Nobody spoke for a moment.

"Er..." Jade began when the silence began to get awkward, "I'm taking a shot in the dark here, but I'm guessing you know something we don't. Care to explain?"

Hsi Wu avoided her eyes; glancing around as if looking for an escape. Jade sighed, and raised one hand to touch the Amulet, "That's an order."

The rather uncooperative demon flinched, then slumped back on the bench, "Oh what can it hurt, I suppose I'm already a traitor," He looked up at the Sky, "Hmm...where to begin..."

"At the beginning?"

That earned Jade a frown from both Jackie and Hsi, though they didn't say anything. The Sky demon nodded after a moment though, "That's tricky, because the true "beginning" of this was millenia ago; it even predates me and my brethren. Most of it we pieced together long afterwards, and I think we figured most of it out, but in any case, a lot of what we knew of Kemreswet's origins came from legends that were old when we came to be.

"Kemreswho? Sounds like someone choking."

"Jade, shush!"

"Sorry Jackie."

"Kemreswet. As to who, or what, he was...well...long ago, when humans were just beginning to coalesce into civilizations, we ruled the earth. Eight demons, masters of the elemental forces, immortal and invincible. There was nothing we could not accomplish, if we could stand each other long enough to cooperate."

"Yes, we lived it, remember?" interjected Viper.

"But what you don't know is we had only built on the foundation of something older," Hsi continued, "Before the Eight, we were the Nine, and before the Nine there was merely Kemreswet. You might call him the Archdemon."

"He came from the west, or so the tales say, into what you call China today, and enslaved the humans living there. He laid waste to any that resisted him, and soon no one would dare to. He then had his thralls build a great palace from where he would rule them."

"Kemreswet was a being of ultimate evil, whereas each of my brethren had dominion over one element or essence of the world, Kemreswet was lord of the darkness and fear itself. His name means, quite literally, "nightmare". Some legends of his arrival say he could stop the heart of the bravest warrior with pure terror, and slaughter armies with fear itself. He fed on it, growing stronger, and his dominion was unshakeable. He possessed many great artifacts and magic; particularly notable are the Orb, Crown, and Spear, from which he drew the bulk of his might."

"In time, he sought to expand his power across the rest of the world, but even he couldn't control land that far away on his own. This problem led him to create us. The Eight demon sorcerers."

"Wait, so this "Kemreswet" is your father?" blurted out Jade.

"In a manner of speaking," replied the demon, "And wi-"

"I have never heard of this..."Kemreswet"," commented Uncle, "Demon's story is suspicious."

Hsi Wu raised his hands defensively, "Hey, it's true! My brethren and I tried-er...get to that later...where was I?"

"With you being born."

"Oh right. Born's not quite the right word, but that doesn't matter. With our help, almost the entire world fell under our sway. There was one spot we were forbidden to enter, and we think that may have been where the archdemon came from. But in creating us, Kemreswet doomed himself. Tsao Lan could explain it better than me, but essentially, there is a balance in the world between good and evil. When-

"-the balance is tipped, it opens the door for stronger eviil. We know. Ying-Yang. Cosmic equality. Is old news," interrupted Uncle, "Get to point or Uncle will get out his blowfiish!"

"In creating us," continued Hsi Wu somewhat frantically, "He created an excess of evil. Thus a greater good had to arise to balance it. It was totally unexpected, though. A human warrior came, infiltrated the palace, and attacked the archdemon on his throne. That would've been something to see; normally a human would be like a buzzing fly to a being as powerful as Kemreswet. But Kemreswet didn't have his Relics; the Orb, Spear, and Crown I mentioned earlier; close at hand, and the warrior had the element of surprise, twelve magic stones, and a powerful weapon, Limingchien; the Dawnsword."

"Dawnsword?" chuckled Viper, "If that doesn't say "I'm magic" I don't know what does...kinda cliché, but I guess it wouldn't have been way back when."

"Twelve stones," mused Jackie, now thoroughly engrossed in the tale, "Any connection between them and the Talismans of Shendu?"

"The same. I'll get to that in a bit. But back to the sword. All the evidence points to it having considerable power. Something obviously vanquished the most powerful being in the world. One story says it was forged by an ancient earth spirit in the heart of a dormant volcano, from the core of a fallen star. Another that its potency came from the sheer amount of courage in its wielder's heart. Courage that could face the archdemon alone."

Hsi Wu leaned back and folded his arms behind his head, apparently enjoying the interest everyone was showing, "But of course facing the archdemon, or even besting him and destroying him are two completely different things. Kemreswet saw he was faring poorly, and when it seemed he would lose, he plucked out his own eye, and sealed a fragment of his spirit within. He then sent it through the Shadow Realm, to somewhere no one, not even us, ever has discovered. He must've thought to rise again, but whatever plan he had, it doesn't seem to have worked."

"When he was attacked, Kemreswet summoned us to aid him, but we were too far away, and only arrived after the battle. Shendu was the first to arrive, and he slew the warrior. He took the twelve stones, which he called the Talismans, for his own, and threw her body and the sword out into the surrounding city. That was about when the other seven of us arrived. Shendu claimed that since he had slain the warrior who had defeated Kemreswet, he had the right to his throne and the Relics. We disagreed. No one wanted to let anyone else have a whit more power than necessary, so we compromised. We agreed never to seek out what was left of Kemreswet, and destroy the Relics to prevent anyone from having his power. Shendu kept the Talismans, but we broke the Relics into pieces and split them among us seven and divided the empire much the same way. The balance of power let us rule the world side by side for millenia."

Jade frowned, "But then you all were banished."

Hsi Wu winced, "Well...not all at once...and it was Shendu's fault. He made the warrior into a martyr, and not only that, he let the body and the sword be taken by the people! We never found either after that, but they became a rallying point to fight demon rule. Some sort of society or order was formed to hide both, and keep the tale alive, no matter what we did to stomp it out. Then humans learned magic, and came after us. And one by one, we fell. The humans grew bolder, and an army marched on Shendu's palace itself, with a mighty sorcerer at their head, who bore Limingchien. He used it as the focal point in a banishing spell that had already claimed all but Shendu and myself," Hsi Wu paused, and grinned, "but we were one step ahead this time. Shendu had linked the Talismans to him; embedding them in his body, to anchor him in this world. The banishing spell couldn't draw him into the Netherworld, and Shendu calmly shoved the sorcerer out of the way, and went on a rampage among his followers. The old fool fled in terror, and I don't think anyone knows where the sword went after that."

"But the legends still persisted, and eventually I too was banished. One of the old man's apprentices found alternate means to deal with Shendu, and brought the age of demons to a close. Kemreswet, the Relics, Limingchien, and the warrior were all forgotten. Until now; this "Daolong Wong" has found one, and quite likely knows of the other six. Kemreswet may not rise again, but something nearly as powerful could, and I am stuck on the wrong side..." He trailed off and sighed, shaking his head wearily.

Uncle wiped his glasses on the sleeve of his shirt, and peered at Hsi Wu, "What did you do with the Relics? Where are they?"

Hsi Wu shrugged, "We hid them, but they would be accessible, as we never knew whether we would need them again. In order to keep them from being randomly collected though, they were-"

Jackie buried his face in his hands, "Oh not again...Let me guess...scattered to the four corners of the world?"

"The earth doesn't have corners...it's round..." mumbled Hsi Wu, staring back blankly.

"Never mind."

"It's a figure of speech," clarified Jade.

"Oh...well...yes, they were scattered, and no one knows where they all are. I could make some guesses, but as to the precise location..."

Jade slipped off the bench, and twirled around to face the others, "Good enough, we just get back to San Fran, do a little research, then race around the world collecting the Relics before Daolong Wong, than whoop his butt with them and toss him back in jail where he belongs! Just like always, right Jackie?"

"No Jade, you have school, and-"

"It's too dangerous. Right, I know. But if Daolong Wong's back, the safest place is wherever you and Uncle are! He might try to kidnap me again!"

"I-that's-augh! When did you get so good at arguing!?"

"Hehe...practice?..."

"Jade is right," Uncle interrupted, "It is toooo dangerous to leave her alone, she will get into worse trouble without us watching her."

"HEY!"

The old man continued as if he hadn't heard, "Especially with certain things around...unless Uncle is much mistaken, this sort of binding enforces some degree of proximity, and we will need it's help to do reesearch."

Jackie sighed, looked around at Jade, Hsi Wu, Uncle, and the others, and shook his head, "I guess we don't have a choice, but this isn't going to end well."

"Doon't worry, everything will be fine! But we need to get moving! We must get back to shop, and Uncle has shopping to do! Jackie, go get car, and take Jade so she stays out of trouble. Tohru, come with me."

"One moment, Sensei," As everyone went in different directions, the huge man pulled Hsi Wu to a stop as the demon-boy started uncertainly to follow Jackie, Viper and Jade, "I remember what happened last time, and I don't trust you; even if she seems to. If ANYTHING happens to her, I will see you are ended for it," he whispered, raising his hand to his neck to touch something beneath his shirt, "She was horribly hurt, even if she tried to hide it, and I won't let that happen twice. Do you understand me?"

The Sky demon nodded nervously.

"Good. You'll live longer that way."

As he ran to catch up with Jade; Hsi Wu reflected on the irony that the person who had the most reason to hate him was the one who didn't seem to; and everyone else was watching him on her behalf. Strange as it seemed, Jade was probably the best person he could've found to be summoned by; especially as lax as she was interrogating him. It was nearly impossible to withhold information under a direct command via the Amulet, but he had explained the bare minimum. With a little luck, he might even be able to work this to his advantage. He really needed to find out how long it was until the full moon.