chapter six

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There's too many soldiers between me and Dong Zhuo at this point. He couldn't rely on his own strength to get him through the gates alive, and now the entire city of Luoyang is ablaze. Several times I was unable to distinguish the soldiers from the smoke and it's cost me, resulting in several brand new bloody wounds along the expanse of my arms. I briefly contemplate the possibility of me purchasing and training with a shield in battle, to reduce the amount of wounds that I receive on a regular basis. Then I have to contemplate whether or not I'll make it off this battlefield alive. If Dong Zhuo's soldiers don't kill me, then the noxious amounts of smoke in the air surely will.

My hand is shredded  from the broken handle of my spear, and I'm forced to switch hands constantly to wipe the excess blood on the fabric of my skirt. Tears are streaming down my face and I'm not sure whether they're from frustration or the offensive smoke in the air. Each step is agonizing and I finally realize how much of a toll this battle has taken upon me. Through the smoke, I see a heavy, human-like figure. And when it emerges, I'm met with the blurry, hideous face of Dong Zhuo himself.

"Nothing's ever good enough for you is it?" He sneers, holding a lit bomb filled with clay shrapnel in his hand. He hold another behind his back, although I cannot tell if it is lit or not. It doesn't matter though, everything is on fire anyways.

"Riches, clothing, the possibility of you ruling by my side as I take over China!" Dong Zhuo declares, heaving the explosive in the air.

"Not to be dramatic, but I'd rather die," I bite back at him, mustering saliva from my dry mouth to spit up at his feet. He smiles, a gruesome, venomous thing.

"Then die you shall," and he chucks the bomb at my feet where it explodes on impact. I leap backwards just in time, dodging most of the shrapnel, but some sharp pieces of clay do not fail to cut slashes against my bare legs. I scream in agony, letting a few tears of pain prick at my eyes. I lunge at Dong Zhuo with an animalistic shriek, holding what's left of my spear in both of my hands above my head, determined to plunge the blade into his chest with one fatal stroke. But for a fat man he sure is agile, as he leans to the side just before my spear point sinks into his chest. Instead, it finds its mark within a chink in his armor, digging itself into the flesh of his shoulder. He howls in pain, batting me aside with a meaty hand.

Weak and dazed, I sprawl at the force of his hand and crumple to the dirt unceremoniously.  He disappears into the smoke once more, and then I realize that I've failed. I disobeyed direct orders, endangered myself, and possibly cost the Coalition losses all at the fault of my own selfishness. And for it, I'll either bleed to death or be roasted alive. I'll die with the regret in my heart that my father will live in purgatory unavenged because I was weak. And with that deprecating thought, I close my eyes for the last time.

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Many people spoke about how when one was on their deathbed, their lives would flash before their eyes before they descended into purgatory. So when I stood knee deep in what looked to me like a rain cloud, I was more than confused. There was a large golden scale just feet in front of me, larger than the castles than I had seen in Xiliang. My body felt compelled to climb into one of the cups on the scale, and so it did, cringing involuntarily when the scale made a shrill, eerie creaking noise. The moment I fit my body into the scale, I felt my body being lifted into the air, I watched as Dong Zhuo's body floated, literally floated, with the luxurious golden wings of an angel onto the opposite end of the scale. My end of the scale teeters dangerously as the scale itself attempts balance between the two of us. But to my horror, my stomach finds itself in lodged in my throat as I sink and Dong Zhuo hovers in the air above me. His golden wings flutter and shimmer in the air as I steal a glance behind me. The conspicuous gray cloud cover slowly parts, revealing the burnt remains of Luoyang below me.

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