Part 8

            For what seemed like an eternity later, Li and Gao finally completed their groveling. They stepped behind the emperor with their heads bowed. Emperor Shi turned and looked at Wufei. Involuntarily, Wufei took a step back and colored a little under the frank gaze. Intense and unmistakable hunger burned in the Emperor’s eyes as he scanned Wufei over.

            “Chang…You have freed me.” Emperor Shi called out softly. There was no mistake that this was the same voice that had occurred repeatedly in his dreams. “You have come back to me. We are going to rule the whole world together. Chang, my love…” He spread his hands, a welcoming gesture to Wufei. When the boy refused to move closer, Emperor Shi approached him. “Chang… you know this is what your heart truly wants. Why are you denying it? Come to me!”
            “Ah~ Excuse me~~, you Old goat!” someone interrupted, and inserted himself in between Emperor Shi and his target, “Stop your monotone now! Can’t you see Wu-baby here is NOT interested!”

            “Get away before you die!” Emperor Shi’s voice was cold as he turned his attention to the one who had the nerve to call him an “old goat”!

            “Oh, don’t you look at me like that, Mr. Flabby Ass! You are way too old for Wu-baby here! And that’s not counting your 3 thousands ++ years in the tomb! Common’ be realistic. Sure you are rich, but can you satisfy him at night? He is 16 here, and you are what? 3060 years old? You will need hell lot of Viagara to even sustain for one second! Pity you don’t even know what Viagara is…”

            “Who. Are. You.” The voice was low and dangerous now. His eyes glowed a shiny orange, giving others the illusion that flames might surge out from them. At the same time, it reminded them this person in front might looked like a human, but he was anything but one.  

            “ME? I am Wufei’s lover.” Duo answered in a fake carefree voice. His every nerve was prepared to be attacked.

            “Lover?!” Emperor Shi roared. **NOT AGAIN! Chang is mine, MINE!** Following his scream, a globe of golden energy formed at his fingertips.

            “Careful, DUO!” Wufei flung himself in front of Duo, effectively blocking any attacks Emperor Shi had planned for the American boy.

            “Chang, what are you doing?” Emperor Shi’s voice was unusually soft. “Get away. I don’t want you to get hurt.” The energy continued to glow, but it was not released.

            “I will not allow you to hurt my friends.” Wufei stretched out his hands, and stared back at the pair of eyes that switched from orange to deep blue to black. 

            “Of course, I will never cause any harm to you or your friends. Let’s go now.” The golden energy disappeared from Emperor Shi’s hands. “Come, there’s so much to be done. I will see to it that your hunger for ancient knowledge is satisfied; the knowledge of moving objects through thing air, immediate transport to another location, power of commanding natural forces… I will teach you all of them.”

            For one moment Wufei was fascinated by the knowledge he mentioned. These were ideas he had read from ancient books, but never really believed that they were more than castle in the sky. 

            “… Not to mention all the power and richness that we are going to enjoy together. We will have control over the whole universe! What are you waiting for, Chang? Come with me, and you shall have everything. Come with me now.”

**Come with me, and you shall have everything?** Suddenly Wufei didn’t have a doubt with his decision. He gave Duo, who had been looking worried, a wink. Smiling slightly, he spoke, “I would love to be exposed to all the knowledge you just mentioned, but if I cannot be together with Duo, all the wealth or power or knowledge in the world couldn’t make me happy! Sorry, I can’t go with you.”

            “OH!” Duo almost cried hearing that. “Wufei, you are so bad! You have me worried there for a minute!”

            “Sorry!” Wufei slipped his arms around his lover’s waist, as they stood side by side, staring fearlessly at the emperor in rage. 

            “I will kill him! Let’s see if you will go with me or not after he is dead!” The power unleashed from his fingers.

            “Get down!” Someone screamed as Duo and Wufei leaped to the floor. They felt a wave of heat surged passed above them. The wall behind them was completely gone. Then they heard gunshots and realized Heero and others had their guns drawn, shooting rows of bullets into Emperor Shi’s body.

            The boys continued fire, even though each and every one of the bullets passed through Emperor Shi’s body without doing any damage.

            “Hahaha~ Let me show you what power is!” He raised his hands and began a monotone chant. Seconds later, they were surrounded by terra-cotta armies which had come to life. Heero and Quatre diverted their bullets to the lifeless soldiers closing on them. They soon realized guns had the same effect on these soldiers as they had on their master; no effect at all!

            “Duo, NOW!” May picked up her sword and drew a tunnel of light on the only side of wall remaining.  Duo pressed the detonation switch he had been holding in his hand.  BOOM!  Without warning, explosions started blasting the tomb, and its force made everyone tumbled to the floor. At the same moment, the sword jumped to attack the Emperor.

            “You little piece of shit! I will bend you with my mind.” Emperor Shi glowed, focusing on the sword that dared to challenge him.   

            **Thank Shinigami it actually worked this time!** Duo pressed his lips against the Chinese boy’s ear, “Let’s get out while he is occupied. NOW!”

            Coughing and choking in air suddenly heavy with smoke, Wufei nodded and followed.

##

            Wufei leaned against the window frame, staring at the darkness outside. It seemed so quiet and peaceful that he had to wonder if the past 24 hours was a dream. Flying sword, emperor dead for 3000 years resurrected, attacks by terra-cotta army… Only the cut on his palm reminded him that was no nightmare but a reality.

            Duo was playing with an explosive devise, muttering something about “getting it right for the first time…” May had not uttered a word since their escape from the tomb. The two blondes were watching their boyfriends play cards.

            Finally, Duo got bored with the detonation gadget. He put his toy on the table and announced loudly, “Common, we blew up his terra-cotta army and his final resting place. He is probably buried under tons of rocks with everything else. Even if he was not dead, what can he do? This is “AC 196”, not “BC 250”! We can deal with him.”

            “How?” Grim faced and pale, May asked, “Do you think the collapse of his mausoleum and destruction of the terra-cotta army was the end of the chapter? Did you know he has control over all soldiers who died in battles? He can raise them from the dead, and he would have an undefeatable army of the dead!”

            “Wow~ Wait a minute here. What are you talking about?” Duo’s violet eyes were wide as he let what he just learned sank in.

            “Maybe it is time you tell us the whole story.” Trowa suggested quietly, putting down the cards.  Others looked at her in anticipation. 

            “Alright,” May sighed. In a bitter tone, she told them the story of her life.

            “I was born around 200 B.C. in a rural area in China. One day, all the men in our village were taken away to build the Great Wall. My mom cried day after day, worrying about my brother. So I traveled alone to the capital city in hope to locate him. Instead of finding him, I myself was captured by the palace guards. At that time, Emperor Shi had been abscessed in his search for an elixir of immortality. Gao, the conjurer he relied most, had asked for 500 virgin girls to be gather for sacrifice.”

She stared blankly into the night, “I know I am going to die anyway. So, when the ceremony was carried out, I attacked Emperor Shi. And failed. A warrior, WuLong Chang, blocked my assault. Instead of killing me, he begged the emperor to spare my life. If you know what kind of person Emperor Shi was, you would understand that was an almost impossible task. But the emperor couldn’t refuse Chang’s plead. It’s only later that I found out Chang was Emperor Shi’s most trusted warrior, bodyguard, conjurer, alchemist and also his lover. Chang stayed by my side to tend the fatal wounds I received from the hands of guards. I recovered, and … we fell in love.”

            Lost in memory, she didn’t continue.

            “What happened afterward?” Wufei gently held the obviously distressed woman’s hand. Somehow, he had a feeling that she was related with him. His caring gesture stunned everyone except Duo, who had experienced the fierce warrior’s tender side lately.  

Shaking herself out of the past, she replied grimly, “As you could have imagined, our love was forbidden. He was the emperor’s lover. I was the virgin girl supposed to be sacrificed. Then, Chang successfully produced the one and only elixir for immortality. He had the emperor’s word that any wish of his would be granted if he managed to answer the emperor’s search for immortality. How naďve of him to believe the promise!”

            Taking a deep breath, she continued, “Emperor Shi ordered my execution the minute Chang confessed our love to him. Chang was incapable of saving me  this time. Thinking that I was dead, he seek revenge from Emperor Shi. It was he who separated the emperor’s soul from his body and trapped it in the stone. Only the blood of his, or his descendent could break the seal.”

“So, I am Chang’s descendent.” Wufei said quietly.

May nodded her head a little to herself. “Yes, and you looked just like him.” she replied, “Chang committed suicide after he imprisoned Emperor Shi forever. He thought I was dead.”

“How come you are still alive?” Duo asked. 

“Chang had formulated a long life portion before the elixir of immortality. I took it. Only beheading could kill me. Chang thought I was decapitated, but instead, I was hung. When I went back to find him, he had killed himself. I wanted to die as well, but I found out I was pregnant.”

“So you are my great great great grandmother?” Wufei asked May.

A tiny smile spread across May’s face. The first since they met her. “Ah, probably you have to add many more “great” in front, but yes.” May gently patted Wufei. “Trapped in the stone, the emperor’s soul was capable of communicating with mystics. He called to Gao, who led an army to seize the stone. I escaped, but they have the stone. Both Gao and Li had also taken the portions for long life. So, for a very long time, we were playing ‘hide and seek’.”

“I heard the emperor in my dreams,” Wufei told them. “Does that mean I am a mystic?”

“Yes, you probably have some of those power. I think you are the first of my descendent that inherited this gift from Chang.” May explained. She was about to continue her story when all the dogs in the neighborhood howled.
            “No…” May took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, “We must TRY to stop him. Let’s hope it’s not too late AGAIN.”

##

            But it was too late. When seven of them arrived, there’s not a single living soul. Bodies after bodies, some no longer in recognizable human shape, piled out on the floor. 

            Trowa heard a gagging sound beside him and looked up in time to see Quatre staggering blindly out. He followed his boyfriend to offer support as he too did not wish to stay in the room full of death a minute longer. 

 Stone-faced, Heero looked around. There was blood everywhere. Some bodies were cut in half, some torn apart, some in other ways of mutilation. The violent scene forced even the perfect soldier to turn away his face.

Wufei’s face was pale as well, but his eyes blazed with fury. Never! He had never seen such a cruel massacre before, even during the worst of the war.

Choking back a wave of nausea, Duo was the first to speak, “What happened… here?”

“Let’s burned them.” May said solemnly.

They found some petroleum nearby and set the whole place on fire. There was a dangerous look in May’s eyes when they finally got back to their hiding place.

“The place that they just performed the sacrifice ritual was the former address for A Fang Palace. I should have guessed that’s the first thing he would be doing! ”

“Who are those people being sacrificed?” Zech asked, still visibly shaken by the scene just now.

“The scientists they recruited.”

Duo swallowed hard. “They recruited all these people just to cut them open?”

“Ah, yes.” May answered grimly, “The sacrifice of the intelligent gave him the dark power he so craved. If you recalled the history, he buried alive 400 scholars. It’s for the same reason. Pity, these scientists never know that all he wanted from them was their life. This sacrifice gained him the full power over the soldiers died in battles. Since we destroyed his terra-cotta army, he is going to use the army of the dead to conquer the world.”  

“So what do we do now?” Heero asked at last.

            “First, don’t let him find Wufei. Apparently he was set to lay his hands on my boyfriend.” Duo crossed his arms.

            “DUO!” Wufei exclaimed. He didn’t expect to hear Heero saying, “Agreed.”, and others nodding.  

            “This is ridiculous! I can protect myself. And it would be an injustice for me to back out in a struggle against evil!” Wufei cried out hotly.

            “No. I am not letting the bastard took the last of my descendent. You stay out of the fights.” May commanded.

            “Yeah right! Go to hell!” Wufei stalked off into his room and banged the door close.

            “OK, that went well. Now, how do we defeat him?” Duo shrugged.

            “There is a ‘grace period’ of 49 days where he is unstable. We have to destroy him in this time. After that, he is invincible. He will appear in between two forms; immortal and mortal. There is 1 hour everyday where he had to change to mortal. That’s the only time we can kill him.”

            “So we have to find him at the hour where he is mortal and killed him?” Duo was not happy with this revelation.

            “Yes. The first difficultly is to locate him. Around his capital Xian Yang, he used to build 270 small palaces, many connected by covered passages and bridges, so that he can move from one to the other in secrecy. Since his imprisonment, I believe Li and Gao had been preparing for the day of his resurrection. They would have built more complicated hiding structures.”

            “That’s right,” Heero confirmed her, “We traced the organization’s funding going into construction. I supposed it was used to built all these hiding holes.”

            “OK, supposed we find him, then what?” Quatre inquired.

            “Then we are faced with the second difficulty. We don’t know what time he is going to change to the mortal form. Even if we found him in his mortal form, he can still change instantly back to immortal form, as long as that’s not the last hour of the day.”

            “Does this mean he can choose to change between forms, providing he filled his ‘quota’ of 1 hour mortality per day?” Duo asked incredulously.

            “Yes. But there are certain activities where he had to perform in the mortal form. Eat, urinate, …”

            “WHAT? So we have to attack him when he is in the RESTROOM?”

“Or during …” She was cut off as loud noises broke through from far away. “Oh no… He had started awoken army from other dynasties.”

            “What??” Quatre asked in disbelief.

            “We must contact Une at once.” Heero put the secure network through.

            “Are you crazy? I don’t believe this!” Une was shouting. She wasn’t expecting a report like this from Heero.

            “And … …” Heero told her about wakening of dead armies.

            “This has to be a joke! No…” She stopped suddenly, dropping the phone. She stared at the TV screen in front. It was an announcement from Emperor Shi.

            “… … I will not stop until I conquer earth and space, and nobody can defeat me or my army…” What shocked her to the core were the generals standing behind him.

            The first five were not familiar at all. They looked like people coming from the past. **The 3^rd one looked like Alexander the Great** Une recalled the textbook picture she studied in elementary school. But the last one, she recognized the last one! “Treize Khushunada?” She couldn’t trust her voice. It couldn’t be, he was dead!

            “Une? Are you still there?” Duo’s anxious voice, “What happened?”

            She turned back to the screen, “I believe every single word you said. He just made an announcement; bla bla bla, the usual about conquering. But the generals behind his back. One of them is Treize. Oh, he also demanded you guys surrendered and handed Wufei over to him.”