CHAPTER 5

OoooooooO

“Taven, you have entered an obelisk of your father’s creation,” my mother’s voice called from behind me. I was in another training facility, obviously. I turned around to look at her. She continued speaking. “I have empowered it to train you further in the art of kombat.”

“You’re not really my mother, are you?” I asked. I wished she would say she was.

“No, I am not your mother. I am merely a reflection of the woman who enchanted this stone.” Stone? “My purpose is to aid you on your quest.” Well, if I haven’t that figured out yet, I would be stupid.

“Can you tell me more about this quest?” I asked the ‘reflection of my mother.’

“Only that you will find a gift in the temple. It lies behind a wall. Place your hand in the recess to unlock the door.” She replied.

“Door? I thought you said it was a wall?” I asked.

“Your training will now begin.” She said. Wow. Thanks for answering my question. I told myself sarcastically. How the netherrealm was I supposed to know how the wall/door looks like? Maybe these reflections only answer relevant questions. Anyway, my training here was much, much harder. She made me fight Snow ninja, Tengu warriors, snow beasts and more. Anyway, I earned a lot of money along the way, so, it was worth it. I couldn’t die in there, anyway.

After the training, I was released from the ‘stone’. All the monks fled in terror. Even more hilarious. Apparently, instead of expecting something to happen, they were expecting nothing at all! Except maybe the glowing, but that doesn’t really count as something important. The funny thing is, Mr. Abbot did not run away but continued to pray. I left him alone.

I came across more Tengu warriors. They were blabbing about someone named ‘Wu Lei’ while attacking me. Again, since I was much stronger than all of them combined, I humiliated them without breaking a sweat!

Along the way, I entered one small chamber. There was a sword floating in mid-air in the center of the room. It looked pretty, so, I picked it up. I twirled it twice, swung it backwards, then I did a pretty dance that could win gold in the South East Asian games of Kung Fu. After my dance, I was about to put the sword down when all of a sudden, Tengu warriors appeared (again)! What a coincidence! I didn’t need the sword but it was stuck to my hand like it was super-glued so I used it anyway: I swung it violently back and forth and they got so scared to come near me that they ran for it! No one is a match for Taven the son of Argus! Hahaha!

Anyway, moving along, I finally encountered the so-called ‘Wu Lei’, I think. He has some fellow Tengu warriors with him. He called to me. “Stop where you are! Your dark allies may have escaped for now, but you have nowhere to hide!” Dark allies? What kind of racist bastards are these? “Kill him!” he told his warriors. To cut the story short, I knocked out all the warriors except for ‘Wu Lei.’ He used his scythe against me. But, because of my skills, I was able to grab it and render him vulnerable. At that point, I tripped him and aimed the weapon at his face.

“Wait! Stop! You are free to go!” he said.

“Oh, I’m free to go? After I’ve already defeated your entire clan? How generous of you!” I answered in an angry mocking fashion. He stood up and explained.

“My sincerest apologies, warrior. When I was told that you attacked my men near the obelisk, I assumed you were with the other two outsiders we encountered. But clearly, you are human! You must be Lin Kuei!” Link Wei? Is that his brother or relative or something?

“I haven’t the slightest idea what you are referring to. And what is a Link Wei?” I asked. I misspelled it here on purpose to show that I still didn’t know how it was spelled during this time.

“The Lin Kuei are our rival clan of powerful warriors. You fight with such skill I mistook you for one of their ranks. We Tengu have an uneasy truce with the Lin Kuei and we avoid their territory. They reside in an ancient temple near here.” He replied.

“And where would this temple be?” I asked him. I stepped towards him menacingly.

“Further up this path. It is not far.” He said all too quickly. He was definitely scared of me. “But you would be wise not to venture near it. The Lin Kuei are secretive and as inhospitable to strangers as we are.” He warned.

“I will be ready. Thank you for the information. You are free to go.” I told him. He bowed in respect. Then immediately, I heard a weird voice from nowhere say FINISH HIM! I assumed that it means ‘kill the guy.’ But since I am a good man, I just continued on my journey.

“Man. This has been a great journey so far, I mean, I haven’t encountered anyone who speaks in wrong grammar!” I told myself. But I spoke too soon. Maybe there is a god of ‘speaking too soon’ because out of nowhere, the weird wrong grammar warriors in red from father’s temple attacked me again! Wow. I really am lucky. We all know what happens next, so, I won’t bother to tell you.

After defeating every one of them, I continued to an empty area. Suddenly, out of the blue, a gay (guy?) in a violet outfit and shawl jumped in front of me and started talking.

“So they are true! Delia’s sun had returns to claimed an price and saves the realm! I figurine you wood eventually came to these place…Taven.” What the hell is he talking about? Not only is he speaking in wrong grammar, but he seems to know so much about me and the quest.

“You seem to know much about me. But I know nothing of you, ‘friend.’” I replied. It didn’t hurt to be polite, even to a gay-looking guy in a tooty-fruity color who speaks in wrong grammar.

“I is none friend of yous!” So much for being polite. “I is Rain, an prince of Edenia.” Prince or princess? Ha, ha, ha! “Once I hard defeats yours, I will founded and kills an brothered as welled. Then I will claims an price!” What a knucklehead! How sure was he that he will be victorious? Judging by his outfit, he obviously doesn’t stand a chance! However, I controlled myself and challenged him without being such an airhead.

“Well, ‘prince’, let us see what you can do!” I challenged. His fighting skills were pretty impressive for a gay-looking guy. He used his ‘Storm Sword’ with precision. He also used water and lightning against me. Man! Compared to the strange-looking warrior back near father’s temple, this guy is really a pain in the ass! But, his water and lightning were no match for my fire, so, I beat him eventually. He then disappeared in a gush of water and sent me his final words.

“These fought are not over, Taven! An price will be mines and I willed has mined revengeance!” he told me through the watery portal where he escaped. Interesting dude. But after the water had evaporated, something was left. I picked it up. It was a nametag which read, 'Orain'. Odd, i remember him telling me that his name was 'Rain'. However, i dismissed the thought and continued to search for my mother's temple.

Not far from where I fought the ‘prince of Edenia,’ there was a wooden gate. The path beyond it was guarded by warriors in blue. Most of them are atop towers shooting flaming arrows. The ones on the ground are easy to knock out. They did not pose much of a threat, unlike the warriors in red from earlier. As for the archers, I simply threw fireballs at them; in terror, they jumped off the tower.

The place was starting to look like a fortress. There were walls all over and even more towers with archers. Warriors in blue just won’t stop coming. This means that I was getting closer and closer to the Link Wei temple aka my Mother’s temple. When I finally reached the grand entrance to the temple grounds, the Link Wei started their catapults and threw hot rocks at me. I didn’t have time for this. In order to escape, I used my teleportation powers to take me deeper, to someplace near the door to the temple.

“The Tengu leader was right. My mother’s temple is here, but it’s now occupied by a clan of ninjas known as the Link Wei. Locating the item she left me will not be easy. I’ll have to fight my way inside.”

A/N: Sorry for the late update! Anyway please review! Anonymous reviews are welcome! :) :) :)