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Kyuuketsuki Duo
Episode IV
Enter the Dragons
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	I woke that morning from an uneasy sleep, yet I was feeling 
oddly energized.  The gentle autumn sunbeams filtering across my bed 
through the mostly transparent curtains of my eastern window revealed 
that it was as yet early morning, approximately the time I was wont to 
wake, even though I had nowhere to be.  I rose and stretched carefully, 
paying attention to what each muscle was telling me, satisfied that 
there were no complaints.

	It seemed to me as if I should have felt different this morning, 
but alas, it was not so, except, perhaps, for that tingling feeling I 
got from the air around me that buzzed of something new and ancient.  
Regardless of how I felt physically, I knew that yesterday had marked a 
significant transition.  I was more than a recognized adult of my clan.  
I was now the recognized heir to my family's inherited responsibility, 
and I was determined to fulfil that obligation to the utmost of my 
ability.

	In pursuance of that, I decided, as I dressed, that I would take 
a walk around our ancestral grounds, and see it all again with new eyes.  
It would be mine to guard, one day.  It already was, although my father 
was still the head of the family, and therefore the "official" guardian.  
But it was not his burden to bear alone.  It was the duty bestowed by 
our ancestors upon all their descendants to be wardens of the Seal.  We 
all knew the legends, or perhaps the history.  We had been taught it 
from as early an age as possible.  Our nurses had sung little rhymes of 
it.  Our little ones playacted the tale dramatically in the yard.  Our 
masters reminded us of it in their disciplining.

	I was one of them, until recently.  One of the younger 
generation, who knew little of the tale, maybe regarded it as pure 
legend somewhere in the second level of my consciousness, but I was one 
no longer.  Yesterday, I felt the power of it as I was introduced to our 
ancestral Sword, the symbol of our oath of protectorship.  Its finely 
etched blade remembered generations of people who had faithfully served 
it, and it welcomed me into their ranks.  But as indoctrinated as I had 
been in the story, I had much yet to learn about the true responsibility 
of the guardianship.  Such learning would be extensive, received from 
the hands of the elders.  My first lessons would be later this morning.

	I walked briskly while strolling the grounds, walking with 
purpose without any haste.  There was a subtle pride there, as I toured 
our land, which I was quick to suppress, as much as I could.  It was 
unbecoming, and even dangerous, to possess such pride in such a serious 
task, but it was all still so new to me.  I tried not to forgive myself, 
but I couldn't help it.  There would be time enough to settle down into 
my role.  Such wide-eyed wonder and youthful confidence would no doubt 
be erased by the elders at the soonest opportunity, and indeed, every 
chance thereafter.

	Muted voices brought me out of my reverie, traveling clearly in 
the crisp, morning air, and I followed them to my original destination, 
down the unpretentious path leading to the third shrine, as I wondered 
who might be there.  My question was soon answered.

	He was dressed in Western clothing, jeans and a t-shirt.  I 
could not technically fault him for that.  We may live by the old ways, 
but we were, after all, in the West.  I also blended in naturally with 
the crowd outside our walls, just your everyday, average high school 
student, yet he seemed to make it an act of defiance, just as was the 
smoothly slicked back hair, which gave him a lean, slightly predatorial 
look.  Another act of defiance was hanging off my cousin's arm, his 
girlfriend.  At least she, too, was Chinese, but the Westernness dripped 
off the pale brown streaks in her hair and pooled around her two-inch 
platform shoes.

	"Cousin," he greeted/sneered at me, making it a point to look 
down his nose at me from his slightly superior height.  I have never 
liked Jahn Li, and he has never liked me.  It showed in most of our 
dealings.

	"Cousin," I returned cordially enough, as I locked eyes calmly 
with him.  "I had not expected to find anyone else here this morning."  
I stepped smoothly around him to the shrine and bowed respectfully 
before it.

	He snorted derisively at me.  "Been heir for a day, and already 
you think the place is all yours, don't you?"  The mild accusation burnt 
with a sharp undercurrent of bitterness and envy.  His father was my 
father's older brother, but my uncle had disdained the old ways, and 
moved away to join the chaotic sprawl of "modern" humanity, but Uncle 
had passed away recently, and his son had rejoined us.  I have never 
trusted his reasons for doing so, for he was older than I, and well 
capable of handling himself in the real world, to find a job and get his 
own place to live.  Why, then, return here, to our family's holding, 
where remained all the traditions that his father had turned his back 
on?

	It was clear that Jahn Li did not respect our family's duty, and 
yet it was also clear that he coveted the power that duty granted our 
family.  It was painfully clear, in his snide remarks and his mocking 
behavior, that he believed that he was the one who should have been 
appointed heir, by right of blood and seniority.  His own father would 
have been the guardian, had he remained, but in leaving, he had 
renounced his own responsibility in the matter, and my father had taken 
his place.

	"Ooh," his girlfriend cooed.  "So this is the heir?"

	My eyes narrowed slightly.  Evidently, Jahn Li had been telling 
her of our family's responsibility.  It was not a secret, yet it was not 
typically something we easily shared with outsiders, and she was 
definitely an outsider.  This was the first time we had ever met, face 
to painted face, and there was just something about her that set me on 
edge.

	She uncoiled herself from my cousin's side and appraised me 
frankly with an undisguised something blazing in her eyes.  I was 
careful not to let any reaction to her scrutiny show, positive or 
negative (not that there was much positive), for I could see Jahn Li's 
snarling countenance behind hers, even though I kept my own eyes focused 
strictly on her face.  Her eyes were dark and single-lidded, her lips 
full and pouty.  She struck me as sultry.  There were few other words I 
had that could as easily describe it, yet her very indecent demeanor put 
me off.

	She licked her lips, then smiled, showing her neat, white teeth.  
"Hey, there," she drawled.  "My name's Lei Fang.  What's yours?"

	Jahn Li's temper saved me from having to answer, but he was 
hardly doing me a favor.  He reached out and caught her wrist in his 
hand, tugging her none too gently back to his side.  I wasn't quite 
certain, but I thought I caught a fleeting smirk directed in my 
direction from her.  "That's enough of that," Jahn Li growled 
possessively, glaring at me for all he was worth.  I ignored it.  I had 
done nothing wrong.  He was the one who could not keep his woman's eyes 
from wandering.

	He turned back down the path and stalked away, and she perforce 
had to follow, but not without winking at me and calling over her 
shoulder, "We'll have to talk again sometime."

	I sent a small prayer to my ancestors for patience, then turned 
my back on them and contemplated the stone shrine instead.  So much yet 
to learn.  My mind wandered back to yesterday's small ceremony, 
remembering the way the energy had flowed into and through me.  Through 
meditation, I had always known that the powers in the earth, the power 
inside me, and every living thing, were there, but never had it been so 
clearly revealed to me.  I closed my eyes and tried to recapture 
something of that feeling.  I evened my breathing and emptied my mind, 
and rather than reaching out, I simply let it in.

	I was still untrained, and there was no person or artifact 
assisting me this time, so it wasn't surprising that the response I 
received was so much less than what I had experienced yesterday.  It was 
a medium glow, more 'visible' than tangible, unlike the power that had 
left my skin tingling in its aftermath, my spirit warmed by its 
refreshing, even friendly, touch.  I could still sense the shrine before 
me, and the energies held caged within.  It was different from the 
sword's energy, from the power of my bloodline.  It seemed tainted 
somehow, darker and twisted.  I guessed that it must have been a natural 
result of what lay imprisoned beneath the wards.

	Another's energy intruded upon my senses.  It was Master Oh, 
likely come to find me to begin my first formal lessons.  I had been 
caught up in the energies, and hadn't noticed that the sun had well 
risen above the horizon, but he understood, and forgave the tardiness.  
Of course, with a stern warning that he would not be so forgiving again.

	I learnt much that afternoon, yet not nearly enough.  I could 
already sense the power.  I learnt to bend it to my will.  Or rather, 
more appropriately, how to frame a polite request to it, in hopes that 
it might answer my call.  The power was not ours, it was a thing of the 
earth, and one had to learn to treat it with respect.  It was the 
foundation of everything that I would ever do with the power, and as 
simple as it sounded, the most basic, preliminary training in that 
singular skill alone occupied the rest of the morning and afternoon.

	And later that evening, all hell broke loose.

                              ************

	It was after dinner.  Father and Master Oh were discussing 
family matters over tea, and as the newly appointed heir, it was now my 
honor and duty to sit with them, to learn, and perhaps even to 
contribute.  They were speaking of refinishing the floor of the dojo 
when suddenly, all three of our heads snapped up at once, called as one 
by the same distinct wrongness that shrilled through the night.  
Something bad was happening, something worse than bad, but with my 
fledging skills, I could not tell what.  Regardless of my lack of 
training, or perhaps because of it, the alarm went ripping painfully 
through my mind, and my teacup fell from abruptly lax fingers to shatter 
loudly against the floor.

	They spared only a moment's glance at me, and then Master Oh was 
off, moving more quickly than I would have thought the old man could.  
My father moved swiftly to follow, but when he saw me stumble to my 
feet, my left hand pressed to my temple as if to calm the pounding of my 
mind and heart, he stopped briefly.

	"Fetch the sword, and bring it," he ordered, then sprinted after 
the master.  He didn't have to say where to.  The disturbance in the 
forces was powerful enough for even me to follow without much effort.  
But it worried me as I ran to the chamber deep within our compound, to 
where our ancestral sword was kept, and it made me proud at the same 
time.  My father was including me in this.  It was a small part to play, 
but he was, in his own way, acknowledging me more than officially as his 
heir, and more than worthy to touch the sword.  He trusted me.

	But he was also my father, and he was very much a guardian.  
That he did not command me to remain in safety, in an attempt to protect 
me, told me the situation was as serious as I thought it might be.  He 
had hesitated, wanting to send me away, but had come to the decision 
that he could not let his personal feelings get in the way of our duty, 
that my help may actually be necessary.  It made me worry.  What had 
happened?  I ran faster.

	It didn't really matter very much, in the end, for I discovered, 
when I got there, that the sword had apparently left without me.  It was 
gone, and magical as it may have been, it did not, to my knowledge, have 
the power to float away of its own accord.  But who could have stolen it 
from the heart of our compound?

	The thought that we may have been betrayed by one of our own 
blood unnerved me, and perhaps that was the source of the shocked 
outrage that followed.  After the first initial moments of breathless 
surprise at the sword's disappearance, I turned and raced outside, 
towards the third shrine, the original pain in my head having been swept 
away in a flood of adrenaline.  I had a feeling that, with or without 
the sword, they might need my help.  I also had a feeling that I would 
find the sword there, at the heart of the disturbance.

	As I approached the fork in the path around the grounds that led 
to the secluded shrine, the air seemed to thicken and attack me.  It 
hurt to breathe, and my steps slowed until I was fighting my way against 
a gale force wind.  That wind had no earthly origin.  Dark power whirled 
in the air, spilling over from the ether and into our realm, kicking up 
the loose leaves and throwing them into my face.  From behind the trees 
and around the corner, I could see a black light flickering, or perhaps 
it was just the flailing tree limbs that gave the appearance of 
flickering as they whipped violently in the storm.

	As I rounded the corner, the unnatural wind abruptly changed 
direction and shoved me unceremoniously into the clearing, where I 
tripped to a halt on my knees behind my father and Master Oh.

	The black light, crackling with violet lightning, swirled around 
the clearing, delineating a perfect circle in the dirt, with the shrine 
in the middle, and we three on the outside.  Oddly enough, the wind here 
was much calmer than it had been further away, as if we were in the eye 
of a storm, but no storm I had ever encountered had ever had anything 
like this on the inside.

	Without regard for my personal respect, I peeked not entirely 
boldly around my elders' legs, although any creature that would dare the 
sight and the dangerous taint of power in the air was probably by 
definition bold.  Or stupid.  I wasn't too sure about my ability to 
stand on my own, at the time, and I was reaffirmed in this decision by 
the sight before me.  Jahn Li was there, dressed in the same jeans and 
hard-heeled boots as he had been this morning, but his chest was bare, 
the evil energies dancing freely across his skin and outstretched arms.

	He held the sword, our sword, a sword to which he had no right, 
in one hand, pointed at us.  It seemed more of a challenge than a 
threat.  His head was held high in arrogance, his lips pulled into a 
sneer, as he held the sword unwavering.  Behind him, leaning casually on 
the head of the shrine, was Lei Fang, her dark eyes smoldering with an 
even darker power.  She caught my gaze with her own, and a terrible 
chill ran through my body.  She smirked, and blew me a kiss.

	"So, little cousin.  Come to join the festivities?"  Jahn Li's 
attention had shifted to me.  I moved to rise.  "No," he forestalled me.  
"Please.  Feel free to stay where you are, cowering behind your precious 
elders.  It's where you belong, in the dirt, on your knees."

	My eyes narrowed at the insult, and all hesitation fled before 
the accusation of cowardice.  I rose to my feet slowly, but proudly, 
keeping my burning glare locked on his face the whole time, and took up 
my place behind my father, to his left.  It was my rightful place as 
heir, opposite Master Oh's place to his right, in his position of 
honored elder.  As I stood, I noticed my father's hand move in subtle 
gesture, motioning me to remain where I was, to ignore my cousin's 
scornful taunts, and remember that heir I may have been, but practically 
speaking, only in name.  I was nowhere near prepared to face a crisis, 
much less of this magnitude.  But as I watched the malevolent circle and 
its occupants, I couldn't help but wonder if my own father was ready for 
such a disaster.  There had been no major problems with the wards in 
recent memory, and skills tend to atrophy without exercise.

	Jahn Li chuckled nastily.  "No?  As you will, then."  Lei Fang 
detached herself from the shrine and backed off a few paces, but not 
without giving me a mocking, teasing wink.  My cousin slowly lowered the 
sword to his side, and its glow seemed to subside somewhat, but the 
sneer never left his face.

	"What are you planning?" my father demanded.

	"Return the sword to us," Master Oh continued.  "It is not 
yours.  You have no right."

	My cousin laughed once more, throwing his face to the heavens, 
and the wind seemed to howl in response.  "No?  But I have it now!  By 
what right do I hold it but for the fact that I hold it!  It is mine 
now!  As it was meant to be."

	"You have never shown respect for our family's duty, nor did my 
brother," Father noted angrily.  "You are playing with forces beyond 
your control.  Now return the sword to us."

	"You must be mad, to think that I would relinquish all this 
power, now that I have acquired all that you have been denying me!"

	To the side, Lei Fang, her black eyes intent upon my cousin, 
whispered three syllables, their sound lost beneath the beating branches 
and dancing leaves, but I saw it, and read the blood red lips that said, 
"Do it now."

	Jahn Li's arms rose swiftly, bringing the sword straight above 
his head in a commanding two-handed grip, and he turned toward the 
altar.  The sword flared in response, black power gathered around it in 
a fine mist that seemed to swallow the light.  In the pommel, the 
Dragon's Eye gem pulsed weakly, its once vibrant emerald now a sickly 
olive in its valiant attempt to counter the demonic forces converging 
upon it, but soon, even that was consumed by the darkness.

	"No!" my father called, and he tried to lunge towards the madman 
to stop him, but the circle beat him back, and he tumbled against my and 
the master's supporting arms.  Jahn Li barely noticed.

	"You mustn't!" Master Oh shouted, one last attempt to break 
through whatever darkness held my cousin's mind.  "You carry the Chang 
blood within your veins!"

	Jahn Li turned slowly, his expression twisted into a hateful 
mask.  "The Chang line ends here!" he hissed venomously, and in one 
swift diagonal motion he brought the sword crashing down upon the dragon 
statue of the shrine, as if to take off its head, and a good part of its 
upper body.  The sword slid cleanly through the solid rock, and the 
shrine crumbled.

	A high pitched keening filled the air, and the wind kicked up 
once more, forcing the three of us to fight to maintain our positions at 
the circle's boundary.  We certainly could move no closer, and 
helplessly, we were forced to watch the terrible events unfold.

	A shadow seeped out from the severance, slowing taking on an 
amorphous form.  Jahn Li laughed maniacally in triumph.  "Demon Epyon!  
I beseech you!  Grant me your power~!"  He yelled it to the high 
heavens, his arms held outstretched once more, still holding the sword 
in one hand.  His upturned face waited in ecstatic anticipation of the 
power, and he did not have to wait long.

	The evil cloud homed in on him flawlessly, and wrapped itself 
around him.  Jahn Li's mouth grinned as widely as possible as the 
malicious power soaked into him, and he began to laugh once more.  It 
was the sound of insanity, and it would haunt my dreams in the coming 
nights.  My father began to beat against the invisible barrier before us 
fruitlessly, his fists glowing faintly of clean power, but I could only 
watch, transfixed.

	Jahn Li's laughter caught suddenly in his throat, and his body 
began to convulse.  The sword dropped from his nerveless fingers to the 
dirt as the violent tremors tore through his frame.  His eyes bulged, 
from surprise, from wide-eyed terror, from the skin of his face and the 
rest of his body that began to dry and shrivel before our eyes.

	He gurgled, and it sounded as if he were trying to deny what was 
happening, but all that came from his mouth was blood, and it dribbled 
down his chin and over his chest, but it never hit the floor, for the 
black mist absorbed it, fed on it as it fed upon my cousin's life force.  
The evil entity gained in solidity, and when my cousin's drained, 
tortured corpse fell to the ground, it remained.  I shivered as it 
lingered, for it seemed to be regarding us with cruel consideration and 
deeply malicious intent before it shot away, through the trees, and 
presumably towards the two remaining shrines, to finish breaking the 
seals holding its power prisoner.

	"Quickly!"  Father and Master Oh bolted from the small clearing, 
swiftly planning en route that my father see to the first shrine, and 
that Oh attend the second shrine.  The master called over his shoulder 
for me to follow him, but before I left the clearing, I stopped, and 
spun around.

	Without a glance at my cousin's corpse, Lei Fang glided over 
gracefully to the fallen sword, and bent over and picked it up with a 
sure and steady hand.  She met my eyes over the blade as the black force 
slid down the blade and caressed her hand and forearm, and she smiled 
seductively at me.  Her eyes flared darkly for an instant, and then she 
was gone, dissolved into the night.

	I ran after Master Oh, catching up to him before reaching the 
second shrine, never slowing as we shouted warnings to any we met along 
the way, but when we got there, it was too late.  We arrived to see the 
shrine shattered by the black shape.  It was denser now than it had 
been, more concentrated, and it roiled with a chilling negative chi.  
Master Oh began to form his own ball of pure white chi in his curved 
hands, but before he could finish, the demon force moved again, straight 
towards us, faster than we could dodge, and drove itself right through 
the master's heart on its way out of the clearing.

	Master Oh went down to his knees, clutching his chest, and I 
went down with him.  I could see no blood, but I could sense something 
terribly wrong nevertheless.  The incipient demon had disrupted Oh's own 
chi patterns, and his heart's beating began to work against him as it 
pumped its tainted supply of blood through his body.  The spreading 
poison began to corrupt him from the inside out, and there was nothing I 
could do but watch.

	Master Oh looked at me, resignation in his eyes, but still, 
determined.  "You must ... stop him," he choked out, before falling to 
his side, twitching as the taint seized his nervous system and began to 
shut it down.

	"It's amazing what a little jealousy can do, isn't it?" a 
lilting voice spoke from behind us, and I looked back to the ruined 
shrine to see Lei Fang there, the sword resting negligently over one 
shoulder.  She was not dressed as she had been earlier.  Her jeans and 
bright yellow crop top sweater had been exchanged for a form-fitting, 
traditional Chinese dress, with long slits up both sides, exposing her 
long, fair-skinned legs.  It was white, and a bough of light plum 
blossoms stretched embroidered from the high collar down to its hem.  
Its clean purity was a sharp, mocking contrast to her stained soul.  The 
streaks in her hair were gone, and the ebony locks were now gathered 
into delicate looped braids.

	"Lei Fang," I spat.  "You are the cause of all of this."  I 
stood to face her down.  The sword was calling to me, eager to stop the 
rampaging demon that was its reason for existence.  It wanted to leap 
from the demon's impure hands and into one of its blooded bearers, but 
the demon woman's grasp was too strong.

	"One of many, I'm sure," she replied confidently.  "You really 
shouldn't have let Jahn Li's bitterness grow to such outrageous 
proportions.  It was child's play to manipulate him into stealing the 
sword and breaking the seal."

	My anger grew in response to the sword's call.  It whispered to 
me that I could not seal the demon without its power, and I knew it in 
my blood to be true.  No one in our clan today could imprison the demon 
once more.  No one had the knowledge anymore to do so, but the sword had 
been there to set the wards the first time, forged and created by our 
ancestors who first lured the demon from our homeland and into the 
Western territories, where its power was weaker, and then sealed it away 
with the three shrines.

	"Return the sword, demon," I demanded, but with no more success 
than we had had previously with Jahn Li.

	Her light laughter crawled over my skin.  "Come and take it, 
boy," she whispered huskily.

	I attacked her.  I was the best martial artist in my family, in 
my generation, but I could barely touch her, and she was barely trying.  
The sword continued to be held carelessly over her shoulder, and she 
fought with only one hand, the calm superiority never leaving her face.

	There was a brief standstill, and then she stumbled forward, the 
sword flung from her grasp.  I snatched it up quickly with a tuck and 
roll, before she could recover, and saw that behind her, Master Oh had 
flung what he could of his power at her.  His arms were still stretched 
out in our direction, his hands curved as they had when he had fired his 
energy, but it had been his last action.  His face was in the dirt, and 
he was no longer breathing.

	Lei Fang straightened and pouted at me.  She appeared to have 
been unhurt by the blast.  "Hmpf.  Very well.  You may keep the sword."  
She had no real choice, actually.  She could not take the sword from my 
hands while I still lived and denied it to her.  I had been Recognized 
by it.  "It has served its purpose."  She backed into a shadow, 
delivering a graceful bow as she went.  And then she stepped into the 
shadow, and was gone again.

	The sword's hilt warmed in my hand, glad to be back, but warning 
of remaining trouble, and with a last glance at Master Oh's body, I ran 
to where the sword was pulling me.  The first, and last, shrine.

	An explosion rocked me in my flight, and a portion of our clan's 
holdings erupted in flames.  Realizing that it was already too late to 
save the last shrine, I changed direction and instead headed towards the 
dojo, towards the source of the explosion.  I did not have the sheath 
for the sword, and I ran with it bare in my hand.  The black aura had 
faded from it, but its own light was still dim.  Yet it glowed, however 
faintly, and it gave me hope.  The sword of Shenlong would not be 
conquered so easily.

	It was fortunate that the dojo was separate from the rest of the 
house, and that the flames would not spread.  That was my first thought 
when I saw the fiery mess.  But even the coruscating light from the 
flames could not distract me for long from the menacing darkness in the 
middle of the yard that not even the light could intrude upon.

	I had never seen any image of the demon my ancestors had 
imprisoned, but it was rather undeniable that this was he.  Epyon loomed 
over the square, black and deep purple.  He had earned his nickname of 
"the black dragon" from his alternate form, but he currently stood erect 
on two legs as a massive armored warrior.  The hellish plating covered 
his huge chest fairly smoothly, but his greaves and bracers were 
layered, each large scale coming out to a wicked point.  The armor of 
his shoulders extended out past his arms, decorated with fierce spikes, 
and from his back emerged fearsome wings of true night.  Beneath his 
helm, only the eyes lay bare, eyes that glowed with an otherworldly 
green flame.  Above those frightening green eyes floating in a sea of 
black, two dangerous horns forked from his brow.

	How could my ancestors have ever stood against such a nightmare 
and overcome it?  Oh, but I was taught that they had been aided by our 
beneficent dragon spirit himself, Shenlong, while all I carried was an 
old sword supposedly blessed by that noble patron of our line.  It 
filled me with shame to realize the fear that began to creep through my 
soul, but how could one help but tremble before such a demon?

	My father.  I saw him off to the side, leaning heavily on a 
polearm he must have salvaged from the training grounds, yet still 
standing as proudly and defiantly as he could against the demon.  The 
light of the fires reflected off the slick blood running down his arm 
and side as other members of our family tried valiantly to help the 
wounded in the distance and halt the greedy tongues of flame.

	The sword burned in my hand, and I nearly dropped it in 
surprise.  It was angry, at both the demon, and I sensed, at me.  
Without warning, its power flared, and it sent its clean aura running up 
my arm and into my mind, where it scorched away the insidious fear that 
Epyon had planted there without my knowing.  My mind suddenly clear of 
the debilitating cowardice, I tried to join my father inconspicuously, 
lest I prematurely attract the demon's attention, but the sword made it 
impossible.

	I could feel the weight of the dark demon's attention as I 
approached and assessed my father's condition.  I judged that, even with 
the sword of Shenlong returned to his hand, he was in no condition to 
fight the monster.  I chose to take his place.  I attempted to move in 
front of him, but he held out his hand and blocked my path, nudging me 
behind him.  I obeyed with only a concerned, whispered protest.

	"Father --"  My younger cousin sped from the shadows, a spear 
gripped tightly in his hands as he charged the demon with a war cry 
straining with grief.  The demon barely spared him a glance, just turned 
his head slightly in Liu Bao's direction, and suddenly he was hurled 
backwards by an invisible force.  Almost faster than the eye could 
follow his movements, Epyon blurred from where he had been standing and 
flew swiftly over the ground, palming my cousin's face mid-flight and 
slamming him into the soot-stained back wall of our house.

	"No, Wufei," he asserted quietly, yet authoritatively.  It was 
the voice I had always obeyed.  Would this time be any different?

	The demon turned his head over his shoulder to look at us with 
what I could swear was cold amusement in those flaming green eyes.  As 
if impatient with our stalling, he was off again, this time crashing 
through the same wall Liu Bao was embedded in and into the interior of 
our home.  The dim scream of a terrified woman reached our ears over the 
roar of the fires.

	"But --"

	"You are not ready yet, son."

	The truth stung my pride, but it was the undeniable truth.  I 
held the sword out to him silently.  He took it gravely, exchanging it 
with the polearm, and it seemed to refresh him.  I thought I saw the 
sword's aura glow a bit more brightly when he took it in hand, and he 
stood a little more straightly.  It worried me.  He may not have been 
feeling the pain from the bloody wound down his side, but it was still 
there, and I abruptly knew, without a doubt, that he would not survive 
this night.

	Father strode resolutely past Liu Bao's body and into the hole 
that Epyon had made in his passing.  I followed him, determined to do 
what I could, but I could not keep my eyes from straying towards my 
cousin.  He was only fourteen, not too much younger than I.  He wanted 
to be a pediatrician.  And now he was dead.

	There was Ling Ling, my father's cousin, in one of the 
meditation rooms.  It must have been her blood painting the walls 
crimson.

	Down the hall, and there was Chi Ming, a look of horror adorning 
his face.  He had just gotten engaged to his childhood sweetheart.  
Their wedding was to be in November.  I adroitly avoided stepping on his 
spilled entrails.

	Through the hole leading to the kitchen, I could see Hua Ping, a 
servant of my family for as long as I could remember.  Her body, slumped 
against the cabinets by the sink, was surprisingly untouched, but from 
the hand clutched to her chest, I think she must have suffered a heart 
attack, and I was glad that she had gone fairly peacefully.  There was a 
moment when I felt relief for those who had chosen to separate from our 
clan and live among the Westerners.  There were few of us at the 
compound, these days, and they had fortuitously missed the violent 
events of this night.

	There were others, a bloody trail of destruction left in the 
demon's wake.  But there was no time to mourn, no time to cry.  I did 
not stop to honor any of the dead, or arrange them into some semblance 
of peace.  There would be time soon enough to do that, or perhaps I soon 
would be one of them.  It almost didn't matter at this time.  I was 
numb.  No, not numb.  Desensitized, perhaps, or focused, or angry.  All 
I knew, all that mattered, was that Epyon had escaped, and we would do 
whatever was necessary to neutralize him once more.

	I exited our ruined house through another hole in the wall, 
emerging near the second shrine.  My father was breathing heavily, more 
injured than before, but still standing.  His left arm was broken, and 
he was clearly favoring his right side.  He was standing far too 
straight for a man who had been wounded as he had been, but he was 
beyond the pain.  Whether it was his own power that allowed him to 
surpass it as he had, or whether it was the sword's power, serving as a 
buffer between its master and the pain -- or perhaps we were the sword's 
servants, and it wished only that we continue to bear it in battle 
against its ancient rival, without regard for our health?

	Epyon was holding a body, but I could not tell what he was doing 
to it when he threw it against the wall of the house, only a few yards 
away from me.  It was my mother.  There was little I could do about the 
demon, so I rushed to my mother's side and quickly checked her over.  I 
could detect no major injuries, but her eyes were wide open, empty and 
vacant.  Her heart beat weakly, and her breaths were shallow, yet she 
lived.  I could barely detect any traces of chi left in her body.  Had 
the demon devoured her soul?

	My father ran for the demon, the sword held at the ready and 
cleaving a path through the air as he rushed towards his doom.  The 
demon met his advance, and easily backhanded him away without being 
touched by the sword.  The sword went flying from my father's hand to 
land roughly in the dirt between the demon and me as Father fell to the 
ground.  The demon stalked the distance between him and my father, and 
as he did so, a thick, scaled whip emerged slowly from beneath the armor 
of his left arm, a flail of midnight and pain.

	The extension of his arm snaked out and seized my father by the 
neck and lifted him from the ground, slowly choking the life from him.  
My father's hands were clutched around the flail, as if he would try to 
pry off its deadly grip, while his feet dangled off the ground, 
struggling uselessly.

	I watched, almost fascinated, as my father continued to fight 
his inevitable loss, and suddenly I was moving, closing the distance 
between them and me.  I leaned down in my flight and swept the sword off 
the ground.  It was heavy and cold in my grip, not at all as it had been 
yesterday, but I set the thought aside as I charged the demon from 
behind, channeling all my anger and hate and grief into the strike.

	The sword and I crashed into the demon, but the full body bruise 
was worth it, as Epyon went stumbling to the side, releasing its death 
grip.  My father was flung from the end of its flail into an inelegant 
pile in the dust, while I mostly bounced off of the massive monster.

	He turned on me, black fury rolling off of him in waves, keeping 
me on my knees as I leaned unsteadily on the sword as a crutch.  I 
didn't know why he didn't finish me off right then.  Perhaps he was 
still weak from having just woken.  Perhaps he felt he had wreaked 
enough havoc upon my family that night, had already accomplished the 
ruination of our house and clan.  Perhaps he had further plans for those 
descended from the ones who had imprisoned him so long ago.  Perhaps he 
was just mocking me.  Whatever the reason, he rushed me, and bowled me 
over with his rage and hate as he blurred past me, and into the flaming 
shell of the dojo.

	I didn't bother to think about it any further.  He was gone, and 
there was nothing I could do about it immediately.  He was gone, and 
that was all that mattered, but it was far, far too late.  I left the 
sword behind, point dug into the earth, and stumbled unevenly to my 
father's side.

	He barely had strength to open his eyes, yet his good right hand 
groped for mine.  I reached out and held it tightly, reassuring him that 
I was here, for there was nothing more that I could do for him.

	His lips attempted to pull themselves up into a tremulous smile, 
but it seemed more like a grimace of pain to me.  "Wufei," he whispered, 
his voice no more than a wheezing exhalation.  "You must stop him."

	I nodded, understanding that our family's duty was more 
important than any sentimentality, or personal desire, and with a final 
squeeze I released his hand to follow the demon into the flames if I had 
to, that the Chang line not die without fighting him with our last 
breaths, but my father did not release my hand.  I looked at him, 
puzzled.

	"Not now."  He coughed.  It was a wet, unhealthy sound.  "You 
must survive, for now."  Another long, tortured attempt at inhaling.  
"Live through this night, Wufei ... that you might grow strong enough to 
defeat him, in time."

	"Father --"

	"No, Wufei.  You must not throw your life away now.  Confront 
him when you are ready.  You must prepare, and --"  His breath caught in 
his throat, and I could almost see now the spectre of death, come to 
take him away.  "-- carry on our duty.  Promise me.  Only when you are 
ready."

	I wanted to refuse, wanted to pursue vengeance and justice while 
the flames of my anger and shame still burned as fiercely as those 
engulfing the building behind me, but I could not.  I bowed my head in 
bitter acceptance of his final commandment.

	His whole body seemed to relax after I acquiesced, as if his 
final duty as guardian had been discharged.  "Wufei.  You shall make us 
proud...."

	One final breath, and he died, leaving me alone in the middle of 
a home that, only this morning, had been so full of life.  A darkness 
stretched out before me, an oblivion so cold and empty it promised to 
swallow me whole.  I was tempted to accept it into my heart, and let it 
steal away everything that had happened in the last hour, granting me 
nothing but a numbing peace, but that lasted only a moment.  It would be 
easy to give up.  Instead, I took a deep breath, and the air smelled of 
death, burning anger and icy hate, mixing together into a sweet bouquet 
of just retribution.  I let that fill me instead, and it chased away all 
thoughts of oblivion and surrender, until the promise I had made my 
father was etched indelibly upon my spirit, chasing the soul-deep 
weariness away and replacing it with purpose.

	'Wait for me, Epyon,' I flung the thought into the darkness.  
'Your time shall come.'

                              ************

	The authorities came.  Terribly late, of course.  By then, I had 
cleared out of the estate.  I would not be able to answer their 
inevitable questions to their insatiable satisfaction, and stay out of 
an asylum.  With just a bit of bad luck, and I would probably be the one 
accused of the murder of my entire family.

	I had already accounted for everyone I knew was there.  All but 
my mother and one of my cousins were dead, or close enough to death that 
there was nothing I could do for them.  My mother and cousin were 
comatose.  Not fatally wounded, but just drained.  Epyon had fed upon 
their life forces, just as he must have fed on the suffering and the 
death.  Jahn Li had been his first sacrifice.  The authorities had come 
before I had had a chance to gather my wits and end their lives with 
honor.  They would likely be taken away to their sterile prisons, 
attached to machines for the rest of their unnatural lives.  I had no 
doubt that those Western doctors would find them quite brain dead, and 
that they would never wake, but it was too late now.  There was no time.

	I took the sword with me, of course.  When I touched it again, 
it flared with one last burst of power, Recognizing me now as no longer 
the heir, but the true guardian, and it branded me with its sigil, the 
mark of the dragon curling around my torso, before the sword fell silent 
and cold once more.  The image was painted in power that no one could 
see, but I could feel it weighing me down, the burden of our broken 
protectorship now lying heavily upon my shoulders.

	I went to the dojo and gazed into the flames, but the demon was 
gone, and it had taken its thickly malevolent presence with it.  I then 
returned to the main building, ignoring the bodies, and gathered a few 
things, the trappings of our duty that I did not feel secure in leaving 
behind for the authorities to find.  With one last look at the wreckage, 
I let myself out the back as the sirens began to sound in the distance, 
and found myself a payphone, and called my uncle.

	He lived closest to us, kept the closest ties to the family 
while on the outside, and he knew that something had happened.  He could 
feel it.  I informed him numbly of the bare facts, and without pressing 
the issue, I knew he would take care of what he could.  They would send 
someone over to pick me up, and concoct a cover story to explain to the 
investigators that I had not been present tonight.  It felt shameful to 
hide the truth, yet what else could we do?  The world at large was not 
ready for the truth.

	We were officially notified early the next morning, and I was 
brought in to identify bodies and answer what I could.  My mother, as I 
had predicted, had been brought to the hospital and was on life support, 
and no one had the necessary authority to ask that they unplug her.  I 
would have to wait until I had reached my majority.  My cousin had been 
fortunate enough to die in the flames.

	I was heir to what was left of the ruins, and after days of 
fruitless investigation by the thoroughly baffled law enforcement, we 
were finally allowed onto the scene, to try to pick up the pieces.  I 
poked around the charred remnants of the dojo, and found shards of 
broken glass scattered around what used to be the altar.  It was the 
mirror that had first bound the demon to this land.  This must have been 
what Epyon had dashed into the flames for.  Once it was destroyed, 
perhaps he had returned to his homeland.  As for the rest, we recovered 
what we could, distributed as we felt right, and locked the gates behind 
us.  The property would not be sold, but nor would it be used.

                              ************

	Two long weeks later, I was stepping through the door of my 
uncle's best friend, and a good friend of my father's.  He knew 
something of our family's duty, although he was not one of us, and he 
had agreed to take me in.

	His daughter came rushing down the stairs at me.  Before her 
family had moved here, she used to spend many of her days with us, and 
she had known us well.

	"Meiran," I greeted quietly.

	"Oh, Wufei!" she cried softly, embracing me and burying her face 
in my shoulder.

	I hesitantly lifted my arms and placed them around her, a 
pitiful attempt to comfort and perhaps be comforted.  I sighed, enduring 
her silent weeping.  It was weak, and even a little disrespectful, to 
shed so many tears for the fallen, but she was only a girl.  I closed my 
eyes and promised myself for the hundredth time that I would be weak no 
longer.  I would never be as helpless again as I had been that night.  I 
would train myself somehow, and one day, I would hunt down the demon, 
Epyon, and destroy him or seal him once more.  One day.  His time would 
come.



_________________________________________
This piece of fiction is the intellectual 
property of the little turnip that could.  
The basis for this fic, i.e. Gundam Wing, 
Kyuuketsuki Miyu, et al., is the property 
of someone else.  The author can be con-
tacted at jchew@myrealbox.com.  This has 
been an entirely automated message.
http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~jchew/misc/gw.html

last modified : 7/28/2001 01:02:18 PST