This chapter was also pretty heavily edited in some places because bits of it were ridiculously out of character.
NI TANG
Chapter 4
Ni Tang sat on a round stone and kept his eyes on his sister. Bai Tsa was a blue mermaid-like creature, fitting considering her element. She didn't look happy, slashing with her tail and frowning at him.
"As you know, the responsibility of your training has been placed on my shoulders," she said acidly, her red eyes flashing. "At this point I want to make clear that I don't like you. And yet I have to do this because of my family, and I expect you to do exactly as I tell you. Clear?" the water demon asked and Ni Tang nodded.
"Good." It was quiet for a moment and the smaller demon shifted on his place. Bai Tsa glanced at him. "Patience," she snapped and Ni Tang froze immediately.
"I'm not like Dai Gui; I don't use violence when I teach things. But I won't let you walk away before I've made sure you understand the most important thing; why you exist," she said seriously and prepared to snap something if Ni Tang tried to protest. He scowled at her but remained silent. Pity. Bai Tsa would have liked to throttle the newcomer a little.
"I want you to understand that you are not living a life for yourself. You are the youngest of the family of demon sorcerers, and your responsibility is to think about the well being of your siblings before you do anything for yourself. I don't think this is too hard to grasp, is it?" the water demonasked and raised a brow.
Ni Tang nodded again, and Bai Tsa let out a sigh.
"Dai Gui was right; you sure are quiet," she muttered and wondered why it should be like that.
According to what the others had told about Valmont, he had been self-confident, proud and very loud when needed. He had certainly made noise when he had begged them to spare him this fate. Why was Ni Tang the complete opposite of that?
Oh well. This was better. If Ni Tang had been like Valmont, he would have never accepted his place as the scum of the family.
"Like Tchang Zu told you, this place is the Netherworld and we were banished here for all eternity. Every one of us eight has a portal, which will give us our freedom if someone opens them from the other side," she continued.
Ni Tang nodded. He didn't know why this was important, but he preferred this to what Dai Gui had tried to teach him.
"Shendu, the youngest one after you and Hsi Wu, got the chance to open the portals but was faced with many difficulties, and the whole operation was ruined. Now he's imprisoned here as well, and it seems like we have no way to escape. We are doomed," Bai Tsa announced, spitting the last word from her mouth like it was poison.
Ni Tang saw immediately how angry his sister was, but he couldn't bring himself to feel upset. It was against everything he had learnt at their hands, but he felt an odd stab of satisfaction at seeing the water demon's dilemma. It served her right... though he couldn't say why.
Bai Tsa licked her lips. She could feel that Ni Tang wasn't convinced, but that wasn't a problem. They would be able to bend him to their will in any case.
"Long ago we nine were the rulers of the world; we all had our own kingdoms and we ruled wisely. But everybody was not happy; jealous mouths talked bad about us behind our backs."
The water demon was quiet for a moment to let Ni Tang to think about her words before she continued. "The Immortal warriors of ancient China wanted the world for themselves, and they challenged us into battle one by one. As fair rulers we had to agree, but they fought wrong. Everyone of them had sought powerful chi spells which banished us eight into this doomed place. You were turned into jade, like brother Hsi Wu before. It's their fault that you lost your memories. What do you think about that, my brother?" Bai Tsa asked.
Ni Tang's scowl deepened at that. He couldn't remember anything of what Bai Tsa was talking about, but some of it rang true. Something bad had happened to him, and he was certain that chi magic had been involved. An old wizard... Maybe Bai Tsa was telling the truth.
"I hate them," he said, making the water demon grin.
"Yes, they banished us here and took our world from us," she repeated with an angry hiss. "But not everything has been lost," she pointed out.
"What do you mean?" Ni Tang asked.
"Even though it's impossible for us eight to escape, you were never given a portal. You can just go out," Bai Tsa explained.
"I can... leave?" he asked. It couldn't be that easy, could it?
Bai Tsa nodded. "We are going to send you back into the world after we've taught you some more. But you have to remember who you serve and why you live. We expect you to look for the Pan Ku box and open all of the portals before you do anything else. Then when the whole family is free again, we can do anything we want to the world," she said, keeping her eyes locked on Ni Tang to make sure he understood her point.
He pursed his lips in thought. He had known this place wasn't the real world and he somehow knew things that were behind the portals, like the sun, but he had no idea what kind of world he was supposed to enter. He wasn't afraid, though. The idea of getting away from these pompous idiots was tempting, even if it also filled him with uncertainty. Could he really do everything they demanded of him?
"You two just sit here in silence and no work seems to be done. Do think our sister is boring, Ni Tang?" Po Kong asked and both Ni Tang and Bai Tsa turned to look at the two demons who had just arrived. Xiao Fung followed right after his sister, knowing he had the chance to play an ambassador again.
Bai Tsa frowned. "Xiao Fung, tell Po Kong that she has no right to disturb me and Ni Tang right now," the water demon said coldly, and the wind demon turned to face his older sister.
"It seems Bai Tsa doesn't want us here," he said.
Po Kong smiled. "Tell her she sounds too much like Dai Gui when she talks like that," she said and Xiao delivered the message, even though Bai had heard it just as well as he had.
"And I don't think the role of a male bear suits you," the wind demon added making Bai Tsa frown at him.
"You certainly have an interesting ability to make everybody mad at you, brother. And it's unhealthy as well; one day someone will make you pay for it," she snapped.
Ni Tang let out a surprised yelp when Po Kong suddenly picked him up and placed him on her massive palm.
"Well, what has my sister taught to you?" she asked.
"My only meaning in life is to serve you," he said, a dry edge in this tone.
"Ah, excellent. When you keep that in mind, no one can tell how far you'll get," Po Kong said and put him back down.
"What will he be taught next?" she asked.
"Shendu will tell him more about the world," the wind demon answered.
"I'd like to see that. He's almost as bad teacher as Dai Gui," Bai Tsa said with a snort.
"Tell Bai Tsa that no one else can do that. Shendu is the only one who knows the world as it is now," Po Kong commented.
"Let's talk about something else than school. This all reminds me of old Master Wo who tried to teach me to read," Xiao Fung groaned.
"Wasn't he the one you ate when you learned nothing?" Po Kong asked, making Xia Fung grin.
"The fault is always in the teachers! And they do taste good," he said, happily licking his lips.
"Father had to hire over five new teachers before you had learnt even the most basic characters," Bai Tsa remarked.
Xiao Fung's grin only widened. "Everyone has some bad habits."
Hsi Wu sat next to Ni Tang and eyed his brother. He was quiet, just as usual, but now there was something new in his form. The sky demon was curious; he wanted to know what Bai Tsa had said, but he didn't want to make it seem like he actually cared.
"What are you thinking about?" he finally asked.
Ni Tang shrugged. "Our sister," he answered shortly, making Hsi Wu frown.
"What about her?" he wanted to know.
"She told me how we ended up here. It makes me wonder. Something about her tale doesn't seem quite right," Ni Tang replied.
"How could you know that? You have no memories of what happened," Hsi Wu said doubfully.
"True. I can't explain these doubts I'm having."
"You shouldn't bother yourself with that. Just do whatever we ask of you, and you'll be fine," Hsi Wu said.
It was time for Ni Tang to start his lesson with Shendu, so the polar demon excused himself and left Hsi Wu alone. The sky demon's thoughts were then turned to something that he had been pondering about for a while.
Life in the Netherworld was boring and the demons had always tried to find themselves something interesting to do. Dai Gui was happy if someone fought with him, Bai Tsa occasionally sang to Po Kong, who listened, Xiao Fung annoyed others with his incredibly lame jokes and Tchang Zu played the leader. Tso Lan and Hsi Wu, on the other hand, had found something much better to do.
The moon demon had read about the Netherworld before they had been banished there, and he recalled some stories about the place. The most interesting thing was that the realm had originally been just a magical warehouse for useless items. It had been turned into a prison only much later.
Tso Lan and Hsi Wu had many times left the others and spent a long time looking for those long time ago lost items. They had never dared to stay away for too long for the others might get too curious. The two didn't want to share this secret with anyone.
The Netherworld was an endless and sad realm, and it had seemed impossible to find something there. But like Tso Lan had put it, they had as much time as they needed. They had talked a lot and at times Hsi Wu had even felt like he was on the same level with his brother who was much older than him.
And finally, after centuries, their work had been rewarded when they had found something. It was a huge stone with all kinds of junk on it. There were scrolls, vases, old books, clothes and other knick-knacks. Tso Lan had gathered all the books and interesting scrolls together and read them regularly to keep his mind sharp. He thought they were his private property and that none of his siblings would appreciate them anyway.
Hsi Wu didn't mind when the moon demon took the books; he was much more interested in the other junk. He had gone through it a few times just to kill some time and remembered every item there was.
The sky demon took a glance around. Now when Ni Tang had gone to meet Shendu, no one would pay any attention to him. He couldn't see all of his siblings now, but they would not cause him any harm. He spread his wings and jumped into the air from the stone he had rested on.
He flew as fast as he could to make it to the stone and back before anyone noticed he was gone. Hsi Wu couldn't suppress a grin when flashing through the red world and thinking about the item he was about to get.
Tso Lan had not cared about it and had given it only one glance. Hsi Wu hadn't considered it very interesting either and had placed it on a heap of old carpets and continued investigating some vases. But now there was use for it, and Hsi Wu was glad for not destroying it.
It didn't take long to reach the stone by flying, and Hsi Wu landed on it nimbly, drawing up his great wings. He took a glance around and nodded, pleased with himself. Everything was just like it used to be. Now he just had to find what he was looking for.
He remembered where he had left it, but wanted to go through some other items first. It was a long time since he had visited this place and he missed his treasures. The sky demon lifted a simple clay vase in his clawed hands and viewed it, his head tilted. It wasn't beautiful and he understood why it had been left here. The owner didn't want it, but didn't have the heart to give it away or broke it, so it had been forgotten there with these others. In a strange way he liked the vase. It was high and slim, there were some simple patterns on it's surface, and it had been painted black. He thought the vase was beautiful, no matter what others said, and he put it back carefully.
Next to the vase was a box with different clothes. There were many shapes and colours, red, blue, yellow, green, black, orange, brown... Why they were here, Hsi Wu couldn't understand it. At first he had thought they were interesting, but now he was fed up with them. If he had been childish he would have tried them on, but he thought it was stupid behaviour for a demon. Especially now when he wasn't the youngest anymore.
"Looking for something Hsi?" Tso Lan's familiar voice was heard behind him and Hsi turned around to face his brother.
"Tso Lan," he greeted in surprise. Tso nodded and Hsi noticed he was holding a book in one of his four hands. It seemed the moon demon had wanted some privacy and had come here to read.
"A present for Ni Tang," he answered and Tso Lan raised an eyebrow.
"A present?" he asked in suspicion. It might not be that good idea to bring anything from here; others would want to know where it came from.
"Yes, I thought it might be a good idea to give him something now that he's about to leave," the sky demon said, not noticing his brother's disapproving frown.
"Ni Tang doesn't need anything. He has to learn to take care of himself," Tso Lan said, and Hsi Wu flinched. That was true, but... The sky demon looked away and moved to the next heap of stuff. He bent down and picked an item.
"A present from us might keep his mind on the mission," he said and showed Tso Lan what he had found. It was a simple grey porcelain mask which had just two streaks for eye holes, giving the mask a devilish expression. It was made of fragile material, but it had been made stronger with chi-spells so it would not break so easily. It had also been charmed to fit every user perfectly so that anyone could use it with no difficulty.
But what attracted the attention of the viewer the most was the smile of the mask. The creator had painted the mask a thin black line for a mouth. The smile was unnaturally wide and might have been friendly if the eyes had not made it look cruel and calculating. Tso Lan frowned. A mask. Maybe this wasn't that bad an idea. Since the moon demon had not taken part in Valmont's ritual, Ni Tang was a fragile demon. He was too human, and he was very similar to his human form. When he returned into the real world there, was always the danger of that someone from his past would recognise him and awaken some forgotten feelings inside the polar demon.
If he wore a mask, no one could say he was connected to Valmont and everything would be fine. The moon demon nodded.
"What an excellent idea, my brother," he said, and Hsi Wu glanced at him in surprise. Just a moment ago Tso had been against the present.
"I'm sure we can make others to believe you just found that somewhere," the moon demon added in approval, and Hsi Wu could only agree.
To be continued...
