22 ONE EYED DEMON

240 BC

A village near the Wei city of Kyuu

RUN!! ITS THE ONE EYED DEMON!!!! shouted the fleeing Wei citizens.

Meng covered in the blood of his victims ordered his troops to charge the fleeing Wei citizens! while Kanki was capturing Kyuu, Meng was leading 15,000 heavy cavalry and 5,000 mounted archers in razing and pillaging the Wei territory!

Meng having butchered every Wei citizen he could find, ordered the troops to move deeper into Wei territory, for the next few days he would slaughter thousands of defenseless Wei citizens.

(One year earlier, flashback)

Dai wanting to help her husband was over seeing the construction of arrows before they were transported towards Kankoku Pass. For days thousands of arrows were crafted, finally it was too dangerous to linger any longer and everyone evacuated deeper into Qin territory.

Dai while traveling with the troops suddenly remembered that a group of young children eager to help, had volunteer to help cut down trees and pluck feathers to construct arrows! looking around she couldn't spot any of the children and realized that they had left them behind!

Rushing back towards the village accompanied by a few guards, she eventually managed to locate the children after a long search. The children having got distracted had wondered off to play and res and had failed to realize that every of had left without them.

The group quickly left the area, sadly a scouting party of Wei troops had ventured far into Qin territory and had happened upon Dai group!

The Wei troops rode down the fleeing group butchering all but a few! sadly Dai attempted to plead for the life of her child but the Wei troops were merciless. Killing her and Mengs child they next ravaged Dai over the next few days!

Dai covered in wounds, having been tormented in many cruel ways, eventually was left to die in a field the Wei troops had set up camp in. Dai barely clinging to life slowly crawled her way to the dead body her child hoping to find any sign of life! realizing that her child was dead, Dai filled with shame and grief! ended her own life by slitting her own throat!

(flashback ended)

Kyuu had fallen thanks to the efforts of Kanki, while Kanki was capturing Kyuu, Ousen was capturing the Wei city of Keito.

Meng while Kanki and Ousen kept the bulk of Wei troops occupied! was leading his troops in various raids deep into Wei territory!

(A few days later)

Kanki leading his army deeper into Wei to secure the local area, eventually came upon a Wei village occupied by Meng in his troops. Kanki not a stranger to cruel violence, would bat a eye when the situation called for it, but even he was left stunned as he came upon Meng sitting atop a pile of bodies as his troops nailed the limbs of dead citizens to a tree near by!

(A few weeks later)

Meng had once again slaughtered a bunch Wei citizens after attacking a village deeper into Wei territory! lost to madness and rage! he failed to notice as a Qin messenger arrived accompanied by troops!

Kanki and Ousen had finally decided that Meng had gone too far, getting permission from the royal court they had Meng arrested!

Meng was brought back to the capital and charged for his crimes! due to the coalition army having inflicted many horrible atrocities during their invasion, many government officials approved of Mengs actions in secret! and sentenced him with a light sentence.

Meng was imprisoned for three months but was allowed to keep his military rank! his troops were handed over to another and he was removed from the front lines, and was being held back in the reserve troops. The officials having learned of Mengs situation, knew that his mental state was terrible right not and he was not allowed to lead men. Although still in military, he was effectively abandoned and left on his own after he was released from prison. Since he wasn't serving on the front line, he wasn't allowed a income from the military.

(weeks later)

Meng having spent the last of his money from selling all his assets, now found himself sitting in an alley drinking rice wine as the rain poured down upon him. For the next few days her spent his time wondering from city to city, stealing what he needed and selling anything else to drink even more.

During one of his random walks in the back alleys while drunk, he was assaulted by a group of thugs! despite being drunk he managed to disarm a dagger from one of his opponents and quickly slit his throat! blood sprayed from the wound! covering Meng in blood!

One by one he killed his attackers until mone were left alive! long after they were dead he continued to stab the bodies while screaming in grief and anger, eventually others came looking to see what the commotion was about and Meng was forced to flee the area. Soon rumors started circulating of a crazed one eyed! red demon! stalking the back streets!

This area was now to dangerous for Meng to linger in, deciding to leave he traveled to another city. For weeks he wondered the country side, traveling from one city to another until eventually he arrived at a small village.

With worn out tattered clothes he wondered around the village as darkness started to set in, eventually he arrived behind a small shop, stopping to dig through the garbage out back. Today he was lucky and he found fresh partially eaten bits of food from a leftover customer meal.

He started stuffing the food into his mouth with wild abandon when he suddenly stopped upon seeing a young girl around four years of age staring at him! the child was skin and bones and eyed his food hungrily.

Seeing the state of the child he reluctantly tossed her the food and left.

The next day Meng while walking down a dirt path walked by an old restaurant, a young man had just started to eat his food when he suddenly grabbed his stomach and then quickly ran to the bathroom!

Meng seeing fresh food! quickly grabbed it and bolted outside running far away before anyone could stop him! eventually he ran far away from the area and sat down in a clump of trees to enjoy his meal. Suddenly he heard a twig break and soon a young head poked out behind a tree!

The young girl from earlier had found him, Meng seeing the starving girl reluctantly shared his food with her. For the next few days he traveled to another village, along the way he happened to look behind himself and was surprised to spot the young girl following him!

Repeatedly he tried to tell her to leave! but the child just kept following after him! he finally had enough and managed to chase the young girl off by hurling rocks at her!

Stopping for the night he built himself a fire and opened his last bottle of wine. Drinking too much he ended up passing out. Upon waking up he was startled to discover the young girl curled up besides the now burnt out campfire ashes. Leaving the girl as she slept he quickly fled from the area.

He attempted to abandon the young girl but every morning he would discover that she had caught up with him and find her sleeping near his fire.

(A month later)

Meng was talking to an old shop lady, unknown to the old lady a young girl was stealing as much as she could behind her back! Meng seeing that the young girl Mei had stolen what she could and had left, ended his conversation with the old lady and quickly left.

Soon he met up with the young girl Mei and rummaged through what she had stolen while Meng distracted the old lady. The young girl Mei now had more fat on her, Meng not being able to get rid of the young girl, had decided to make her his partner in crime. While he distracted his target he would have Mei steal what she could.

The day was coming to an end and it was starting to get dark. Meng and the pair now found themselves in a large city wondering down the back streets at night.

Meng deciding that this spot was as good as any sat down between two buildings and leaned up against a wall to fall asleep. Soon it started raining and he could hear the shivering of the young girl near him...

Reluctantly he took off his worn out jacket and tossed it over the girl. The girl stunned stood still for a second, eventually she came back to her senses and sat down next to Meng and leaned against him. Sharing their body heat soon the young girl fell asleep.

Meng observing the young girl sleeping, couldn't help thinking about his lost family and soon tears were flowing down his face, thankfully the rain made it so you couldn't tell. Meng attempted to stop himself from shaking in grief to avoid waking Mei, unknown to him Mei was still awake but pretended like she was asleep.