CHAPTER 12 THE ELEMENT

Scene 1:

We walked into the bedroom, which looked more like a cell in the dungeon. There was a king-sized round bed covered by a blanket made from a variety of furs.

“Feel free to rest yourself. We’ve plenty of time to make a plan.” Fang said goodnight and then left us alone.

Shortly after he left, Aezo took a deep breath and let himself fall to sitting on the bed.

“Ooouch!” But he felt pain instantly, because the bed was not as soft and comfortable as he thought. There wasn’t even a mattress.

I laughed: “Too bad for you, boy, looks like we’re gonna sleep on the ground tonight.”

“This is not bedroom, not a bed at all! I can’t imagine how these freaks rest themselves in such a dark filthy jail!” Aezo complained as he stood up again, and then sat down in a much slow move.

“By the way, are they like a real sleeping snake when they’re asleep? You know, body curled up, like a bun of hair?” He asked.

I couldn’t help but to roll my eyes and show him a completely tired look:

“Aezo, you know you have too many questions to be answered, and now you better get yourself tied up and fall asleep ASAP. Cause we’ll have a big run once you wake up.”

Then I looked away, leaving him alone and talked to Pinks: “You too. Better go sleep now.”

Pinks shrugged as if she didn’t concern at all. It seemed that hunting some terrifying monsters made no difference than playing a horror movie for her.

Soon after Aezo, Pinks also went to bed. The bed was big enough to house us four. But the starseer and I were not sleepy at all. We stood in the room, face to face, and then I asked:

“Do you get a name? Well, I’m Doctor…”

“Doctor Cang, I know.” She interrupted in my mid-sentence.

“Yeah…you probably have seen it already…” I nodded, and felt a bit annoyed.

For a second, she lowered her head, and then I heard her voice in my mind:

“I’m Qiushui.”

Qiushui, literal meaning of creek in the fall, was quite a poetic metaphor to name after.

But regardless of her cute name, I felt like being invaded, so I questioned in a defensive voice: “Are you still in my mind? What the hell you did to me?”

She shook her head and explained:

“No, I’m just talking to you based on spiritual connection. Doctor, as you prefer to be called, you and I have something in common which still remains as mystery. But what I can be sure is that the moment when I looked straight into your eyes, we had somehow connected to each other. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to use Star Whispers to speak to you.”

She barely opened her mouth as she talked. Her voice was totally transferred in my mind.

I frowned and felt even more confused: “What the hell is that?”

“Star Whisper is not a spell, not even magic. It’s a unique ability that has been normally used by starseers. It allows us to transfer message in a way that no one else can overhear, but…” She paused for a second, and then continued.

“I’ve been disconnected for so long since I left immortal world. I don’t belong with my sisters anymore. It is very strange how you and I are connected. But you used to be a skywalker, which apparently had nothing to do with my belief, so I guess there must be something not even you have discovered yet about yourself.”

For a second I felt like she had a feeling for me, not in a romantic way, but more like a sorority thing, which was very weird and disturbed me a lot.

“Ok, fine, so you were like an iphone 6 or 5 or even 4s or something I don’t know, but you perhaps had been lost and spared for so long and now you reconnect to the Wi-fi, so you’re back online once again, quite a lot to update huh? Good for you, really. But may I ask when will you get out of my head?” I questioned in an annoyed voice.

But to my surprise, she simply showed a smile and said, using her real voice: “Actually my fav one is iphone 7, dual-cams.”

My mouth wide open, I was speechless, totally, and I guessed my funny look must entertain her a lot because she smiled again and said:

“Ok, let’s rotate to take the guard. Every one hour as a shift, your turn first, I need to take a power nap.”

As she moved to the bed, I shot her a piercing look and tried to clarify: “I’m not talking about the phones! That’s just a metaphor!”

But she quickly turned and gave me a hint of mute by lipping her index finger, what the hell that supposed to mean?

Scene 2:

After three or four shifts past, the scout came to our room when I was on guard. He was not alone, along with eight warriors, bringing us four chests.

By the pounding noise these chests made when they were dropped on the ground, and each one was carried by two strong guards, I guessed it must be very heavy.

Pinks and Aezo were instantly wakened by the noise. Aezo almost screamed out as he struggled on the bed, involved in a great battle against air.

Qiushui, the starseer, was already awake when she heard steps of the scout coming.

“What’s in it? Treasure boat?” I asked as I pointed at the chests on ground.

The scout smiled: “I’m afraid not, your highness. But don’t be annoyed, I’m sure Lord King Fang will offer you a lot as the bounty for your kindest help, even more than you will need.”

He said as the eight guards opened these chests. A glim of metal spread out immediately, and almost light up the entire room.

The four heavy chests were full of armaments, which included a variety of items, and categorized into four different types, blade, glaive, armor, and bow, each in a chest.

“Wow…look at those fancy weapons!” Aezo seemed amazed as he got off bed.

The scout smiled in a proud voice: “Feel free to pick up whatever suits you!”

Then the guards were dismissed, and he awaited outside.

I stood in front of a chest which was full of blades, dual-blades, great swords, machetes, daggers, and many other blades handmade. By handmade I meant they were as good as a normal weapon, but not engraved with any rune or fused with some power. Technically, they were just a whole pack of metals.

“Are we gonna do some gang fire?” Pinks stumbled in her half asleep and tried to have a close look at these weapons.

I started to walk around to check all the four chests, and the idea was to let the kids put on some armors while Qiushui and I could use a couple of weapons to build up our force.

I shot her a glance and was gonna say something. But apparently Qiushui read it all in my mind, so she nodded as a hint of agreement.

“Wow! Can I have these twin swords? I’mma like Kirito slashing down a whole army!” Aezo said as he picked up a dual-blade from the chest.

“Hey, put them down. You don’t wanna be like a first target just because you’re holding some shits.” I tried to remind him that weapons could only make him look more aggressive than he actually was.

Then I turned and spoke to the scout: “Hey dude, come and give me a hand. Get the kids some vests, please."

“My pleasure, your highness.” The scout nodded and came in.

While he was trying to pick up some armors, I added: “Just nature please, they don’t know much about a fight.”

“What do you mean by nature?” Pinks asked with curiosity.

I cracked a smile and answered: “Well, in immortal world, we define and recognize every object by its essential element. For instance, this guy, a snakeman, is nature, and probably water too. So actually he is a hybrid of two elements, nature and water.”

“Sounds like a pokemon.” Pinks commented.

“So…what elements do I look like? I think I must be light and fire!” Aezo said with passion and positive.

But all I could tell him was a smile of negative: “No, you’re from mortal world. So by definition, you’re nature and that’s it.”

Meanwhile, the scout prepared a couple of light armors for fitting.

“Please try this one on first. It is called Cobra’s Cloak, which is made of cobra’s scales, especial the ones around its neck that allow a cobra to spread its hood.”

The scout said as he handed a dark cloak to Aezo, and continued: “It is nature, light and elastic, perfect for a raider. Now it’s yours.”

“Can I have a yellow one?” Aezo asked. But I disregarded his request and let the scout go on.

“Now, this one is very special. It is called Chameleon’s Cape, just like a real chameleon. It allows the wearer to disguise oneself under most circumstances except in water. A chameleon cannot swim as we all know.”

“So this one is for me, like the Invisibility Cloak of Harry Potter.” Pinks commented and took the cape.

“Hey Doctor, what you gonna pick up?” Aezo asked as he put on the cloak.

“Yeah, what element you are? Lightning, right?” Pinks said in a curious voice, and flicked her fingers to imitate the action of my lightning strike in a funny way.

“It’s called thunder, not lightning. I’m thunder and air.” I answered.

“So you’re hybrid too.” Pinks commented.

I smiled as I explained:

“Well…hybrid is quite popular in immortal world. After all, we’re human beings, not items, so our body is combined with more than one single element. Technically, there is no premium or advantage between hybrid and pure, and it even happens that someone was single element in his childhood but later on his potential element takes over so he becomes an entirely different element or partially different, in which case, is a hybrid.”

I started to pick up a weapon for myself. But looking over all the stuff, I found it was really hard to get the one I needed. They were all good. But as a matter of fact, sword was never the first choice of a skywalker, though some fellows preferred it.

“Actually, your highness…” The scout said as he took out something from the quiver on his back.

It was a silver belt as the first impression told me. But soon when it was unfolded, I realized it was actually a special weapon. A soft blade.

Not whips, not chains, but a both-edged sword, it was quite sharp, flexible and light. People were easily fooled by its disguise but ended up with a cut on neck by this deadly weapon.

“Where did you get this?” I asked, not taking the sword.

“Well, this one is my personal collection, a trophy gained from a great battle against the Clan of Rattle Tail. Because my lord is never a swordsman and such a fancy accessory will only add to his charges of being arrogant and dictatorship, and the elders of clan are not pleased with him by the way, so I end up become the owner of this weapon.”

The scout said with proud and insisted that I should take it.

“This weapon will be the best of its kind, only if it’s held in your hand.”

“Sounds like you guys are pretty democratic, huh?” I nodded and took the sword, having a close look at it.

I found the sword had no guard, not entirely, but the guard was not that obvious. It looked like a rattlesnake twisted around the bottom of blade and then down to the end of grip. The entire grip was like a tail, quite flexible.

Additionally, I found the guard was like a real belt buckle as the rattlesnake’s head could fasten the blade with a “bite”, if the wearer wanted to use it as a strap.

“This is very cool, thank you.” I said and carefully wore the sword on my waist, trying my best not to touch the edge of blade.

“Are you really gonna use it as a weapon?” Aezo questioned.

“What? You think I can’t get and keep hard with this tiny soft strap while I’m in a fight?” I questioned back in a nasty way.

Aezo frowned and was kind of speechless. For a first time in his life, he couldn’t find a word to argue. So much I enjoyed the look on his dumb face.

“Ok, let’s move on. What you gonna pick up, lady?” I asked as I looked at Qiushui. It seemed that she already had the answer.

I watched her picking up a crossbow from a bunch of metals in the chest.

The scout was amazed by her choice and raised a voice immediately:

“A wise choice, my friend! You truly have an eye on things. The Hydra Screamer, a dangerous weapon fused with two elements, water and nature, the wearer who shows a talent in water and nature can make full use of this weapon and deal so much pain to its foes.”

Qiushui was checking the outlook of the crossbow, as the scout carried on: “The crossbow overall is coated with sea serpent’s skin, a rare and precious fabric in underworld. The skull of sea serpent is adorned on the crossing tip of it which allows the user to charge the bow with elemental power and fire a blast of energy bolt!”

The scout sounded even more excited than the actual wearer who was gonna use the bow, as if he were the guy engaged in an epic fight.

Anyway, I disregarded the scout and looked around. Since everyone in my team had found what they needed, so I said: “Ready for beating up batman? Then let’s go.”

(To be continued…)