CHAPTER 5: ANOTHER WORLD ANOTHER TIME

White clouds hovered slowly across the blue sky like floating cottons in the Valley of Mystic River. This river ran southward to all kingdoms, becoming one of the largest and deepest channels. It has a massive waterfall that was more than five hundred feet drop. Mortals called it, Mystic Falls that was knowingly by its enchanted beauty and destruction. Its clouded mists soared from the bottom like heaven, yet lied hidden beneath were deadly rocks, making it hard for anyone to survive if fallen. In the horizon, heavenly mountains filled the whole valley’s background like a huge painted canvas, making it breathtaking to be viewed. Different wildlife of species ruled this valley. Some were unknown and hidden in the eyes of Mortals for they do not want to be found, while other were friendly or curious lurkers when saw an unfamiliar face.

Up in the blue sky, it sliced opened by an invisible sharped object. A bright beam of light shone down at the raging river and spat Cecilia, Kai, and Tsui Man out into the Earth’s surface. At the same time, a huge surge of invisible energy shot across the blue sky. It was so powerful that the clouds moved away from the area with great momentum. The light disappeared and the opened sky mended itself closed.

The three of them splashed into the raging river and struggled as they swam to fight the current, but it was useless. Their tiny bodies meant nothing to the massive river, so it took them wherever it wanted them to go. Since Tsui Man was closer to the shore, he saw a dead tree laying at the edge of the river and quickly swam with all of his strength toward it. He grabbed a hold of the end of its trunk with one of his hands right before he passed it, and pulled his heavy body towards it. Finally, his body got close to the trunk and he quickly hugged it tightly with his dear life.

As for Kai and Cecilia, they were in the middle of the river, so their percentage in being saved was slimmer. Up ahead, they saw the huge waterfall and knew that they were in deep trouble. Their anxiety amped up and they started to panic.

Kai tried to find Cecilia in fear that I may be the last time he would see her; however, splashes of water kept covering his face repeatedly, forbidding him to reach her. Minutes later, the raging river threw them off the edge of the earth. It was a long drop, but it felt like seconds as they splashed into the water beneath them.

Underneath, Cecilia’s right side of the head hit hard on a sharped rock and opened a huge gash. Blood spurted out from her side head and mixed with water, creating a red trail with the current. She lost consciousness and the current swept her unmoving body away.

Kai survived the ordeal and slowly swam to shore. He pulled his drenched body out of water, and helplessly plopped onto the earth soil as he tried to catch his breath. He could smell the moist from the green grass and was relieved that he survived. Exhausted and weak, his vision began to blur and slowly slipped into unconsciousness as well.

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At the Black Forest of Wu Mountain, there was a tiny, yet long piece of red string tied from tree-to-tree all across the entrance of the forest. It acted as a fence barrier to forewarn anyone who stepped into its forbidden territory. It extended miles away through the vast forest, so wherever the forest stopped, that was where the red string would end also.

Up in the sky, the invisible surge of energy traveled to Black Forest and instantly broke the red string. Massive amount of demons in forms of different colors of ball trailed-smokes shot outward from the forest in every direction like missiles and disappeared.

A middle-aged man in fine red and gold clothing, along with his cohort of warriors, flew in front of the Black Forest and started to cast the “Wu Sealing Spell” on it. They did a hand scrutinized formation and out came a glowing yellow light along with a circular shaped seal from their hands. Inside the circle, it was divided into eighths and in each section were different strange-looking symbols. The seal expanded as it came out from their hands and blanketed the forest to trap the remaining demons. It was a struggle at first between them and the demons, but a couple minutes later, the forest was resealed again and the broken red string snapped together like magnets. Everything was back to normal, but puzzled faces grew among the group as they tried to figure out what just happened.

A broad shouldered man with scruffy beard walked toward the middle-aged man. “Your highness, what caused the string to break?”

The middle-aged man, Wen Jian Tao, was the King of the Wu Tribe in Zu Mountain. He wore the Wu crown made of gold that wrapped around his head to secure his long black hair, framing his squared face. In the middle of the crown, was the Wu’s tribal symbol of two red swirls that vertically mirrored the opposite from each other.

He has two trusted Chiefs that helped him run the Wu tribe. One was his blood cousin, Chief Wen He Ping, a very loyal and dedicated man in his early forties that oversaw the Wu people’s well beings. The other one was Chief Li Kang -the broad shouldered man with the scruffy beard. He was a loyal and ambitious man in his late forties that oversaw the Wu warriors and borders of Black Forest.

Jian Tao replied, “I don’t know. But whatever it was, I am afraid that most of the Demons had escaped from the Black Forest. Priest Grandmaster Huang will need to be informed about this.”

Jian Tao turned to his Chiefs and ordered, “Chief Wen, I want you to go check on the Demon Realm’s Seal and report it to me. I also want you to gather a couple of men and come with me to Mount Songgao.”

Chief Wen bowed his head, “Yes.”

Then He turned to Chief Li and continued his order, “Chief Li, I want you and the Wu warriors to guard the border of Black Forest while we are gone.”

Chief Li bowed his head also, “Yes.”

Jian Tao patted them on the shoulders and the Chiefs and the Wu warriors quickly walked back to the Wu tribe to prepare the orders. Jian Tao stood silently as he looked at Black Forest and pondered, “What would be that powerful to break the red string?”

It took ten years to finally capture every demons trapped in the Mortal Realm for the Realm to become peaceful again. Now that most of the demons had escaped, it was unknown if among, were some of the strongest and most powerful ones. He started to get worried, knowing that this was going to be another chaotic time for mortals again. He let out a big sigh and slowly paced himself back into the black forest to Wu Tribe.

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Inside the secluded and hidden place of the Black Forest, Chief Wen stood in front of the thick vines that were filled with thorns and poisonous snakes. He waved his hands sideways at the area; the snakes slithered away quickly while the thorny vines opened like curtains to welcome him. He walked inside the area and the thorny curtains closed behind. Chief Wen reached to a dark area where there was no plant or animal life anywhere. There were only tall dead trees that looked like creepy creatures and dirt that was dark as night. It reminded him of how Demon Realm may have looked like from the stories that he had heard as a child-a place only cold and darkness existed. There was no life or rules. Death and sorrow was all that was there, making it one of the most tortured realms of all.

He finally reached to a lake that was filled with blood-like waters. They called this lake, “Bloody Devil Lake” because of its color and like the Demon Realm, there was no existence of life in the water also. As he got closer, a cold gust of wind blew onto his face and his hairs on his skin rose. Bravely, he focused on his task to now let fear take over him.

To see the Demon Realm’s portal, Chief Wen used the “Wu Eye Enhancement Spell” to open the hidden spiritual realm. When activated, he looked down at the Bloody Lake and saw the invisible portal. It was a circular-shaped sealed that had a gold-glowing light over it. He looked closely at the seal, observing to see if he found anything unusual. There was nothing odd from his observation, so he deactivated the spell and left the area to go back to Wu tribe.

Underneath the sealed portal revealed a small and well hidden crack that he had missed.

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In the Wu palace bedroom, Jian Tao was getting ready for his departure. His queen, Fan Li Hua , walked in and saw him putting on his common robe. She was a woman in her late thirties, but looked far younger. Beautiful as a peony flower, she walked elegantly by taking small strides as her long red robe trailed on the ground behind her.

She came toward him and fixed his clothes to make sure he looked presentable to his people. He stared at her and smiled warmly while he stroked her soft porcelain cheek lightly with his fingers. She finished his clothes and raised her hands to grab his, feeling his warm flesh against her cheek one last time before he departed.

“Be safe out there my king,” she said.

He pulled her close to his chest and held her in his arms. He could smell her sweet mixture of floral fragrance from her body and already, he missed her. He held her even tighter as he kissed her on the forehead and replied, “I will, my queen. Watch our people while I’m gone.” She smiled and nodded.

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In the front of the palace, the Wu warriors and Chiefs stood patiently with the four horses. Jian Tao and Li Hua came out of the palace and were greeted by their men. Chief Wen walked in front of Jian Tao and bowed his head to report.

“Your Highness, I didn’t see any signs of the Demon Realm’s seal being disturbed.”

Jian Tao nodded in relief. “That’s good news then. Let’s not waste any more time now.”

“Yes,” said Chief Wen. He turned to his side and extended his arms to direct his King down the steps to his horse.

Jian Tao turned to Li Hua and bid his farewell. Everyone bowed their heads and wished their king a safe journey. Then he walked with Chief Wen to join with the other two guards and rode off to Mount Songgao.