100 The Magus Gene (2/2)
”Typical,” An Ning said without heat. ”Obviously she succeeded.”
”Not entirely,” Gray piped up. ”Turns out there was something wrong with the birth.The child was suffocated for several minutes inside the birth canal and the brain deprived of much-needed oxygen. He lived but he was about five when they discovered that his brain was totally fried. The woman couldn't have any other kids so our father divorced her and married her bestfriend who gave him three kids before she died.He never remarried again and died on what could have been our sixtieth birthday.”
”You were together that long?” An Ning was surprised.
”Like Terri here, we thought we stuck around because of some idea for revenge. But when the woman died and we were still around basically living in limbo we finally understood that we were really stuck and would probably have spent another sixty years in the same place if we hadn't met Nian Zhen.He was very convincing, especially when he said he found a way where we could acquire a physical body and live again as normal human beings.”
”How many of you are here in Chengdi?”
”Almost half of the population,” Hank answered.
”That many?” An Ning asked, surprised.
”Turns out there are lots of lost souls out there,” Kari said, shrugging, ”and all of them wanted to live human lives again. Wouldn't you after wandering as a lost soul for decades?”
”But how do you survive in here? I mean do you work? Do you have a government?”
”Some of us work in the fields,” Terri said. ”We've learned how to grow our own food. And believe it or not, we do trades with other communities.”
”Other communities? Who?”
”Chengdi exists in this time and era as a kingdom. It is the center, the capital so a lot of people stop by here everyday to gossip, find work, trade, seek justice, and other stuff.The head of the government is the king, which in this case is Nian Zhen. He was already the prince when all of us got here. He was the heir to the throne and when the old king died, he took over. Nian Zhen takes care of all of us. He goes out to the outside world once in a while to procure stuff. I don't know how he does it but he's the only one of us who can.”
”Buy things like ammo, huh?” An Ning scoffed.
”We had to,” Gray defended. ”We don't have much of an army in here and we had the occasional raiders to fight against. We're close to the sea so we're vulnerable to pirates and believe me, they're the worst. And lately, we had some demons come down the mountains and attack a village or two.”
”Demons?” An Ning was somewhat amused.
”As I said, this is a different time and place than 21st century earth,” Hank explained. ”Civilization hasn't caught up with the thinking just yet so everybody believes if a pig or two has gone missing or a child kidnapped, it's the work of demons when in reality it's a simple crime committed by another neighbor.”
”And Nian Zhen? What about him?”
”As I said, he's been exposed to too much of this magus gene and it affected the stability of his soul. Under extreme pressure and deep anger he changes and transforms into this monster but I have yet to see him become destructive. What we're primarily worried about is the harm he could do to himself.”
”Like seek out other demons and maybe start a war?” An Ning suggested.
”I don't know about that,” Hank said. ”This demon thing is also a murky topic.We have yet to see proof of it so...,” he shrugged.
The door suddenly opened with a bang and two young men hurried inside.One of them was already very familiar to An Ning. Kang Jun stopped dead when he saw An Ning then he hurried forward and bowed his head, putting the basket he held in one hold on the floor beside him.
”Your highness, I am very glad to see you safe and sound,” he said, looking up at her with a smile.
”I should give you a kick and throw you out,” An Ning said acidly. ”How dare you betray his highness?”
”Forgive me, your grace,” said Kang Jun, prostrating himself on the ground.”I wanted to help my mother. I couldn't just stand by and not do anything for her especially when his highness the king told me about a doctor who might be able to help her.”
”Excuses,” An Ning scoffed. ”Get up and greet the emperor.”
Kang Jun gracefully came to his feet and bowed before Gu Sheng who offered him his empty water bottle. Kang Jun received it gingerly, looked at it, at the emperor then pressed the water bottle on his forehead.
The boy with him suddenly burst out laughing. The laughter was so infectious that everybody in the room joined in, even An Ning who took the water bottle from Kang Jun's bewildered grasp then walked over a small can sitting at a corner and dumped the water bottle inside.
Kang Jun blushed beet red, suddenly realizing his gaffe.
”Serves you right,” An Ning said with a smile. ”That should teach you to betray your emperor everagain.”
”You are the empress?” Hank voice suddenly asked. ”Empress An Ning?”
”You know me?”
”I've heard of you. You are not Nian Zhen's girlfriend but his wife. And you are the granddaughter of that lady warrior who originally built the time machine.”
”Her granddaughter?” Kira asked surprised and excited at the same time. ”So, you know where she is?”
”How could she? I thought she was lost in space somewhere,” Gray said.
”What I want to know is, what happened to Zhen Zhen? The guards told me he's been sleeping for hours. I leave the palace for a few days and the king suddenly becomes ill? Anybody want to tell me what happened to him?”
The question came from a young boy whose eyes bore grimly on the people who suddenly shifted so they're not looking at him anymore. But before anybody could think of something to answer him with, Kang Jun's voice was again heard, shrilly this time.
”Ban Chao! I told you to stop eating my apples! I was going to take these to my mom so she could make sweets out of them. Now you've eaten almost all of them. Get back out there and get me some more!”