War Drum

Beacon smoke rose on all sides, black columns in the distance slashing across the blue sky.

The ancient Great Wall fortress stretched into the mountains. Warm autumn sunlight spilled over the world, while beyond the pass, northern demons swept forward with gray death in tow. The Great Wall divided two worlds: one bathed in sunlight, the other steeped in gloom.

Twenty crimson beast-hide drums, each as tall as a man, stood neatly arranged upon the high platform of the walls.

Twenty slender female Snake Demon Soldiers clad in full armor stood before the enormous red drums, gripping drumsticks tied with red cloth as they beat in perfect unison! The drumbeats shook the heavens!

Their movements were as one, valiant and dashing—the dance of war drums!

Boom, boom—the drums echoed across the wilderness and mountain ridges...

For three thousand miles, the north wind howled. Banners snapped fiercely, and the war drums shook the mountains as though they would topple.

The drums were a military command. The vast fortress immediately sprang into motion at full speed. Generals shouted for their soldiers to assemble, while troops and laborers hurried frantically through the stronghold. Squad after squad of armored soldiers, weapons in hand, clattered and rushed up onto the walls.

There was no noisy uproar, only suffocating oppression. The dull, heavy clank of footsteps rang out as dense ranks of spears packed the walls, turning them into a hedgehog. Frost weighed heavily upon their thin campaign clothes. Countless breaths rose in clouds of white vapor, and great quantities of defensive equipment had long since been readied.

Brawny laborers stripped to the waist and shouted as they cranked the trebuchets into firing position.

Bundles of arrows, sabers, spears, and shields were stacked in neat rows...

Minister Zhe, dressed in the court robes of a minister,