Chapter 1 – Disturbed Balance
The land of nowhere. Its name suited it well, for it is a barren place with but a few withered trees that reek of death and several wild tumbleweed. The ground was incapable of growing anything and there is only one place that is noteworthy; on the outside it looks like a natural cave on a cliff top with the entrance imitating a monsters jaw. It is actually a palace, anybody that has ever entered it, has never made it out to speak of its rumoured wonders.
The land of nowhere. No one would notice anything unusual to occur here.
And so it appeared, barely visible against the dense black fog and home to the void; A portal of such, circular in shape as though it's mouth is completely open like an alligator's sucking in the air around it and blowing it out at the same time causing an odd gust to stir; and then he materialised from the portal. A man. A man in the land of nowhere that came from nowhere, not completely recognisable against the darkness, he stood up and sighed. A nearby crow then cawed and flew away in fear.
The sun was starting to come up and the fog cleared, the man was then perceivable. He wore a battered and old leather military coat down to his ankles with a blood red trim and a steel back plate, as well as black boots darker than his unnatural jet black hair that also glistened blood red. His jeans were torn and dirty which made him look older than what his face showed; his face was pale and his hands, gloved with leather and his fingers encased in steel. He had his eyes closed since his arrival and when they finally opened, they revealed blood red irises and a dark shadow beneath his eye sockets appeared once opened as if it was black war paint. He was tall and lean, but his broad shoulders made him look capable of bare-handed murder.
The man then grinned with his teeth bared and flared nostrils; at this there was a flash on his face and a sort of tattoo appeared momentarily on his face; like crimson stalactites coming from his eyes. The tattoo disappeared and he then began laughing, but it wasn't hysterical; it was almost psychotic and it got louder and louder until it pierced the screaming silence of the surrounding wasteland, disturbing and scaring any life nearby, a laugh that could haunt a soul for eternity.
Once the man's manic laughter had died he held his arm to the sky and thick black smoke appeared in his palm and extended to his elbow and the same length above his hand. The smoke then vanished with a sharp flash of lightning and in the man's hand a scepter had formed. The scepter had a chrome black body with a glowing amber jewel in the upper rod; the hilt was sharp and pointed where the topmost material was shaped as a blade; lethal and eccentric, surrounding the amber jewel.
The shadowed man then looked to the cliff top where the rumoured palace lies and with a strike of lightning it began to rain, it started off light and it got worse, stirring up a storm. The wind howled and whipped at the man's coat and hair while the rain soaked his steel fingers and back, yet the water simply fell from the blade of his scepter. The torrential rain darkened the entire crag and soaked the shadows into hiding, but the man began to walk, ever so calmly as if this was a light shower, and he walked towards the rocky cliff and went around locating a stairwell. It was drenched and nobody scaling it would have any grip under their feet, yet the shady entity walked on and his boots clapped against the splash of the water lying on each step. Every few steps he climbed a bolt of lightning struck different points in the wasteland behind him and the thunder sounded from within the dark clouds. Alas he reached the tongue of the great beast cave and he looked out onto the wasteland and sent a bolt of red lightning into the sky; getting lost in the clouds, the rain ceased.
This new stranger turned his attention to the stone wall behind him and stared at it, still looking as smug as he did when he first opened his eyes in the wasteland, he stared and stared as if he was hoping for it to open up to him without even knocking or approaching it. He closed his eyes again and bowed his head forcing thoughts into his mind. The jewel in his scepter then began to glow and the figure's clothes and hair began to dry rapidly, everything from his heavy boots to his perfect hair; and finally he opened his eyes again and continued to stare at the door in front of him.
Deep within the hidden domain slept many tigers of the jungle, enhanced by magic and its human occupier, disturbed from his sleep, woke in fear as if he had been awakened from his deepest nightmare. His thoughts are now clouded with a new danger, a danger that just appeared outside his front door.
The sun rose over the rock garden within the Xiaolin temple and the light shined upon the golden autumn leaves of the well-tended willow trees, while the roof shingles glimmered in the sun as they were damp from the heavy rain the night before and the monks in training here at the temple began to awake for their day ahead of them... With the usual exception of Raimundo.
"Raimundo! Will you ever get up breezy and bright in the mornings?!" exclaimed Omi. "I think you mean bright and breezy" corrected Clay, who is always used to being awake at the crack of dawn. As Raimundo slowly opened his eyes, he couldn't help but groan as Omi's shaved and almost sphere like head was his first sight. Omi was indeed small and arrogant for all his size, he above all others was proud to be a Xiaolin monk and always wore his robes, he had a round shaved head and was always disconnected from the outside world, meaning he always incorrectly repeated idiomatic phrases overheard from Raimundo. Clay on the other hand was quite the opposite, as he was the biggest of the monks both in height and build as he spent a great deal of his life on his father's farm in Texas where he proudly admits, wrestled pigs. Clay is a true Texan and is rarely seen without his cowboy hat, but is furious should something happen to it.
"Come on, Omi. He needs his rest, he took a beating in that last showdown for us, it did earn him the right of being the leader" Kimiko replied in Raimundo's defence. Kimiko was the only female dragon in training in the Xiaolin temple; she boasts fair black hair and long legs, though they pack a punch in combat; she is always fashionable and quite strong at heart, this is mainly due to her being constantly teased by the others because she is the only girl. She also has a short temper and gets very aggressive when insulted which is a fatal flaw in her training and battles.
"But that didn't actually happen! It was in a parallel Universe! And must you keep mentioning that, you know how selfish I am and was most disappointed when I didn't get that promotion" complained Omi. He then strutted off into the yard exclaiming that he was going to train with or without the rest of them.
"Poor Rai" sighed Kimiko.
"Why do you think that Kimiko? After all, he has now reached the rank of Shoku warrior and also your leader" responded Master Fung as he entered the monk's quarters.
"No, I'm really happy for him, but...-"
"You are still thinking of his brave actions in the parallel world" finished Master Fung
Kimiko was silent. But she sighed in acceptance.
Master Fung was wise and always has the right thing to say to make the monks not only feel better, but help improve on their meditation. He roams the temple corridors proudly looking like a true Xiaolin warrior with his bald and wrinkled head and greying moustache. Though in combat, his physical attributes are completely disregarded; though it is an extremely rare occasion that they monks see Master Fung fight.
After their training, the monks had gathered in the dining hall for a meal and Raimundo was telling the others of his odd dream, that he had had the night before.
"I could have sworn it was the land of nowhere, I just don't know why I would get a dream about Chase Young's land" Raimundo explained. The others did not take the dream as serious as Raimundo did.
"Well maybe you ate too much yesterday and your stomach gave you nightmares" suggested Dojo, "I speak from experience, I have a lot of nightmares involving Chase Young and my stomach"
Dojo Kanojo Cho is a mystical dragon with the ability of changing his size from a small lizard to a large over-sized, flying serpent. Dojo has a sarcastic view on the world but is also very cowardly.
"Yea, but Dojo, you start shaking when a spider starts crawling on your back, like right now" said Rai calmly, as he points to behind Dojo. "Like I'm really gonna fall for that one" jittered Dojo as he starts laughing nervously and when he looks at the side of his neck he notices a small hairy leg. The whole dining hall was deafened by Dojo's glass-shattering scream. The monks then left the dining hall in hysterics but are then stopped by Master Fung.
"Young monks, a new Shen Gong Wu has revealed itself" proclaimed the Master.
"Yeah… that's why I screamed" explained Dojo, trying to redeem his embarrassing ordeal, as he fell from the ramparts he had jumped to.
Master Fung continued "Go and prepare yourselves, as this will be your first venture with a leader; I on the other hand must go meditate, I sense a great disturbance in the balance of good and evil… and it does not feel in our favour".
The team then looked at Rai who waited until Master Fung was out of earshot before opening his mouth, "See you guys! Even Master Fung knows there's something up and it has to do with that dream I had, it felt so real and eerie. You gotta trust me on this one", the others looked at him and accepted it, and all of them then began preparations for their travels for the new Shen Gong Wu.
