The bitter taste of blood was Po's first indicator that he was still alive. Blind and disoriented, a familiar voice rung in his ears, quiet yet very much alarmed.
A pair of orange paws shook him upright. "Po! Wake up!"
Po's eyelids quivered. It took a second for him to open them. When he did, his fur was battle-worn, browned in some spots from the grime and dirt, and his head hurt like nothing else. Weak to his bones, he saw Tigress leaning over him, looking worse for wear. Po groaned and rubbed his head. He struggled to sit up on his elbows. Too many things were hurting for him to make sense of where he was right now. He couldn't even remember what had transpired in the last few moments.
"Tigress...?" he said, drained of energy.
Tigress gestured for him to be quiet. She pressed her back up against a boulder beside Po and grimaced, holding her side.
As his head cleared, a booming voice echoed out from deep inside the murky forest.
"You were here, weren't you? Little mice... I'll find both of you!" the voice bellowed, vile and malevolent.
Po peered around the rock and saw the silhouette of a gorilla approaching through the trees - three times as tall as a panda and with a scarred, vicious face. His one good eye darted wildly as he surveyed the area, hunting for something. In comparison, he made Tigress look like a mere kitten. He could easily crush both of them with one good blow.
The gorilla grunted and scooped up a broken, shining amulet from the ground, splashed red with blood. "Ruined with your dirty blood, wretched vermin! Riven in two..." His hideous face contorted with rage, "When I find you I'm going to rip out your eyes!"
The gorilla lifted his fist and smashed a tree trunk in anger. The tree creaked and crashed into the ground as Liang Lao, the gorilla, turned and disappeared back into the woods. Still hiding behind the boulder, the two warriors listened to his heavy footsteps fade into the air. Then, the forest was as still as it had once been.
Tigress grimaced as she held her side, attempting to hide the severity of her injuries. "That could've gone better." she said dryly.
"No kidding." Po said with a breathy chuckle. He looked to be in rough shape himself, sporting several cuts on his arms and ruffled fur.
"Are you all right?" Tigress asked, helping him up.
Po took a quick look at himself. "Well, for a guy who just got pummeled into the ground, I think I'm okay."
Tigress gave him a weak smile. She seemed disappointed with the outcome of the battle. "The closest town is Hubei..." she said, hoarsely. "We can't hope to beat him now in our current state."
Po couldn't believe they'd failed to stop him. Lao was only one of the many brigands causing trouble in this part of China. He was notorious for ambushing travellers and traders alike. Old or young, strong or weak, he showed no mercy. Not even the Emperor's soldiers were safe from harm. In his crime spree, he'd managed to accumulate a wealth of treasures plucked from his unfortunate victims. It'd been their job to apprehend him.
Unfortunately, things hadn't gone as planned.
Po let out a defeated sigh. Summoning his remaining strength, he brought himself to his feet. It was a long walk to Hubei.
The two warriors travelled along an old road that cut and wound through the forest for several hours before arriving at the town gates. A few shady characters grinned at them as they walked by. Hubei wouldn't have been Tigress's first choice - it was a bandit-infested village rife with trouble from what she knew - but it would have to suffice. The sky was already beginning to dusk by the time they saw the gates, and the next town was many leagues over. At the very least, the inns offered a proper place to put their heads down.
They decided to explore a bit after getting bandaged by the local healer. It was Po's idea, but Tigress didn't mind as much as she thought she would've. She figured they could buy supplies while they were in town.
Strange sights - and even stranger smells - confronted them as they wandered from place to place. Unlike earlier in the evening, there weren't as many people in the streets at this time of day. Even so, travelling merchants and traders from across the lands still populated the various avenues, trying to sell their wares to perusing passerbys and other village folk. In between the traders and merchants were fruit and vegetable stalls manned by the local grocers along with numerous other booths for different kinds of vendors. Hubei was a trading hub. At first glance, everything seemed normal, however, Tigress remembered where they were. It may not have been obvious, but the entire village was polluted with con artists. She didn't expect much else, really. Anywhere you could find traders you could find a few swindlers slipping through the cracks.
She tagged along with Po as he drifted along the various stalls and booths, stopping to look at whatever caught his eye. Cheers and gasps drew their attention to a particular stand in a small market square - one possessing a wide variety of colored vials, elixirs, and potions for sale. The man there was doing quite well in deceiving the townsfolk.
"Genuine dragon blood can cure any injury, whether from sword or claw!" the man called, holding up a bottle of strange liquid. "Made from genuine dragon blood and seven secret ingredients - available here for only one night! Just 20 yuan!"
Po drew closer to the stand and the awing crowd. "Whoa! That sounds awesome."
"That sounds like a scam." Tigress warned him. "The price is too good."
The town was quite large indeed. It was mainly Po who was leading them around, but Tigress also showed some interest as they browsed the wares and a number of spectacles being performed - one of which was a trio of acrobats, snow leopards, performing for the townsfolk. With flurries of movement, they garnered the oohs and aahs of watchful bystanders. Not all was as it seemed, however, as after a brief display of leaps and spins, they departed, leaving the gawping crowd a bit lighter. Before Tigress could do anything, the trio of acrobats had already disappeared into the maze of winding streets and narrow alleyways. The townsfolk seemed unaware.
"Thieves." Tigress muttered under her breath. She held a particular disdain for such underhanded criminals. They were cowards at heart and would dodge getting caught just as they dodged their civic duty.
"What?" Po asked, as clueless as everyone else.
"Nothing." she said. "Just keep an eye on your pockets."
The sky darkened to a gloom as they lingered over the attractions for a while. Eventually they were forced to stop when Po bought an apple to sate his appetite. He was quite hungry, having had a lengthy travel.
The panda held the fruit in his paw. "You know me. Gotta keep my strength up." he said to Tigress who was casting him an amused look.
Grateful to finally have something to eat, Po took a generous bite of the apple. He always took solace in a good snack, not to mention a good meal. Sweet foods were his favorite after all. But this apple wasn't sweet. As he chewed, he was expecting the sugary taste of fruit to meet his lips, but it wasn't sweetness he found. He felt an ominous chill run down the his spine, as if icy fingers had just brushed against his back, when realized the soft pulp of the apple had turned into a gritty, burnt sand.
Ash.
The panda's face fell like a rock. He spat out the powdery residue.
With a sinking realization, Po pulled the other half of the gorilla's amulet from his pack. The relic weighed heavy in his hands. Merely holding the trinket sent a strange shiver throughout his body. Sure enough, he felt a wrongness emanating from it, its unearthly presence clouding his thoughts like smoke in the eyes. He wasn't sure how he hadn't noticed the amulet until now, but from the look of the silverwork, it seemed to be an old relic indeed. The sensations to worsened when he gripped it in his hand. It was as if a storm cloud had moved over his head all of a sudden. Po grunted in pain, placing his other hand on his head. He felt unusually weak.
"You're apple––it turned to ash!" Tigress exclaimed in surprise.
"Yeah, I... I know." the panda replied, lacking any strength. Some unseen force - a burden, rife with evil - was weighing him down. And it was coming from that thing in his hand. Po wished to fling it into the streets, but some strange magic stayed his hand as he showed it to her. "Something's wrong with this thing."
Tigress gasped. It couldn't be. That's...
The tiger's eyes widened, and she quickly took the amulet from him. She seemed immune to the effects of its power. "Where did you find this?" she asked suddenly.
Po felt his strength return as she took the accursed thing. Most of the symptoms seemed to disappear when not in direct contact, although the amulet's presence was still tugging at the back of his mind.
The panda chuckled nervously. He rubbed the back of his neck - it sounded like he was in trouble."Ah-um... I don't know, actually. It doesn't bother you?"
"The curse only affects the wielder," Tigress informed him. She leaned in closer, an expression of urgency on her face. "Why is it split in two?"
"Wait––Tigress, hold on a second. Curse?" Po quickly shot back.
"Yes... Po, this is the amulet of Guan Yi. It shouldn't be in pieces like this." she said gravely.
"Oh, uh... I don't know how it ended up like that. I didn't even know I had it." Po admitted. He vaguely recalled hearing about the relic before.
This changes things, Tigress thought. She clasped the amulet tightly in her paw. She didn't want to risk losing it or any chance of saving the Dragon Warrior from an otherwise certain death. She figured they didn't have much time, maybe a few days at most from what she could remember. The scrolls didn't say too much. The Guan Yi amulet was an ancient relic from the last age - few from that time still endured and even less the documentation on them. She felt her grip tighten just a little more. What she did know is that reuniting the pieces of ancient relic would usually nullify the curse. The only problem was: Where was the other piece?
Tigress looked her companion up and down. "How do you feel? You don't feel sick, do you?"
"Well, I don't feel that bad. I'm just a little hungry. And thirsty." he responded, not sure how to react.
"I think I know why..." Tigress said, her somber eyes falling to the ashen remains of Po's fruit. "We need to find the other half!"
Po scratched his chin, thoughtfully. "I think I remember seeing Lao walk off with it."
"Then were going to track him down." she decided. She spoke with an intimidating amount of determination. If anything, the thieving bandit was probably in a similar predicament.
Just then, an insatiable stab of hunger hit Po's stomach. There was only one thing for it. They were going to have to steal back the other half from the gorilla that almost killed him.