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Chapter 2: Facing Destiny
“I have never been more serious in my whole existence,” Fitz replied staring at her intensely. They stared at each other silently for a few moments.
“Am I being punked?” Anna asked standing up straight. She expected that pretty idiot actor that hosted the show “Punked,” to come running out dramatically. Well she’d shoot him. Not on television of course but he’d get his.
“I do not know what that means,” he replied blankly. “I’ve been watching you for a long time. I’ve known who you were all along.”
Anna weighed in her mind all the things Fitz helped her to accomplish. Was it all some elaborate web to manipulate her to do his will. “Why haven’t you mentioned any of this before?” Anna asked folding her arms.
“All six of you have now been located,” he replied. “I had to wait until that was achieved.”
“What does this unknown five and I supposed to do?” Anna asked.
“Have you ever heard of demons?” he asked.
“Of course,” she replied, “I’m Catholic.” In theory, she thought. Growing up,along side learning the values of a good Christian, she was being taught to be an assassin. The two things didn’t really mesh in Anna’s honest opinion.
“Aliens?”
“I have one name for you, Yoshimitsu,” Anna replied. “If that’s not an alien, I don’t know what else he could be.” Other than butt ugly; sweet as sugar, but butt ugly.
“Ah, the leader of the Manji-clan,” Fitz said. “We held him in high regard.”
“Held,” Anna repeated softly.
“Just like the Toshin situation, great fighters all over the world have started to disappear,” he replied. “Of course you know he is one of the ones who disappeared.” His left eyebrow rose. “Like your sister.”
Anna’s blue eyes widened with shock. One time, a few years ago, Anna had been severely injured by Nina. Yoshimitsu found her and nursed her back to health. She was very grateful to him. Of course he would be one of the ones to vanish. Someone in the cosmos did not want her to have any friends. Oh Yoshi-san, she thought unhappily.
“I didn’t know.”
“Those people, all the ones who vanished, did not just disappear into thin air,” Fitz revealed. “They were all collected.” He sighed, “You’ll find out why during your journey.”
“I haven’t decided I’m taking this journey,” Anna replied. “I do not wish to get involved in something like this.”
“You are already involved,” he replied calmly. “You became involved the day you were born.”
That doesn’t sound fair, Anna thought. In here she thought Fitz was making her life easier. Sounds like he was leading her down the path straight to Hell. Not that she was a stranger to said path, but still…
“You’re Julia Chang,” Christie said in awe.
Julia remembered Christie from her matches with Hwoarang, Ling Xiaoyu, and Asuka Kazama. With her flamboyant clothes, no one took Christie seriously when she entered her first tournament. Not until she entered the ring and gave Hwoarang a run for his money.
Even the red headed rebel gave the young capoeira fighter her street credit, much to the Brazilian beauty’s happiness. After that, she developed somewhat of a crush on him. But he was so involved in the tournament; women were the last things on his mind.
“Christie Monterio, I knew I recognized your name,” Julia said extending her hand.
“Same here, I was trying to figure out who you were, when Doctor Sanchez told me your name,” Christie replied shaking Julia’s extended her hand enthusiastically. “Come in,” Christie said graciously.
“Thank you,” Julia replied entering the apartment. “I trust you are doing well?” In her mind Julia clocked the room as the blue room. The carpet was blue so was the sofa, the curtains, and the chairs. Only the entertainment center and the coffee table were wood.
“Yeah, if you don’t consider the whole flying temple thing,” Christie replied sighing. “I’ve never seen anything like that in my whole life.”
“In all the research I’ve done on this phenomena, everyone who’s seen the temple, has said the exact same thing,” Julia replied looking back at her, with arms folded. “It’s what one says after they understand the experience is what is unique.”
“I had no idea you were an archeologist,” Christie said honestly, closing the door behind her. “I thought you were an environmentalist.”
“I guess you can say I am both,” Julia replied. “I could not be an archaeologist without being a environmentalist.”
“Please sit,” Christie requested. “While you’re doing so you can tell me exactly what you meant by that statement.”
“Thank you,” Julia replied. She walked over to the pretty little sofa and sat. “Being from Brazil you had to have heard rumors that the Amazon was in trouble.” Christie nodded as she sat in a chair adjacent to the sofa. “The world was slowly becoming a desert.”
“A desert,” Christie replied surprised.
“Yes plants and trees weren’t growing, and the ones that were keeping us all alive were slowly dying,” Julia replied. “I brought it upon myself to protect Mother Earth and bring her back to her earlier majesty.”
“If it was so horrible, how come no one knew about it?” Christie asked enthralled.
“It was kept from us just how bad the situation had gotten,” Julia replied. “They were planning a survival objective that did not include most of the general public.”
“How did you find out about all this?” Christie asked confused.
“My tribe has been guardians of this planet since the beginning. We knew of this threat because the spirits told us it was so. Then it was only a matter of doing research and confirming what I already knew.”
“So Earth was becoming extinct and we didn’t even know it?” Christie asked. Julia nodded. “That’s messed up.”
“Once my team of researchers and I developed a cure, I went back to college and got my degree in archeology.”
“And that brings us back to the reason you’re here,” Christie muttered. She wanted to avoid the subject. As if avoiding it would make it go away.
“I know this is upsetting,” Julia said gently. “If I were you and had no knowledge of the Temple, I’d be disturbed too.” She smiled. “Actually, I’d be on a plane going any where that is away from here.”
Christie tried to smile but could not quite manage it. “What did seeing it mean?” Christie asked clasping her hands together.
“You’ve been chosen for great things,” Julia revealed, “she chose you to protect her.”
“Who?” Christie asked. “Is someone in danger?”
“Earth,” Julia replied smiling.
“Protect Earth from what?” Christie asked. “I thought you said that your team already developed an antidote for that desert problem.”
“Do you believe in evil, Christie?” Julia asked seriously.
“Yes,” she replied. Any one who was mixed in with the King of The Iron Fist tournament had to know about evil. If they didn’t experience it in some way, they were oblivious as roosters.
“It could be because of your skills as a martial artist,” Julia speculated, “or it could be because of the kind of person you are. Out of all the people of the world, you were chosen to be one of the six. You should be proud Christie Monterio.” I would give anything to be one. It would be such an honor.
“Proud,” Christie repeated forehead furrowed.
“You should also be ready,” Julia said seriously. “You will be tested by Mother Earth. In the temple, she will throw many challenges in your path.” Julia nodded. “Seeing your performances in the King of the Iron Fist tournaments, I have every confidence that you will pass them with flying colors.”
“Who is the other five?” Christie asked. “And just what will we be protecting the planet from?”
“I do not know who the other chosen ones are,” Julia replied honestly. “To put it plainly, Earth is prime real-estate to a lot of demons and aliens. The chosen six will stop them in their tracks.”
“How?” Christie asked in disbelief. There was no way she was going near demons. Capoeira alone could not stand up against flame spitting, skeleton looking, beings from Hell; or ET for that matter.
“Your capoeira skills of course,” Julia replied, she smiled knowingly over Christie’s ‘you must be crazy’ expression. “After passing the test in the temple, you will be giving powers.”
“What kind of powers?” Christie asked suspicious.
“The Power to manipulate and even change time. The Power over the mind. The Siren’s caress coupled with the Banshee wail of death. The Power of creating Force Fields. The Power of a Titan.” She stopped with a thoughtful look on her face. “The other, I can’t name, but the one who is given this power can walk through or become one with any object he or she wishes. I guess I could say this chosen one is given the Power over Earth.”
“Which one will I be?” Christie asked.
“That you will not find out until you are tested in the temple,” Julia replied.
“What if I don’t want this?” Christie demanded. “That this is some big cosmic joke.”
“It’s no joke Christie,” Julia replied eyebrows furrowed. “You were born for this very purpose.”
“I hate to think I’m ultimately just a tool,” Christie said frowning.
“Of course to your family, friends, and loved ones you are anything but a tool,” Julia said frowning. “Your life will just be so much more than what it would be if you weren’t chosen.”
“Well, since it appears that I have little choice in the matter,” Christie said sighing. “Tell me what to expect in that place.”
Her blue eyes surveyed the interior; as she feebly rebelled against her limbs need to move forward. The inside was silver as well. Many torches ahead illuminated the corridor.
“You will know it when it seeks you,” Fitz’s voice floated through her head.
“I did not want to be sought!” A gust of wind, feeling very much like a large hand, pushed her inside the temple. The large doors close behind her.
“But Da, I saw it,” a three-year-old enchantress said to her father, who kneeled before her.
“Enough my little fairy,” Da replied kissing her brow. He stood to resume their training.
“Da it was big!”
“I told you she is daft Da,” Nina piped in. Anna’s five-year-old sister had no patience for fairytales and such nonsense.
“I am not,” Anna replied hurt. “Da, don‘t you believe me?”
“Of course little fairy,” Da replied. “If you say you saw it; you saw it.”
“Give me a break,” Nina muttered.
Anna licked her tongue out at her sister. She knew what she saw. It was a huge silver building in the shape of a triangle.
“And here I thought what I saw was the entrance to the Fairy Kingdom,” she muttered. She started to walk down the long corridor.
“But why?” four-year-old Julia whined.
“If the spirits are willing, they will take this task away from you.”
“Mama Michele, I don’t understand.”
“It was only a dream Julia,” Michele said quickly. “Yes a dream. Only in your imagination.”
“No,” Julia contradicted confused. “Didn’t you see it to?”
“I saw nothing,” Michele replied honestly. Julia pouted unhappily.
After Michele placated the little girl, she sent her to the kitchen for a snack; she made a heartfelt plea. “Spirits please lift this burden from her shoulders.” She never realized Julia backtracked, peeking out at her from their cabin.
Now she stood in that very temple she’d forgotten with age. The large doors swung close behind her. She wore a white doeskin suit. Her eyes studied the silver stone corridor, not missing a thing.
A few hours earlier, she’d warned Christie of all the perils awaiting her. Through her studies about the floating temple, she knew of the trials ahead. Deadly booby traps and ruthless guardians. All hell bent on keeping her from becoming a chosen one.
“Your mind will be able to tap into powers you’ve only read about in books. There will be few creatures to match your strength.” An elder in her tribe once said that to her.
I wonder, she thought. Her brown eyes focused on one of the torches. Move.
The only thing she liked about this place was the pretty doeskin outfit she was given. “You’ve been chosen by Mother Earth to protect her. You are meant for great things. Embrace your destiny and it will embrace you. Do not fear it…”
“That was easy for Julia to say,” Christie whispered. She lives for this kind of stuff. I’m still hoping this is some big cosmic joke.
With reflexes like a feline, she stuck out her arms and caught the ledge with her fingers, as she went downward. She banged against the side of the pit hard. “Ow.”
“If the powers that be wanted me to go through one of these ridiculous quest, they could’ve let me bring my gear,” she muttered. Her gear consisted of guns, a sword, climbing equipment, rocket launchers, and et cetera.
In a place like this, she felt naked without her toys.
She raised herself up slowly until she was standing on her hands. Her left foot reached the ground first and then her right. Simple back handstand, she’d learned around the same time she was learning her ABC’s.
She straightened the non-existent wrinkles in her doeskin shorts, and then glided gracefully into the next room.
So much for mind power, Julia thought bitterly. Julia was now at a total disadvantage.
Two torches, and the looming entrance; hardly reasons for such ominous feelings to have her in their grasp. Wait! Two torches! One torch on each side. She sucked in a tortured breath. She made a complete about face.
What happened to people who failed this test? Do they die? Wait Christie, calm down. Julia would’ve mentioned an important tidbit such as that.
I passed twenty torches earlier. Ten on one side and ten on the other. Now, there was only two. A maze maybe…
The test had officially begun.
The pillars left space in the middle room. If Anna didn’t know any better, it seemed, as the room was large enough for the statue to come to life and start dancing a jig.
The statue was the same silver as the pyramid. Its hands were balled into tight fists at its sides. Every muscle was chiseled in great detail. The statue was faceless, but the artist who built it gave it ears, shoulder length silver hair, with each strand seemingly well defined.
Smaller statues also adorned the walls. They were mirror images of the larger statue, including the absence of faces. How tacky, Anna thought with distaste. Why put so much detail in those Hercules like bodies and not give them faces? Better yet what idiot would waste his time posing for the sculptor and not be mad they didn’t catch his face?
Anna felt cheated. She wanted to know what he looked like. Oh well, someone built up like that had to look like a dog so maybe that’s why he was sculpted faceless.
Her eyes didn’t stray from the larger statue as she walked toward it. It commanded attention. She stopped short when she heard movement behind her. It sounded like small rocks falling. She looked back over her shoulder. Nothing.
She moved on toward the statue. She stopped short when she heard the distinct sounds of small rocks falling to the ground again. The sudden pause saved her from being gored by a spear launching from a primitive mechanism, she’d unknowingly triggered. It embedded deeply into one of the pillars. She looked at the spear in shock.
Snapping out of that emotion quickly, she turned on her heels. One of the smaller statues had come to life, and was advancing toward her menacingly with a spear clutched in its hands. It had silvery scales all over its body. It was still faceless.
She got in her signature stance. When the statue got close she spent to the side evading the spear, grabbed it, just behind the jagged tip, and pulled with all her might. Using the creature’s momentum against it, she picked him up and slammed him on the ground. It lost its hold on the spear on the trip down.
Anna advanced on the creature and held the jagged tip of the spear against the silver scales on its neck. “You have two choices, leave me in peace, or die.” She waited for his reply, remembering moments later that since the creature didn’t have a mouth, it most likely could not talk.
Two other creatures, created from the statues came alive also. They disappeared and appeared on either side of Anna. She raised the spear and threw it at the creature on her right. She didn’t wait to watch it hit its mark as she flipped backwards, a half second before the other statue slammed the area she once stood with a huge mallet.
Before it could raise the mallet again, she kicked his left wrist causing him to loosen his grip. She used her other leg to leap in the air in to a spin, kicking the creature in the face. As he hurtled through the air, from the force of her kick, she quickly scanned for her other two attackers position.
The one she brought down first hadn’t moved form his position on the ground. The other tried to pull the spear from its side, when it succeeded it turned to a pile of ashes.
“Well what do you know,” Anna said surprised. She dove forward to commandeer the mallet.
The Power of the Mind. Telekinesis. If I were a cartoon character here’s the moment where I suddenly gain absolute control of my powers and use them to fly myself out of this place. She started the excruciating climb upwards.
She wished she had her climbing gear with her. As an archeologist, she’d been in worse scrapes than this. Hell, as and environmentalist she’d been in worse conditions.
As she made her way upward, the minutes seemed to stretch by. She was half way to the entrance when a crevice in the rock, she’d placed her bare foot in gave way. She lost her hold and felt herself falling.
Be careful what you wish for. Those words raced through her mind as she plummeted downward.
A loud groaning sound pierced the air, as a wall fell in front of the entrance leading into the next room. It and the entrance started to move slowly toward each other. “No.” She slipped to the floor when she realized she was trapped. “Make it stop!”
She didn’t bother waiting for a reply, them not having mouths kind of tipped her off. “I know.” She smiled. “I can get you guys in agent and then you can become the new and improved traveling company of river dance.” She giggled evilly. She had to liven up things some how, and no one loved Anna’s jokes more than herself.
The creature facing her rushed her. She thrust the sword forward, into his torso, while raising her right leg backwards in a flamingo kick. Her foot connected with the creature’s midsection, keeping him from attacking her from behind.
She twirled on the heel of her toes, holding the hilt of the sword sideways. Her arm extended outward, she slashed all the creatures dumb enough to get close to the blade. Which equaled out as most of them. “Maybe I could get you guys jobs as crash dummies,” she suggested to the two creatures left standing. “It would be way more lucrative for you.”
They predictably attacked her and she predictably turned them to dust. What was I so worried about? Anna thought. I could’ve finished them with my hands tied behind my back.
“So, what now?”
Unbeknownst, to Anna the larger statue started to grow a face. It had a long spear of a silver nose, almond shaped silver eyes, and very small lips. “You face me,” he said in a very cultured voice.
She cleared her mind. Only thoughts of floating upwards were allowed. She touched the wall with her index finger as she journeyed upwards, so she would know exactly when she cleared the pit.
When her fingered touched air, she used her right toes to estimate when the rest of her body was out of the hole. When she was free, she levitated above the ground, floating toward the faint glow, which meant the end of one trial and the beginning of another.
“Okay, calm down Christie,” she commanded softly. “This is only a dream, which just happens to be a test.” You can’t die form a dream. At least, I don’t think you can…
“You can sit here and let these walls turn this destiny thing into a pancake, or you can find a way to get around this.”
She started to think of her grandfather, and what he would do in a situation like this. Everything he could with honor and courage, so would Eddy. Not that she cared a flying fig about Eddy anymore.
Her mind also conjured Hwoarang; his cocky smirk would turn to a glance of dismissal, if he saw her cowering in here.
She got to her feet in determination. I obviously don’t have the Power of the Titan, she thought rationally. If I did I could stop the walls with little or no effort.
Maybe I have telekinesis. She stared at one of the walls slowly inching closer. She raised her hand. Wall stop! She mentally commanded. It kept inching closer. Oh well, she thought sighing. She admitted to herself it was a good idea she didn’t have that power. She’d use it as payback in someway toward the girls that tormented her on campus.
The walls inched slowly a long. “At this rate a snail will reach the sun before I get squashed.”
“With the Siren’s Caress, most creatures you touch with this power will quickly become under your command. The Banshee’s Wail of Death is a sonic wave, activated by a scream. Both are very powerful tools alone but when used together they are unstoppable.” These were more words of advice from Julia.
She walked toward the wall that would take her further into the temple. She stopped a few feet from it and took a huge breath. She closed her eyes and let rip a loud scream she’d mastered at the age of three, when she realized said scream would get her anything she wanted from her parents.
Sound waves from her scream slammed into the wall, making a clean hole right through the middle, into the room behind it. Not only had the Banshee’s wail made an entrance to the other room, it had malfunctioned the mechanism that moved the walls. The sickening groan of the walls moving closer and closer together had mercifully stopped.
“Cool,” Christie said awestruck. She looked closely at the passage she created before entering it. When she was sure of it’s safety, she slipped inside. “If only I had that power when Craig Mardock propositioned me.”
“To go on further, you have to stop me.”
“Unless there’s a little table with a growing potion that is labeled “Drink Me,” floating around here somewhere,” Anna said honestly, “forget it.” She shook her head. “If I had my toys I would not hesitate, but I don’t so…”
“I will not attack you directly,” he declared. “You’ve come far without having to use your powers.”
“It will take a lot more that this temple’s tricks to bring me down,” Anna answered honestly. “My father trained my sister and I to be the best at what we do and we are.”
“Your sister is missing.”
“What else is new?” Anna asked. “She’ll show up again to be a thorn in my side.”
“She would leave you alone, if you told her the truth.”
Anna shook her head, blue eyes shinning in intensity. “I’d rather her hate me than to see her succumb to insanity.”
“Is it your decision to make?”
“I am the only one alive that knows the truth,” Anna said in calm fury. “I made sure of that fact. Nina blocked it from her mind and who am I to shove the reality of the situation back in her face.”
“You are her sister.”
“I am and as her sister I choose to protect her.”
“A cross you don’t have to bare.”
“I’ll bare it for all eternity for her and for Da.”
“A woman such as you should not have a soft spot for family.”
“Family is everything,” Anna replied. Even if they spent most of their free time trying to kill you. Anna meant that she’d rather have her sister’s wrath than her broken tears. Seeing Nina breakdown as she realized her fatal mistake still sent Anna reeling. A cold, deadly ruthless assassin reduced to a broken simmering creature.
It was a gift for Nina to forget. Anna was cursed to always remember.
“How do you forgive her for what she did?” the statue inquired.
“It was an accident,” Anna replied. “She was only doing her job as he was doing his.”
“What about you Williams Anna?” he asked. “Why did you not realize the truth earlier?”
“I was on an assignment of my own,” she replied. “I’ll be eternally grateful that I got there when I did.” No telling what Nina would’ve done to herself. Probably used the very weapon she used to kill him to take her own life.
“You are a hard woman to crack.”
“I don’t crack, Hon.”
“We shall see.” He raised his hand. Two of the pillars tore from their place holding up the walls. As they floated toward them, Anna flipped backwards several yards. She got in a defensive stance.
She’d tried to used her powers to help her against the statues turned creatures, but found it was easier to defeat them using Martial Arts.
“You finally made it to me,” he said amused.
“Barely,” she replied.
“Do you know why I’m here?”
“This is the part where you tear into my mind,” Julia said tired.
“You are very insightful,” he said smiling. “Have you ever wondered where you came from?”
“It never mattered to me,” Julia replied honestly.
“Why?
“My tribe is the only family I know. The only family I care about,” Julia replied brutally honest.
“How could you feel anything for a mother who left you out in the middle of the unforgiving Arizona heat.”
“I don’t think about her at all,” Julia replied calmly. “Any mother who abandons her infant doesn’t merit much thought.”
“She died protecting you. He died protecting her. She taught him how to love. They loved you to abandon. They took their job very seriously.”
Julia’s face was a mixture of uncertainty and confusion. “What?” she whispered.
“He was brought back to life. A shell of his former self. He can’t remember her. He can’t find you. He still thinks of you as in infant.”
“Who?” she asked, “my father?”
“Without you to protect he’s slipped into madness. You know him. He’ll never know you until you reveal yourself as the infant he once protected.”
“They left me alone,” Julia whispered.
“The left you in a safe place sacrificing themselves to protect you. They would’ve come back if they were alive to do so. The enemy never would’ve thought to look where they left you. They knew where they left you was safe, for the land was protected by the people of your tribe. From that moment on, they became your protectors.”
“Why are you saying protectors? They are my family.”
“All will become clear.”
“Do I want it to become clear?” she asked emotionally battered. Was what he saying true? Did her birth parents leave her to protect her?
“Maybe not.”
One of the creatures tried to hit her with a big mallet. She flipped backwards way ahead of the attack. Using her Capoeira and the Banshee’s wail, she defeated the creatures easily.
After she made quick work of them, the others came to life. Once she accidentally grabbed one and it began to obey her every command. The Sirens Caress. She and the creature defeated the others with Capoeira and when they were left standing, it destroyed itself so its mistress could move on.
She was happy, dancing around until the larger statue came to life. “Oh no,” she said in horror.
“You should not fear me,” he said smiling with eyes closed. “You’ve come a long way child.”
“It doesn’t look like I’m going any further,” Christie replied swallowing nervously.
“Your life has been full of sorry.”
“That is life,” she replied softly.
“First the death of your dear grandfather.” Christie’s eyes filled with tears. “And after you worked so hard to save him. Then the disappearance of your beloved teacher.”
“He’s not my beloved teacher,” Christie said. She gladly turned to anger instead of crumbling in tears. “He left me to the wolves.”
“You love him like a brother, and yet he left without saying good-bye.”
“Loved being the keyword,” Christie replied angrily. “He didn’t have the decency to show up when my grandfather was in his darkest hour. I begged him to come home, but he didn’t.”
“Did you ever stop to think that he didn’t come home because he could not?”
“No, he considered his obligations fulfilled, so he didn’t bother to return to placate a dying old man.”
“Consider that your Eddy literally disappeared off the face of the Earth.”
“What?”
“The beings you will face in the months to come will cause you to realize that the disappearance of Eddy Gordo is not so black and white.”
“Are you going to squash me now?” Christie asked bored with the subject.
“No,” he replied amused. “I want you to realize exactly what you are getting into.”
“Saving the world from evil beings who have way to much time on their hands,” Christie said, arms akimbo. “I get it.”
“They are already here,” the statue cautioned. “They do not care about the value of life. They only live to destroy and make chaos.”
“And we use our powers to stop them.”
“Is a young woman like you capable of taking on such a burden?”
“Grandfather told me to be all that I can be,” Christie replied. “I don’t trust my life or my friends’ lives in anybody else’s hands but my own.”
She was to fast for them. She was incredibly worried about the state of the roof, as more and more pillars were used against her. To be crushed by a roof after all she’d been through was unthinkable. The statue had put himself between her and the door.
Reading her mind, the statue smirked. He reached out his right arm, his hand squeezing into a hard fist. The action tore the rest of the pillars away from their foundation. They begin to circle Anna swooping in closer and closer. The roof groaned like an empty stomach.
I must get out of here, Anna thought. Time seemed to stand still as the walls gave way. The pillars flew toward her.
In that second, a million thoughts raced through her head. I have to find Nina. I want love. I want children. I want so much. I cannot die yet! Stop!
Before the pillars and the roof could squash her like a bug, everything stopped. Dust mites, the roof, pillars, ash, and the now crumbling statue.
“Good work Anna.”
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