/x/
Annette Hebert stared at the book that was as half as thick as her child's head, and studied the Chinese warrior painted in brilliant red, yellow and white that adorned the gingerly took the massive tome from her daughter and browsed the first few pages, before she refocused on her widely grinning daughter. Her face was dusty from digging into the trash at that yard sale held by the Asian refugees, but they had said it was ten dollars flat for five items. At least she gave up on that peacock feather headdress, that had reminded her of the antenna of a cockroach. The man who glowered at her on the cover was massive, if the faceless soldiers next to him was any clue. The polearm that he wielded, with it's red tassel was wreathed in fire and lighting, while the red horse was literally on fire.
Annette sighed. It was an obviously very different, exaggerated version of that very old tale. But she can also see why a seven year old like Taylor will be interested. Even she felt attracted to the cover, if she hadn't already read the original. Her eyes focused on the title, printed in bright yellow font.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, by Luo Guangzhong.
Annette sighed. She had read the translation up till the death of Zhuge Liang, and ceased after it was clear where the story was going with Jiang Wei taking over as protagonist. But she was sure there were no flaming horses or spears in that version.
"Little Owl," Annette turned to her daughter, who stared eagerly at her. "Are you sure you want to buy this? It's very, very heavy reading. Not something for a child your age."
"But Mom!" Taylor whined while she pulled at her hands, "You always said I have to increase my vocab!"
"Increase and expand your vocabulary, Taylor." Annette admonished before she took another look at the tome her daughter had dug out. Well, if she guided her daughter well while reading this, she'd pick up some life lessons at least. Actually, a lot of life lessons. Stories do not get passed down throughout the centuries without having some themes that are almost universally applicable. Like, not being an insufferable or stubborn ass so people aren't likely to sell your ass down the river when the first opportunity arises, something her husband can stand to learn.
She took her daughter's hand, and moved towards the owners of the house before a glint of light caught her attention. Annette removed some bright red bowls with gold trimming, and found a block of white jade that was carved into a seal. The lion's head on the handle glowered at her, while the gold that covered the leftmost edge of the seal shined in the sunlight. Annette found herself drawn to it, and her fingers shook when she reached out for the lion's head. Her breath caught in her chest when Annette raised the seal to her eyes, and the words carved into the bottom made her breathing even more difficult as she was struck by a sense of awe at the work put into it.
受命於天，既壽永昌
Annette dug into her rusty Chinese, and found it wanting. But she recognised historically significant art when it's presented before her eyes.
"You like that, Madam? I sell it cheap!"
Annette yelled as she jumped back, startled by the sudden intrusion. She then turned right, and saw a Asian man with a pockmarked face in a black jacket pointing at the jade seal.
"Good paperweight! Only one hundred American dollars!"
Annette frowned at the offer, and took Taylor's hand as she walked towards the counter set up by the owners.
"Wait! Okay, you win! Seventy five!"
Annette stopped, but kept her back to the man to prevent him from seeing her grin.
"Twenty five, and the red bowls as a freebie."
Annette smiled as the man swore in what she believed to be rapid-fire Vietnamese and scratched his closely cropped hair, before he sighed and gave another offer.
"Fifty! No freebies!"
Annette smiled as she handed over two twenty dollar bills to the pockmarked man, who growled before he snatched the notes and handed her the seal. Deal done, Annette took her daughter's hand and took her over to the counter, where an elderly Chinese couple took their payment and marked their purchases off a list. The old man, thin with a pencil moustache smiled at Taylor, and said something in Chinese to her daughter. It sounded poetic to Annette's ears, and the slow drawl when the man spoke reminded her of the slow running waters of a mountain stream. Taylor beamed proudly, despite not understanding a word the thin man spoke but clearly inferring his praise from his expression.
"Sir," Annette asked," what did you say about my little girl?"
"Just the rambling of an old man, ma'am. But I do see in her potential."
"Potential, sir?" Annette said, the feeling of parental pride burnt strong in her chest.
"Yes. Like a man I once knew of by reputation, but never had the dubious honour of meeting. Do not get me wrong, ma'am. I do not infer anything negative per se by that, only that you have a child you should really look out for. For you see, she is special."
Taylor pulled at her mom's jacket, before she was distracted by the elderly partner of the thin man. The old woman looked almost Caucasian, though her black hair and the smell of spices hinted at Indian origin.
"Among horses, the Red Hare. Among men, or women for that matter there was him. Your daughter reminds me of that man, unique among his peers."
Annette smiled, even as she dug into her memory for that reference. She was sure she had read it somewhere, and for someone to praise Taylor like that was both flattering- and troubling.
"Thank you, sir," Annette said as she extended her hand. "Annette Rose Hebert."
"Jiang Ziya."
"As in Taigong Wang?"
"An honorific," the old man waved his hands. "One that I do not wish for people to address me by. But if you insist."
Annette arched an eyebrow, but smiled and kept her peace before she left with her daughter. Taigong watched as the Heberts left his line of sight, and pulled out a white feather fan to cool himself. The green gemstone at the base of the fan glimmered, as he sighed while he watched the rest of his "customers". No one else was worth the trip, none of them will bring what he has here to full potential.
Pearls before swine, or as the people who worshipped his fellows tended to say, playing the zither before the bull.
"Milord, was it worth it, this trip to the mortal realm? And how's my husband's fan?"
Taigong glanced at the old woman, who now stood tall and proud instead of hunched over like she was only a moment ago before he sniffed and tossed the feathered fan towards his partner. Her hands darted out to catch the fan by the stem, her movements now agile and predatory.
"Adequate, at least we know that monster's bloodline runs strong even in this twisted parody of a world. And tell your husband to get better taste in fans, Yue Ying."
Ying's eye's twinkled in delight, as she placed the fan into the folds of her jacket. She followed Taigong's gaze, as she recalled Annette with her daughter.
"So, I suppose she will be exceedingly pleased that the mightiest of her sons still has heirs in the eye of the storm. Though the mother reminds me more of Lingqi rather than her infamous father."
"Probably," Taigong said as he removed a fishing rod from beneath the desk. Age disappeared from his skin as it turned supple and flawless, his grey hair now a shimmering silver. Golden eyes swept over the oblivious crowd still browsing, and Taigong scratched at his neck. The mere presence of the unclean beings that haunted the realms now irritated him to no end, and his true form simply loathed the mortal realm to being with.
"Come, Ying. We depart for the Mystic Realm once more."
A ripple in reality, and the old couple was no more.
/x/
Taylor sat in the dark, the things her mother had with her in the car laid out on the table in front of her. A phone with a cracked screen, a mug she bought for her now missing it's top half and of course, that jade paperweight. The last item in particular caught her attention, as she focused on the dent that marred the gold on it's chipped edge. Taylor's eyes were puffy, but she bit down on her lip to keep from crying. She turned the jade upside down, the carved words on the rock illuminated by the moonlight appeared to dance in the faint light.
"Having received the Mandate of Heaven, may he have a long and prosperous life."
Taylor snarled, before she hurled the rock at the wall. The seal bounced off the brick wall, and Taylor felt her temper rise as the seal clattered on the floor. Before her eyes, the chipped edges reverted to flawless jade, and the dent on the gold disappeared.
"A cruel joke, by a cruel heaven," Taylor intoned. She turned her gaze to the bow that rested in the corner of her room, an item that her mother bought along with the novel and the jade seal. Tinkertech, which grew along with her as she grew older. The stories had instilled in her a love for archery, and Taylor was very tempted to go a few rounds at the makeshift range in her backward. Maybe this time, she can shoot one from two blocks away and get the bulls-eye. Taylor reached for the bow, when she heard someone knocking on her door before it creaked open.
"Hi Tay," Emma said softly before she looked at the crack in the wall and the jade seal below it. She kept her smile on, before she quirked her eyebrows when she noticed her friend next to the bow.
"Going for a Robin Hood again, Tay?"
"No. Arrows are time consuming to make."
Emma chuckled, before she walked in and closed the door behind her. She hugged Taylor tightly, before she pulled her down to the bed, which prompted her best friend to squeal. Emma briefly wondered if her friend will take her into an armlock again, like the first time they had a sleepover after she completed a wrestling class she begged her parents to let her take. That had hurt, even if there wasn't any actual damage done. Emma relaxed, after Taylor pulled out of her hug and rolled over to the other side of the bed, staring at the ceiling while lying spread-eagle. With the pillow beneath her head, Emma felt her posture reminded her of one of the Chinese words in that paperweight.
Which one? Oh yes, that word. 天. Sky, or Heaven.
/x/
Thud. Crack. Thud. Snap.
Cries. Yelling. Rage. Confusion. Warm blood and torn flesh. The predator becomes the prey. Much like how it was when I killed Ding Yuan when he-
I am not him ! I refuse to be that treacherous bastard.
I held my fist mid-swing, as I surveyed the alley around me. Emma sat behind me, back against the wall while she clutched her hair that the ABB member had cut with that switch knife of his. Said knife was now firmly lodged into his left shoulder, while he right wrist dangled uselessly after I had snapped it. Triggers are funny things. A moment before, we were accosted and helpless, trapped by five adults armed to the teeth with the experience and will to inflict harm. The next moment my roar had knocked two grown men with at least fifty pounds on me into the wall, while I snapped their limbs like it was a brittle twig.
"Tay," Emma breathed out after she recovered from the kicks and punches they had given her,"you're burning."
I blinked as Emma took out her mirror and showed me my reflection. Even in the dark, I looked as if I had packed on fifty to seventy pounds of muscle and a foot and a half in height.
But what caught my attention most was the fiery sheen that surrounded me. Hmm, that explains why the fat guy with the pipe burst into flames when I threw him into the dumpster. But I felt no heat, and my tattered clothes did not smoke or burn.
Speaking of clothes, mine were a mess, as I tied whatever was left to guard my modesty. Lacking enough material for my sudden growth spurt, I liberated several jackets from the moaning forms of the ABB now scattered on the wet floor like so many chopped logs, and tore them into strips to better cover myself. Emma struggled to stand,and I quickly helped her up from the damp floor once I was sufficiently modest.
I felt and heard the wind part, and my upper torso and hands snapped to catch a bolt that was aimed at my left shoulder. An appreciative whistle, before a feminine figure in a black cowl and hockey mask formed from a blurry cloud that descended from the roof. Despite her mask, I could see glee and bloodlust in her eyes as she stared at us.
"Just so you know, big fella. I could have used my powers and made that bolt intangible to really nail you."
"Thanks for not really attempting to kill or wound me, Shadow Stalker." I said while I crushed the bolt and tossed the pieces at her feet. She glanced at the pieces, before she burst out laughing and raised her cowl to reveal a mane of long, black hair that flowed down past her shoulders. She raised her hands, and walked closer to me before she stopped as I broke the front of the pipe and raised the sharpened end at her.
Note to self-get a real spear. And a rid- stop. I will not turn into him.
"Easy there. Look, I'm sorry if my little test of you rubbed you the wrong way. I just wanted to know if you're worth saving."
I clamped down on the notion that threatened to bubble above my surface that only I was worth anything, and lowered my pipe before I snapped it past her like an arrow from my bow. Her eyes grew even more manic when she looked at the pipe embedded into the wall, and pulled down her mask to reveal a wide, gleeful grin.
"You're totally cool! The type of cape this town needs! Name's Sophia. Yours?"
Emma glared at Sophia as she hobbled to my side, while I briefly considered telling Shadow Psycho to take a hike.
"Taylor Hebert."
Sophia rolled her eyes.
"Not your real name. Your cape ID!"
They slipped out, before the words could be bought under my control.
"I am Lu Bu! The greatest this world will ever know!"
/x/
A/N- Yeah. An attempt to have a go at a serious Warriors/ Worm crossover, after my previous attempt washed out. Tell me your thoughts!