by Jace Kang
Kentaro stopped in his tracks. “Captain Keiko!” He turned and looked to Ryu, uncertainty scrawled in his expression.
Ryu looked back to her. As he remembered, her face was perfectly symmetrical, as only the XHumans could be, with a thin, high nose and a pointy chin. Before, he hadn’t had time to admire how beautiful she was.
But now, she shook her head. “Keiko is my sister.”
“You look exactly alike. I should know, I see her every day at work.” Kentaro sucked in a breath and covered his mouth.
Despite the boy’s embarrassment, he was right. This was the exact same face that had confronted him first in the streets, and later at Peacekeeper central. Still, she was thinner, less toned.
Her eyes swept from his to Ken’s. “Keiko has brown hair. Me…” She pulled the helmet off and shook out her short hair.
Lustrous golden hair, like that of the Elestrae.
Ryu turned to the boy. “You said that shade of gold was impossible in humans.”
Kentaro nodded. “It is impossible.”
“I can explain,” she said, holding out Ryu’s robes.
Chapter 12:
The Hacker
B reathless from her walk, holding Ryusuke’s robes out, Aya silently cursed herself. She’d seen Keiko in the footage from his first fight in the streets, and later during his confrontation in the medical ward of Peacekeeper Headquarters, but hadn’t thought Miss Perfect would stand out to him in the heat of the moment. And of course, Kentaro, a janitor in Kyoto Central, had probably seen her up close and personal.
Hopefully, the golden hair from Aya’s boutique genes would prove she wasn’t the Peacekeeper Tactical Team’s storied leader.
Ryusuke’s piercing eyes on her made her finger-comb that golden hair. Something hot and primal churned inside of her. He was even more handsome in person than he had been on the cameras.
No, that was just her imagination, because the cameras created 3D images with perfect fidelity. What they didn’t capture was the aura of charisma that rolled off of him in waves.
She cleared her throat and presented the robes again. “I brought a gift from Peacekeeper Headquarters.”
He reached out, but instead of taking the clothes, set his fingers on both of her wrists. She started to pull back, but then decided it wasn’t a bad thing to let a handsome man hold her hands. Well, wrists.
“Show me your tongue,” he said.
What? She eyed him. “Why?”
“I’m learning about your health.”
From feeling her wrists? “I can tell you what the genetic scans say…”
“This method has been used for thousands of years, and can tell you a lot about someone’s body if you know how to listen.” The pressure on his fingers changed on her wrist. “The Earth aspect of your body is weak. It is unable to Control Water. Water is Condensing on your Metal. You don’t have enough Qi to push through the blockages in your meridians.”
What was he talking about? Some Mother Nature mumbo jumbo like the stuff the Gaia terror group espoused? “No, I have a CFTR gene problem. Chloride doesn’t move to my cells’ surf—”
“Yes, I know the pathology well. That’s the language of science. I’m speaking in the language of the Dao.”
Now that was different, even if it was still nonsense. Then again, he clearly had the same genetic defect as her, and wasn’t the least bit hampered by it. As if to prove that point, a cough wracked her chest as she spoke. “Go on.”
“The Dao is about perfecting the body, to surpass the limits set on the world as perceived by science. Your very genetic defect will make you a promising Cultivator of the Water Path.”
Frowning, Kentaro shuffled on his feet.
Aya ignored him, instead thinking of Ryusuke’s words. She didn’t have any interest in farming; she just wanted to cure her lung disease so she could stay jacked into the EtherCloud forever. “What do I have to do?”
“First, stand correctly. Like this.” He dropped into a crouch, and the ground seemed to compress under him. Thighs parallel to the ground, back straight, and shoulders square, he pulled his fists to his hips.
Aya tried to do the same, but for someone who usually reclined on a cushioned chair, the walk here had already all but knocked her out. Even with her knees bent half as much as him, and with the tactical suit’s muscle enhancers, her legs wobbled.
“Hmmmm.” Ryu scratched his head, then came out of his stance and extended a hand. “May I?”
May he what? He was so close, her heart was racing. “Yes.”
“Pardon me.” He set one hand close to her butt and the other on her stomach, and pressed.
Her legs and waist protested, but she fought through the ache as he stretched her shoulders. In the corner of her eye, Kentaro was imitating the stance, and doing much better at it.
A pit of jealousy churned in her stomach. “What is this for?”
“Your connection to the ground. We need to cleanse and fortify your Earth.” His eyes shifted to his robe, which she’d draped into the crook of her elbow. “I have something in there that can help both of you.”
Kentaro sucked in a breath. “What?”
“Pills.” Ryu slid the robe free. “In here.”
“Where?” Excitement rising in his voice, Kentaro craned his neck to get a better look.
Ryu’s hand literally disappeared into an interior fold of the garment.
Both she and Kentaro gasped at the same time, the shock jolting her out of the uncomfortable stance. Ryu cast a critical eye at her, his glare coaxing her back into the position before she could shake the burning out of her poor muscles.
“What is that?” Kentaro asked, staring at the cloth.
Ryu opened the robes and showed how his arm disappeared impossibly up to the elbow in an inner pocket. “Spirit pocket.”
“A what?” Before today, Aya would’ve scoffed at the idea of a spirit. Now, though, she’d seen a man defeat shocktroopers with his bare hands, and command water at the molecular level.
“In the World of Rivers and Lakes, the Qi-Smiths of the Miraculous Thread Sect weave portals to interdimensional space into pockets and bags. Once you’ve achieved Third Rank in any of the Paths, your Spirit will be strong enough to open that portal.”
Aya and Kentaro exchanged glances. While disbelief tugged at her mind, his decisive nod showed he accepted the answer without reservation.
Arm moving about in what must’ve been an impossibly large space, Ryu peered into the pocket. He frowned. “This is awful. My pills are missing.”
“What does that mean?” Kentaro asked.
“It means that I can’t speed your training along. More importantly, it means I can’t complete my mission.”
“What’s your mission?” Aya asked.
He searched her eyes, but kept silent.
She’d need to earn his trust. “I saw them take some of your effects up to a level twelve lab.”
Kentaro chuffed. “Why didn’t you get those, too?”
The dirty little Purebred. Aya snorted back. “Ryusuke just said he needed his robes.”
“That’s Master Ryusuke to you,” Kentaro said.
“Hush, both of you.” Brow creasing, Ryusuke waved his hand down. “I’m thinking.”
And he was just as handsome when doing so. Aya chided herself. She could create virtual men exactly to her liking in the EtherCloud, programming into them the strength and confidence she found so appealing; but they weren’t real.
Ryusuke was.
“How could they possibly open the interdimensional space?” he asked. “Are you sure those Elestrae aren’t fairies?”
Kentaro nodded. “Absolutely sure.”
“Maybe with the Elestrae’s ability to channel istrium,” Aya said, “they were able to open it.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter how they opened it. Can you go back and get my pills?” His eyes locked on her.
It made her insides squirm in the most pleasant way, but she shook h
er head. “Twelfth-floor security is beyond my skill to penetrate. Not only that, the Peacekeeper server AI realized it was being hacked when I stole your clothes back. Their entire system is locked down while new protocols are put in place.”
“Which means?”
“I can’t penetrate their EtherSpace at all.” Well, except with Keiko’s helmet, but it would be limited to partitions her sister had access to, which certainly didn’t include headquarter ops. “Not unless I was physically inside Peacekeeper Central, connected to the EtherSpace from an internal connection.”
“Master Ryu can get us there.” Kentaro gave a definitive nod. “You saw what he did to escape.”
“You were on the sublevels and the entrance,” Aya said. “The higher up you go, the more sophisticated the defenses are.”
“Be quiet, both of you.” Ryusuke bent his knees and curled his bare toes into the soft soil. He set his hands out in front of him and closed his eyes.
Coming out of her stance, Aya walked over and leaned in as close as she dared to Kentaro. “What’s he doing?”
“Zhan Zhuang.” Kentaro came out of his low stance and mimicked the motion.
“John who?” Aya shook her head.
“Shhh. I’m thinking about a solution,” Ryusuke said. A long moment passed before he opened his eyes and looked them over. “I am going to tell you about my mission, but you must be sworn to secrecy.”
As someone who thrilled in uncovering government secrets, Aya felt shivers running through her.
“Of course,” Kentaro said, bobbing his head. “I swear.”
“I warn you, as you take your first steps into Cultivation, this type of oath goes beyond words.”
“What does that mean?” Aya asked.
“Your oath will be sealed. Until I release you, attempting to reveal the secret will damage your meridians.”
Since she’d never believed in meridians, that didn’t seem like a big deal. “Sure,” Aya said.
He eyed her. “Breaking this oath will cause intense pain.”
Well, she could keep a secret. “I understand.”
“Very well.” Ryusuke came out of his stance and extended both arms. “Take my hand, and each other’s.”
Exchanging glances again, Aya and Kentaro each took one of his hands, and then each other’s.
“Now, do you enter into this oath of secrecy willingly?”
“Yes,” they said in unison.
He nodded. “Curl your toes into the ground, and concentrate on where our palms touch.”
Aya did as told. A cool sensation flooded into her palm and spread up her arm and into her Core. At her side, Kentaro’s eyes widened.
“Now I can tell you my mission,” Ryusuke said. “Thousands of years ago, there were many open portals between here and the World of Rivers and Lakes. It wasn’t as hard to pass between the dimensions, if you knew where to find the portals and how to activate them.”
Yet more nonsense. Aya tried not to yawn. She certainly wouldn’t tell anyone, not because of this mysterious oath binding, but rather because they’d think her insane.
Ryusuke eyed her and snorted. “During China’s Qin Dynasty, the First Emperor, in his search for immortality, uncovered the portals. Are you familiar with his terracotta warriors?”
Aya nodded. The first Qin emperor’s tomb outside of Xi’An had survived the Onslaught, and still drew visitors. “They were to protect him in the afterlife.”
“Not originally. He’d hoped to animate them with demons from the World of River and Lakes and take over both planes. To prevent him from exploiting the resources there, the Emerald Empire sent a Transcendent to close off most of the portals.”
“How?” Kentaro asked.
“By establishing a ward.”
This was beyond believability. Still, Kentaro stood there at her side, bouncing in excitement.
“Kyoto has dozens of portals, which is why so many temples and shrines were established here.” Ryu waved a hand in an arc. “Even though they are closed off, energy from across the planes seeps through. Honnoji Temple was built over a junction in the energy meridians of the Earth. Thus, the most powerful ward was focused there. In 1583, Oda Nobunaga learned of the ward, and in his own quest for immortality, had planned to dispel it.”
“That’s not what we learned in school!” Kentaro said.
“Of course not. It goes against the very fiber of humans’ beliefs.” Ryusuke chuckled. “In any case, before he was able to do so, Akechi Mitsuhide stopped him. And for reasons beyond our understanding, the ward was reinvigorated and strengthened with the destruction of the temple.”
Aya hadn’t gone to school, but of course her parents had made her take classes through an EtherCloud school. She’d learned about how Akechi Mitsuhide had betrayed Oda Nobunaga in the Honnoji Incident.
“Until last week,” Ryusuke said. “We don’t know how, but the anchor disappeared, and all the portals across the planet unlocked. I was sent by the Union of Sects to reseal it.”
Eyes wide, Kentaro turned to Aya. “Last week, there was that Purebred girl at Honnoji Academy…”
Aya nodded, thinking back to the footage she’d seen. “She removed an istrium meteorite from an old well.”
Ken shook his head and held his rounded fingers out. “It was a starfighter core, perfectly smooth, about this size.”
“That’s what the government wants you to believe,” Aya said. “Because they don’t know what it is.”
Ryusuke stared at Kentaro. “You say it was smooth? About the size of a head?”
He nodded.
“If only I could see it…”
“Give me a second.” Grinning, Aya jacked into the EtherCloud with her bridge. On her conscious command, Ai brought up archived footage from last week, then transferred it the portable emitter she’d brought along. Jacking out, she turned the emitter on. “Here.”
An image of a beautiful Purebred holding a blue sphere materialized.
“Fascinating.” Ryusuke’s eyes moved from the sphere to the girl’s face. “She’s gorgeous.”
Aya’s stomach knotted. Though on the bright side, maybe that meant he wasn’t interested in men?
“Is she from the World of Rivers and Lakes?” Kentaro asked. “There was no record of her. All we know is that she had a tuning fork, and she stepped through a wormhole aperture and disappeared.”
Ryusuke shook his head. “Not that I know of. Maybe she’s from another plane. Which makes me wonder how she would know of a Dragon Pearl, and what she plans to do with it.”
Kentaro sucked in a sharp breath. “Dragon Pearl?”
“Yes, it’s the source of a dragon’s power.”
Aya gasped. “You mean, dragons are real?”
“Of course they are. In any case, one of the items that was in my pocket can restore the ward’s power.”
Having watched many people lie, Aya heard something in his tone that suggested he wasn’t telling them the entire story.
“Now, here’s the thing: unsavory things can come through the portals from the World of Rivers and Lakes. What you would call yokai or demons. And I have sensed that one has crossed over into this plane. If I can find and kill it, it will leave behind a gemstone—like the Dragon Pearl—which we can use.”
“Use for what?” Kentaro asked.
“To speed your Cultivation. For now, we have to do it the hard way. Let’s get some rest; we resume at dawn.”
Chapter 13:
The Purebred
K en’s rattling body jerked him into consciousness.
“Wake up, Ken-coon,” Master Ryusuke said. “It’s almost dawn.”
Coon? What did that mean? Ken frowned. In one of the Once Upon a Time in China sequels, Wong Fei-Hong had gone to America’s Wild West, and coon was a nasty insult to African people. Ken had felt rage for them, empathizing with being beaten down for nothing other than their circumstances of birth.
He shook the idea out of his head. Africa only lived on as a
continent name now, its people’s genes having mixed in with all the other XHumans over the centuries.
Maybe Master Ryu meant nothing by it. “Get up,” he said.
Back and shoulders stiff and sore, Ken groaned as he rose. The combination of hard training and the uneven ground at the park conspired to make his body feel as if it had been beaten and battered by a gorilla. He stretched his arms out and yawned.
When he opened his eyes, he found Aya standing beneath a tree a few meters away, repeating the same motion over and over again.
“What is she doing?” Ken asked.
“A basic pattern from Yang Family Taiji.”
Taiji, Ken had heard of. The same actor who portrayed Wong Fei-Hong in Once Upon a Time in China had also been the titular character of The Taiji Master. He’d watched the movie on the analogue video cassette so many times, the already-dull image was now streaked with white lines.
There was nothing dull about Aya’s motions. She moved smoothly, easily, as her hands formed a circle, swept out, then repeated again. Now that he looked carefully, he recognized the motion.
“Holding the Ball to Parting the Wild Mare’s Mane,” he said. “But her stance is too high. It’s supposed to be low, thighs parallel to the ground.”
Master Ryu favored him with a raised eyebrow. “You know about Taiji, then?”
Excitement building in his chest, Ken nodded.
“Then you would know that it is Chen Family Taiji that drops so low.”
Ken’s shoulder slumped. “I didn’t. I thought it was all the same.”
“No. When I left this plane, there were already several families of Taiji.” The master’s severe expression softened into a grin. “In the World of Rivers of Lakes, there are even more. In fact, that’s where it started.”
Ken cocked his head. “I thought Zhang Sanfeng created it.” At least, that was what the movie portrayed.
“Not exactly. Through his meditation, his consciousness passed into the World of Rivers and Lakes, and he learned the motions of Taiji by watching a Sage.”
“Oh. Then what about Chen Taiji?”
