by Jamie Hawke
As I came in with a jump kick and turned to deliver a tiger claw, the closest group stepped back into crouching tiger before attacking in a series of leaps and bounds. Kicks and punches came at me from all directions, but while they had been at the temple training, I had been out in the real world. I had taken on Master Shen, not to mention my upgraded stats thanks to the Citadel and Lamb’s tech.
My blocks and dodges set me up to move outside of their attacks, lining them up for my counterstrikes—going for limbs, hitting knees and sweeping feet. The goal was to move past them, to reach the start of the trial, nothing more.
“Even if you reach the trials,” the closest one of them said, “Grand Master Eloise has a better shot of reaching the stones than you.”
He kicked, but I hip-checked him and sent him onto his back, the breath knocked out of him.
“I don’t care about reaching the stones first,” I pointed out. “I plan on taking them.”
Turning from the group, I went on my way. Or tried to, but a sudden force held me in place, a moment later latching me sideways so that it was as if I was falling but to my left. It was only when I finally registered aggression that I caught sight of the second group of monks with their glowing hands and whipping strands of light as I went over the edge.
The first group had been a diversion.
Fuck.
Falling, I first reached out for anything I could find, turning and searching for a hold. The mountain passed me by, this spot clearly chosen by the monks above. My mind raced to come up with options as I descended into the darkness below, but nothing was working, no ideas coming.
The thought that I was by myself reminded me that I wasn’t, really. I shared a mental connection with those around me, even my attackers far above. While range was a factor, I still felt their push on me, so I figured they must still be latched with their binding strands of light. Using that like a conductor, I focused with an emotional push of compassion, a change of heart, even defiance, and sent it back up through the strands.
My fall stopped.
Then, like I was a pebble being fired from a catapult, I shot the fuck back up. Someone up there registered what had happened, but not before I managed to manipulate them further and angle my trajectory toward a series of bridges at the lower levels of the temples. The bridges were set up for aspiring trainees, those who would have to travel far and long to reach the temple, to prove they had what it took. The rope ladders swayed in the cold wind, threatening to break off and cast you to your doom far below.
I landed on one such bridge, but with too much force. The rope snapped on one side, causing me to flop and flail, off-balanced, before the fragile structure gave out and started falling. It sent me heading straight for another one, though, so I timed my fall and leaped, slamming into the boards of the bridge and holding on for dear life.
This time, the bridge didn’t break.
Not giving it time to consider throwing me to my death, I was up and sprinting along it, going through the route I had traversed long ago when first coming to the temple. Only, now I had a different destination in mind.
Instead of going the direct route, as soon as I saw the opportunity, I broke from the bridges to climb the cliff face. A burst of light hit nearby and exploded, so I veered left, out of eyesight of the temple, and made my way up, up, and up farther still. My arms ached, but I kept going by sheer willpower. When my will threatened to break, I healed it.
Finally, I came to a ledge and a series of caves. Not many monks were aware of this place, but I had gone exploring in my later temple days. That was before I left, when I was starting to give up on Eloise but also when I realized that I could never truly be a monk of the temple when distractions such as her affected me so.
“I thought I’d find you here,” a voice said.
I froze, sensing no aggression but instead… intrigue? It shut off, followed by Eloise stepping out of the darkness.
“Don’t read me,” she said, gesturing over her shoulder. “Come on, we have a trial to begin.”
“This isn’t part of it?” I asked, jokingly.
She shook her head. “They will answer for this, but at the moment the best thing we can do is get to it.”
“My focus isn’t on them.”
She nodded and turned to lead the way.
“How do you know about this place?” I asked, following her through dark tunnels that led up and away from the temple.
“All your power, and yet…” She laughed. “So dense at times.”
“Thanks. That explains a lot.”
“Simply put, I used to follow you down here. Often, actually.”
“You were here?” My mind raced with what that could mean. There had been a time when I had almost touched myself here, thinking of her, but instead waited until I was back in my room. If I had gone through with it… The thought made me laugh.
She smiled at that. “I always loved your laugh. And… saw the way you looked at me. One time, I followed you, thinking I would make a move. But… I didn’t want to be the one to initiate it.”
“Oh.” My mind was repeating one word—Fuck.
“Then I saw you, staring off at the rolling clouds beneath that opening down there, and thought you must have a reason to not make a move. You must have been focused on your training, I told myself. Only, then you left.”
“I had to.”
“But why?” She stopped, turning to face me. “Why did you leave?”
“It was basically to become a bounty hunter, but… Various reasons. Realizing I wasn’t ready, wasn’t focused, for one.” Holding her gaze, I added, “You, for another.”
She blinked, caught off guard. “Me…?”
“It was tough, focusing on being a monk, learning to control myself… and feeling so out of control when it came to feelings about you.”
“I had no idea.”
“Yeah, well. Maybe I could have been more of a man, or whatever, but it wasn’t like that, right? Relationships at the temple aren’t exactly smiled upon—”
“Forbidden, actually.”
“Are they?” I chuckled. “There you go.”
“That wouldn’t have stopped me.” She took a step toward me, hesitated, then turned her face away, waiting.
Once, that would have been the invitation I needed. Not so long ago, actually, before I met Cheri and Erupa. Before Tink won me over with her playful laugh, and before Mer opened up, joining in. Even Hinru was part of the group now, in her way, and I would feel I had betrayed them all if I did anything outside of the group.
As beautiful as Eloise was, that wasn’t me.
“We should get to the trials,” I said.
Her eyes closed, she breathed deep, and when she looked back at me there was no question she had moved on, too. Or at least pushed aside whatever emotions were threatening to take over.
“Yes, we should.”
We pushed on in silence for a bit before she said, “You really care for them, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“And you’d do this… accept this challenge and risk your life for… for them.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. It’s not for them. It’s for me, for you, and yes—I suppose for them. But really, for all of us. For humanity, the supers, and whatever else exists out there. We have to make a difference, take a stand for what’s right.”
“I’d say you sound like a propaganda broadcast. But, I’d also say you’re right.” We moved through an area where the sun shone through, thick leaves hanging through an opening above, and I paused, looking at the sun on my hand and reflecting off dust. It reminded me of Tink with her pixie dust.
The roaring of a waterfall sounded, distantly, but then came a separate roar. Three monks leaped down on me, apparently having figured out which way I was heading. Only, they hadn’t counted on Eloise being there or me being a genuine badass.
Considering the fact that one of them drew swords, I was done playing nice. I still tried my best
not to inflict any lethal blows, but when the first sword nicked the edge of my ear, I struck out with my arc baton hard enough to crack his skull.
“Sorry,” I mouthed, turning to the next only to see Eloise catch him with a monkey bay in the sternum and then knife-hand to the throat. He collapsed, gasping for air, while the third took a step back, eyeing us with hands at his side, not committed to the attack.
“This won’t go forward,” he said. “Ezra abandoned us. He’s an outsider.”
“Not if he succeeds,” Eloise countered.
“He shouldn’t be given the option!”
“And you, you’d try for the stones?” She relaxed, arms folded across her chest. When no response came other than the guy hanging his head, she added, “I thought as much.”
Eloise started walking. I hesitated, but when I took a step the man didn’t move to interfere, so I kept on. He would find his own way out. Hopefully check on the other two. Either way, not my problem.
“It hasn’t been easy,” Eloise said, noticing my troubled look. “It’ll be even more of an uphill struggle with Grand Masters Dawa and Richter gone. As problematic as they could be, they at least followed the righteous path.”
“You’ll make the difference.”
As she turned to keep walking, a hole in her emotional armor showed a hint of respect and adoration, but then the armor was back, her aura hidden.
The three monks weren’t the last of them. It wasn’t until we emerged at the edge of the Valley of Tears that we found a group of at least fifty monks lined up, blaster-spears in hand, facing the hill to the left where it seemed likely I would come up.
“They’ll try to stop you,” Eloise said with a sigh. “I can order them aside, but—”
“No need,” I countered, and walked down toward them.
A shout of orders, and then the group had turned toward me. Another shout, and they pointed their spears, then came at me as one. I stepped out into the path of the charging monks and pushed with an emotional drain so that they all stopped, confused. Slowly, all eyes turned on me.
“I am here for the trial,” I said, voice rising as I added, “I will have the stones!”
The other monks stared at me, then stepped back, out of my way. Eloise was there, grinning, and motioned toward the central meditation hall.
“Let the trial begin, then,” she said, and gave me a smile as she followed me in.
9
The meditation hall hadn’t changed at all since my time here. Still bare walls, a simple wood floor, and nothing but the small shrine at the front of the hall. To call it a shrine was a bit of an overstatement, as all it held was the sash of one of the initial founders of the temple.
“Here?” I asked.
She nodded. “Where better?”
“It’s just that… I don’t understand.”
“Find the door, so that you may begin.” With that she, positioned herself, then sat cross-legged with her eyes closed and hands together.
My expectation had been that we would start off in combat or charging through an obstacle course or something of the sort, not this. However, that was the bounty hunter side of me talking. Of course, knowing the old monks, this made the most sense.
I sat nearby her, facing the same direction, and focused.
All of the images racing through my mind threatened to distract my focus. Those damn monks led by Buland out there, who had given me trouble. All of those times I had dropped off my bounties at Abaddon or other locations, and taken money for it. Even the looks on my ladies’ faces as they climaxed, the images of their breasts bouncing as they rode me, and every other possible version of us fucking that I could imagine raced through my mind, refusing to let me get the focus I needed.
But I was better than that, or had been, once. Reaching back into my mind to find that former version of myself, that version of me who had spent hours every day meditating and finding that spot within, I breathed out, trying to clear my thoughts.
Cheri’s laugh—that beautiful, crazy laugh filled my mind. Only a memory, but so real. Tink’s little laugh like bells, and Erupa’s smug smile. Mer with her cute, faux innocence, and then there was Hinru, however that would play out.
How could I ever push them out of my mind? But that was the wrong way of thinking, and I knew it. Pushing them out had never been the right way to go. Pulling them in, embracing them, that made sense. And with that thought, I was able to stop trying for the moment, and instead simply feel it.
It was like I left my body, like I was seeing over my shoulder, looking at the energy of the walls, and then it was clear—the door, closer to the shrine and to the right of it. When I opened my eyes, the glowing lines of the walls were gone, but the light showing the door remained.
Eloise opened her eyes at the same time, and smiled. “Well done.”
“Is it not a contest?” I asked.
“In a sense it is, but more like I’m your guide. If I were able to get the stones, I would have long ago. No, it’s only a contest in that a Grand Master must accompany any challenger on the trials and act as a competitor. If I were to try and take the stones, I know perfectly well what would happen to me.”
Standing and moving toward the door, I asked, “What do you mean?”
A flinch. “My sleep… isn’t the same. It’s complicated.”
I left it at that for the moment, reaching the door and pushing. Sure enough, a door opened. We were in a hallway that looked normal, but too normal.
“Traps?” I asked.
“The founders wanted to ensure only the most skilled and truly practiced monks had a chance,” Eloise explained, and gestured for me to go first.
I looked out over the hallway, curious. If it was necessary, what choice did I have?
My first step sent a chill up my leg, my second step resulted in everything going black. Pulsating light flared and there was a man ahead of me, weighing me with his eyes, hands folded behind his back.
“A monk enters for the challenge,” the man said. I cocked my head, thinking I recognized him, but not sure. He motioned with one hand. “Advance, and prove your worth.”
“Grand Master…?” I didn’t move.
“Supreme Master Krigo, once,” the man said, again gesturing. “Or once was. What you see before you is a vestigial piece of my essence. A guide, as far as you are concerned—nothing more.”
“And Eloise?” I asked, realizing I didn’t see her.
“Following her own path.”
This time when he gestured, impatience heavy on his face, I stepped closer to get a better look. The man appeared young but had a clear wisdom in his eyes, heavy eyebrows and a shaved head. A fatherly aura surrounded him, but I imagined that had to do with his charm, and position in the temple.
I took another step, but this time it was as if the floor fell away.
“First, let us see your skills,” Krigo’s voice boomed out through the room, although he was nowhere to be seen, now. “Test your ability to overcome obstacles, never giving up, always moving forward.”
All it took was a turn of my head to understand what he meant. Colors reverberated out from the darkness, something seemingly coming for me. I couldn’t see anything, but I sensed it.
I leaped from the first beam to the next, balancing on one foot. This was the sort of training we had done often in the temple although at the time I had never understood why. Now, here with the Supreme Master, I had to wonder if it was all in preparation for this. Had he not been able to claim the stones, so had set up this whole system to try and find someone who could?
On the third jump, the energy behind me intensified and there was more, like gusts of wind that had arms, invisible tentacles reaching for me. My leg flew out behind me, yanked by that invisible force as my hair blew around my head. I grabbed hold of the pole, muscles straining as I pulled myself away from that force. It wasn’t enough, so I used the only weapon at my disposal—I attempted a mental attack, pushing against it. That did nothing.
A thought hit me, though. Since I was being tested, the mental attack at the energy back there might not be the right move, but elsewhere? I kicked, pulled myself halfway up, and tried again. Sure enough, there was a presence of sorts, so I attacked it.
Leg released, I was free to go to the top of the post and lunge for the next one. With each jump, I mentally pushed, clearing my surroundings so that no more interference came. Another jump, but the post wasn’t there. Instead, water, or some sort of liquid.
Burning.
Torturous liquid that got into every crevice, threatened to make me hate life, to want to end it. My muscles wanted to give in, to let it take me. My heart said fuck that. Clearly, most of this trial was set up as a mental test, and mental was where I excelled.
I blocked out the pain, healed my morale and determination, and shot out of there to find myself on the wood floor of the hallway again. There was no sign of Krigo, but three doors stood there, waiting for me. Nothing more.
All three were open an inch or two, and I heard sounds coming from behind each. The one behind me showed my team, lounging around the room they had been given, each of them laughing and clearly talking, although I couldn’t make out what they were saying.
I could enter, I figured, and know exactly what they were saying. But if this was symbolic in any way, that would mean going back. To be with them, no threat or risk of all this chaos that was to come. As that choice was already made, I turned to the other two doors.
The one on the left showed a mirror, except I didn’t see myself as I was, but in a room looking back at myself. I was sitting on the bamboo floor in a meditation position. What was this? A choice about futures? Or maybe simpler than that, I wasn’t sure. Peeking into the next room, I saw the core stones, death and destruction all around, and then myself being pummeled with large rocks.
Not pleasant, to be sure, but… the option I had to go with.
“Wrong choice,” a voice said, and I turned back to see the other version of myself entering from one room, my team from the other. Only, that couldn’t be my team, because they were looking at me with hatred. Betrayal.
