where everyone is, that is a question even I don’t know. I have frozen time for this important day. I appear to you
today to ask for your help.” He smiled sincerely at me.
I didn’t whether to trust him or not, but seeing he was such an important emperor and character in the Chinese
history, I decided to listen to what he had to say. “You’re not forgiven yet. But since you asked so nicely, I’ll see
what I can do.”
His returning smile was sad and hopeful. He said, “It’s been centuries since the last fight on The Great wall of
China. It has always been fights and wars with emperors of different parts of China. But the reason why I am able
to show up to you is because my tomb is being disturbed by the ghosts of Japan. They are insisting on war between
the two countries and I need your help on that. At noon, spirits of both countries will start the fight. And I need
your help with this war.”
I blinked. “I’m in.”
We arrived at the Great Wall and found it endlessly long. Chinese spirits were preparing for war, orders were
yelled by war generals and everyone was carrying weapons. The atmosphere was intense and the heat of noon was
starting to come.
“
The whole entire great wall is about 21,200 km now. It was just like yesterday when I saw all the blood and
dead bodies here. War is exciting, but deadly. It isn’t like a glory way to die, despite what all the young lads think.”
Andrew said to me, lost in his memory. “Although this wall gives us protection, deaths of war is
unavoidable…..we can only hope our best.”
I watched as spirits carried their weapons around and do some last minute training. Their skill with the sword
is good. But I know I can do better. I felt the heavy lump in my pocket and itched to take it out and show them the
better way to kill the enemy.
“
And how do I fit in to this fight?” I asked after hearing the deadly story told by the famous Chinese emperor
himself.
“
Oh son, your ability with knives is amazing. Although I asked you to join me to defeat the Japanese, I want
you to sit in the observing area of the bridge and just watch.” He said to me.
“
Wh-” My sentence was never completed. A loud yell was heard from a far and arrows started attacking the
wall. Andrew shoved me to the observing shade and left me alone while he led his men.
The war has begun. I watched as our Chinese spirits fought with the Japanese spirits who decided to fly up
our bridge. It seemed unreal, seeing spirits around me fighting. I stayed hidden in the observing shade but every
stab the Japanese gave to our spirits felt like an insult to me- somehow I know that I can do better if I was helping.
I know I can take them down. But I remembered the order from Andrew and stayed put on the spot.
Because of the fog, it was impossible to see the enemies across from the great wall. However, angry Japanese
phrases and words can be heard throughout the whole fight. They were angry. And I watched as each of their
spirits die and disappear. The way they die is sickening but at the same time it also leaves me wondering. After the
spirits get stabbed, they will first die like any other normal living person, afterwards they will vanish in a puff of
golden dust.
I watched as our first spirit fall- the arrow found its way to his heart. After stopping his ghostly heartbeat, the
body vanished in the golden dust and left no trace of blood.
I watched as our spirits fired a modern canon to the other side, I listened to the angry bullets being shot
towards us, the rapid arrows from both sides and the blood being splattered on the floor. I watched as our spirits’
helmets hit the ground, heard the splash of water from nearby.
The beautiful great wall was damaged greatly because of the canons from the Japanese. However, this did not
faze any of our spirits.
I watched as Andrew led his men, and listened to him shout orders rapidly to his soldiers. Although he was an
emperor, he was one who knows how to fight and lead his army through the war.
It was heart clenching and as I heard the agony cries from both sides… It was a mixture of pain and sadness
and I no longer wanted to watch after hearing so many of these pleas. It was almost one hour later when it was all
silent.
I was scared to come out of the observing shade, scared to face what I may see. Have we won? Will there be
piles of dead bodies? What happens to the ghosts now? Will they still be there after being shot and killed? Will
they go back to their graves or will they wander around the country?
I finally decided to go out and see the damage…. and was shocked find all men walking around and hugging
each other. They’re all back! Even the ones who got “killed” during the battle. I felt a rush of relief and walked
around to find Andrew. Andrew was standing in the middle of the crowd, with a large smile on his face. “WE
WON!” he shouted to me, followed with loud cheers from the crowd.
Andrew brought me back to the airport shortly after the cheers. I really wanted to stay mad at him for not
telling me his true identity before, but after going through so much with him and seeing him fight through this war