"We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone."
Orson Welles
Kung Fu Panda
The Long Night
Chapter XI: A Quarter of a second
The men hammered the battering ram against the gate.
It is really annoying here. Not only is the noise of the ram annoying but also its echoes. Here in this place there are everywhere echoes of it. Simply hold your ears shut and it will not annoy you….
We are in an odd valley. It is in the middle of a plateau. The stone and now snowy ground of the plateau is projecting inside the valley as well – but only high above the ground. From above it looks like a normal ground, from below here it looks like a stone flat roof. A roof which looks like it would fall down every second and I bet it had done it already. At least the rocks on the snowy ground of the valley tell about it. Probably that's why this monastery was built inside the rocks itself and so far away from the open sky where the rocks can fall down….Stone rain…he he…funny picture.
The Monastery was built like a fortress. It was built right into the edge of the rocky mountain wall. Because of the small area it was built longish along the mountain wall. And around it, is a wall built with black stone and this damn gate, which the battering ram should break.
"It seems that it doesn't work so efficiently." I say with a cold undertone. I look to my side – I and the others are standing on a higher position of the road which leads to the monastery to see the attack better – and look at the lion with his golden mane in this way. He wears a black armor now, like his soldiers who are attacking the monastery. Adum became quite useful in the last months.
"Yeah,…these damn monks are trying to stop the ram with their bodies. It will be futile." he replies in his voice, which resembles a Lord. Not that it would intimate me.
"Their goal is not to stop us, but to buy some time." I look back to Kar, who is always not far away from me, "Kar, fly there and care there for, that they don't escape."
"I can do this as well." the girly voice of Shari tells me in her impatient manner. "Not yet." I disagree and see her sad gestures. Kar nods only and flies away. I relax.
"See I told you. It would be not certain that he will send us so fast." Yin Siqu says to Shari.
"You are not certain of everything." Shari replies a little annoyed. She flies from one point to another glaring at me. I don't care.
"You seem relaxed now, Bai Fen.", Adum notices. I shrug.
"Kar is away that's why." I reply simply.
"Are you frightened of him?" he says in a cocky voice. I glare at him and he shuts his mouth immediately. "No and that's the point." I reply.
He looks confused. "What?"
"Kar wants to frighten White always." Shari says impatient.
"That is not certain." Yin Siqu says and annoys me with this as well. Adum looks even more confused than before. I sigh. As long as the ram is hammering I could tell him.
"Kar was once trained by the best hunter of the world: His own father. He and his brother. His father taught them, that courage is everything. Courage to overcome even the greatest obstacle, no matter what it is."
"Okay…" Adum murmurs.
"Be patient. I don't need a second impatient one." I say while looking at Shari, "The last test of Kar – to prove that he is ready to be the greatest hunter – was simple: Kill his own brother."
"What?!" Adum yells almost.
"Quiet.", I remind him, "I don't understand it either, why the father thought that this would be the proof of the greatest courage. But it happened. Kar refused to do it. Unfortunately his own brother was not so merciful. He killed Kar almost and showed him something really important: Fear to die. Kar realized that this fear is far more powerful than every courage can ever be, as long as you plant it deep into the hearts of your prey." I make a break, "He killed his father, but not before planting the fear deep into him. What happened with his brother, I don't know. At any rate since then Kar hunts for prey whom he plants his fear into the heart. In my case it didn't work. Since then he looks for every weakness in me to plant the fear inside me. Till now he was unsuccessful."
Adum strokes his mane. "I see….and why is he working for you?"
"In this way I am always close to him. And I have a reason not to kill him."
He chuckles. "Aha….and he has told you this?"
I give him the evil eyes….ha! Now it works. "He is not talkative, but he also doesn't hide his motives." I explain, "As a General you need to know such things."
"I get it….so maybe you could explain now, what the reason for us is to be here?"
With this question he annoys me for days already. Since I have joined them and ordered them their mission.
"The Player says you don't need to know…and I agree. It would be useless to tell you."
"You could try." I hear the anger in his voice. He knows I am not Tian Yi…will need to show him that there is no difference. I grab my Twins, when I hear something. I turn my head to the direction of the noise and see that the gate is broken. The first soldiers try to enter the monastery and are attacked by the monks of it.
"Shari, Yin Siqu now you can go." I order and see only like a pink flash flies past me to the gate.
"Really?" Yin Siqu asks me still and I glare at him. He wriggles away without another word.
"I bet these two guys have also quite interesting stories." Adum guesses and it seems like he has forgotten the almost fight.
"Yeah.", I reply while stepping closer to the monastery.
"I bet you have also one White Rider.", Adum says in a dangerous undertone. I look back at him and show again my evil eyes. I have not let go of the hilt of my Twins. "When the Black, Red and Green Rider have a story, then the White Rider needs to have one as well." I agree with my dangerous undertone, "But you will not need to know it. And now go down and command your men to fight. We need to take this monastery fast."
He grins evilly and goes down shouting orders.
I wait in my position still for a while, before I let the hilt go. This guy is not only a tool. I need to look out for this.
He was right. Every one of us has a story. Shari was once an ugly crawler. All of their family had told her that she only needs to be patient, and then she would flourish as a gorgeous Butterfly. And so she waited and bore even the teasing of the non-insect children of her village. And when the day finally came the first reaction of these same children was to laugh and say: "She is even uglier than before." Somehow this laughter caught also the other villagers except her family. But she didn't notice this already. She thinks even now that she is ugly although I would not think this…not that it matters. She is the annoying impatient Butterfly I know now. And she is useful.
Yin Siqu means Hidden Death. And once he was such a guy. The best assassin that ever lived. No one could escape his fangs, although most didn't realize their death before it happened already. But one day Siqu met his master. He destroyed him without killing. His confidence from once is shattered to never heal once again. Everything he needs to check twice or thrice when not even more…at least I taught him that he should not do this with me…
The ground between the walls and the outer part of the monastery is taken and the monks are falling back. Time to come closer. I go down.
I have also a story. Different from the others….my "parents" were travelers. Merchants. Who lived from that what they bought and sold. It was not much, but enough for them…and their only child, me.
While coming closer to the ram, I look down at my paw. The scar of the whiplash is still visible there…even after so many years. When I became older and stronger, I couldn't control my strength anymore….I hurt mum with it….My parents decided that I needed discipline to control this strength and so they hired a Kung Fu Master. A stinking Rhino….if I had known what they had to pay for this training I had killed him. He trained me in discipline…with force. He needed to beat it in me…with punches, whips and kicks…and much more….My whole body is one single prove of it!
I look around. The ram has destroyed the gate pretty good…the gate was fortified thrice. Thick and solid wood. The monks who have protected the monastery are lying around here. They look like trained soldiers without armor….and these are monks?! Don't make me laugh. I go further.
The only good thing of the training was that it worked. More than good…too good. So good that I feared to use my strength. Even when bandits attacked us and began to kill my parents. I feared to use my strength with which I could have protected them….
I come closer to Adum. Beside him are the others as well like a bunny monk. Splendid.
"Kar, have someone gotten away?" I ask for control…not that I would really believe, that someone escaped him. He shakes his head obviously.
I come closer to the bunny who seems frightened; although he still tries to be determined…not that I care.
"You have lost." I say, "You and your brothers."
"You think?" he says trying to confuse me, but it doesn't work. "I know." I reply, "And you know it too now. And you will care there for, that everyone knows it. Especially the Masters of Kung Fu…That Adum and his army of Black Soldiers terrorize the South…"
"Why…Why are you doing this?" he stammers.
"Why shouldn't we do it? This is the army of Adum, once of Tian Yi. Revenge is the reason why we do this of course. We want to have justice against all Masters of Kung Fu…especially the ones from the Jade Palace. We will burn down every village and every monastery and kill every Kung Fu Master we encounter." I begin to pet him, "And you will tell all of them of this, bunny."
"Why…why should I?" he asks weakly.
I come much closer to his face….our noses touch each other and I glare at his eyes. "Because I'll kill you, when not." I say very calm and cold. He gulps. "And you will not like the speed of It.", I add.
I look up to Adum to give him the gestureless signal. He does it: He roars loud and clear and as frightening as possible right behind the bunny. Without proper thinking this one runs away as fast as possible. I laugh loud and clear.
"Splendid fear planting." I hear a cold voice from behind and look at Kar, "He will tell even when he knows that he shouldn't."
"I know." I agree, "Then let us go to our target."
All of us turn around and go the stairs upwards to floor two of this monastery. Everywhere are laying defeated Monks and the soldiers began to plunder. We go up to the third floor and see the original target of this: A circular stone pavilion. The Soldiers have surrounded it like ordered.
"So will you tell me, what is inside there now?" Adum brings up the matter again. I sigh.
"An urn." I reply finally telling the truth.
"An urn? Is this everything?" Adum asks disbelievingly. I look back to him. "Nothing else is needed. But you and your men can plunder the whole monastery. After all it should look horrible, shouldn't it?"
He pets his mane once again. "Okay…but you will need to do some explanations after this."
"I will not!" I say and grab my hilt once again. The other three glare at him as well and the mighty lion shrinks down to a gnashing teeth imp. "Understood.", he growls and turns away.
I snort and go to the only door of the pavilion. One step away from it, I stop and the others as well.
"You stay here. I will handle this myself." I say to them.
"But White, this guy there…" Shari wants to warn me, but Kar stops her. He nods only and Yin Siqu looks as uncertain like always. I nod and enter the pavilion closing the door behind me.
The pavilion is lightened only rarely. The few windows are small – even Shari would have problems to squeeze through them – but there for several torches are ignited. The pavilion is built like stairs which lead to the centre. Every step of the stair is built like a ring, whereupon the utmost is the biggest and highest. The centre of the pavilion is a circle and the lowest point of this building. And there is the Urn. As well like a bigger monk, who is kneeing in front of it.
I look down and see also lines drawn into the steps – these are not only stairs. These are rings of influence. When I step only one step closer to him, I will be in his range. I smirk.
I begin to go along the utmost ring. I can't deny that I have waited for this meeting. "Finally we meet….dad." I say and look precisely how he reacts on this piece of information. First only his orange-black striped ears react. "Dad?" he asks in a confused tone and stands up. He is a strong, but not young tiger. In his fur is already seen many grey beside the orange and black. He is probably bigger than me, probably as big as Adum. His eyes are icy cold despite the confused face he has. He wears like every monk here a monk dress out of yellow and black.
He observes me precisely for a while. "Okai?" he asks finally. My birth name.
"Not anymore. I am Bai Fen now." I reply.
His face shows acceptance. "I see…you got big…since the last time I saw you."
I stop and glare at him. "Probably because you left me as a cub by strangers?!" I say with a dangerous undertone. He doesn't look intimidated. "I couldn't know if they would be good parents….Sorry that they weren't."
"They were the best, one young cub could wish for.", I object, "Better than you could ever be. After all you…have abandoned me." He doesn't look comfortable hearing this.
"I had my reasons."
"I don't care for your reasons!" I reply angrier than I wanted to.
He smirks and lowers his head. "I see…that's why you are here…"
I shake my head. "No…I am here because of this." I say and point out at the Urn. He looks at it and then at me. He is confused that is for sure, but still I don't see the slightest weakness in his defense. I walk further along the ring.
"You are…here…that's why?" he murmurs, "…Why? What do you want with this Urn?"
"I…nothing….but the Player wants to have it. And as long as the Player gives me what I want I want to have it as well."
He looks like someone who has realized something. "Oh God….Thank you…" he says shaking his head, "You are not the one."
"Who?" I ask confused now.
"Doesn't matter…" he replies, "…Oka….Bai Fen you can't believe what the 'Player' says to you. He lies. He has always lied. During his whole existence."
"Don't care…I am not his underling, when you think that. I am his partner."
"His partner? For what purpose?"
"You don't need to know…." I can't find a weakness…seems that I need to take him from the front….wait, maybe…."you know they died?"
"Who?"
"The ones who were more parents for me than you could ever be. Died of a bandit attack….and I couldn't prevent it. My Kung Fu Master forced a harsh discipline on me and I couldn't overcome it….at least not fast enough."
"About what are you talking?", he asked confused.
I grab the hilt and draw my Twins. One to one of the hands.
I close my eyes…collect it. Now is the time….I open my eyes glaring.
"Wrath is the key." I say preparing to attack, "Only my wrath can release my true strength. And my wrath is directed at you right now!"
I charge him….a quarter of a second….more I don't need…only a quarter of a second of missing defense. He gets into a battle position, while I attack. One from the left and without an additional movement one to the right. He blocks it by reflecting them at the blunt edges of my twins. I become angrier. Another attack – a sudden thrust from the stand – but he dodges it. From above, from the sides, from below, from the edges and even further thrust of both blades….he blocks them by simply reflecting or redirecting their attacks….but I notice something: He doesn't attack.
"Too afraid of me to attack?" I ask in a mocking tone, after we got separated a bit. Both of us pant.
"I will not harm you son. You are misled only." he replies. I shake my head. "You still don't get it,….but fine…" I look at him. My movements are faster than his, but he is still able to block my attacks….in the last possible moment. In this way we are equally strong….and the one with the longer breathe will win….will need to go for this then.
I attack him with both swords from the side and he is ready to redirect them again….unfortunately this time their attack is a bait. I rush forward with my head before he realizes this.
CRASH!
He trips. He has not expected this…my quarter of the second. Before he regains his balance I charge and use my Twins in a flapping manner: The Butterfly Wings.
…SLIT! …SLIT!
….
He is on his knees when I get into normal speed once again.
"Argh…!" he moans and I hear the spitting of blood.
"You lost." I say to him, while going to the Urn. He glares at me…but then begins to grin.
"Oogway…this damn bastard knew it…He said that by fleeing from my responsibilities, I will not flee from my destiny…"
I shake my head. Don't know about what he is talking about. "Doesn't matter now. You will die here."
"Don't think so…" he murmurs, before I hear a loud cracking noise from the side. I look there and see that Shari has destroyed the door….her eyes show her impatience. The other guys follow her. I look back to the Tiger, while he passes me running. Before I can react he vanishes behind a fake wall.
"Crap! Catch him!" I yell. They pursue him and I am alone once again. I look back to the destroyed door…no one there…I relax and almost fall on my ass. This old geezer was more of a challenge I've expected…or my wrath was simply not complete still…I look up to the urn behind me. Even when he escapes: I have the Urn.
One step closer to my goal. I grin.
Like promised the next chapter before the year ends :) Hope you have nothing against this change of perspective to Bai Fen ;)
When you like this story, I would be happy, if you would review it.
I want also to point out, that there is also a News Section on my profile now :)
"Kung Fu Panda" (c) DreamWorks Animation
I own nothing except for the written word.
Characters you don't know are from me. The Idea is also from me.
