White Soul

by G L Rathweg

  The island grew in size as we approached. It was fantastic with everything one could want from a tropical island paradise. I saw long beaches with sand so white it practically glowed. Bluish palm trees swayed peacefully in a soft breeze, while a backdrop of a large mountain sat serenely overseeing all. As we came closer, I saw a large waterfall system. The waterfalls threw up clouds of mist, shrouding the island in a cloak of rainbow hued spray. Then the locals caught my eye.

  “Um, Ja, are those mermaids?” I asked, eyes wide in wonder.

  “Yes, those are part of my people.” She replied, nonchalantly.

  We closed in and I saw they were just like the mythical beings, top of a human woman and bottom of a fish. They were beautiful and sang like the sirens in the legends. They were also topless and had perfect lady parts. I swallowed and went to my default of thinking about puppies and kittens and tried to appreciate them as beautiful art not sexual beings. They waved to us and swam along Gangta’s wake until we were on the beach where we said our goodbyes.

  That wasn’t the end of my trials, far from it. This was just the beginning of what seemed like an endless parade of half woman half animal beings. Oh, they were all freaking naked and beautiful as fuck as well. I waved to half woman half tiger girls and half woman half horse ones, and that was before we were even through the jungle. Next came the ape women, then the bird women. Don’t get me started on the scorpion, spider, and snake women.

  As a red-blooded young man who was just made into his physical peak and also happened to be a virgin, this was a special kind of hell. Mr. Happy had gone up and down so many times it was like he was doing pushups or something. You want to talk about blue balls I had purple and blacklight balls. Ja Cheongbi didn’t say anything but I could tell by the small smirk on her face she knew exactly what I was going through. It also didn’t help that I was a huge nerd and loved anime and fantasy shit. All this was like throwing crack at a recovering crackhead.

  I mastered my willpower as eventually we arrived at our current destination and training area. For the last half day, I had been standing and doing the Tai Chi forms under this waterfall. At first it was really difficult, then overtime as my strength and stamina waned it became fucking impossible. There were twenty-four forms of the original Tai Chi Chuan style and Ja said that I had to stay under this waterfall until I mastered all of them. How long it took depended on me she explained.

  This was crazy and there was no way I was going to be able to do it. So far I had only gotten through the first twelve forms and every time I would try the thirteenth I’d fall. It didn’t help that Ja Cheongbi and a dozen of her coterie were wearing practically nothing and sunbathing every which way I looked. Eventually, I had to close my eyes while I did the forms and that didn’t do much to help at all.

  “Hiro, I forgot to tell you the water gets colder as the sun sets. So, you probably want to finish before nightfall.” Ja called, as if remembering that she forgot milk at the store and then went back to lounging in the sun.

  “What?” I spluttered, then lost my balance falling and cutting myself on the rocks yet again.

  I dragged myself back up to standing to the titters of the beautiful half women around me and retook my position. Now that Ja had said something I could feel that the water’s temperature had changed. It was only a couple degrees, but I knew this was a game changer and I really needed to focus. I hated the cold, and didn’t want to be standing and cutting myself under a freezing muscle pounding waterfall all night in the dark.

  Ok, concentrate Hiro, I told myself and closed my eyes, focusing my mind inward. I knew how to do this. I knew the forms. The first step was to slow my breathing then calm my mind and soul. I immediately began to feel better as my calm heart and mind helped my Ki flow more freely through my body. Next, I pulled up my memories of all the Martial Arts movies and stuff I’d ever seen to get my mind right. Nothing helps get you pumped up like a Bruce Lee movie montage.

  After that, I went through all the forms in my mind and made sure that I could remember them perfectly. It began with Parting the Wild Horse’s Mane three times then White Crane Spreads It’s Wings. Moving into Brush Knee and Push three times, then Playing the Guitar followed by Hold the Ball and Ward Off. Next is Grasp the Bird’s Tail, then Press and Sit Back with Open up and Push. Repeat the last four moves going to the right. When done, do Single Whip followed by Cloud Hands going left then another Single Whip with a High Pat on Horse.

  After I made sure I had the first half of the movements right in my head, I moved on to the second half.

  Another Right Heel Kick followed by Carry the Tiger Over the Mountain and turn Left Heel Kick. Next, Snake Creeps Through the Grass and then stand on one leg and repeat on the right side. After that, Shuttle Back and Forth turning into Needle at the Bottom of the Sea. Fan Through the Back next and then turn Right Back Fist, Parry and Punch into Apparent Closing finishing with Cross Hands.

  I replayed the movements over and over until I had every single nuanced position memorized. My mind knew the moves so perfectly that my body had no choice but to follow it’s lead.

  It was like a dance. My mind was the leader and my body the partner. The water didn’t matter, the slippery wet razor-sharp stone was no hindrance. My exhausted physical body and burnt mental state were of no matter. I went through the forms in a daze and each motion was right, each movement was perfect. The last form finished with Cross Hands and I opened my eyes as I completed the move.

  All the half women were staring at me in waterfall. It had gotten dark and the water was freezing, but my mind was all there as was my body. I stood tall with a shit eating grin plastered across my tired face. Ja Cheongbi smiled at me and started clapping, quickly followed by the rest of the coterie.

  “Oh wow! I can’t believe it’s night already?” I exclaimed, my body now letting me know it was fucking freezing!

  Ja Cheongbi motioned for me to leave the waterfall and come to her. I did so as fast as my tired and waterlogged limbs would let me. A particularly gorgeous blue haired and blue-eyed water nymph handed me a large fluffy blanket shyly, then scampered away. I hardly noticed her I was so exhausted and elated about finishing the Tai Chi Chuan forms. Ja gestured to a seat by a large roaring fire next to her. I took it gladly, warming my body which felt like it was frozen from the inside out.

  Ja handed me a steaming ceramic mug of some liquid. I didn’t care what it was and immediately tossed it back. It burnt and scalded my mouth, tongue, and throat. It was glorious. Warmth began to infuse my frozen body. My teeth stopped chattering and I stopped shivering uncontrollably. A centaur woman refilled my mug with a pitcher and smiled at me. I drank more of the delicious warm fruity goodness and turned my attention to Ja who was looking intently at me.

  “How are you feeling?” She asked.

  I swallowed more of the delicious liquid and thought about it before answering.

  “Pretty good in general. My Ki Soul is settled and I feel like I’ve unlocked something in my mind’s eye. I’m still cold but the fire and this drink are really helping. Like I said before I can’t believe it’s night already.” I answered.

  “That is good. You have reached the First Stage of the Martial Realm, White Soul. It hasn’t only been one nightfall. You have been under the waterfall for three days and now two nights.” Ja said.

  I spat the warm liquid out that was in mouth, hitting the fire and causing it to flare up like it was doused with gasoline. Three days! Holy fucking shit! No wonder I had been so fucking cold. I looked at my cup in thought. What was in this? I shook my head and returned my attention back to Ja, who was still looking intently at me.

  “That’s crazy! I did master the forms though, so does that mean I passed the training?” I asked, hopefully.

  She nodded in the affirmative, then made some gestures and her coterie began giggling as they took off on whatever tasks they were just instructed to do.

  “Yes, you have done well. Most of my disciples are not abl
e to complete the training and succumb to the distractions around them.” She said, gesturing to the beautiful women.

  Some of the women began returning bringing blankets, pillows, more pitchers of drink and platters of food. I barely noticed as I was completely focused on Ja and our conversation.

  “Does that mean that… well, what does that mean exactly? Oh, and you said that I reached the First Stage of the Martial Realm, that I was a White Soul. What is that? I know that my Ki is Void and I have no Affinity for any one Element, but I don’t know anything about White Souls.” I said.

  The women continued to flitter about, busy setting things up and bringing more stuff. I may have imagined it, but they seemed the shudder when I mentioned the word Void. Soon the whole area was warm and comfortable with plenty of places to lay down and plenty of food and drink. Ja Cheongbi motioned to the women and they finished up their tasks, taking their places behind their leader.

  “The First Stage is called Beyond Mortal or Superhuman. There are six soul stages: White, Blue, Purple, Brown, Black, and Red. Each of these stages have levels of their own. Right now, having completed my training you are now a First Stage White Soul of the Martial Realm.” Ja explained, standing up and stretching languorously.

  Normally, I’d of lost my train of thought and my mind would have went boobies, boobies, boobies, butt, butt, butt. But right now, I was so fixated on the Martial Realm and hitting the First Stage White Soul, I didn’t pay attention to what was going on around me. Which happened to be a whole lot of shit.

  The tropical paradise with a very Hawaiian air to it just moments ago was gone. Now it was transformed into a tropical sin island fuck fest kind of place. was still oblivious as the half women had surrounded me and were now completely naked and Ja Cheongbi was not far behind. She had stood up and was now disrobing. I found it a bit weird, but I just went with it and averted my eyes. This was hard to do, because everywhere I looked was a beautiful, mostly naked mostly human woman.

  “As to the other part of your question, what does that mean exactly? Well, the answer to that is mildly complex yet simple at the same time. The fact that you finished your training so quickly is remarkable. Yet that is not what is so special about you. Now that you have reached the Martial Realm your Void Ki is completely pure and untainted. This is what is special. Your Ki being of no Affinity means it can be converted to any type of Elemental Ki.” She explained, now completely naked except for some old-style underwear that I remembered was called a Mawashi.

  Ja Cheongbi was glorious and I mean that literally. Her body and face were both a work of art and I felt like I was looking at a creation of some master sculptor, not a real being. This is probably what kept my mind from exploding and let me think logically at the moment. She was too fucking pretty, too fucking beautiful.

  I finally noticed what had happened to the area around me and I now saw the hungry look in all the eyes around me, Ja’s included. I swallowed and stood up slowly quite alarmed. Ja advanced a step followed by her coterie as she continued talking.

  “This wasn’t the original plan, but you see Pure Ki is exceedingly rare and you are a veritable fount of it. Don’t worry this won’t hurt at all, well maybe a bit. I can extract your Void Ki by taking your seed. This will be followed by my coterie of servants who will keep extracting your essence while pleasuring you till you cannot produce anymore. Now, doesn’t that sound like an enjoyable end?” She asked, in a sultry voice as she closed the distance.

  It did sound enjoyable. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t think of anything else more enjoyable and was about to say so, but in the back of my mind alarm bells started ringing. The kind that would always go off when I knew something dangerous or bad was going to happen. The same alarms that would go off when Nick would show up, or my stepbrother, or stepmother. The ones that rang so loud because they were a wakeup call saying, ‘hey motherfucker you’re about to get fucked up!’

  So instead of succumbing to my desires, which were pretty fucking intense, I swallowed audibly. Then I bit my tongue, thought of puppies and kitties, and began backing up while looking for a way out of this soon to be fuck fest of death. It didn’t matter that every which way I looked there was no escape. I was surrounded on all sides. I had backed up to the edge of the water and even there stood gaggles of half women.

  “Don’t fight it my dear. Just enjoy the experience.” Ja purred, coming even closer.

  “What about Dangun and Mother? What are they going to say?” I asked, in a shaky voice on the brink of cracking.

  “They will be angry, but I’ll just hide in the outer reaches of the Spirit Realm for the next thousand years till they calm down. Now, enough talk let us begin, come on girls hold him down.” Ja Cheongbi commanded.

  Two of the centaur women grabbed my arms and held me tight with strength that was much higher than my own. Their bare breasts pushed into me on each side even as they held me prisoner. It was not that bad of way to be shackled. I mean if this was how I was going to go I could think of no better way. Then from the corner of my eye I saw the water begin to roil. I was the first to notice followed by one mermaid and then another, alerting the rest and Ja Cheongbi.

  The jungle around us had gone quiet. The only sound was the increasing bubbling of the water which was now at a roil. The woman began to step back and away from the bubbling lagoon. They looked back and forth between Ja and the disturbance. To her credit, Ja wasn’t fazed and began to approach the water with an annoyed look on her face. Then the water exploded.

  TRACK 13 –BICYCLE RACE (LANG RACE MIX) – BLUMCHEN

  “Kiiiiiiiyyyyyyaaaaaaaa!” A voice roared, over the massive exploding geyser of water.

  The rush of water went hundreds of feet up and spread out like a cloud, covering the whole lagoon and waterfall area. The Spirit Realm moon had been a full gold that night and it’s light had shone over the area with a soft radiance. The cloud of water was followed by another massive shadow turning the day, which was bright a moment earlier dark.

  The shadow came down and grew larger revealing itself to be a giant frog. It hit the water with another giant splash and waves of water rushed out, washing away most of the beast women. I recognized the giant beast as the Kaiju frog Kumwa had been riding. Atop the humungous amphibian was the man himself who had yelled a moment earlier.

  “Boy, come with me if you want to live!” He called, gesturing to the top of his giant frog.

  My two captors and I had not been knocked away by the huge waves of water, but they had relaxed their grip on me a bit due to the shock of the situation. I used it to my advantage and ripped myself from their hands while jumping forward and racing towards the giant frog.

  “Stop him! Don’t let him get away!” Ja Cheongbi commanded.

  Her remaining beast women that were left standing leapt to obey her and moved as fast as they could to stop me. Immediately, I knew what to do and my mind went back to that place where it was when I had completed the waterfall training. They had a name for it in the Spirit Realm, the place of oneself, Nirvana, Zen, and many others. I called it the Zone.

  I had never been a great athlete and after Nick and his jerks beat me up and destroyed my body, I was even less of one. But there had been times when I was a young kid and would play basketball that I would get in the same mind space. The spot where I didn’t think of the past or future, just the now.

  Whenever it happened it was like I couldn’t miss. My mind was hazy and fugue-like when I thought back on those times. It was what I imagined Michael Jordan would get his mind like when he went on those insane scoring nights. Obviously, I was nothing compared to his Sir Airness, but I wanted to be like Mike like everyone else my age had wanted to be.

  Either way, whatever it was my mind went there and I had complete clarity. There were just over a dozen beast women headed my way and all were trying to intercept me. I kept moving running as fast as I could at the incoming women. The first of them to get in my way were my previous two centaur cap
tors. At the last second, I used Parting the Wild Horse’s Mane and pushed both women slightly to the side, then slid in between them continuing my mad dash.

  I was only twenty feet from the Kaiju frog’s feet. I brushed by four more women one after the other using a succession of Tai Chi moves. I moved into Repulse Monkey and then Hold the Ball, quickly followed by Cloud Hands and then Carry the Tiger Over the Mountain. I spun when I finished the last move and kept running, now only ten feet from the frog.

  A few more moves and the next three women were out of range. The final one in my way was taken unaware by Snake Creeps Through the Grass and I was free of the cordon. The last few women were too far away as I leaped onto the frog’s massive leg and climbed my way as fast as I could up to the head and to Kumwa.

  “You will pay for this Kumwa!” Ja Cheongbi yelled, just as I made it to the top using Kumwa’s outstretched hand to get up the last few feet.

  “Don’t worry Ja dear, just add it to the list of things I owe you for.” Kumwa yelled back, jokingly.

  This proceeded to piss Ja Cheongbi off even more. She started calling out orders to her warrior women and they all began grabbing weapons then rushing to surround us. If it bothered Kumwa he didn’t show it. Instead, he refocused on Ja Cheongbi and laughed even louder before yelling out.

  “You really must be getting old and weak if you need to resort to stealing the Ki from a child Martial Cultivator. Besides, you should thank me. I just saved you from some kind of horrible retribution from Dangun and Mother. Anyway, this has been fun, but time is a wasting and we really should be going now. Thank you for the hospitality Ja. Are you ready Hiro?” Kumwa asked, completely ignoring his surroundings now which served to piss off Ja Cheongbi even more.

  “Yes, very much so.” I replied, just as Ja shrieked an earsplitting shriek and malevolent dark red Ki burst out around her like a giant bonfire.