CHAPTER FIVE
LET'S CHANGE HISTORY!
In San Francisco…
Mr. Ernest Goldberg, curator of the local museum, was in a very, very good mood. The nice archaeologist that had introduced himself as Mr. Jackie Chan had been very cooperative with the museum been happy to excavate and move the golden bell they'd found in a nearby large forest. Apparently it had been undisturbed for centuries, and was a truly miraculous find. It had been donated to the museum just two days ago, and soon would be open for display.
His secretary buzzed him. "Someone wants to see you about the bell sir. Says it's urgent." Short, quick, to the point.
Mr. Ernest Goldberg frowned. He brushed back what little hair he had left on his head and pressed the respond button. "Let him in."
Perhaps someone examining the bell had found something important. Some rune or inscription that the museum needed to know of? Or maybe the bell had cracked, or perhaps was too damaged to be displayed? These things needed to be dealt with ASAP, something Ernie had learned when he was just a secretary himself in the museum he now presided over.
The door opened and shut very, VERY quickly. Ernie gasped. This…this person was frightening to behold. His entire…SELF was scary. It wasn't just the golden eyes, or the scaly, three-digit clawed hands, or the dark, hooded cloak…he had a miasma of darkness around him. This was NOT someone in a costume. He could tell.
"Are you the curator of this museum?" The…person…asked. Ernie nodded.
"Yes." He said squeakily. He coughed a few times and drew himself up, clearing his throat. "Um, what may I do for you?"
"Do you care for the safety of the people of your museum?" The thing asked.
Ernie blinked. "Why, yes, I…I practically grew up with them."
The thing crossed its arms and sighed. "I was afraid of that…then it's a good thing I came here. I am going to give you one warning and one warning only…return the bell. Return the bell to its forest and your employees will go unharmed. Not only that, all of your beloved city shall be unharmed."
Ernie was angry. He slammed his hands on his desk and stood up. "Now see here, what gives you the balls to tell me what to do? Get out of my office! I won't be intimidated by criminal threats!"
The thing nodded slowly. "Then the city's health is on…your conscience. I did warn you. Now San Francisco shall suffer as a result."
The "person" left the office silently. Ernie glared at him all the way, and when he was finally out of sight, Ernie walked to his secretary's room. "How could you let him-"
His secretary was drooling, sitting in her chair. She looked pale…zombified. Ernie waved his hand in front of her a few times and she suddenly awoke with a start. "WUAH! There's…there's a big snake, it…it was looking at me and suddenly I felt so weird, Mr. Goldberg, I felt so WEIRD…"
Ernie frowned. Something told him he'd made a very dangerous move.
He wished he could go play on his fishing boat. He really liked his boat.
Meanwhile, Nick had collided hard with a big, fancy white wall. He slowly slid down it, groaning. Wrenching himself free he fell to the ground and got up, brushing himself off.
"Wow." He said.
It was amazing. He was in a pearly white shrine. The walls shimmered with holy light, but what caught Nick's eyes were two things. At the far end of the shrine, to Nick's left, was a beautiful wooden door the size of a redwood tree, with ornate decorations on it and many knockers of different sizes and shapes. And on the other side, to Nick's right…
A huge book lay open on a large display stand made of gold. It had an emerald binding. Nick slowly approached it, amazed at how HUGE it was. It was bigger than that old atlas that he had had as a little kid, the one that had been his own size! He looked at it.
Hmm. It was written in Chinese…or was it Japanese? Which was which? He could never tell.
Nick remembered something suddenly, the thought suddenly popping up in his head.
Yes, it WAS Chinese. Because this book, this HUGE book that was in this big white shrine, it was special…there was only one book that had been shown in a white shrine on the TV show…
The Book of Ages…
A book that magically recorded history!
Suddenly Nick noticed that the words were…changing to English! He could read it now. He walked up to it and decided to take a look at the cover. Did it have an author?
He put the walking stick and backpack down and turned to the front cover of the book. The emerald binding of the book was dazzling in its beauty. He ran his fingers over the title.
"The Book Of Ages"…
Suddenly it changed. "The Emerald Book of Secrets".
Nick blinked. No way!
Then it changed again. "The Emerald Scrolls of Thoth"
Oh WOW! So the Emerald Book of Secrets he'd read about was REAL!
"Awwwwwsome!" Nick said. He couldn't help it. He had kept a finger on the page that had been open. He turned back to it and read.
Yes, yes…interesting. All stuff about what had recently happened in the Jackie Chan Adventures timeline. Then, right after "Father and son were banished from the Earth"…
"Nicholas Michael Grey came to the world, remaining true to his ideals no matter what the challenge…"
Wow. Nice.
"I can't believe I'm in the Emerald Book of Secrets! There are so many things I could look up in here about the past…but…I'd better not. It's not really meant for me. Hmm…"
He scratched his head. "Then again, with this book I could fix a lot of stuff…it wouldn't hurt to fix just one accident, could it?"
He looked to his left and saw a little quill, inside a small bottle of ink. "Just one incident, just one…"
He reached for it and took it in his hands. He brought it to the paper, preparing to write.
What to write?
"Should I fix 9/11? Yeah, that would be-oh, but who knows what THAT might do? Maybe a better leader…yeah, Bush could lose the election…then again…hmm. I don't know how closely this world resembles my own, how much could change for the worse if I try to help. What do I know about this world that I can DEFINITELY change?"
Then an idea came to him.
What if…what if he went back and time and made sure that Shendu never ended up bothering the Chans? Wouldn't he be doing the whole world a favor?
Hmm…then again, if he DID do it, then Tohru wouldn't join up with the Chans…
But what would happen if he went back in time…and managed to take care of one demon? Just one? Not Shendu of course, but maybe someone else…what would that mean? What could happen?
Less stress off of the Chan clan's back, that's what would happen! What would be so bad about that?
Nick nodded. He knew just what to do. He turned to the blank part of the page that talked about him entering this realm of existence. He started to write.
"And then…" Nick said, reading out loud what he was writing. "A portal to the past opened in the shrine of the Emerald book, and Nick Grey was able to travel into the past, where and when the demons first appeared…"
A roaring sound suddenly echoed throughout the shrine. Nick looked back and saw that another door had appeared, this one smaller than the first but still ornately decorated. He looked at the Book of Ages.
"Hmm…I'd better bring it with me. But first…"
Nick wrote down "And then the Book of Ages shrunk down to a better size so Nick could carry it in his backpack."
The book shrunk down to the size of a hotel-room Bible. Nick closed it and put it in the second pocket of his backpack, then walked to the door.
"Here I go." He said, opening up the door and stepping through into light…
Suddenly Nick was outside of a beautiful home. A Chinese home. It was three stories high, with a large stone path leading to it, with flower bushes lining up the path. There was a small set of steps that led up to the patio of this house, and the door had Chinese symbols on it. Nick looked down at his watch and checked the year.
28 BC. Hmm. Interesting.
"This must be where the demons were created." Nick thought. "I wonder how you make a dem-"
Suddely Nick heard a carriage approaching. He ducked behind a flower bush and waited, taking out the Book just in case.
The carriage stopped. Then he heard a voice say something in Chinese.
"I wish I could understand Chinese." Nick said.
YOU'LL NEED TO UNDERSTAND A LOT MORE THAN CHINESE. An omnipotent Voice said, a familiar voice Nick had heard so many times before, always guiding, always understandable, and more importantly, not an impartial observer, but someone who was really involved! Nick looked around.
What the? All of time had frozen! Nothing was moving at all, everything, air, bushes and people were stock still. A bird in mid-flight was above him, unmoving. Some leaves that had been blowing softly in a breeze were still as could be.
Nice.
"You froze time?"
I THINK WE NEED TO HAVE A TALK.
The way the Voice said that made Nick gulp.
BEWARE OF MESSING WITH THE FLOW OF TIME, NICK. IT CAN HAVE GRAVE CONSEQUENCES.
"Yeah, I know what I'm doing!" Nick said stubbornly.
THAT'S WHAT I'M WORRIED ABOUT. IN ANY CASE, HOLD ONTO YOUR NECKLACE.
Nick nodded, holding onto it tightly. "Like this?"
Suddenly he heard hundreds of voices speaking, all in so many different languages…
"Bonne chance!"
"Viel Glueck!"
"Buona fortuna!"
"Boa sorte!"
"Buena suerte!"
...and he knew they were all saying the same thing…
"Good luck."
NOW YOU WILL UNDERSTAND ALL THAT YOU HEAR, AND ALL THAT HEAR YOU WILL UNDERSTAND. YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN WHEN IT COMES TO TRANSLATING WRITING.
"Okay…any other advice?"
YES…YOU'RE ABOUT TO SEE HOW THE OTHER SIDE LIVES. BE CAREFUL.
Nick blinked, and time was unfrozen. The woman had apparently told the driver of the carriage that had brought her here to leave. The carriage seemed to leave, going far away. The woman started humming as she walked down the path.
Nick kept hidden, but although he was hidden carefully he could still see the woman.
She was dressed in flowing white robes, with a pink flower in her hair. She had beautiful golden brown eyes and long, flowing white hair that was tied into a bun at the top. Two long strands of hair hung down, swaying gently in the breeze. She had a small, gentle smile on her face and radiated warmth from it.
She looked like an angel.
Nick blinked. He was simply amazed.
Then he heard the door open. He turned his eyes to the left and saw a man. He looked quite handsome, but also serious and austere. He had brown hair that was well cropped and he wore purple robes with golden trimmings. He and the woman were both wearing sandals with white socks. The man had a golden necklace with a strange symbol on it…Nick recognized it as an upside down cross.
The Cross of Saint Peter. Peter had asked to be crucified upside down because he had felt unworthy of dying the same way as his lord. He'd been obliged. But now he was in Heaven and stood at the Pearly Gates, allowing the worthy into Heaven. Still, although the Cross of Saint Peter had been a sign of respect for the saint originally often it ended up being used by satanic or underground cults.
Odd that a Chinese man is wearing it, Nick thought. He watched the woman go up to the man.
"I told you I'd be here on time." She said with a small smile. "Don't frown. You look so much better when you're smiling."
Nick liked her already! He could tell what she was saying because, although he HEARD Chinese, he understood it as if it was the English language, like he'd ALWAYS known what they were saying.
"As you wish. Come on in, cherry blossom. Do you like my necklace, by the way? This sign appeared to me in a vision, and I just HAD to have it made into a necklace."
"Oh, you and your visions!" She gently pinched his cheek and walked inside. "It's very nice." Nick heard her say. The man shut the door behind her. Nick walked out from his hiding spot and ran to the door. But he didn't open it. He inched around it, going to a nearby window and listening in.
"I have something to talk to you about." He heard the man say in a voice that for some reason sounded chilling to Nick. "It's about the future. I know you're as concerned as I about finding a good husband. That's why I wish to talk to you."
Nick listened for the woman's response. It came quickly.
"Of course I'm concerned about the future." She said. "Everyone is, right? I want to settle down and have a family and children, and…can you keep a secret?"
"There may be people listening outside our windows. We should go upstairs to my room, it is quite secure."
Nick heard the woman giggling. "Well, if you'll feel safer up there, than okay silly. Let's go then. I want to tell you about someone."
"Ladies first." The man said.
Nick heard them walking up the steps. Time for action. He flew into the air and up, up…he saw the roof slanted off nice and widely, meaning he could land safely…AND peek into any windows. He landed on the roof and looked into the nearest window.
Hmm…it was a large room with a big bed at the end of it, and several desks. The man had written something Nick couldn't make out at all on the walls. It looked like gibberish, there were far too many symbols mixed in with the words. Weirder still there were flowers and candles all around, and a funny smell…incense maybe…was creeping out from the open window.
Then he saw the door opening. This WAS the man's room!
He quickly flattened himself against the flat wall of the window, to the right of it. He listened.
"Now what did you-what? What on Earth is this, Long Oah?"
So the man's name was Long Oah.
"I told you, my cherry blossom…I am concerned about the future. You see…"
He heard "Blossom" gasp as something ripped…clothes! He was ripping her clothes off!
"Oh my god." Nick whispered.
RIPPP!
"I desire a family like you do…and more importantly…"
"He wouldn't…"
RIIPPPPP!
"I desire YOU. And my kind usually get whatever we desire."
Nick heard "Blossom" scream. Long Oah laughed and he heard the sound of her being shoved…he heard bedsprings creak. Long Oah had shoved her onto the bed. He heard the door slam.
"Now then my dear cherry blossom…"
He heard a "fwump". Long Oah's clothes had hit the floor.
"It's time you found out…"
"Blossom" was terrified. Nick could hear her pleading, begging him to go away in an almost inaudible tone. Long Oah ignored her.
Nick suddenly felt very, VERY sick. He got it. He knew, he KNEW…
"No, oh God please, don't let him do this…"
"What a demon sorcerer can do in bed."
Blossom screamed. Long Oah laughed.
"Oh Jesus Christ, no…no…no…"
Nick heard bedsprings squeak and Blossom screams were suddenly muffled. He was holding a hand over her mouth.
"Don't worry, you do not become pregnant with a demon sorcerer's children on the first go. Not if the sorcerer so wishes it. Just try to…heh-heh…relax."
Nick couldn't take it. He curled up in a ball, putting his head between his legs and pressing them tightly against his ears with his arms, tears falling down freely.
Though it was muffled, he could still hear shrieks of pain and pleasure.
Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh sweet Jesus he's raping her he's raping her oh GOD…
He bit down hard on his lip and both blood and tears fell to the roof.
It seemed to take hours. Finally it was over. Nick heard Long Oah get up, walking outside the room and closing it, locking "Blossom" inside. He heard her sobbing horribly, a rendition he'd never heard before in his entire life. It made him sick.
He slowly inched towards the window and peeked in.
Blood…oh GOD, how can she bleed so much? She was so tired, so weakened from it all that she was unconscious but sweet Jesus the BLOOD…
Nick fell back, hot, terrible tears springing to his eyes. He bit on his fist, drawing blood and not moving from the roof.
He wanted to die. NOBODY deserved that. NOBODY. He covered his face with his hands, ashamed that he had not stopped it, and sickened at what he'd seen. He felt sick throughout his entire body.
A moment later he couldn't help it. He vomited over the side of the roof.
"Oh GOD…"
Author's note:
I apologize if anyone found that shocking. It's meant to be. Don't worry, things improve soon enough!