No matter how tired he was, Dai Chong was determined to run as far as his legs could carry him.
Bands of sweat drenched his once white-now-turned-grey prison clothing, body, and feet. His heart was beating rapidly, and his chain-mounted boots made his legs stiffer each time he pushed himself forward. Pressure mounted upon his shoulders as how far he could go and even survive in these harsh terrains.
Yet none of those were his immediate concerns more than what was pursuing him relentlessly with a single goal and order from the master.
Neither did he has any idea of how much time had passed nor how long he ran. It did not help that he was running in the dark with only the faint moonlight shining upon occasionally.
His only consolation was that he was not alone in facing the seemingly overwhelming odds that was about to be unleashed any minute or second. There were two other men with him whom he now regarded as his comrades and sworn brothers during their time in imprisonment. Other than their current situation, they did not know him and neither did he know them in their lives before.
Dai Chong decided to keep it that way and carried his background secret to the grave. For there were certain things better be left unsaid especially to outsiders given the looming groom and treachery in the current climate.
As he ran, the barking became louder. They did not come from ordinary dogs, hounds or even wolves which even so, could still tear him and his comrades apart. They came from bio-mechanical Cougars - designed upon those creatures - as scouts, spies and hunters piloted by the enemy troopers whose armor of black and red perfectly complimented with darkness. Yet the barking sounded real even from their artificial cords.
Exactly how many, they had no idea.
All they heard was ferocious barking and running steps. Other than forward, there was nowhere else to run and hide.
They also had no weapons nor the ability to defend themselves since they were supposed to be prisoners doing manual labour or whatever their slave masters ordered them to.
Neither they had any idea of exactly how much time had passed since they had been in the dark enemy dungeons for what could be weeks, months or years.
Until this moment.
Just as the sight of what looked like long dark green lake loomed before them as their possible escape route, his left comrade screamed in agony as the mechanical two-headed Cougar came upon him, tearing apart his throat and the warrior rider thrusted a spear into his heart to ensure his chances of survival and even revival was absolute zero.
Seconds later, his right comrade suffered the same fate. No matter how fast they ran, their enemy captors always had the cutting-edge in terms of stealth, technology, tracking and weaponry. His cries echoed the same agony that filled what should be a quiet night.
Undeterred, Dai Chong was determined to get to the lake, jump and swim. At the very worst, he was prepared to perish along with his comrades even if he already knew beforehand, they were not going to let him die easily but rather spent the rest of his life in slavery and humiliation.
Because unlike his other comrades, he was no ordinary civilian.
Before he even anticipated, he was brought down by another Cougar. The twin dark mechanical wolf heads with its fiery red eyes and menacing steel teeth and claws capable of ripping him apart what it did to his comrades
Yet as he expected, the mechanical creature did not kill him. It just did what it was assigned to do. Pin him down, capture and take him back into prison where he would continue serving the Shibeibu King and his chain of command.
This was not his first nor last time trying to escape his captors.
And failed yet again.
But given his status from once ruler to now slave puppet surviving only to please his enemy counterpart, he had to keep trying until he succeeds.
Dai Chong knew unless his brother - who he believed was still alive and taking charge as emergency Emperor - would dispatch whatever he had available to counterattack and mount a rescue mission, his chances of escaping from the enemy were slim to none.
Given his current situation.
Yet deep in his heart, he remained hopeful that day would come.
The story was set in YC0015 on a planet called Yuexin System as part of Celestial Arena governed by both forces of light spearheaded by Goddess Eternity and darkness commanded by Dark God Nemesis.
A rather unique home world in which light and darkness co-existed on two halves of the globe within what was already anticipated and designated by the Yin and Yang entities whose war had been fought for centuries for divine and physical supremacy.
On this Yuexin System, mankind had already discovered and harassed the power of technology in how they live, learn, survive and fight to defend themselves. From simple critical thinking to fighting techniques of ancient martial arts and magic once deployed by forebears from Fantasia to now emerging technology to increase efficiency and improve their way of life and protecting one another. Families, friends, communities, and societies.
But as with all living creatures, they could not live with same mentality and values for too long. While technology had certainly performed wonders and miracles which the traditional ways could not, it also brought about drawbacks that some perceived as betrayal of their culture and values they once had and been conditioned by their peers.
There were those who wanted to ban the technology due to increased capitalism as in the quantity of resources the governments required from the people to keep producing to maintain the high standards of living - not so much for the poor and average but for the rich and elites who continually sought to exploit and advance further at their expense and in turn providing scraps for them to just survive despite their years of labor.
As well as even the middle-class wanting to keep things as they were and did whatever it took to maintain their status quote if they worked within the government sectors and controlled corporate entities within their hierarchy.
For each work of technology launched, it helped to improve their lives by five, six to even ten times if they could afford. However, it also brought forth complacency and corruption. As living standards improved from basic to decency to luxury, their successors - upon inheritance of success - eventually forgot about what it was like to be poor, humble, and possessed the values they once inherited from their forebears in humility and willing to serve rather than waiting to be served.
Of all the changes, the most significant was in the military as in battles fought on the field and in skies. While their counterparts of Fantasia still deployed magic, weapons, and creatures to battle one another, they deployed mecha - as in humanoid battle units that resembled robots but were piloted by humans in actual war as additional weaponry.
Their differences - coupled with the blessings from Goddess Eternity and Dark God Nemesis -whichever sides they took - divided the once united Yuexin System into two warring kingdoms.
The blue and white cavalry of Dai Dynasty bearing the logo crest of unicorn and word character Dai on their battle armor and mecha they still fought like their forebears who once started with white horses and unicorns that were now believed to be extinct thousands of years ago.
And the black and red legions of Shibeibu Empire bearing the logo crest of dragon and word character Shi on their colors identical to their ancestors beginning with dark winged traitorous dragons revived from their slain corpses by Nemesis.
While Eternity immersed in unity, peace and harmony, Nemesis submerged in war, division, and chaos. He gave the Shibeibu Empire more than Eternity to help speed up their plans to attack, divide and conquer.
From a small island of former Dai outcasts, rebels and new migrants, the civilization grew from strength to strength.
In YC0017, they formed the Shibeibu Empire which under King Monarch Zengis, mounted a full-scale assault on the central capital city of Dai Dynasty
While the love for harmony, peace and unity were good, it also brought about negative side effects.
Being defensive and only counterattack-minded, the then Dai ruler Emperor Dai Ci believed their palace walls were impenetrable by the Shibeibu weaponry which he and his people perceived as not yet superior to the ones they possessed and had been using in their past victories prior.
But he was wrong.
For while the Dai Dynasty remained in their comfort zone of winning past battles and not wanting to innovate based on their traditional beliefs and values, the Shibeibu Empire had been using whatever resources they had and could muster to improve their tactics, thinking, weapons and armies by leaps and hounds.
They allowed their foes to win what seemed to be important to them but just insignificant battles in the past while behind the Empire walls, they were building, constructing, and experimenting more powerful weapons they would unleash when completed and delivering to their expectations.
And when that happened, it was no longer just a battle between two warring kingdoms.
But a full-scale war.
Their armies not only succeeded in penetrating the capital walls but decimating most of the defending Dai Dynasty soldiers, officials and their families, concubines and civilians either fleeing or doing their best to defend their home.
Their troops were no longer just riding horses nor aerial aircraft which were now deemed to be obsolete from their perspective but piloting new humanoid war machines known as Gerwingers and Gerwalkers who could attack from air and ground simultaneously. Each unit was almost twice the size of warcraft piloted by their Dai enemies and possessed the ability to transform from aerial pod fighters to ground troopers.
The Shibeibu armies entered capital, wiping out most of the soldiers, handmaidens, and officials within without any mercy.
Its ruler - King Monarch Zengis was laughing with his chief commander General Tetsuban and his lieutenants - while leading the invading armies in their more elegant units.
Instead of escaping, Emperor Dai Ci and his wife - Empress Dowager Dai Yuan - decided to stay and entrusted their three children - elder son Dai Chong, his brother Dai Zhong and daughter Dai Yu to their commander General Xue Lei and his remaining convoy.
After arrangements were made in haste and when alone, they did the unthinkable.
Emperor Dai Ci first stabbed his wife to death with his beam saber before silting his throat. As they both collapsed to their deaths, that was when Shibeibu commander General Tetsuban and his dark-armored troopers stormed into the throne hall with the intent of making them surrender or die by their weapons. But upon witnessing those, that was no longer necessary.
But what Dai Ci failed to foresee was that even with the escape arrangements, his children were not spared the easy path either.
Dai Chong was captured by the Shibeibu Cougars who were already waiting in ambush despite the best efforts of General Xue Lei and his remaining men to keep the enemy at bay.
In the heat of the ambush, the party was eventually spilt into two with deputy commander Kian Sheng assisting General Xue Lei to search and rescue Dai Chong while the other two Dai siblings - Prince Dai Zhong and Princess Dai Yu were escorted by Commanders Fu and Kuang, remaining officials Premier Hu, his wife Madam Tang and Advisor Chen Xi. The latter escaped to the Western region where they decided to migrate, stay and build their new home.
With no news and communication from General Xue and Kian Sheng for a long time, they were assumed to be dead.
Being the surviving son and oldest in his remaining family now, Dai Zhong was made the new Dai Dynasty ruler while his sister remained the princess but one with strong personality and fighting skills since she was determined not to be like her parents and rather fight to the death the next time the Shibeibu enemies attack again.
But it did not happen.
Over the years to YC0023, the Dai Dynasty capital not only was rebuilt but flourished with renewed harmony, peace and prosperity.
Realizing the need to defend better, new Emperor Dai Zhong made education and national service compulsory for every man and woman starting from childhood so that they can defend their families and loved ones not just as ordinary civilians but well-trained military soldiers ready to battle, lead and even die for what they defend and love.
Dai Academy was formed as both school and camp for children to be trained mentally and physically as adults.
Barring certain downgrades for some who could not co-ordinate due to their slow mental capacity and into service sectors, it was to be the bed rock and foundation for the new Dai Dynasty to arise.
Besides the conventional weapons, armored tanks, and aircraft, new mecha was also designed and built by the best engineers Dai Zhong could possibly find and assemble to match and counter Shibeibu machinery.
The Gladiators MK battle units were manufactured in the form of blue and white humanoid knight-like machines armed with gatling guns, swords, and horned wrist shields. The only key difference was they were not transformable as compared to their Shibeibu counterparts.
Initially the primary standard battle units, they were soon complimented by other colors with the white as the main standard theme often piloted by commanders and those Dai Zhong assigned as his chosen ones.
But unknown to many except Emperor Dai Zhong and his Imperial Royal Circle of Premier Hu, his high-ranking officials and commanders, those years of peace and rebuilding came at a price.
As reigning ruler, Dai Zhong was determined to keep it that way to protect himself, his status and what really mattered to him now.
And in the future.