Warriors of the Way-Pentalogy

by Orlando A. Sanchez

  Devin continued. “Each school is responsible for a designated area, and has a specific name. Not every school is fortunate enough to have an elder presiding as we do. Most schools are being run by senior students. Not every school has access to a hub. In fact we are the only school in this area that is directly linked to this hub.” He stopped speaking and looked at me as if expecting a response.

  “Seems to me,” I said, “that would make this school coveted as a target.”

  “Correct, Dante. The ‘promotions’ that were most recently held, were for the purpose of filling our ranks. We have lost many of our own in the last year.”

  I was about to ask a question, well, several actually— but he raised his hand to stop me.

  “I promise all your questions will have answers. Let me finish.” I remained silent.

  “Right now, a war is brewing. Some of the smaller schools have been attacked, and it’s only a matter of time before we are attacked here.”

  “Who would attack us?” I wondered.

  “Those who want more power, who want chaos. Those who we are sworn to fight against. It’s the monsters of your nightmares and those who would control them. It is those who would destroy us all, simply because they can. Take your pick. The reason you are here” – as he swept his hand around to mean the training hall – “was your performance at the test and after it. Although you feel you failed, no junior has had the skill to touch me with or without a weapon, in many years. More importantly no one has been able to cross to the mirror untrained and unassisted, since I can remember.”

  “What does that mean?” I couldn’t resist asking.

  “It means you have a very rare ability. It also means you are a spiritual warrior, one of the Warriors of the Way.”

  I sat there silently, trying to take in all that Devin had just said. I shook my head. There was no way I could wrap my brain around all of this.

  “With all due respect, I think you have the wrong person,” I said.

  Devin smiled.

  “That’s what we are here to find out today. You are here because I accepted the responsibility of being your senior. It is also my duty to find out if you truly belong here. Having a rare ability is meaningless if you cannot use it. Let’s begin.”

  He walked over to one of the corners of the structure and reached down into the floor. A panel slid on the wall above, revealing dozens of weapons, swords, staffs, a multitude of bladed and blunt edged weapons. He handed me a bo, —a long wooden staff.

  “You just need to repeat what you did at the test. Touch me.”

  “No blindfold?” I asked half-jokingly.

  “I have something better than the blindfold.” He laughed as he walked over to another section of the floor. As he pulled on a lever, every open section of the training hall was covered by wooden panels about a half inch thick. The training hall was in complete darkness.

  “Now, hit me.” I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.

  “Understand that a spiritual warrior is all about balance.” The acoustics of the hall gave his voice an eerie quality. ‘When you complete this stage of your training, you will be balanced with another warrior who will complement your strengths and weaknesses. As brothers, you will sharpen each other, always striving for perfection. Right now though, all I want you to do is to hit me.”

  I held the bo in my hands, my palms all of a sudden, sweaty.

  How was I supposed to hit him a second time when I didn’t know how I did it the first time?

  “We are all connected. Everything is one and everything touches and affects everything else.” The acoustics of the space made his voice bounce in strange ways. I looked quickly from side to side to allow the rods of my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Focusing on my breath, I stilled it to almost nothing. Remembering my training, I sought to find him by his displacement in the hall. It was as if he didn’t exist. He left no wake, no footprint. Sight was out of the question. A sudden pain flared up my right side, causing me to gasp for breath.

  “Thinking too much, Dante.” He was right of course. I started moving around the floor, careful not to make any sound as I stepped. Another sharp pain raced up my left leg starting at my thigh and radiating up and down my leg. I limped quietly to a wall, minimizing the angles of attack. That was when it happened. I don’t know how. All I knew is that I wasn’t going to get hit again. I began to sense him, no not him, but his intention. It was as if I knew he was coming to my right side. I moved to the left, swinging the bo to intercept his strike. The clash of wood reverberated in the hall.

  “Good. You are finally learning to ‘see’.” At that moment, the window shutters flew open, the immediate blast of light blinding me for a few seconds. In the center of the floor stood a figure dressed in a dark blue uniform. The uniform was unlike any I had seen at the school. The trim and border were done with ornate gold embroidery. The color itself, which appeared dark blue at first, was interlaced with flecks of gold. The material appeared to be fine silk on the cuffs and in the material there were owls in flight. Devin walked over to the figure. I had no way of telling if it was a female or male, since the other interesting feature of the garment was a large hood. In its gloved hand, the figure held a scroll.

  “Welcome, Meja. This must be urgent, for you to interrupt a training session.”

  “It is,” said the woman. Devin looked over to where I was standing and motioned me over.

  “Dante, this is Meja. Meja, this is—”

  “I know who he is, Devin.”

  Devin smiled. “Of course you do. Meja is one of the senior monitors, Dante. Her job is to know just about everything.”

  She pushed back the hood revealing her piercing green eyes. It was the woman from the front desk. She gave me a slight bow and turned back to Devin, handing him the scroll. Devin opened the scroll and read. His face darkened.

  “Are you certain as to the truth of this?” he asked. She said nothing in return, only stared back, hard.

  “Very well. Where?”

  “The South Watch.”

  A look of incredulousness briefly crossed Devin’s face. “This happened at a Watch?”

  Once again she remained silent.

  “Meja, gather the others. We will need to meet at once.”

  “They have already been summoned,” she said.

  “I see, let’s go. There is no time to waste. Dante, come with me. It seems your training will have to be on the field.”

  Meja looked at Devin.

  “He will be fine, Meja. I won’t leave him alone, I promise.”

  RITUAL OF TWO

  THE MAIN MEETING room was on a lower level. I felt like I was in a maze. This place felt endless, like a never ending rabbit warren. We traveled down corridors, which after ten minutes all began to look alike. Devin looked back at me and smiled.

  “If you look carefully, you will see that each hallway is carefully marked,” he said.

  I stopped for a moment to see if I could read some kind of marking on the wall. It looked like every other corridor we had walked down. We finally came to a polished wooden door. For a moment I thought I saw a wave of deep violet energy coruscate across the face of the wood. The center of the door bore a symbol I did not recognize. It looked vaguely familiar and alien all at once. Devin must have picked up on my confusion and answered my unasked question.

  “It’s the symbol of our school. It means Warriors of the Way.”

  He placed his hand on the symbol which caused the surface of the door to ripple once. The door instantly slid downward, disappearing from view. Devin walked in and as I followed him, I noticed Meja stayed behind. Once we entered, she put her hand on a matching symbol and the door slid back into place with a resounding thud. No one was going to break into this room. The room was circular with the largest round table I had ever seen. The table seemed immensely heavy and ancient. On its surface, symbols were inscribed. Around the table must have been forty chairs and in each chair a person was seated exce
pt one. To the right of the Master of the school, one chair was empty. Behind each of the seated seniors stood a junior. Along the wall of the room, what I first took for statues were actually more people dressed like Meja. It was then that I noticed the thin lines that ran from the center of the table, down the stone floor and into the wall. Straddling each line stood a monitor. I saw Zen standing behind his senior and he gave no indication of having seen me, until I saw a barely perceptible nod. Several of the seniors were speaking at once.

  “This is an outrage! They attacked a watch! We should hunt them down and erase them!” yelled one senior.

  Several of the seniors around the table agreed. Devin took his seat and I was careful enough to stand the same distance behind as the other juniors. Another senior stood and I recognized him from the promotion. His name was Darius.

  “And what do you propose we do, Michael? Go in guns blazing? Kill everyone in sight?”

  “Hell yes, Darius, it would be a welcome change from the way we normally operate!”

  “Where exactly should we strike, Michael? Do you know where they are? Do you have a line on Sylk’s whereabouts?”

  At the mention of Sylk’s name, I saw Meja’s jaw clench.

  “Darius, that’s what monitors are for, to provide us this information. This is why we are in the state we are in: because we focus so much on the Way, that we have forgotten that we are warriors!”

  “Extermination is not the answer to everything, Michael.”

  “When it comes to Sylk, I don’t think having a conversation is going to work. Ask those around this table who have faced him, Darius. How many wounded? How many dead? How many here bear scars from our ‘conversations’ with him?”

  Darius remained silent. It seemed that whoever this Sylk person was, he was dangerous. The seniors had gone silent, each thinking of their own personal battle with Sylk and his allies. The master placed his hands on the table. using the simple gesture to silence any senior that was about to speak.

  “It would seem,” the Master said in a quiet voice, “that this is a situation that merits our undivided attention.”

  His voice although quiet was crisp. He spoke with a conviction that lent weight to his words.

  “The problem of Sylk and his allies must be confronted. It has been a year since our last direct encounter with him,” —some of the seniors stole glances at Meja— “and we nearly lost a senior monitor. The difficulty we face is that Sylk was one of us. He knows how we operate. He knows how we think. We must then do something he would not anticipate.” He paused as if giving his next statement thought. “Begin the ritual of two.”

  I didn’t know what the ritual of two was, but I could tell many of the seniors thought this was a bad idea.

  “Master,” said Darius, “they aren’t ready for the ritual. Many are still recovering from the promotions.”

  Devin looked at me, the hint of a smile crossing his lips. It wasn’t exactly comforting.

  “Darius, we have been waiting too long,” said Michael. “This last attack on a Watch demands that we act.”

  Many of the seniors nodded their heads while others still looked concerned.

  Devin stood. “I understand all of your concerns. The fact of the matter is that we must act swiftly and decisively. How long before Sylk attempts an attack here? No, he must be stopped. We will enact the ritual and create a group of warriors that can face this threat.”

  I had a feeling I didn’t want to know what this ritual was.

  The master stood. “It is decided, then. Let us prepare those who are able in every location.”

  Everyone around the table stood and bowed. The master turned to Devin. “You have two months to get them ready.”

  Devin bowed. “Yes, Master.”

  The Master turned and headed to another door in the room and half of the monitors followed him out. I was pleased to see that Meja had remained in the room. The remaining monitors spread out around the room to re-establish the balance of the ones that had left with the Master.

  Once the Master left the hall, the seniors began to argue in earnest. The only one that remained silent was Devin. I realized at this point it wasn’t about the ritual being carried out. That was established. This was more about who needed to be heard and who was aligned with whom. It seemed like Michael and those of the same mind were about half the group. Roughly the other half supported Darius. After about ten minutes, the discussion began to lose steam and Devin stood and turned to Michael. “Get me the names of those who are ready and nearly ready.” He then turned to Darius and said, “Darius, you have two weeks to get the ritual in place. Whatever resources you need, they’re yours.” Darius didn’t look pleased but nodded.

  Devin made his way back to the door we had came in through. As he passed Marcus and Zen, he stopped and whispered something into Marcus’ ear. I wasn’t close enough to hear but I thought Zen was. Marcus nodded but remained seated. As we arrived at the door, I noticed Meja was behind us. She touched the same wall panel and the door slid from view. I looked back into the room as we entered the hallway and saw Zen standing behind Marcus. The room had once again fallen into a heated discussion. Zen gave me another nod and then I turned to follow Devin.

  DIVIDED FALLEN

  “YOUR ASSESSMENT MEJA?” Devin asked as we walked the winding corridors.

  “It looks like the factions are more pronounced and entrenched than earlier thought.”

  “Yes, I noticed.”

  “We believe that there is a traitor in our midst,” said Meja.

  “Within the monitors?”

  “I use the term ‘our’ rather broadly.”

  “Ah, you mean within the warriors.”

  “Obviously.”

  “Couldn’t there be a traitor among the monitors?” I asked.

  Meja gave me a look that dropped the temperature of the corridor we were standing in by several degrees.

  “That would be impossible for several reasons, Dante, but mostly because of the readers,” said Devin.

  “Readers?”

  Meja turned to me. “Readers are monitors that can ‘read’ auras but more importantly they can sense intention.”

  I looked at her. “Are you a reader?”

  “Even if she were, she wouldn’t and couldn’t tell you, Dante. No one but the most senior monitors know who the readers are—they and the Master of the school.”

  It seemed like a flawed system to me but I didn’t say anything.

  “Do you know who it is yet?” asked Devin.

  “Not yet, but we are getting close.”

  We continued down the corridor.

  Devin rubbed the bridge of his nose.

  “We must find a way to unify these two camps,” said Devin. “Perhaps with the ritual of two we can create some common ground.”

  “Or cause a greater rift,” said Meja.

  “Have I ever told you how cheery and uplifting it is to speak with you?”

  “I’m not the one you come to when you want cheery and uplifting, we both know that.”

  Devin laughed and then grew serious.

  “You are right, Meja. I’d better get this junior ready”

  Meja took an appraising look at me.

  “Do you think he is ready, Devin? You know what you condemn him to if he isn’t.”

  Devin looked at me. “I would stake my life on it, Meja”

  “I hope you are prepared, if it comes to that, Devin.” We walked together, the silence embracing us like a warm blanket. She turned off at the next junction without a word.

  “She seems a bit… serious” The word I was thinking of was ‘depressing’.

  “She has reason to be. I think the word you’re looking for is dour, by the way.”

  Not really, I thought.

  “Why is she that way?” I asked.

  Devin led me down another corridor and into a small room. This warren seemed endless or I was just hopelessly lost. I was leaning towards lost. The room seemed to be
a small sitting library. The walls were lined with books, none of which I recognized. Devin looked around the shelves.

  “The monitors are as old as the Warriors of the Way. At any given time there are seven senior monitors,” Devin paused, “but these are not normal times Dante. Right now we only have five and two of those are MIA, which effectively leaves three senior monitors to oversee over two thousand. Out of those three, Meja is clearly the strongest and most capable. The other two lean closer to Michael’s point of view and want to launch a counter attack. You see not only are we divided, but the monitors as well, which leads me to believe there is an outside influence.”

  “The traitor?”

  Devin nodded. He stopped in front of an old book. The cover was deep amber and the pages were yellowed with age.

  “This is it, the book on the ritual of two.” He dusted it off as he set it on the table.

  “If the monitors are divided,” he continued, “then it makes all of us weaker. Meja is the only one of the remaining three to have faced Sylk and is still here to talk about it.”

  “Is she that skilled?” I asked.

  I had a hard time picturing her going up against Sylk, whom it seemed everyone either feared or at least respected.

  “When she met him, she barely escaped with her life. I was the first to find her and I thought she was dead… so much blood.” Devin looked into space for a moment as if reliving the scene.

  “Now, even I wouldn’t want to face her in combat.”

  GUARDIAN AND WARRIOR

  DEVIN OPENED THE book and took some notes while I thought about Meja and Sylk.

  “Why is everyone so scared of Sylk?” I asked. “Who is he?”

  Devin stopped writing for a moment and then looked at me. “Sylk,” he began, “was one of the most skilled warriors —one of the first to go through the ritual of two. In fact he was so naturally talented and inherently powerful, he was one of the few given the rank of Karashihan, which meant that he did not require a guardian. In essence, he was a sword and shield, and a devastating one at that.”