Chapter 7 - The Siege

Hao Xuan turned around as quickly as his body would let him and screamed at the top of his lungs, "MONSTERS!!! MONSTERS ARE COMING!"

**

The tree line was almost four kilometers away from the farmhouse. With the beast's speed and numbers, it would only take a few minutes for the first wave to reach the mansion.

He ran down as fast as he could, falling twice in the process and ran out of the warehouse. As he got close to the mansion Mr. Khan came running towards him.

"Monsters? How many? Where are they coming from?" he asked hurriedly.

"Hundreds! Hundreds of them coming out of the forest all at once, they should be here within a few minutes, we have to get out, quick!" Hao Xuan replied in a panic, looking at the stables.

"Get out? How can we get out? We can't outrun them on foot and we don't have the horses to take everyone," Mr. Khan replied gloomily, his tone bleak. "We can only depend on the barrier and hope it holds till the guards get here," he finished.

At this point Maaz came running over as well. Mr. Khan looked at Hao Xuan and shook his head, signaling him not to talk about it anymore.

"Go to the sheds and grab any weapons you can find, then come to the mansion quickly," he said to Maaz and Hao Xuan as he ran back first.

Hao Xuan explained the situation to Maaz as best as he could while they both searched the sheds for anything useful. There were a few sickles and axes which they brought back to the mansion where everyone else was waiting for them with flustered expressions.

As soon as they got in, Mr. Khan put the protection stone in the crevice beside the door and a bright white bubble appeared around the whole mansion.

"Stay away from the barrier, we can go out but nothing else can come in," he said as he took an ax from Maaz.

"I'll go up and see how far they are," Maaz said running up to the second floor, Hao Xuan and Sam followed him.

There wasn't any roof access, only an attic which was the highest place on the farm other than the warehouse. The trio reached the attic window and peered towards the forest. The monsters were close enough now that they could easily be seen with the naked eye because of the moonlight.

There really were thousands of them, coming from every side. It wasn't just them that was in danger, but everyone around them for a hundred miles or so would be attacked.

Hao Xuan realized it was going to be a bloodbath one way or another. There weren't enough guards or hunters to get to everyone in time….

He looked the other way hoping to catch a glimpse of the guard's outpost, but there was nothing for miles around. Then suddenly another bright bubble popped up on the left side, much further away, and then another and another. It seemed like everyone else in the vicinity was aware of the incoming monster horde.

With nothing else to see, they went back down to the living area. As they entered, Mr. and Mrs. Khan looked towards them with hopeful eyes only to see Maaz shake his head, confirming their fears.

There was no help coming anytime soon.

Olivia and Emilie were huddled together with Kay, their oldest sister. She was the same age as Hao Xuan and was really mature for her age.

"Sis, I'm scared," said Olivia in a quivering voice, holding Kay's hand tighter.

"Are the monsters going to eat…us?" Emilie asked weakly, looking towards her mother.

As Hao Xuan heard that those words, his heart skipped a beat. Were they really going to die? The life that he had just now started, would it really end so abruptly? They came to this great new world and he was already going to leave it without ever stepping out of this farm?

He was saddened by the thought but couldn't see any alternatives. What could he do?

He looked towards the family, at Kay and Mrs. Khan trying to console the twins, Mr. Khan, Maaz and Sam, holding various farming tools standing by the windows, waiting for their inevitable deaths.

He didn't want any of them to die.

They had done nothing but be kind to him and make him feel happiness beyond what he had ever thought possible. He had only now started living, so how could he let it all end so soon?!

'There has to be a way!'

*BOOOM!*

The barrier shook intensely, the monsters were here.

***

There were thousands of them just running and not even looking in front. Rather than an attack it seemed more like they were running for their lives.

'What could make so many of these creatures come out of the forest fearing for their lives? Was it the meteor? If you could even call it that. What exactly is going on?' Hao Xuan's thoughts ran wild. Even at this time he couldn't hold his inquisitive nature back.

Unexpectedly, most of the creatures bumped into the barrier, got up and continued running while many others ignored the barrier completely.

But some of the bigger ones stayed. For example, a few creatures that were as big as calves, had four extremely long legs and a small hairy body. With the face of a bat, it looked they came straight out of a child's nightmare. (authors thought).

These creatures were just standing there, not attacking nor running away. Just….looking.

Another monster stopped behind them as well. It looked like a mix between a moose and a bear. As big as a bus, it was huge to say the least, reaching even the second story of the mansion while on all fours. It was the biggest one out there and from the looks of, the deadliest as well.

There were a few other different kinds of monsters that had stopped outside the barrier. After a few minutes, the majority of the horde had gone past the farmhouse, with just those creatures outside.

And then suddenly, the bear hybrid came running over at full speed and ran into the barrier, making it shake and slightly dim for a second.

Hao Xuan's expression turned ugly instantly. Even with just these few creatures, the barrier wasn't going to hold out for very long.

The twins started crying loudly. The men tightened their grips on the tools, ready to fight. Everyone knew it wasn't going to end well at this point. Despair was in the air. Even Mrs. Khan who was usually very calm and collected had tears in her eyes holding on to the twins.

Hao Xuan's heart bled. Why? Why wouldn't the so-called all mighty "Ancient Ones" help? They certainly had the capabilities to do so, it was nothing for them so why wouldn't they help? They brought them here and then left them to die to some wretched beasts?

Hao Xuan slowly backed out of the room without being noticed, which wasn't hard at this point. With a troubled expression he looked at the floor below and then the ceiling above before his knees bent and he fell down to the floor.

'Please, Ancient Ones, Gods, whoever is listening, just keep this family safe. If you just need someone to suffer then I'll do it in their stead, whatever you want, I'll do it. But please keep them safe! I beg you! Just one little miracle and I'll serve you for a lifetime…please…' he prayed and prayed with closed eyes and folded hands. Negotiating with unseen beings.

This was the second time he was praying in his life and it still felt as disgusting as the first. Praying was supposed to cleanse a person of their sins and make them feel content but Hao Xuan never felt that way. To him it felt like the most humiliating thing he could do. Down on his knees like a beggar! But if it would save these innocent people then it would be worth it.

*BAM!*

*BAM!*

The barrier got hit again and again, dimming ever so slightly every time but nothing happened. There was no heavily thunder sent to burn these beasts to ashes, no angels descended to protect the house and its inhabitants. The heavens were blind. No one was coming to help them.

Suddenly a heart-wrenching scream came from afar. Hao Xuan ran to the window and like a flame in the wind, the bubble in the distance flickered and then broke.

He recognized the voices, it was their neighbors, the small family of five. They were quite a distance away but Hao Xuan could still hear the children's screams for a few seconds before it all went silent.

He stared at the place for a few more seconds and could already see what was going to happen when their own barrier inevitably broke. It would be a massacre just like that one.

Hao Xuan placed his right hand over his chest and felt his heartbeat. Maybe his heart was going to stop soon but not without a fight, not like this!

'If the heavens won't help then fuck them, if the gods don't help, fuck them. What good are they? I will fight these beasts as long as I can and if I come out of this, one day I will stand in front of the altar of the gods and ask Why?'

He liked this place so he won't let it go just like that. Finally he had made up his mind and as soon as he did, an old brown book appeared in his conscious mind without him realizing it.

It flipped open on its own and a passage on the first page lit up: With one swing the Gods Slayed, and with another, the abyss sundered!

The words lit up with a reddish-golden color and the small vortex of Spiritual Energy that was always surrounding him finally entered his body. But Hao Xuan was in a world of his own right now and couldn't feel anything due to the rush of adrenaline.

He ran into the living room where they were all gathered.

"Aunty, is there any cooking alcohol in the kitchen?" he asked peering towards Mrs. Khan.

Bewildered by the sudden inquiry, she thought for a few seconds and then got up herself and went into the kitchen. She came back out with several bottles.

"Thank you," Hao Xuan replied with a resplendent smile.

Everyone was shocked by his actions. And that blinding smile! They had never seen him smile like that in the few weeks they had known him.

Actually, he had never smiled like that before in his life, ever. All the knots in his heart were undone. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his chest. Right now he didn't have to think anymore. His body moved on its own.

'Become strong enough to hold the very sky up if need be! Hold those heartless bastards that brought them here from the safety of their homes and left them to die accountable!'

As soon as the thought appeared in his mind, he suddenly felt an external power enter his body. At that moment Hao Xuan felt like he could destroy the world with a single punch.

What was this mysterious power? He would later find out that this was the awakening of his first energy, an energy that would not bow to anyone!

But he didn't linger on it for too long.

"Please hold on, I'll go get help. Don't give up!" he said to the family, looking at everyone present once before running up the stairs with a huge grin on his face.

Everyone in the living room was sitting there completely shocked, did he have a mental breakdown?

***

Hao Xuan reached the attic once again, opened the window and stepped out. The stable was right in front of him but still about seven meters away.

Normally there was absolutely no way he would even think of making such a jump but there was no other way anymore. And that strange power was still lingering inside of him. He felt like he could fly with that power let alone jump a few meters.

So without thinking about it anymore, he gritted his teeth and leaped!

The windowsill broke to pieces under his feet by the sheer power exerted on it and he 'flew' through the air and landed the stable roof, barely making it. He found the top window and went inside.

His heart was beating like a drum and for a few seconds that was all he could hear.

He looked around in the darkness, slowly making his way down. The stable door had a hole in the bottom about 4 feet wide and it looked like something had chewed through it.

'Oh no! Did a beast get inside?!'

He sprinted towards the back where the horses were kept but staggered upon seeing the blood. Of the three horses he could already see two from afar. Their bodies had large bite marks the size of watermelons around their necks.

As slowly as he could, Hao Xuan grabbed a nearby pitchfork and raised it up like a weapon. Step by step he walked over to the last stall where his horse was kept. He could still hear heavy breathing on the other side.

With gritted teeth he jumped and landed right in front of the stall, once again being caught off guard.

The first thing Hao Xuan saw was a giant black shadow glaring at him and then a dead beast under it.

"You're okay!" he let out a breath of relief.

Using the pitchfork Hao Xuan pushed the beast aside. It was like a jaguar but its mouth was almost twice as big as its head. There were hoof prints on its body and it had been crushed to death under the stallion's weight.

*Neigh!*

Seeing another silhouette appear out of nowhere the horse neighed loudly and stomped on the ground with all its weight threateningly.

Hao Xuan swiftly lowered the pitchfork and went closer with his bare hands above his head.

"Whoa whoa, it's me look, it's me," he stood in the moonlight that was coming down from the cracks in the roof and showed himself. The horse took one look at him before abruptly calming down, surprising even Hao Xuan.

"That's a good boy, relax now, everything's fine," Hao Xuan brushed its mane with his hands. There were a few small wounds on it but nothing big.

Seeing as his ride was secured Hao Xuan started looking around for a weapon and some rags.

He found a dibber and tied it to a wooden rod to build a makeshift spear. He found some rags and tied them around the digger and poured the alcohol over it before stuffing the rest of the rags in the bottles, making some good old Molotov cocktails.

After making sure everything was ready, he went to the back of the last stall. The horse was still obviously agitated and neighed when he saw Hao Xuan arrive.

"Shh Shh Shh, hey, look at me, everything's going to be okay," he whispered while caressing its mane. The strange power in his body moved yet again, through his hands and into the horse, calming it down and even empowering it with new strength.

The horse looked into his green eyes which seemed to be shinning like lanterns in the darkness.

At that moment, Hao Xuan felt like he was connected to the horse mentally. If he thought about something, the horse would understand. A strange feeling indeed.

"We're going to go save everyone. I need your help. I know it's scary but I can't do this alone. You like them right? Everyone treats you so well, you wouldn't want them to get hurt right?" he said to the horse, trying to make himself feel better. He knew the horse wouldn't be able to understand him, but still.

The horse neighed in response, catching him by surprise. "Can you understand me?" he asked again and got another neigh in response.

Hao Xuan was utterly shocked, how was this possible? Were the animals in this world so intelligent? Or maybe he was just neighing to everything Hao Xuan said.

*BAM!*

A loud thud came from outside, bringing him back to reality. The barrier was going to break soon!

With a deep breath Hao Xuan got on the horse's back,

"Let's go…er, that reminds me, I still didn't name you right? My bad, how about Joey? I'll call you Joey," he said patting the horse, getting another neigh in response.

"Alright, let's do this!" Hao Xuan mumbled under his breath. This was meant more for him than the horse. His heartbeat increased yet again and he felt like throwing up but forced himself not to.

"Yah!" Hao Xuan clicked his heels and Joey broke into a trot, slowly picking up into a full own gallop.

They circled around the mansion once, making as much noise as he could.

"Hah!"

The Khan family who had all but given up at this point, suddenly heard a neigh and looked outside to see Hao Xuan with a large stick and a clanking bag of bottles on his back riding towards them on Joey.

*FWEEEET*

With a loud whistle, Hao Xuan came running around the mansion, successfully becoming the center of attention. He adjusted his position and ran straight into the heard of monsters, lighting his homemade spear on fire on the way.

"My God, what is he doing, he'll get killed," yelled Mrs. Khan, panicking and rightly so.

Hao Xuan pierced the first two little spider-like creatures, hearing a loud screech in response before running out of the herd once again when suddenly he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

The Bear hybrid was looking right at him. It was thoroughly incensed by this little creature's antics, stood on its hind legs and growled.

*GROOOOWL!*

It was taller than the entire mansion while in that position, more than 15 meters in height.

Hao Xuan's heart almost stopped as he looked at the massive shadow and at that moment he knew he clearly wasn't a match for the creature no matter what he did.

So he lit the Molotov's and started chucking them at the pack of beasts.

A few landed in front of the mansion's entrance, lighting it ablaze. A couple landed on the bear and it soon starting burning intensely. One of them landed right in the middle of the herd and fire splashed everywhere.

Screech

*Kreeek*

All the creatures started screaming and running around but to Hao Xuan's surprise, the bear just looked at him thought the flames that had covered it completely. It was like the fire couldn't hurt it at all but Hao Xuan could smell the burnt hair and skin.

The bear let out a deafening roar and broke into a sprint towards him.

"Oh shit, what the fuck is wrong with that thing?! Why is it coming after me while its getting burned alive?" Hao Xuan almost got a heart attack looking at the absolutely massive 15+ meter ball of fire coming straight at him.

"Run Joey, RUN!" he screamed.

Hearing Hao Xuan's orders Joey took off like a rocket, heading straight into the fields.

The bear's speed kept increasing. Even the fire that was around its body slowly extinguished due to the sheer air pressure.

"No good, it's going to catch up at this rate," Hao Xuan thought while looking back. Even with Joey's speed they couldn't outrun it!

But at least he had managed to bring the biggest threat away from the residence.

'The barrier should hold for much longer now.'

They ran for ten minutes straight before Joey started getting slower. Even with the boost added from Hao Xuan's 'strange power' he couldn't carry on running like that for too long.

"We can't stop Joey! The mansion is still in our view, it could go back. No matter what, we can't stop," Hao Xuan shouted but he didn't know what good it would do.

"Don't think about anything else, just run, please, just run as fast as you can!" he mumbled.

Hao Xuan's eyes lit up like torches in the night and all the remaining power went through his body towards Joey.

With a loud neigh Joey broke out in a mad sprint which was even faster than his top speed. The distance between them and the half-burnt bear hybrid started increasing.

Hao Xuan suddenly felt extremely tired and almost fell asleep. He could barely keep his eyes open. He slapped himself and bit his tongue trying to stay awake.

With weary eyes he looked back and smiled when he couldn't see the mansion.

"Good job buddy, we did it. We saved everyone," Hao Xuan spoke in a barely audible whisper. All he wanted to do at this point was sleep.

'Nothing would be sweeter than a bed right now,' he thought.

Just as he was about to doze off, a voice echoed in his head, a very gentle voice.

"S-Sorry…master…at…my...limit," said the voice in an apologetic tone and then he heard a muffled boom before Joey went limp mid-stride.

The world turned upside down before Hao Xuan could even process what was going as he got thrown off Joey's back and landed in the fields after swirling in the air a couple of times.

He was so drowsy that just barely keeping his eyes open was all that seemed possible, but still, he forced himself to get up after a few seconds and slowly limped over to Joey.

He wasn't moving. There was a hole under his left leg from which blood was gushing out even now. His heart had exploded.

Hao Xuan had tears in his eyes. Did he really hear Joey's voice at the end? If that was true then he knowingly ran until his very heart exploded, all to save the Khan family.

"Good boy, you sleep now," Hao Xuan whispered while brushing his mane.

*RUMMBLEE*

Tears streaming down his face, Hao Xuan looked up and saw the bear running towards him. But he was so very sleepy that every waking moment felt like torture.

He almost hoped the bear would reach him sooner, just so he could taste the eternal sleep.

He closed his eyes, ready for death when he saw Emi's little face, "Please don't leave, Emi will be a good girl."

Hao Xuan chuckled.

"Is this what they mean when they say life flashes before your eyes on death's door? Hahaha, alright, I'll try to come back," he mumbled.

He looked around for the makeshift spear, it was stuck under Joey's body. He pulled it out with some effort and used it as a crutch to stand up.

All the pain hit him suddenly. He had broken quite a few ribs in the fall along with his left hand. His right eye was bruised black and blue, swollen to two times its size. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off he could feel all the pain of those injuries.

Barely standing straight, he used his right hand to hold the spear and aimed it towards the bear.

"Come at me you ugly son of a bitch, it's not going to be an easy dinner," he said with a grin.

The bear saw Hao Xuan get up in that state, ready to fight, which angered it even more. How dare this little thing that can barely stand bare its fangs towards me?

It stood up on its hinds legs again, growled loudly and brought its forearm down.

"If that attack connects, it will be all over," Hao Xuan thought seeing the massive paw looming over him but he couldn't do much at this point. His body was already going numb from the pain and he couldn't move at all.

So he held the spear in his hand and closed his eyes, waiting for the attack.

'At least it'll be quick…'

*Rumble*

*Rumble*

Out of nowhere the ground started shaking and loud sounds came from behind Hao Xuan, much like the galloping of horses. He slowly turned his head and saw an entire army coming towards him.

Hundreds of horse-like creatures with fully armored soldiers on top of them. His heart shook looking at the scene, it was the most magnificent thing he had ever seen.

With blades as long as the horses themselves, they came running. But just as they reached Hao Xuan and the bear, they parted like the red sea and went past them without slowing down at all.

The bear also stood there, stunned at this new turn of events.

Hao Xuan heard a swishing noise and a voice behind him.

"Oh my, now this is a nice surprise, a human against a fully matured Alces. You've got some guts, little boy," Hao Xuan turned around to look at the speaker.

It was a large, bearded man smiling at him. In his right hand, a massive Glaive.

There was a gurgling sound from behind the bearded man. Hao Xuan leaned over to the side and saw the bear standing there with wide eyes. It tried to roar but only gurgling noises could be heard and then a second later, the right side of its body cleanly separated from the left and fell down.

Hao Xuan's vision blurred and just like the bear's body, he also fell down with a thud.

The last thing Hao Xuan saw before passing out was the bearded man smiling at him.