Chapter Seven, One of no lies
The chamber deep down in the ground was moist. The walls were built up by rotting planks covered in mold and the floor was probably supposed to be a dirt floor, but the moist had turned it into mud. The roof was dripping with water and roots hanged down brushing the fur on Po's ears.
"Erm... I am so sorry to interupt your 'Quiet stride of Kung-Fu-ness' Master Shifu, but is it healthy to be down here? I mean... with all the mold and... such..." Po rolling his thumbs nervously. Shifu folded his ears clearly annoyed and sighed.
"While I must admit, the condition of these chambers has faltered, I can still assure you that it is perfectly fine to be here." Shifu said unfolding one of his ears before folding it down again after it got hit by a waterdrop. The crowd kept walking through the tunnel that according to Po, seemed endless.
"So... How much further do we have to go?" Po asked, breaking the eerie silence that hung over them. Shifu sighed inwardly and turned his head slightly back.
"Not much further Dragon Warrior." Shufy replied, clearly annoyed. The further they walked down the tunnel, the more they noticed that there was puddles in the floor. And the further they walked down, the larger the puddles got. In the end, the floor was covered in one large puddle. Shifu halted the group with a swift hand command.
"Po, Pick up Mantis and Crane, pick up Viper." Shifu said while still looking straight ahead. The tunnel ahead had no light at all. It seemed as Shifu's "force" couldn't reach this far. Shifu turned around and faced Tigress.
"Do you have your torch with you?" He asked. Tigress only nodded before reaching into an almost invisible pocket in her pants. She pulled out of it a small box and when she opened it, Po couldn't help but to look in awe as she brought forth a small bamboo stick out of the box and a match. She took the small bamboo stick in her hand and quickly flicked it, making a thin wooden rod come outof the bamboo. She took the match and drew it against the bamboo, making it burst into flames. She quickly lit up the small torch and shook her hand while still holding the match, making it go out. She now had a Torch.
Shifu nodded in approval at the sight before him. Viper was sitting on Cranes slightly extended wing, Mantis was sitting on Po's head and Tigress had a torch in her hand. He turned around and continued walking, the group following him closely.
They reached the end of the tunnel, and what the arrived to was a cavern. A cavern which had a lake in it. At the edges, there was shelfs with thousands of scrolls on them and in the very back of the cave there was a training space. A training space and a desk with a humble little chair beside it. Shifu folded up his ears when they entered the large cave and took a deep breath before starting to speak.
"Welcome to the Cavern of the past." He said out into nothingness. He started walking slowly around the lake as he spoke.
"This is a location of History, of glory, of fate and of prophecys. But we are not here for any of them. We are here to visit a certain part of history..." He spoke, looking around himself. They were almost at the desk at the back already, and they were approaching quickly. When only being about five meters away from the desk, Shifu turned towards the shelf beside him and grabbed a scroll out of the carefully stacked pile. The group of fighters behind him flinched as he did so, but miraculously, the pile now only had a hole in it where the scroll once was. Shifu took another deep breath before turning towards his students, holding the scroll up in the air.
"The part when Oogway was forced to lie to save our world." He said watching his students expressions change to a face of shock.
"But... Wasn't Oogway like, all good and stuff? Never lying and such?" Po immidiently questioned. Shifu closed his eyes and put his arm which held the scroll behind his back.
"Yes panda. This is true. But those are legends. And as Oogway once told me, 'Legends are made to be believed, Mysteries to be solved and truth's to be hated'." Shifu said in a matter-of-fact tone. He opened his eyes and walked past his students in the direction of the tunnel.
"Come, I will tell you the story on the way back." He said calmly as the five started to follow him.
(Shifu narrating)
'That night when Oogway was on his way back to China and the Valley of peace... He had a vision.'
Oogway sat calmly on the ground as he meditated. His mind was clear, his focus immense. He was in his peaceful place in his mind. The landscape was endless green hills and now and then, you could see a peach tree. He burrowed his eyebrows with wonder, he never got here unless...
Unless the universe had something to say.
'He knew something was wrong. At the moment he entered his solitude location, he knew. And he had to find out what was wrong.'
Immidiently, the landscape around him changed. He was now standing beside the Sacred peach tree of Heavenly Wisdom. He looked out and saw the village sitting there peacefully. He sighed in relief.
'But then... it went all wrong.'
The sun turned red and the valley was shrouded in darkness. He could see clouds coming in from the south-west, dark clouds. In a matter of second, they had covered the sky. Oogway could do nothing but to look as the villagers down below paniced and ran around.
'Then, he saw something that only should reside in hell itself.'
All of a sudden, a loud explosion sounded. He looked up into the sky and saw the clouds flash red and orange as large burning suns came down and hit the valley.
'He couldn't move. He could just watch as his lifes work was destroyed. But he knew, that this was a vision. A vision of what would happen in the future if something did not happen when it should have.'
Oogway regained control of his mind and exited the hellish world. He was now once again in the forest floor as raindrops began to fall. He knew that he had to get back to the palace immidiently.
'And so, he rushed back. He ran all day, and all night. He didn't eat, he didn't sleep. He didn't drink, He didn't think...'
'Woa, so... Did that rhyme on purpose?' Po's voice echoed, interupting Shifu.
'N-. YES, PANDA! NOW QUIET OR I WILL GIVE THE FIVE PERMISSION TO KICK YOU DOWN THE STAIRS WHENEVER THEY WANT!' Shifu screamed at the Panda who quickly shut up.
'Anyways, He did not do anything but to run. He reached the Valley after a week of constant running and as fast as he got there, he went to this cavern, sat by his desk and wrote a lie.'
Oogway thought through his ancient mind carefully. He could not risk making a misstake. He lowered the feather and wrote with careful words:
By the last wishes of the lord of the province Rashkasinuu
My gold will be claimed by my Daughter, Sundara. And when she reaches the age of
20, she may take the name Pīlì to honor the family. I also wish that my daughter will be able to access the Library Dìzhī zhīshì in China to learn about the art of taṟkāppuk kalai which is practiced by all in our family.
These wishes shall only be fullfilled when I have met with my fate and can no longer carry on my duties, and by the law, my wishes will be completed or punishment will be served.
Signed, Lord Garva.
Oogway put the feather away and read through his creation. It was clean. He rolled it together and put it in his shell before he headed back to the scene of the accident.
'He arrived there after one and a half week and luckily, found Sundara sleeping. He then went underground and replaced the original testament with his forged and quickly left the scene and headed back to the Jade palace.'
Shifu finished his story just as they had arrived at the top of the stairs again.
"Master Shifu, I am very sorry for questioning your story, but are you saying that he did not only lie, but he broke the law and the wishes of a dead man?" Tigress asked, confused by the story which was very understandable. Oogway had been a big part of her life and his legend too.
"Yes, Tigress. That is very correct." Shifu confirmed. The group stood in shock. Their world had just been turned upside down.
"Anyways, I believe it is time for dinner already. Po, will you cook?" Shifu asked the Panda who was still in a shock state. He shook his head quickly before answering.
"Of course Master Shifu." Shifu then looked at his students with a smile.
"Excellent. I will not be joining you this evening sadly, I have to study Oogways scroll." Shifu said, still holding the scroll behind his back.
"You are all dismissed." He finally said. Monkey, Mantis, Tigress and Viper all bowed and exited, Po quickly following their lead.
"Please tell me you left loopholes in this..." Shifu muttered as he exited the hall and walked to the training hall.
Oh my, Oh my!
An update so soon? And quite a long one at that?
well, actually it's quite short.
But yea, and update nonetheless!
I hope you enjoyed folks, and I do not want to be a pest but No one has done my Quiz it seems.
well, I didn't really expect anyone to do it.
Anyway, Anyhow and Anywhy,
I will see you at the next update!
Tchüss!
