down the chasm, the light of the luminous green crystals growing further and further away from him.
He remembered the final bullet, the creatures that she commanded. He remembered fire, loud, banging noises that filled the atmosphere before the impact tossed him down into the newly made chasm. The wind howled in his ears, he snapped fully awake once he fully registered what had happened, panic running through his mind as he looked around for anything to slow his descent to...he didn't even know. Reddened mist prevented him from seeing the bottom of the chasm, but as he fell through the levels and layers of earth, dread built up inside him when he approached the ground, but he wasn't afraid of landing on the ground. He had heard of what lay beneath the Hidden Land, a wasteland filled with people being tortured and killed, the read about his venomous waters?
Instead, he plummeted into a sea as red as blood, sinking into it.
He sank further and further down, his heavy armour dragging him downwards, tendrils of darkness bringing a chill that consumed him, darkness clouding his vision as he sank deeper and deeper. But he could still breathe. The water didn't rush into his throat and lungs, his eyes opened just fine. And he thought if he could just kick his legs and wade upwards, he would be fine.
Then the agony seeped in.
He let out a bloodcurdling scream as trickles of dark water seeped into his mouth, his nose, his ears, the trails of this red substance he had never heard of burning as it forced itself into his body. It seemed to pass right through armour. He brought up his hands to see that underneath the armour, his skin bubbled and liquefied, like a boiling liquid that stuck to the form of his body. His vision went red as he struggled to stay conscious, choking on the water that raided his throat, setting his insides aflame. He opened his mouth to scream for help, but his screams were muffled by the fluids that seemed alive, the fluids invading his throat as his skin bubbled and boiled at the surface, his eyes stinging and burning as his love turned to spite, his compassion dissolving with the dark substance, his mind twisted and tampered with by the unsettling, unnatural energies the dark water infected his body with, the parasite taking over his body and existence.
And with it went his mind.
The sickness in his body from the curse that had befallen his family again and again had vanished from his body in an instant. He no longer held the pain from his organs failing him one by one. He no longer felt the tremors in his hands, the stumble in his step, he no longer felt the sickness plaguing him. The sickness disappeared, dissolving with the water as he clawed himself out of the red lake, his lengthy, clawlike fingernails digging into the ground. And at last, he had found what he sought for his entire life: a cure.
But it came at a terrible price.
The Emperor gasped for breath as he climbed out of the sea of dark water, his arms pulling him to shore, blackened veins pulsing and sticking out of his pasty skin, his dislocated legs snapping back into place with horrific cracks and pops as it reconnected with the joints, and he stood up.
But he wasn't the Emperor anymore.
He had become a monstrosity, his eyes glowing red, parts of his skin blackened, some of his fingers twitching as the skin melted off some of them to form black bone, fingernails turning to pale white claws melded to the ghastly fingers. Anyone who knew him would have known that this wasn't the same emperor they would have seen now, for a desire of pure destruction was what will control. He had found immortality and a cure that ridden him of the disease that haunted him, but a ravenous hunger for power still sat at the pit of his stomach, only amplified by the dark water. He needed more, more power, more destruction. More fear.
He looked out to the darkened, reddened expanse before him, seeing many monsters below, senseless monsters made of pure bone and stone, duelling and shrieking at each other as they threw spheres of white-hot lava at each other. He saw some of the monsters falling down, but despite the bones melting under the blanket of pure heat, they got back up, charging at each other with nothing but insane, angered rage and a desire for blood.
The Emperor smiled.
He had created armies out of monsters before.
And in time, he will create an army who thought just like him.
And shared his desire for vengeance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Dark Bane shoved the cocky slinger to his knees, pressing his spearhead to his head.
The Emperor chuckled victoriously as he looked down at the four children that thought they could beat him. Now, they all kneeled before his throne, their blood staining the golden floor as it dripped from their bleeding wounds, their eyes dazed and hazy as they suffered from the agony of their wounds. How pathetic they seemed, when he could look down at them. Were these all that the Eastern Caverns had to offer?
He stood up, leisurely strolling towards the clear leader of the four, his pecan brown eyes filled with rage and spite as he glared directly into the Emperor's eyes, a fiery determination still burning strong in his irises. The Emperor could only laugh as he bent down to meet the foolish boy's eyes.
"你必须是 Yang Xiao Long 的后代。我看到愚蠢是一种遗传特征。(You must be Yang Xiao Long's descendant. I see that foolishness is an inherited trait.)" He chuckled mockingly, but he gagged with disgust as he stepped back, one of the slingers smirking for a split second as the Emperor wiped a disgusting mixture of blood, sweat and spit off his face.
"我们永愿不会向你低头。(We will never bow to you.)" Junjie growled, his fists clenched as they were bound behind his back. The Dark Bane growled, a ball of lava forming in his palm as he bared his teeth at him, but before he struck Junjie, the Emperor raised a hand serenely at the Dark Bane, confusing the senseless monsters.
"不伤害他们。(Do no harm to them.)" He ordered, his demeanour as calm as a lake on a sunny day, and the ball of lava swiftly disappeared from the Dark Bane's hand. He scowled, continuing to point the tip of his spear at the back of Junjie's head. The Emperor looked back down at the four people that kneeled before him, scoffing when he saw an uncanny resemblance that only fate could have replicated. To Junjie's right kneeled a woman clad in crimson red and black, the leather jacket she wore torn up from the fight, the hood attached to it in shambles. Her golden irises were filled with an undeniable fear as she looked to her leader, seeing him as a protector to the very end. A boy the same age as Junjie kneeled at his left, a pair of wolf ears standing high on alert as he prepared himself, ready to protect his leader with his body if he needed to. And behind Junjie was another woman clad in pure white, who wore a flexible, combat cheongsam, the material fitting yet durable, the skirt f enough for her to move freely, her eyes ice blue. Their weapons, a blood red and ink black, curved sword blaster, a regular blaster with a thin, white, needle-like blade attached to the blaster, two-bladed wrist blasters and a thick, deathbringer blade with two blaster barrels attached to it all taken care of by a Stone Warrior. They were vulnerable, broken. But they were skilled slingers, and they could serve him well in his quest for power. He had heard of other lands beyond the Eastern Caverns he had known, he knew of the stories and the legends he knew were not myths. And he knew Junjie's family kept those secrets safe, locked under his teeth and tongue.
And the Emperor got a dark idea.
"你不要担心向我鞠躬。(You should not worry about bowing down to me.)" The Emperor informed the four slingers before he looked down on them once again, grinning maliciously. He saw it in their terrified faces, the control he and his words had over them.
"你知道你应该担心什么吗? 对我犯下此类罪行和叛国罪的个人通常会因其行为而遭受酷刑处决。(You know what you should worry about? Individuals that have committed such crimes and treason towards me would normally receive torturous execution as a consequence for their actions.)" The Emperor started, his statement striking fear into the hearts of the four slingers.
"但是，我愿意为你们选择更加......仁慈的方法。(However, I am willing to choose a more...merciful approach for you four.)" He offered, and as he expected him to, the young boy growled, thinking he was dangling their freedom right in front of them but snatching it away from them at the last second. He knew what kind of anger would stir up in the four individuals, and as he predicted, Junjie growled furiously,
"你可以把你的仁慈的方发推到你的- (You can shove your merciful approaches up your-)" Junjie growled, but to his surprise, the slinger with the wolf ears and the stormy grey eyes to his left swiftly cut in, interrupting Junjie as he chided his leader,
"Junjie, 如果你不抓住舌头，我会把它剪掉。(Junjie, if you don't hold your tongue, I'll cut it off.)" He growled, glaring deep into his pecan brown eyes, before he swiftly feigned a trained, apologetic smile, his wolf ears rising up tall with his smile.
"请原谅我这个头脑发热的朋友。他有过于戏剧化的倾向。他并不打算打断你的重要话语或者看起来很粗鲁。请你的恩典原谅他幼稚的行为。(Please, forgive my hot-headed friend. He has a tendency to be overly dramatic. He did not mean to interrupt your important words or to seem rude. Please, your grace, excuse his childish actions.)" The faunus swiftly rambled, praying that his apology managed to satisfy the Emperor, or to at least, prevent the Emperor from ordering their swift executions. The Emperor raised an eyebrow questioningly, but he refrained from grinning victoriously once he saw the clear signs: how the faunus with the wolf ears was tense, his eyes glancing back not to the Dark Bane behind him or the staff that poked into his head, but the one who pressed the tip of his spear to Junjie's head, watching his hands, ready to shield Junjie with his body if he could. He knew what he saw along with the pleading in his gaze when he glared at Junjie, he saw the way Junjie's face filled with shame after he had yelled at Junjie. The two tried to hide it, but the Emperor saw the signs as clear as crystal, recognising the love they held for each other in their eyes. Junjie and this faunus boy were lovers, but only behind closed doors due to their status, Junjie's reputation and the views of the people regarding any type of attraction that wasn't to the opposite sex and the opposite sex alone.
"这是我的建议。你们四个已经成为我军队的将军和我统治的面孔。你让人们在某种程度上支持我，所以......没有必要提醒人们控制这些毫无价值的平民。俊杰，除了Remnant和东方洞外，你还会告诉我洞穴和土地。作为回报，我不会破坏你称之为家的土地。(Here is my proposal. You four become the generals for my army and the faces of my rule. You make the people favour me to a degree so that a...reminder to the people will not be necessary to control these worthless civilians. Junjie, you will tell me of the caverns and lands that lie beyond Remnant and the Eastern Caverns. And in return, I will not annihilate these lands you call home.)" The Emperor suggested to the four, the other alternative to their sure deaths ringing in the air. The four cast each other looks filled with shock, refusal, anger, sadness, acceptance, a mix of emotions filled the tense air between the four slingers.
"那似乎更和平，不是吗？(That seems more peaceful, does it not?)" The Emperor added to sweeten the deal, and Junjie hung his head low, his head filled with conflicting thoughts as to what he should do. If they joined the Emperor, they could attempt to escape after a while or feed information to other slingers so they could rebel, or at least, make life easier for the civilians. They could try to rebel against the Emperor with their armies. but they would likely be put under supervision, and if they got caught, all of them knew they would be wishing for the sweet embrace of death. However, if they did, Junjie and the rest will be forced to reveal everything the Emperor wanted to know: the location of the realms outside his reach, what the realms contained, how they were going to there, the history of the lands. The information they had on the lands could result in the deaths of millions of people, the corruption or deaths of billions of slugs, and the balance between the light and the dark energies would be so distorted and disrupted, it would just become nothing but a mess of energies, making all of Slugterra inhabitable.
"你不能真正考虑这个，Junjie。你不能让东方洞穴被这个恶棍控制，我知道你不能只是坐在那里，因为他对东方洞穴造成各种不公正待遇! (You can't be actually considering this, Junjie. You cannot leave the Eastern Caverns to be controlled by this scoundrel, and I know you cannot just sit there as he makes all kinds of injustice to the Eastern Caverns!)" Alix whispered in protest from behind him, her sharp tone filled with disbelief.
"如果我们拒绝这个提议，我们就会死去，而且我们对东方洞穴作为将军比死亡更好！(We will die if we refuse this offer, and we're better to the Eastern Caverns as generals than dead!)" The wolf faunus, Syaoran, hissed in retaliation, causing Alix's icy blue eyes to widen in shock. The hooded girl, who had kept her head bowed through this entire argument, let her head snap upwards as she whipped her head to face the rest of her comrades, her eyes filled with outrage.
"我们在这里已经死了。你是否认真地认为他会遵守诺言？！(We're as good as dead here. Do you seriously think he will keep to his word?!)" The hooded girl, Jiali, asked Syaoran, equally as surprised Syaoran had even considered the idea at all. How could he? He had been fighting against evil for nearly his whole life and now he wanted to join it? He lived by the praise "Desperate times call for desperate measures," but this was a line even they couldn't cross.
"我们还能做什么？！我们在这里没有优势，我们需要采取我们可以得到的东西。(What else can we do?! We do not have the upper hand here, and we need to take what we can get.)" Syaoran reminded the other two, and they frowned as they saw that the faunus was right. They were pinned down by monsters they had never even heard of, whose skin was as hard as bone, their eyes filled with crimson red light and nothing else, as hollow an abandoned, faraway cave. The Emperor had unlocked his semblance because of the dark energy that was infused into his soul all those years ago, causing him to have basic telekinetic abilities.
"他会通过歧视和混乱来划分洞穴，或者让自己成为一切的绝对统治者，他会破坏和平！(He will divide the caverns by discrimination and chaos or make himself the absolute ruler of everything, he'll shatter the peace!)" Jiali argued back, her eyes filled with fear and terror at the mere thought of being under the Emperor's control, and Junjie felt nothing but pity as he knew what replayed through her mind at the thought of being controlled again, controlled by her parents, who monitored her every move, who never let her roam and who sought to control every single aspect of her life. The Emperor reminded her of her overruling father, who abused her by guilt-tripping her into staying in the house and cutting off outing after outing, who yelled at her when she missed one of his calls, scolding her to the point where he called her derogatory names and started verbally abusing her for even daring to leave. And all of they knew that a life being generals for the Emperor was going to be the same life Jiali had gone through.
"Syaoran，Alix和Jiali是对的。除了毁灭和恐惧，他什么都不会带来。你知道怪物可以创造的怪物。你见过他们了。(Alix and Jiali are right, Syaoran. He will bring nothing but destruction and fear. And you know of the monsters fear can create. You've seen them.)" Junjie told Syaoran, his eyes grim as the two of them remembered their few encounters with the Creatures of Grimm, how they had no soul, no humanity, no kindness, how they were nothing but monsters created by the God of Darkness and fed on fear and despair. Junjie turned to the Emperor, determination written along with his skin.
"我们拒绝你的报价。我们永远不会和你合作。(We refuse your offer. We will never work with you.)" Junjie told the Emperor confidently, his expression serious, but grave, matching the faces of his teammates. The Emperor frowned as he saw his plan crumbling apart, but he knew he had prepared for this, he had a backup plan. He needed them to work for him. He needed Junjie to cooperate to get what he wants, to get the information they wanted. And he didn't care what the cost was, as he looked through the room on the screen for his next potential to become a prop used to gain Junjie's knowledge.
"后告诉我东部洞穴和残余之外的土地。(Then tell me of the lands that lay beyond the Eastern Caverns and Remnant.)" The Emperor seethed, his words filled with spite as he crossed his bulky arms in frustration, the veins on his hands blackened and clearly visible through his pasty white skin, his nails were as sharp as claws.
"我为什么要？(And why would I?)" Junjie challenged the Emperor, and the temperature of the room plummeted at his words. The whole room felt the mood change as he glared at the four slingers with frustration and rage he kept inside. All of a sudden, Alix was grabbing at a faint, red aura that surrounded her throat, choking and spluttering for air. Her ice blue eyes were wide with horror as she stared directly forward, pointing forward, bringing everyone's eyes to the Emperor's outstretched hand, glowing with the same red aura around her throat. The Emperor pulled back his hand, and Alix was jerked forward, flying forward and slammed into the wall. She fell to the ground, protecting her head all the way, before she struggled to her feet, only to be encased in the same red aura, rising above her feet. The Emperor turned to Junjie, his piercing glare now sending chills down Junjie's spine.
"如果你不告诉我，她就死了。(If you don't tell me, she dies.)" The Emperor growled, but Junjie's eyes were pulled to be fixated onto Alix, his heart pounding in his chest as he feared for her life like everyone else did.
"Junjie, 不要告诉他。一生不值得全世界- (Junjie, don't tell him. One life isn't worth the whole world-)" Alix told him, but she was interrupted by her own chilling scream of agony as his fingers resembled a claw, an orb of dark magic shining in it as Alix screamed and screamed, the skin on her body ripping itself apart, forming slashes and open wounds in her body as the gruesome squelch and ripping off skin and muscle sounded through the room.
"这一刻放开她吧！(Let go of her this instant!)" Junjie angrily snarled, pushing the Dark Bane away and leaping at the Emperor, but the Dark Bane gripped his shoulders, its claws digging into Junjie's shoulders, the restraints trapping him in place, more Dark Bane coming to hold Junjie back. The Emperor scowled at the boy who tried to pounce on him, but he was never distracted from the girl he controlled with his mind and hands alone.
"当你的朋友受到我的怜悯时，你敢要求我的东西吗？(You dare to demand things of me, when your friend is under my mercy?)" The Emperor asked daringly, and Junjie tried to escape the Dark Bane again, struggling away from them.
"别！不要告诉他什么 (DON'T! DON'T TELL HIM ANYTHING!)" Alix managed to shriek before the agony took over her body, the blood from the newly formed wounds in her skin, her dripping, crimson red blood staining her pearl white cheongsam and her platinum blond hair. Junjie bit his lip as he resisted the temptation, just wanting to tell him, but he knew Alix wanted him to do this.
"对不起，Alix。(I'm sorry, Alix.)" Junjie apologized as he held back tears, horrified at the sight of his friend suffering and screaming with agony.
"你比我想象的更顽固。(You are more stubborn than I thought.)" The Emperor grimaced, and Junjie's eyes widened with fear and a rapidly growing dread once a red aura coated Jiali before it dragged her until she levitated above the ground, her hood falling from her head, exposing her face to him.
"Jiali!" Junjie yelled, but his yells were stopped when he saw Jiali shivering insanely, her skin as pale as snow, frost growing on her skin, her cheeks growing deathly pale. Syaoran and Junjie glanced at each other momentarily in horror as falling tears froze on Jiali's face. Her insides were being frozen.
"告诉我我想知道什么，否则他们会受苦！(Tell me what I want to know, or they will suffer!)" The Emperor ordered Junjie, whose tears fell freely as he cried out of pure terror of what was happening to his friends.
"停下来，停下来，请停止，我求你 - (Stop this, stop it, please, stop, I'm begging you-)"
"独自离开他们! (LEAVE THEM ALONE!)" Syaoran roared as he managed to push off the Dark Bane on him, his fingernails becoming claws as he pounced onto the Emperor, scratching his face as the damage done to the both of them was reversed and healed by their auras. Syaoran scratched at his face, but the Emperor grabbed his hand, tossing him to the wall. He slammed against the wall, his aura protecting him as he fell, the wind knocked out of him as he struggled to break free. Jiali and Alix were swiftly held down by Dark Bane, struggling to break free.
"啊，这个动物男孩。(Ah, the faunus boy.)" The Emperor growled lowly, a red aura surrounding Syaoran, striking fear in Junjie's heart. the Emperor cocked his head to the side as he observed Syaoran, looking at his claws, his raised, obsidian black ears.
"你的头将为我的墙壁做一个愉快的装饰。(Your head will make a pleasant decoration for my wall.)" The Emperor remarked, before Syaoran howled in agony, white-hot coals forming out of thin air and pressing into his skin, steaming from his kin, leaving the most gruesome, misshapen marks on his arms, legs, torso, everywhere the white-hot coals touched.
"没有！请停止，停止！你要杀了他！(NO! PLEASE, STOP, STOP! YOU'LL KILL HIM!)" Junjie cried, trying desperately to break free from the Dark Bane, trying to reach his lover, trying to save the man he loved from everything that could hurt him.
"你赢了，我会告诉你一切，只是让他走吧！(YOU WIN, I WILL TELL YOU EVERYTHING, JUST LET HIM GO!)" Junjie pleaded desperately to the Emperor, but he didn't listen, relishing in the howls and screams of the faunus he held under his grasps, and that was when Junjie knew he only wanted one thing.
"门户在 ANDHRA MOUNTAINS的洞穴！(THE PORTAL IS IN A CAVE IN ANDHRA MOUNTAINS!" Junjie screamed, and everything stopped. Alix and Jiali both whipped their heads towards him in a mix of shock, understanding and anger as Junjie sobbed on the ground guiltily, breaking the peace his family had worked to obtain for centuries.
"有一个门户可以将你带到你想要的任何领域一旦被激活，它就位于一个洞穴的尽头，在 Andhra 山脉内，这是与水晶墙相连的最大山峰。(There is a portal that can transport you to any realm you wish once activated, and it resides at the end of a cave, inside Andhra Mountains, the largest mountain that is attached to the crystal wall.)" Junjie sobbed defeatedly, the tremor in his voice pleading with him, and the Emperor know exactly what he was begging for, letting go of the faunus in his hold, causing him to fall and crumble to the ground. Junjie scrambled to him as Syaoran's limbs shook from the pain, holding Syaoran's body close to him.
"Syaoran, Syao, 哦，我的上帝- (Syaoran, Syao, oh my god-)" Junjie sobbed as he leaned down at Syaoran's weak body, tears running down his cheeks, but Syaoran looked back at him with a panicked expression, his eyes wide with fear, his ears standing tall.
"Junjie, 你做了什么？！(Junjie, what have you done?!)" He exclaimed and the Emperor laughed darkly, his deep, horrifying laugh the starting of many, if not all of Junjie's nightmares as he tried his best to protect his lover from any more harm, Jiali and Alix getting tackled and roughly handled after they tried to escape the castle.
"把这四个带到地下的地下城。让他们从他们的细胞中看到对方，让他们提醒他们实际上是多么无望。(Take these four to the dungeons below the ground. Let them see each other from their cells, let them have reminders of how hopeless they really are.)" The Emperor ordered the Dark Bane with a twisted smile, watching with a victorious malice as the four slingers were dragged away, whimpering from their wounds, eyes filled with hate and fear as they reluctantly cooperated, knowing there was no chance of them coming out alive. And as he heard the doors close shut, he walked over towards the window of the room, looking out at Peach Blossom Spring Cavern. Centuries ago, he wanted to claim this land as his own. To find a cure for himself. But now, he saw he could do so much more. And now that he knew where the portal to the other sets of caverns lay, he could only imagine what else lay ahead, what he could use to achieve the absolute power he always wanted. Because that's what he wanted, despite the gaps in his memory that caused him to falter, broken, millisecond-long flashes of a young girl with raven black hair and mocha brown, soft, hopeful eyes, clutching a rice stuffed toy as she stared at the gate, waiting for someone that would never come home. His heart ached with longing and a feeling of homesickness he couldn't describe whenever she appeared in his mind, but all it did was hold him back. She couldn't exist. It was just old memories.
Memories from another life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"When did you find out the Emperor's past?" Maie asked Junjie after what seemed like an eternity of silence. The two sat on the roof of the Defensores Antris house, looking out at the dying expanse before them. The Phosphoros haven't shone ever since Doc fell sick, the caverns withering away before their very eyes, crystals falling from the ceiling above and killing civilians below, hospitals overflowing with. Alana needed energy replenishers from the Lightwell to stay alive, Questria had to give her an old replenisher she made for Anthony when they went up against Henrik all those years ago, on the bad days.
"A few days after Leo passed away for a week after Alana had left the house." Junjie informed her weakly, his eyes gazing out at the corrupted, dying forest before them, the light at the bottom of the mushroom trees fading away and dying, at the life being sucked out of the plants and slugs before the two of them. It was better at looking out at the destruction behind them, the destroyed houses and burnt down buildings that served as a horrible, harsh reminder of what happened to the 100th Cavern, reminding them constantly that other caverns would fall if they gave up.
"How did you even find out?" Maie asked Junjie curiously, trying to distract him from the trauma of it all. Junjie unhooked something from his belt and showed it to her, the object growing in size in his hands, glowing a faint blue.
"Ally said she found this lantern when she came looking for me all those years ago, and that it had a genie in it, who would answer three questions I had. I thought it was all nonsense. I kept it because it...suited my aesthetic, you could say." Junjie stated as he held the glowing, arctic blue lantern in his hands, his fingers tracing the golden carvings on the lantern as what Jinn showed him flashed before his eyes, the Emperor's genetic disease and how it consumed him not to achieve immortality, but to find a cure.
"What a fool I was." He scoffed, his tone radiating self-loathing as he hung the lantern back onto his belt. Maie frowned at his statement, especially when he looked away from her while his eyes conveyed nothing else but his own regret and conflict. She placed her hand on his shoulder, her own eyes trying to convey that she would stand beside him, and that there was only one species to blame.
"Junjie, you're not stupid. No one in Slugterra could have known. And before you say Ally did, she has access to Shadow Clan information, who knows what those fucking creeps know." Maie reassured him, her tone filling with spite and hatred as she spoke of the Shadow Clan, remembering what they did to Ally, remembering all the problems they caused the Defenders, and how cruel they were. Maie looked down at her metal arm, the small symbol on her thumb forever standing as a reminder of what they did to her. She looked over to Junjie on her left, who's lips quivered as he finally let himself break, tears welling up in his eyes and streaming down his cheeks.
"Hey. We're gonna get her back. Ataro fucked her up, but we can help her. We can fix this." Maie tried to reassure him, wrapping an arm around him and bringing him closer to her. Junjie moved closer to her, leaning on her as she hugged him tight because she didn't know what else to do. She never seemed to know what to do anymore.
"I don't know if I can do this anymore..." Junjie sobbed into Maie's shoulder, his voice shattering at the last word, his sobs intensifying slightly as he sobbed in Maie's arms, everything else fading as the years of brushing aside and running away from his grief and the trauma of his years finally caught up to him. And as the demons of his past haunted him that night, demons led by a monster with Ally's appearance, Maie held him through it all, her tears falling down her own face silently as she became his anchor into reality, being his rock even when she needed one herself when her own demons came looking for her. Because the key to surviving something like this is having people that can help you get back on your feet and keep pushing on even if you feel like you can't until the threat is gone, and then what next? What next did the world have in store for them? How much could they endure?
What could possibly be worse than this?