Spent alot of time on such a small chapter. Really hope yall like it!

I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Sindalstar. I never would have discovered this site if I hadn't come across your Kung Fu Panda drabbles online. Thanks alot!

made up word: amburbit- the outskirts or more abandoned area of a city, town, etc.

The Next Dragon Warrior

Chapter 5

"The Peach Tree"

The crickets were chirping now.

Still panting heavily from the run, I hung my head down staring at the growing number of droplets in the dirt, letting them come at will.

Watching them through my watery vision

Just watching

Waiting

Wanting

Wanting it to end

But the end didn't seem to want to come. I sighed and as I began to lift my head

I became aware that there seemed to be a faint glow nearby.

Looking around, I realized I had made my way to the amburbit of the palace, at the edge of Jade Mountain. There, not twenty feet away, was a small flight of stone steps leading to a ledge on the edge of the cliff. Perched there was a tree. It wasn't that large of a tree, but all the same it looked magnificent. Its branches were stretched out like open arms. Each of its leaves seemed to glow in the moonlight. It was easily the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

I crept up the few stone steps onto the large ledge and peered out over the edge.

The tiny village of the valley lay sleeping below the mountain. The houses were slowly beginning to settle in for the night like I wish I could each of them slowly extinguishing their lamps outside their houses, down in the ant-like village. It seemed strange to think that people were right down there. Each with their own lives. None of them would even be thinking that someone was looking down on them from Jade Mountain.

The village didn't seem like it was part of the world I was in. All ties to the real world were cut off. I felt isolated from everyone else. I'm starting to get used to that feeling

I gave a heavy sigh shattering the deafening silence surrounding me. The crickets weren't chirping anymore and even the wind was barely a whisper through the leaves.

I just realized how exhausted my legs were from the running and let them give at my body's wait and sat at the base of the tree.

The tears had slowed down but they were still there, slowly finding there way down.

Tilting my head back against the smooth bark of the tree I gazed up at the stars. They never seemed this bright in the village. It was like deep endless velvet strewn with diamonds. The universe seemed so vast for just one person to create.

"God," I said "I pray that I'd be able to fit in here. I'm just not like everybody else. I'm so sick of being considered different. I keep trying to believe but nothing ever happens. Is my life so pathetic and worthless that I don't mean a thing to anyone? Just once, I wish someone would give me a break..."

"It's a nice place to sit when you feel down, huh?"

My heart skipped a beat. I turned.

Standing there, leaning against the tree, smiling almost too naturally, was the great panda himself.

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