Disclaimer: I don't own The Forbidden Kingdom. The Monkey King, Jade Warlord, Jade Emperor, and Jade Empress all belong to Chinese Mythology so nobody owns those except for the Chinese culture.
I do own Ariya, but Caeley owns herself. I apologize to her for not being able to contact her.
This story is going through major changes. For example: It is now going to be in first person.
The Man Behind The Legend
Prologue
The loud clang of metal was heard echoing through the air, reverberating from behind the mountains. If you concentrated then you could hear the soft pitter patter of feet on the mountain dirt. Giggling voices could be heard after each echoing clang of metal; one giggling voice obviously belonged to a female while the other belonged to a male. The man and the woman were fighting each other with metal staffs, crashing them against each other with surprising ease and marvelous grace. If you looked long enough it seemed like the fluidity of their moves were like dancing in the air.
The white-blond haired man could easily be described as mischievous as his grin stretched wide across his face. His long white-blond hair was kept out of his face with a leather hair wrap; the wrap had a special opening at the top for his ponytail, which was set high on his head. The pale colored hair ran down both of his cheeks, stopping at his chin to create interesting sideburns.
The mischievous white-blond haired man was wearing a black kimono top with the traditional Chinese fighting pants. The sleeves, however, had been twisted enough so that they were tucked neatly against his skin. The unique man wore brown leather guards around his wrists, arms, shoulders, thighs, and thick leather boots that protected his shins and feet. He giggled again as he blocked the incoming attack from the woman's metal staff with his own. A resounding clang emitted from the attack, but instead of shying away from the sound the woman just laughed, leaning forward and pecking the male on the cheek.
The graceful woman jumped away, swishing her own silver hair over her shoulder as the tiny leaf like jade pieces jingled on her circlet. She smiled as she blocked an incoming attack, using the muscles in her arms to redirect the hit to a rock to the side. She was wearing a green no-sleeved Chinese style martial arts shirt, which buttoned down the middle. She was wearing white cotton pants with a black sash, leather wrist guards and leather ankle guards and cotton martial artist slippers. The silver haired woman jabbed her metal staff into the ground and tightened her leg muscles, jumping up on the staff; she smiled, balancing as she pulled herself up on top.
"Hah! Take that, Monkey King!" she giggled, sticking her tongue out at the white haired male, or shall we call him Monkey King? He swiped at her metal staff with his own, immediately catching her in his arms when she tumbled off. He wasn't that cruel; of course he would have caught her.
"What were you saying, my dear Monkey Queen?" he asked her, grinning as she stuck out her tongue at him once again. The pair was extremely comfortable with each other; it was unusual for a male and a female of their caliber to be sparring with one another. It was even more unusual for a female to take part in martial arts at all!
The silver haired woman smirked, planting her feet on his chest and kicking off; the quick and surprising motion sent him across the rock that they were fighting on top of. He back flipped, using his staff to stop his journey across the barren land. He twirled the golden staff, flipping it around his back to the other hand, challenging the woman. She was about to attack him but stopped, cocking her head to the side. The woman's smile disappeared as she dropped into a defensive stance, motioning for the Monkey King to do the same.
"Be ready for them, Ariya." The Monkey King said, glancing in her direction as a swarm of men dressed in traditional Jade armor…the armor of the warriors of the Jade Warlord. The Jade Warlord had been hounding the Monkey King and Ariya for the past two years, wanting to take Ariya for himself. Ariya, of course, refused because her heart belonged to the one and only Monkey King; his heart was hers in return. The Warlord was jealous and full of lust, angry with Ariya because she refused to be his.
"I am ready for them, love." she said, sliding her own staff in front of her, crouching down to be ready for an attack of all directions. She knew that, unlike her love, she was not immortal. She could still die and she sure as hell did not want to die with the Monkey King watching. She'd be damned if she were to die at the hands of someone as vile as the Warlord at all.
Suddenly, the Warlord's minions attacked, bearing down upon the duo from all angles. The Monkey King grinned in glee, enjoying the fact that he could kick some well deserved ass. He giggled, swiping his well polished weapon into several minor warriors.
The two split and took on half of the warriors each, which meant each of them had about thirty warriors to fight with. The Monkey king was having fun, jumping from rock formation to rock formation with his chi magic and whacking the warriors in the ribs. The ones he hit almost automatically went down, bones cracked or broken with the force of the blow.
The silver haired Monkey Queen was faring slightly worse, using her staff in a more defensive aspect. She twirled the staff around herself, catching about ten of the warriors in either the head or the stomach, and grinned when she heard some of the bones crack. Soon, the two were separated very far, unable to see each other as they fought. The silver haired Monkey Queen fought as hard as she could before she felt a sharp pain in the back of her shoulder. She cried out as she reached behind her, pulling a thin dart from her shoulder. The dart was filled with some sort of questionable liquid; there wasn't enough time to figure out what it was, so the female kept fighting.
The Monkey King froze as he finished off the last warrior he was fighting against, heart clinching when he heard his Queen cry out. He dashed over to where she was fighting and quickly finished off the last three of her opponents, watching her as she pulled the thin dart out of her shoulder. It held a clear liquid so it could have been anything. He rushed over to her side as she fell to her knees, eyes unfocused, and shivering. Slowly, some sort of effect was growing on her. The pain increased slowly at first, but it eventually became unbearable.
Ariya felt as though she was slowly being pierced by thousands of tiny needles, but the pain was concentrated in one spot. She gasped, somewhat aware that the Monkey King was by her side. She could barely hear him begging her to tell him what was wrong; she could barely sense anything that was going on around her as her mind became foggy. What was going on? She froze as a wave of pain passed through her, causing her to scream and collapse on the rock. She grit her teeth as she seized, writhing on the soil. The silver haired woman could just barely hear the Monkey King shout her name before she felt herself being picked up bridal style and rushed off the cliff.
At no time at all they were back at the Monkey King's somewhat large home. He hurriedly carried his love into the welcoming house, and brought her over to the soft bed. She had stopped writhing a while ago and had fallen into a deep sleep, but not before muttering that she loved him.
The Monkey King smiled softly at the image of the sleeping woman, but was still worried about the serum that caused the little episode. Well, there was nothing he could do but wait until she woke up. He stripped off the two metal staffs, setting them against the wall next to the bed, then stripping off his leather armor. He then settled down beside her upon the bed and watched her as she slept. It was no time at all that he fell into a deep sleep as well, curling up against his Queen.
A lone figure crawled through the window of the Monkey King's home, stealthily pressing itself up against the wall. This was not a normal thief; he was a master of suppressing his chi energy. Before, they had made a mistake, but now…now was the time to extract their revenge against that heathen and his 'love'.
The black clad figure sneaked a look towards the Monkey King, but soon set its eyes upon Ariya, grinning evilly. No, the woman was what it had come for. He could never be able to touch the King without him waking up…but the Monkey Queen would hold quite the ransom.
The silver haired woman had put up quite a struggle, but that was what the serum was for. It was not very strong but it was strong enough to get that woman of his to faint and get him all worked up. No doubt the Monkey King knew who was behind the act, but the person smirked, revealing a sharp fang. The person quietly slipped the silver haired woman's metal staff from the wall and secured it to his back. Then it stopped by the bed, slipping one arm under her knees and the other behind her back.
The person grunted a little bit picking up Ariya, but managed to succeed. It stood, watching the Monkey King snap his eyes open, freezing when it realized that the Monkey King had spotted it.
The person jumped back as the Monkey King swung an extremely accurate curled fist in its direction. The person jumped out the window and narrowly dodged a kick dangerously aimed for its head. The person chanted some sort of chi spell and he teleported away, with Ariya, as the Monkey King narrowly missed smashing his skull with his staff.
The Monkey King pounded the ground with his fist and glared in the direction of the Jade Warlord's palace. His eyes narrowed in his fit of rage; his blood was boiling to the point that he was no longer in control of his actions. After screaming into the night he tightened his hand into a fist, vowing to take revenge on the Jade Warlord…
The light haired warrior growled, taking off in the direction of the palace where his beloved was being held hostage. He leapt from rock tower to rock tower in order to reach his goal faster. Once he reached his goal he leapt through the window, only to see his beloved Queen strapped to the wall, obviously still unconscious. The Warlord stood in front of her, smirking, and stroking her cheek with his pale hand. The Warlord held a glaive in his other hand, a crescent blade attached to the metal pole, underneath the original glaive blade.
They stood apart, Monkey King facing evil Chinese Warlord. The King stood grinning, but he held an untold fury in his eyes. He crouched down, bringing his beloved metal staff up behind him as the Warlord swung his glaive up.
It was time to begin the battle.
There were sounds of crashing and clangs of metal reached Ariya's ears as she struggled to lift her eyelids. Everything was dark and when she managed to actually lift them the blinding light made everything worse. She was in a terrible amount of pain and just wanted to get down from this stinking wall! Wait….
Her eyes snapped open again as she realized she was actually strapped to a wall. How had she gotten there? When had she gotten there?
The silver haired woman struggled and suddenly heard cruel laughter next to her ear. She jerked her head to the left and saw that evil bastard of a Warlord standing next to her. She pushed her head far away from him and blinked in surprise when she saw a fruit being thrown at the Warlord's head. She looked up and smiled, happy that the Monkey King had come for her…if she could even figure out how she was strapped to the wall in the first place.
She was about to call out for him but stopped seeing as he was concentrating very hard on the battle. She felt like she would only get in his way seeing that he was in such a heated battle. Suddenly, the Warlord suggested that they fight without weapons and without chi magic. Sure, like the Monkey King would believe that…would he? He was so darn trusting!
The Monkey King shoved his trusted metal staff down into the ground, and was about to take position, but stopped when he saw that the Warlord had hidden a knife in his sleeve pocket. He was going to step forward but…no!
Ariya gasped as she felt a searing pain in her chest, pulsating with every beat of her heart. She looked down in a sort of daze, not believing what she was seeing. Suddenly, the restraints were loosened and she fell to the ground in a shaking heap. Her hands flew up to the knife lodged in her chest as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her shoulders. She looked up in a daze, looking up into the distraught eyes of the Monkey King. He lightly shook her shoulders but gave a light cry as she collapsed in his arms. He turned her over on her back and placed her head in his lap, lightly gripping the knife and tugging it from her chest.
Once the knife was dislodged from her chest the blood could flow freely, causing him to tear up. He knew that she was going to die, but he didn't want to face the truth. He bunched up the tough material of his belt and pressed it to the grotesque wound, but it didn't help.
"Sun…Wu…Kong" she whispered ever so quietly, taking one of his hands in hers. It was so quiet that only the Monkey King was able to hear it. She had said his name. She brought the other hand up to his face, cupping his cheek and her eyes started to glaze with unshed tears.
"Be happy…for me…" she whispered as she exhaled her last breath, her bright green eyes closing for the last time and her hand dropped from his face. The Monkey King let out a shaky breath, praying to the Jade Emperor that she should be reincarnated in the future…and live a happy life. He kissed her forehead as he set her body down. He turned to face the Warlord, glaring murder in his golden orbs. He then realized the smirk on the Warlord's face and saw the ball of blue chi energy in his hand.
As he realized his fatal mistake he used the last of his chi energy to throw both of the staffs out into the Middle Kingdom and against the light of the golden metal staff he sent out a hair.
The hair was the last chance any of them had of escaping the Warlord's power.
Yet… none of this evilness was always like this… and Ariya was once a simple girl living a hellish life in the year of 2008. She was a simple girl whose wish was granted by the Jade Emperor and met the love of her life.
Enter the story and find out exactly what happened for the legend to begin.