"I'll leave the selection of the men to you. Summon the men to begin preparation to head to the mountain pass," General Li said, turning around and walking into his tent.
Captain Fan responded with a respectful bow. He walked away to execute the General's orders.
In another region,
An army of barbarians, led by a fearsome leader, walked along a narrow path through the thick, bushy forest.
They were none other than Shan Yu and his men.
They had been walking for a week and a half, searching for the escaped soldiers, but they had found nothing, not even a trace of a nearby village.
Perhaps it was because they were travelling on foot that the journey had taken so long. If they had their horses, Shan Yu knew they wouldn't have had such an issue.
They arrived at a clearing filled with tree stumps. Standing in their path was a wooden cabin.
Shan Yu gestured for his men to halt.
He narrowed his eyes at the scenery before him.
He walked towards a tree behind him, and upon seeing familiar marks carved into several of them, he realised they had already passed through this path. Yet, he didn't remember seeing the tree stumps or wooden cabin.
This meant only one thing...
It had only just been built here.
"Clear the path," Shan Yu ordered, looking at his men.
A long-haired man with a spear led the way forward, with several others following behind him.
The remaining soldiers stayed behind them, gripping their weapons tightly as they prepared for battle.
They weren't ones to underestimate an enemy, no matter how harmless they might appear.
Shan Yu stood at the forefront, observing the scene with a solemn gaze.
As they were about to step onto the front porch, the front door suddenly creaked open.
The soldiers halted.
The house was dimly lit, making it difficult to see what lay within.
A figure formed from the darkness and walked out of the cabin.
It was an old, plump woman dressed in a black cloak with a long, pointed black hat. She walked with a crooked wooden stick. However, the most eye-catching part of her attire was the pair of silver shoes. They shone with an extraordinary glow beneath the sunlight.
"Oh my, I didn't expect to see the neighbours so soon," the old woman said in a raspy voice. "You all look so strong and brave. Are you going out to hunt?
Please come in and eat my freshly baked bread and honey. I simply ask that you give me some of your catch when you return from your hunt."
The Hun soldiers stared at the woman solemnly. Seeing their leader step forward, they quickly parted, creating a path to the cabin.
Shan Yu halted in front of the woman. He gazed down at her.
"What a fearsome man you are. Are you the leader of this powerful group of hunters?" the old woman asked.
"I am," Shan Yu replied without missing a beat.
"Who sent you here?" He drew his sword and placed it against the woman's neck.
"What a sharp and sturdy weapon you carry. It seems I asked for too much. I'm not familiar with this neighbourhood, so forgive my shortcomings," the old woman said.
"Come into my little cabin so we can talk this out over some hot rabbit stew." She sent them an invitation once more.
"I'll take your head instead."
Shan Yu raised his sword and swung it down towards the woman's neck.
Clang!!
The woman blocked the sword with her crooked wooden staff.
Shan Yu's hand trembled from the impact of the attack.
His eyes narrowed at the old woman.
She didn't move an inch from her spot. Instead, she met his gaze with a crooked smile.
"Now… now… there's no need for violence. Please leave your weapons outside and step into my cabin so we can discuss this over a cup of hot chocolate. It will be hot, just as I promised. We can never go wrong with hot chocolate," the old woman said.
Shan Yu raised his sword and unleashed a flurry of strikes from every direction around the woman.
Clang!! Clang!!
Clang!! Clang!!
Surprisingly, the old woman blocked every strike with speed that mirrored his own. No matter how much force he put into his attacks, she responded with even greater strength.
Bang!! Crack!!
Shan Yu's blade shattered, and the broken sword flew from his hand.
The fragments embedded themselves in the ground behind him.
"It seems you don't want to come into my little cabin and settle this peacefully. Since that's the case..."
The old woman slammed her crooked staff against the ground.
A powerful gust of wind erupted from the staff, launching Shan Yu and his men backwards.
Dust and sand billowed into the air, forming a dense cloud around the woman.
"Fearsome hunters, strong and brave.
Lay your swords outside my door...
You'll need them nevermore…
Bone to metal...
Skin to steel…
Heart to iron...
Blood to ore...
Sleep awake instead of dead...
Walk as men of flesh no more."
Hayabusa was about to attack the old woman, but an invisible force pulled him from the sky and slammed him onto the grass.
As Shan Yu and his men attempted to rise to their feet, a powerful, mysterious pressure descended upon their shoulders, forcing them back to the ground.
A green cloud of energy erupted from the woman's staff and enveloped Shan Yu and his men where they lay.
"What's happening?" Shan Yu grunted in pain as he felt something strange happening within his body.
He could no longer feel his beating heart, the texture of his skin, or the wind brushing against his ears. He couldn't feel his legs, yet he could somehow sense the grassy plain beneath him.
The warmth he had carried since birth slowly vanished.
In all his life, Shan Yu had never experienced something so frightening.
A piercing, rasping laughter echoed in his ears.
"Hahahaheehehehehehe!! Just when I decide to do some good, you show me there's no reason to... Heeeheeheehee... Enjoy your new life," the old woman stepped forward through the cloud of dust and sand, gazing down at Shan Yu with a disgusted, irritated expression.
"Metal men... you're forevermore."
Shan Yu watched as the old woman brought her shoes together and clicked her heels three times. Her form became hazy before vanishing into thin air in the twinkling of an eye.
Those were the last things Shan Yu saw before he went unconscious.
It wasn't only him.
Every one of the Hun soldiers fell unconscious as a frightening transformation took place within their bodies.
As the dust settled, the cabin that had stood amidst the tree stumps vanished into thin air.
It was as though it had never existed.
***
Three hours later...
Shan Yu slowly awoke from his slumber.
Ding!!
Ting!!
He froze. He touched his chest.
Ting!!
It sounded like steel striking against steel.
He brought his hand before his face.
It was metallic.
He clenched it into a fist, but he couldn't feel the strength of his grip; only the movement itself.
He breathed heavily as he slowly sat upright and looked over the rest of his body. His clothes had fused with him, transforming into solid metal.
Shan Yu slowly touched his face.
Ting!!
He looked ahead.
The cabin was gone. Only the cut tree stumps remained.
He looked behind him. He didn't see his soldiers.
Instead, countless metallic humanoids lay scattered across the clearing, each distinctly resembling one of the men he had once commanded.
"I'm dreaming..." Shan Yu shook his head.
Perhaps he was still asleep. He struggled to stand, gave up, then slowly crawled toward a nearby sword lying in the grass.
He grabbed it and held the blade above his metallic chest.
If the sword pierced him, surely the pain would be enough to wake him from this nightmare.
Without hesitation, he drove the sword into his chest with all his strength.
SHRRINNN!!
He pulled the sword free and thrust it into himself again.
Again...
And again...
Yet he felt nothing.
Worse still, he remained trapped within this horrifying reality.
For the first time...
He experienced something worse than death.
The sword slipped from Shan Yu's steel hands. His metallic eyes grew dull as he stared at his trembling hand.
The surroundings were eerily silent, broken only by the distant cries of birds and wild animals.
**
Have you heard the Legend of the Metal Men?
Shan Yu, leader of the Huns' army, waged war against China upon learning of their plans to build the Great Wall of China. On that day, Death poured out her wine before him.
He didn't run. He didn't believe it was his destiny, so he fought back because he feared nothing; not even her wine.
He searched for the one responsible, but suffered numerous setbacks. Despite that, he never gave up, for he had found his prey and planned to send them to Death herself, laughing in her face.
Along the way, he encountered a witch living within a small wooden cabin amidst a clearing of fallen tree stumps.
She invited them into her cabin three times, offering, first, freshly baked bread and honey; second, hot rabbit stew; and third, a cup of hot chocolate.
But Shan Yu chose to take her head instead. The enraged witch laid a curse upon him and his men.
Now they slept and awoke, not as flesh…
…but as Metal Men.
It began like this…
Once upon a time.
***
The sun gave way to the night; the moon rose, casting bright, silvery rays of light upon the land.
Aladdin stared at the soldiers as they completed their sixth day of training.
On their first day of training, he had used his powers to nourish their bodies with the rain so they wouldn't grow weary, allowing them to quickly reap the benefits.
On the third day, he had shared with them the elixir he had given Mulan. In order not to draw too much attention to its magical nature, he had reduced its potency.
Aladdin guessed that the people in this region must have come across numerous magical items from other regions through trade, and that those who possessed supernatural powers kept themselves hidden, only revealing themselves when necessary to a select few, such as when Mulan's ancestors had initially wanted to send their dragon to fetch Mulan back to the family home before Mushu tricked his way into the task.
That meant a few people knew about the presence of the supernatural, such as Mulan's grandmother, judging from her behaviour in the film. One thing he wasn't sure of was whether other families had their own supernatural family guardians.
He hadn't watched the second movie. All he knew was that Mulan and Li Shang had gotten married. As for whether he would want to capture the heart of such a fearsome and beautiful woman...
The moment the idea sprang up, visions of Jasmine appeared in his mind, forcing him to dispel the thought.
Aladdin sighed deeply.
What she would say if he brought another woman back from his first mission was enough to make the strength leave his body.
He was neither a man of virtue nor righteousness. But there was just something about a woman placing her fragile heart in his care.
Besides, after manipulating events to ensure that everything unfolded in a way that allowed him to meet Jasmine, and after everything that had transpired between them, he found the effort tiring.
Getting to know each of these princesses was enough to satisfy his indulgence. He focused his energy on correcting the divergence in their fate.
"That's enough for today! You may all return to your caves!
We'll continue tomorrow!"
Aladdin raised his gaze toward the men in the distance.
The men groaned tiredly as they collapsed onto the ground.
"I'm tired! I can't move any longer!!"
"I can't feel my legs... and my arms!!"
"I don't think I have the strength to walk down the mountain. I'll just take a nap here and continue where we stopped tomorrow!!"
"Me too!!"
//////
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