Chapter 2
One day has passed since the funeral and burial of Tiago Zhang's parents and the discovery of his uncle Kuai Liang, who now has legal custody of the boy for being the last living member of his family. Tiago was in his room laying on his bed, listening to a burned CD on his stereo that his father made for him on his 13th birthday just days ago. He was also clasping on a red ancestral pendant passed down from his mother that he just started wearing. A knock on the door was heard, and in came Kuai.
"You feeling ok, kid?" He asked. The teenaged boy nodded yes. "Well, uh, I have to go out to do some errands," Kuai continued. "You think you'll be ok here by yourself?"
"I'll be fine, Uncle Kuai, sir," Tiago respectfully responded as he sat up from his bed. "I'm a big kid. I can handle it," he lightly half-smiled.
"Well, I should be back by the evening. There's food for you to heat up if you get hungry," Kuai said as he left to go do his errands.
Tiago then showered and dressed and ate a bowl of cereal while watching Saturday morning cartoons to start his day. He thought about going bike riding through his neighborhood, even going through the San Antonio River a bit.
"Maybe that's what I need right now, some exercise and fresh air," Tiago thought. "I won't be too long anyways. Uncle Kuai will probably be still doing his errands."
Tiago grabbed the house keys and his bicycle and helmet and rode off through the streets of Olmos Park, a quaint community immediately north of the bustling Downtown district of San Antonio, Texas. He then decided to travel north to the Olmos Basin Park. Tiago biked through the wooded trail of the more remote part of the large park when he hit the brakes. What caught his eye was an ancient abandoned church office of the Olmos Creek. The church was fenced off with "No Trespassing" signs dotted throughout.
"Could this be another of the San Antonio Missions?" Tiago thought.
He decided to investigate as he climbed up the fence and walked towards the long-forgotten cathedral. The teenager knocked on the door before entering. Interestingly enough, despite the exterior being in a state of decay, the interior was well-preserved. The intricate stained glass windows, some shattered, allowed some lighting inside.
"Amazing..." Tiago whispered as he was observing the designs.
He walked towards the altar when his shoes stepped on a certain brick. The boy only had enough reaction time to gasp as the floor beneath him collapsed, taking him with it.
A minute passed as Tiago groaned from the impact.
"Where am I?" He asked as he got up. Standing before him was a torch-lit corridor. "How could these flames still be burning?" He asked in astonishment as he walked down the passageway.
It led him to a small, yet grand shrine. But Tiago knew that it was not a Catholic shrine, for the centerpiece of the room was a giant statue. Tiago knew from mythology books that the statue was of Xiuhtecuhtli, the Aztec God of Fire.
"Why would all of this be under a Catholic church?" The young boy wondered.
He walked to the altar of the shrine. He noticed a hole on the center of its top. He made a startling discovery; the hole is shaped exactly like the red medallion Tiago was wearing passed down from his mother.
"Could this pendant be somehow connected to all of this? What exactly does this mean?" Tiago wondered as he removed the pendant from his neck. He then placed it carefully on the hallowed part. All of the flames in the chamber blew out as that happened. "Wha- what's going on?" The timid Tiago quivered from the pitch black that surrounded him. But it did not last long, for the eyes of the statue glowed red.
"You are worthy..." the statue of the Aztec Fire God boldly proclaimed as a move of his finger enraged the flames of the torches in the shrine. Another finger turned all the flames into a single beam that shot inside Tiago's body.
The boy dropped to his knees on the floor as he was grunting and wincing in pain. The fire beam went deep inside Tiago's body, down to a molecular level. But it unexpectedly collided with a beam of ice that appeared in an instant. Rather than cancelling each other out, the fire and ice beams combined into a strange new energy that was filling inside the body and moved to the hands. Tiago yelled out a loud and agonizing scream as he shot out the energy from his hands. The blast knocked the glasses out of the thirteen year old, and one wall of the shrine was now covered in this combined ice and fire. Tiago was not able to witness this astonishing phenomenon, for the blast from his new powers also knocked him unconscious.
(Alright. Big thanks to Sicarius Void for reviewing my story. Glad you like it so far, and I hope y'all do, too. Please keep the reviews and comments going!)