seizing dreams
Seizing Dreams Ch9 – Totem
Note: Intense fighting scene upcoming, recommended to listen to epic battle music hehe
—
General stepped forward, dragged his broad sword behind him and bowed down slightly.
Liu Pengxuan said in a gloomy voice, “Come! I’ve been waiting for this day for far too long!!”
When Yu Hao heard him say that, he instantly recalled the past. For the past three years, he had always hoped that Liu Pengxuan would come look for him and give him a good beating, then all their past enmities would come to an end. But Liu Pengxuan didn’t do that, so he had always been around in his conscious world and had never left.
“I didn’t do anything wrong!” Yu Hao suddenly shouted, “You’re the one who betrayed me first!’
In the next moment, General had already turned into a streak of silver light as he rushed forward to fight with Liu Pengxuan. Liu Pengxuan uttered a loud shout and a bright light burst forth from the long rod in his hand. All of the golden sculptures within the huge hall began to move!
The eight golden sculptures all looked like his junior high schoolmates. They rushed towards the two people who stood in the middle of the corridor; General brandished his large sword while Liu Pengxuan waved his long rod, and within an instant the both of them had exchanged several blows — they moved so fast that Yu Hao’s eyes couldn’t keep up with their fight. Yu Hao dismantled his staff and turned it into two long knives, then joined the battle.
General relied on his armour to forcefully endure his opponent’s blows as he and Liu Pengxuan fought to gain the upper hand over each other, while the golden sculptures turned their heads together simultaneously and rushed towards Yu Hao!
Yu Hao anxiously called out, “General!”
“Believe in me!” General roared angrily, “No matter who he is! Believe that I can beat him up!”
“I……” Yu Hao calmed himself down. He wanted to assist General, but the two who were engaged in the fight were just way too fast. They kept changing their positions and moved to and fro like gales of wind in between the innumerable golden sculptures. Yu Hao could only piece his staff together again and release a current of lightning which ran through the golden sculptures.
“I’m going to use this weapon to kill you bastards!” Yu Hao roared angrily.
Within an instant, a scene emerged in his mind of him bringing a laundry fork out of his home and beating up Hua Lun’s followers with it until they were looking for their teeth on the floor. In a split second, his staff had shot out bursts of thunderbolts that exploded with a blast and the eight golden sculptures immediately tumbled in all directions, then they blew up into millions of golden coins that scattered all over the ground.
As of this moment, General was in the midst of an intense struggle with Liu Pengxuan. They fought from behind the huge red pillars to the top of the beams, then the two of them fell down together and landed harshly on the ground.
General shouted, “Yu Hao, help me!”
Yu Hao rushed forward, but Liu Pengxuan took a sudden big stride forward and raced towards General. General raised his broad sword to block the incoming attack, but with a loud “clang” his sword was knocked out of his hand under the huge impact. His back rammed into the huge pillar behind him and the red lacquer wooden pillar instantly broke apart round its middle!
“Not help in that way……give me strength! You are the owner of this world!” General said.
“How do I give you strength?!” Yu Hao couldn’t catch up to them no matter how hard he tried. Liu Pengxuan appeared to be chasing General with all his might, so as not to give General a chance to escape.
General roared angrily, “Believe in me!”
“I believe you!” Yu Hao shouted, “Jiayou1!”
“How the fuck is that believing in me!!” General flipped over and leapt up, then clashed with Liu Pengxuan. But he was immediately thrown up into the air again before he slammed onto the ground harshly.
“You obviously still have lingering feelings for him, that’s helping him!!”
“I don’t!” Yu Hao saw that General was constantly getting beaten up and flew closer, but the two suddenly separated again. Yu Hao released streaks of lightning, but when his lightning burst forth it didn’t seem to be able to get close to Liu Pengxuan at all.
General groaned as he crawled up and said, “I’m going to get beaten to death soon……this is just great……”
Yu Hao, “I don’t love him!”
“Transfer your affection!” General roared angrily, “Do you know what ‘transfer your affection’ means? Go like someone else! That guy is invincible right now!”
Yu Hao stood in front of General; Liu Pengxuan spun the long knife in his hand to change it from a horizontal sweep to a straight stab. He let out a loud roar and raced towards them so quickly that only his afterimage could be seen, but General managed to exchange positions with Yu Hao within the moment he vanished and blocked in front of Yu Hao; he threw away his broad sword, twisted his left wrist while executing a horizontal chop with his right hand, and with one move he had locked Liu Pengxuan’s blade in place!
When General and Yu Hao collided with Liu Pengxuan, they were hurtled out at the same time like a kite that had its string cut and were flung harshly onto the ground. However, as soon as he had fallen to the ground, General struggled to sit up and his first reaction was to raise his hand to hold Yu Hao in his arms and protect him with his body.
Yu Hao, “……”
Liu Pengxuan picked up General’s broadsword. He wielded a knife in his right hand and the sword in his left and overlapped them. Black fumes burst out of his body as he slowly said, “Accept your retribution.”
Yu Hao was slightly out of breath, but General stretched his hand out and pulled on Yu Hao’s chin, then looked into his eyes through his helmet.
“Don’t you feel moved by me protecting you like this?”
Yu Hao’s voice trembled, “Yes, I’m very moved.”
General, “So wouldn’t it be better to like me instead of that scum?”
Yu Hao, “……”
Yu Hao felt his heart begin to beat wildly within an instant. But immediately afterwards, Liu Pengxuan let out a crazy roar as he brandished his knife and sword, then turned into an afterimage as he suddenly shot towards General.
Liu Pengxuan was just inches away in the next moment. His swords flashed brightly as he approached, then General murmured.
“Now that’s……better.”
A loud bang sounded and General’s armour shot out rays of blinding silver light. He stomped on the ground with one foot, tensioned his back and held Yu Hao around his waist with his left hand. Then he stood up sideways and threw out a punch with his right fist; his beautiful uppercut went right past the incoming swords before it ruthlessly landed on Liu Pengxuan’s chin and sent him flying. Immediately afterwards, he turned one more round and made use of the momentum to send Liu Pengxuan careening like a tornado with a roundhouse kick.
“Sword!”
The moment General said that, Yu Hao threw him the broad sword that Liu Pengxuan had dropped. General raised his hand to catch it. Liu Pengxuan struggled to crawl up, then scrambled off as he tried to escape.
“Go and die——！You scum!!”
In the next moment, General devoted all his strength into viciously swinging his broad sword down. Liu Pengxuan shrieked in anguish as he was instantly chopped into two by General!
Yu Hao instinctively turned his head as he couldn’t bear to look. Liu Pengxuan’s blood exploded everywhere, but right at the moment his blood spurted out, all the meat, bones and blood in his body morphed into black fumes and rose into the air. Then, it completely disappeared within the corridor.
The corridor sunk into silence. And right then, Yu Hao suddenly left like everything had come to a complete end along with the swing of General’s sword. Liu Pengxuan may still be alive in some part of the world, but from now onwards, he would no longer have any connection with him. He no longer loved him, or hated him. He had no more regrets about Liu Pengxuan, and neither did he miss him anymore.
General slowly stood up with his back facing Yu Hao, then said, “In your reality, you need to find a lover who can teach that guy a lesson on your behalf.”
Yu Hao didn’t say anything in reply. His heart was filled with a mixture of conflicting feelings.
General turned around, walked over to stand in front of Yu Hao and stretched out a hand enclosed in a metal glove to rub Yu Hao’s head, then said, “I’m sorry, just now I was only……”
“I know.” Yu Hao interrupted him and laughed a bit sadly, “You had no other choice then.”
“In reality, you’ll definitely be able to meet the right person for you.” General explained, “But, it won’t be me. I’ll tell you why later.”
“You’ve also promised me before that you would take off your helmet and let me have a look.” Yu Hao said.
“I still remember that.” As General spoke, he walked to the front of the huge door at the end of the corridor.
General asked again, “Why do you want to keep on living?”
Yu Hao, “Un?”
General said, “I’m asking you seriously.”
Yu Hao, “Is this very important?”
General, “Extremely important. Before you think that question over carefully, we won’t go out.”
Yu Hao stood behind General. He gazed attentively at this back and said, “I’ve figured it out.”
“You need to be absolutely certain of your answer.” General said, “And you must firmly believe in it. Your belief can’t be shaken, because it will be the key to seizing your totem back.”
“Okay.” Yu Hao answered, “I’ve figured it out.”
General was a bit surprised that Yu Hao didn’t tell him his answer, but after awhile he said, “If you’ve figured it out then that’s fine.” As he spoke, he inched closer to the huge door.
Yu Hao followed along. He felt a sudden upsurge of emotions; he held General’s hand, and General’s metal hand slightly gripped it back in return before it relaxed, then he didn’t say anything as he propped his shoulder against the door to push it open slowly.
Yu Hao went to the other side and pushed the door open with General. He turned sideways to look at General — General’s helmet was coincidentally facing his direction as well.
“If I really like you, will your strength increase?” Yu Hao suddenly said, “As long as you don’t reject me and I upkeep my belief in your strength, you won’t lose it.”
“That depends on you.” General stopped moving, then said, “Not on me.”
“But it wasn’t easy for me to let Liu Pengxuan go.” Yu Hao smiled as he said, “And now I can’t forget about you, that’s not useful at all.”
“Only those whom you’ve loved in reality can leave a projection in your conscious world.” General said seriously, “I’m only a visitor in your dream. When I leave, I will really leave, and won’t occupy any space in your heart.”
Yu Hao thought, I would rather you stay here forever, and occupy a space here that belongs only to you.
“Jiayou.” General encouraged.
Yu Hao felt his heart jolt for no reason, and thought could it be him?
Yu Hao, “Dad?”
General said, “Ai, good boy. Call me that again?”
Yu Hao, “……”
Yu Hao said in annoyance, “You’re taking advantage of me!”
General seemed like he was laughing, and he laughed so hard that he didn’t even have the strength to push the door open anymore. His whole body bent over as he placed his hands on his knees. Yu Hao gave him a kick, then General said, “You’re the one who wanted to call me Dad.”
Yu Hao muttered to himself, “I was just trying.”
General stayed silent for awhile, then said, “Push the door open! The king is back!”
Yu Hao was a little sad at first, but General’s words immediately made his blood boil. He pushed the door open with General, and within an instant, a bright light shot out from beyond the door that blinded them. In the midst of the blaring noise, the walls that surrounded them collapsed and shattered with a loud rumble before scattering in all directions. Dark clouds loomed overhead, and an open-air altar came into view.
In the middle of the altar, a king’s throne appeared. The black dragon in the skies above roared before it gradually began its descent.
The platform was at least a thousand square metres wide and its entire surface was engraved with strange patterns. The palace constructed from wood was disintegrating rapidly as it fell apart. It was as if they had reached the zenith — as long as they reached out, they would be able to touch the dark clouds that loomed above their heads.
“You’re finally here.” A tender voice said.
In the middle of the king’s throne sat a kid adorned in a black garment. The golden light that filled the sky retracted and turned into a huge, twisted symbol that spewed out black flames as it floated in midair.
“That’s your totem.” General raised his head and looked up into the sky.
Yu Hao, “This is……”
“Un.” General answered, “He’s the other side of you. Or in other words, your dark personality.”
Yu Hao took a step forward. The black dragon suddenly descended and protected the dark Yu Hao; Yu Hao’s small stature began to elongate unceasingly as he morphed into his adult self.
Yu Hao seriously scrutinised himself for the first time. Even though it was another him, he had a strong sense of dissociation from reality. Dark Yuhao looked frail and pale; he had a sickly quality to him, slightly long hair, was currently barefoot and since he was looking down, no one could tell what he was looking at.
“What are you thinking?” Dark Yu Hao said softly, “You gave up on this place voluntarily, why do you still want to come back?”
Yu Hao said, “I’m thinking that what Chen Laoshi said was right. I am pretty good-looking; it’s just that I’m too poor, so I’m always wearing worn out clothes. I need to change into something nicer.”
“No one will like you.” Dark Yu Hao said, “Your personality has always been detestable in the first place.”
Yu Hao smiled slightly, “Changing my dressing and tidying myself up isn’t for the sake of others, it’s to let myself feel a bit better.”
Dark Yu Hao said, “No matter how nice your clothes are, with just a few words you’ll still be beaten back to the person you originally were. You have an inferiority complex, you’re sensitive, you’re a child who was brought up by an old woman, you’re stubborn. You always think that the harmless words of others are an attempt on their part to scorn you, to laugh at you for being poor, for being outdated.”
“That’s true.” Yu Hao continued, “Because of my inferiority complex, I’m not willing to owe other people any favours. I always feel like I’ll never be able to make any friends. Poverty stifles ambition, I always think that the whole world has abandoned me, that it has betrayed me……”
When he spoke up to this point, Dark Yu Hao finally raised his head and looked into Yu Hao’s eyes.
Then Yu Hao continued, “I’m a coward, I don’t seek progress, I’m full of myself, I’m a hypocrite, and I’m just trash. Even an Angry Youth2 would know how to concern themselves with reality through their keyboards, but I can’t even match up to an Angry Youth. In any case, it all doesn’t matter to me.”
Dark Yu Hao said, “Yeah, so what the fuck is the point of living? Why not just die? Go into the subconsciousness ba, that’s the place where you truly belong.”
Yu Hao took another step forward. The black dragon roared and stopped him from getting any closer.
“Answer carefully.” General suddenly said.
Yu Hao gazed at his own dark personality.
“There’s no ‘why’.” Yu Hao said, “After this, I want to slowly search for that answer. I don’t know why I’m going to keep on living. But I believe that this question, would definitely have an answer.”
“So, I will keep on living and make full use of the rest of my life to search for that answer!”
When his dark personality heard him say that, he suddenly let out an angry roar.
“Keep dreaming——I’m going to banish you——”
Within an instant, the black dragon rushed towards Yu Hao with its mouth wide open and let out an angry roar.
“Now!” General swept past Yu Hao to stand in front of him, and shouted towards the black dragon, “Stretch your hand out!”
Yu Hao stretched his hand out at the same time as Dark Yu Hao. The totem that was suspended high up in the air suddenly shot out bursts of golden light; Yu Hao’s left hand faced the sky while his right hand wielded his staff, then he shouted angrily.
“You’re the one who will be banished!”
The thunderbolts in Yu Hao’s hands exploded upwards and struck the black dragon; the black dragon opened its mouth, but was unable to trigger its tsunamis and could only spray out splashes of water. After it got electrocuted, it convulsed and suddenly collapsed onto the high platform. General abruptly turned a somersault in midair and leapt onto the black dragon’s back. The black dragon struggled incessantly, but General let out an explosive roar, “Die!!”
General ruthlessly stabbed into the black dragon’s head with his sword. The black dragon was struggling to soar into the air, but with one cry of anguish, it tumbled off the platform instead.
“General!” Yu Hao shouted.
“Don’t care about me!” General’s voice travelled over from the end of the platform. At the most critical juncture, he had caught ahold of the edge of the platform.
Dark Yu Hao uttered in shock, “You……you……”
“I’m not scared of you anymore!” Yu Hao raised his voice and shouted.
In the next moment, Dark Yu Hao pushed both his hands forward and gathered a ball of energy that he released towards Yu Hao. Yu Hao shouted fiercely as he pointed his staff at the king’s throne; the two energy forces collided and ended up conjuring a huge hurricane that swept across the entire altar. General had tried a few times to climb up with much difficulty, but he could never resist the strong winds of the hurricane and always ended up getting blown away.
The power of darkness had formed a crazy whirlpool that trapped Yu Hao and Dark Yu Hao in its midst. Dark Yu Hao refused to give up and stretched his hand out to summon the luminous totem that was suspended at the zenith. The totem began to reveal a concrete form, then descended towards the middle of the altar. Yu Hao roared, “Do you still remember this weapon?!”
Dark Yu Hao’s eyes suddenly widened. Within the hurricane, the staff in Yu Hao’s hand revealed its original form — a laundry fork!
“That is, that is……Grandma’s……” Dark Yu Hao said with a trembling voice.
“Hit his legs!” General caught them by surprise as he roared, “His legs are his weakness!”
Yu Hao rushed forward and rolled over on the spot. Dark Yu Hao was instantly paralyzed with fear, then he instinctively took a step back to dodge — he wanted to avoid the ultimate3 fear of his childhood — getting his legs beaten by a laundry fork!
Yu Hao flipped over and leapt up. A hint of sarcasm could be found in his slightly upturned lips, then he reached out while he was high up in the air to grab the falling totem!
The moment he grabbed the totem, Dark Yu Hao uttered a mad howl and a golden light zipped towards them along the skyline. The dark clouds that were looming overhead instantly changed into billowing white clouds, then flew towards Yu Hao’s hand——
——the totem revealed itself!
Golden light burst forth and the hurricane stopped along with it. Time seemed to stand still, and a triangular silver metallic shield appeared in Yu Hao’s hands.
“This is……” Yu Hao suddenly understood something.
Dark Yu Hao wailed bitterly. He released black fireballs that looked like meteors from both his hands that struck the shield, but the metallic shield emitted a brilliant light which completely enveloped the dark flames. The bright light then recoiled onto Yu Hao as it wrapped around his entire body!
“I’m going to……”
“……banish you!”
Yu Hao shouted angrily.
The shield released a shockwave that diffused silently in the air. Dark Yu Hao appeared to have suffered a harsh blow within the explosion; it turned him into a black meteor that swept past the skyline and flew towards the distant horizon before it fell into the subconscious world beyond the Great Wall.
The black flames billowed into the air, dispersed and scattered in all directions.
“You will never be able to get rid of me……” Dark Yu Hao’s voice faded into the distance and turned into an echo.
“Un.” Yu Hao answered, “But you can stay quiet for awhile. I’ll always be wary of your return.”
His shield turned into golden dust and dissipated; the dust rose into the air and formed the totem once again. The reformed totem revolved slowly in midair.
“Give me a hand.” General’s voice travelled over from the end of the platform.
Yu Hao immediately threw his weapon away and ran over with large strides, then pulled General up from the edge of the platform. The two of them walked to the front of the king’s throne, then sat down thoroughly exhausted as they gasped for breath.
“I won.” Yu Hao murmured, “I’m back.”
“From the moment you said ‘I want to keep on living’.” General mumbled, “This outcome was guaranteed.”
General sat for awhile, then stood up and walked slowly to the edge of the platform. Yu Hao was still stuck in a stupor but he quickly got up and followed along.
“You promised me……”
“Shh.” General turned around with his finger on his lips, then said, “Look.”
Yu Hao, “What do I look at?”
General got him to turn around and stand in front of him. Yu Hao wanted to turn his head, but General forced him to face the outside of the platform and said, “We’ll talk about that later, look carefully first.”
The looming dark clouds dispersed as a golden ray appeared in the horizon.
“Sun……the sun……” Yu Hao’s voice trembled.
The glow of the sunrise surged before it retreated towards the end of the earth; golden rays of light burst forth from the horizon like ten thousand streaks of lightning that shattered the night sky; like a rolling tide that flooded the earth; like an ear-splitting alarm that shook the world……
Clear skies could be seen for thousands of miles as the newborn sun rose for the first time!
This was the most magnificent sunrise that Yu Hao has ever seen in his life. It was as if the sun god had overturned the furnace used to refine all things such that a red glow poured out of it endlessly; the rising sun was like a blazing fire that illuminated his dreamscape, his life, and his soul.
The sunlight illuminated the Great Wall; the beacons were extinguished, and the flood of darkness gradually receded. His army let out cheers so loud it shook the heavens, and beyond the Great Wall, a calm, mirror-like sea without waves that took up thousands of hectares of space appeared. It reflected the white clouds in the sky, as well as the resplendent sunrise.
The sunlight illuminated the grassland; animals ran around freely and the herd of elephants trumpeted in unison.
The sunlight illuminated the countless mountain ranges and cities in this dreamscape; the residents all raised their heads one after the other as they looked at the sky, and the black fumes that surrounded their bodies began to disperse.
The sunlight illuminated the capital; the remnant pieces of the tiles that had been smashed into pieces by the flood rose into the air and returned to their original positions. The pure white masonry and glazed tiles flew over from all directions and embedded themselves onto the temple, and an elephant god statue arose in the garden. The doors to his safe haven began to close slowly.
The altar gradually sunk. Its broken pillars and walls rose from the earth and were assembled into a magnificent palace again like they were building blocks. A gentle breeze blew, and the millions of wind chimes on its eaves rang out at the same time. The totem floated above the palace as it emitted golden rays of light.
Yu Hao and General stood by the window as they looked out into the distance.The mountain ranges that they had set out from were covered in lush green vegetation; the summit of its mountains were enveloped in misty clouds.
The sunlight shone in through the window and fell upon the two of them. Yu Hao turned around, raised his head slightly and looked at General.
“I have to go.” General said, “Friend, this is what I’ve promised you.”
He reached out, then took off his helmet.
1. Chinese version of gambatte! English equivalent is like “all the best!” or “you can do it!”↩
2. Fenqing, or FQ, which is itself an abbreviation for Fennu Qingnian, means literally “angry youth”. It mainly refers to Chinese youth who display a high level of Chinese nationalism.↩
3. A phrase that refers to the ulti move in a game. Those who don’t play games can just think of it as like…the signature move that can maybe one hit KO enemies↩