Lord of Zenth Mage

Chapter: 5 Gathering

Harry's eyes were now glinting with mischievous sparkles. His face was now splitting into a stupid grin that hung from ear to ear. Rupa eyed him suspiciously and whispered dangerously to his ear, "Don't even think about trying things on me. I will personally take care of your vocal chords." Harry just gave her a lopsided grin.

At that time, the Keeper of the Palace, the man who was holding strange thing, announced, "Welcome to the Palace of Rajibnebular, Young Lord!"

Harry looked at the towering Palace in front of the group. It looked much bigger than when he saw it from the distance.

As they neared the enormous door, they heard a sound of loud groaning with some crackles from the Palace. The Palace Keeper and the High Counselor shared a silent look before leading the way into the big entrance hall. As he passed through the door to the hall, Harry felt something cold washed over him. He shivered slightly. He felt a soft, tiny hand took his and squeezed. He tilted his head to see Rupa giving him a soft smile encouragingly.

Harry could see a small gathering of five strange looking people standing near an empty throne. Harry could only stare the strangest gathering he had ever seen so far. The group was standing side by side facing at the door. There was an old monk at the far right side of the group. His bald head had two rows of eight strange dots in vertical. His long, white eyebrows were swaying over his face gently.

To the left of the old monk were an extremely old man and a young girl. The old man was supported by the young girl beside him. He looked like ready to collapse any time without warning, yet his eyes were glowing with excitement. To the left of the girl was the biggest man Harry has ever seen. The giant had red skin. His muscles were emerging from the animal skin the man was wearing. He seemed no less than seven feet tall. To the left of the giant were a man in his forties and a man in his early twenties. They looked similar. Father and son Harry summarized. They both had identical bows on their back.

They all bowed their heads slight to Harry's group.

"We greet you young Lord." They chorused in unison. Harry was wondering how they produced the same sentence while moving their lips different when Rupa nudged him on his side.

Harry looked confusedly at the group before him and said, "Greetings."

The Palace Keeper decided to jump in at that moment, "Greetings East Dragons. If you would follow me to the War Chamber, we have much to discuss."

"Lead the way Sazj," the High Counselor voiced.

They all filed out to the door to the right of the Hall with the Keep on the lead. Upon entering the Chamber, they could see it was spacious with a large, round table in the middle. Maps were drawn on the walls around the Chamber and they seem to shimmer every now and then. They each took a seat around the table, Rupa right beside of Harry.

The High Counselor stood up and cleared his throat a moment later. He began, "Welcome Young Lord, East Dragons of The Force, and my friends. This is the day we have been long waiting for. This is the day we all shall begin our lives."

Everyone, bar Harry nodded their heads solemnly, their faces filled with excitement. Utterly confused, Harry voice his thought, "Um, not to be rude, but what is all this about? And who are all of you really?"

"Quite right Young Lord. I shall explain everything in a moment for this is all about you. However, I would like to introduce everyone first." The High Counselor turned to man with the large leather book and said to Harry, "This is my son, Abdula Rajibnebular. He is the Keeper of the Book of the Kingdom. He is also currently the acting Maha Rajah (ruler of some kind). He will soon be handing it to the rightful Lord." Then he turned to the man with the strange thing, "This is Abu Sazj, The Keeper of the Palace. He manages the functioning of the Palace with power of the Rod of the last Lord," he said pointing to the strange thing in the man's hand. It was made of crystal and was about 12 inches long.

The High counselor motioned to the old monk and said to Harry, "This is High Mage Chinn Tao of Holy Temple Shoaling. He is called upon from China by you Young Lord. He is the Uncle of the current Head of the Holy Temple and is well known for his deadly power, Seven Paces."

And then he turned again to the old man who was leaning back on the chair heavily, "This is Master Mage Pai Mei, the head of Wu Dan. He has reached to the point to which he doesn't need a weapon anymore. He himself is the weapon. This is the highest of the sword wielding skill. The fine young lady is his great-great granddaughter, Mage Pai Mei Yuan."

The girl's eyes flickered toward Harry, and Harry felt like he'd skipped the steps of the stairs. Her eyes have the power to startle him for no reason. They were of brown color and looked extremely innocent.

The High Counselor turned to the last remaining three and introduced them to Harry. "They are the Warriors of Mongolia. They are the last remaining descendants of the Warrior of Emperor Ghin GiKhan. Anko Khan here," he said pointing to the giant man, "is the personal bodyguard and War Strategist. His line disappeared somehow after the fall of Emperor. The loss of them led to the downfall of the Emperor line." He motion to the older man with the bow and said, "This is Kublai Khan VI. He is the descendant of the commander of Strike Force. His specialize area is bow and arrow. He could shot a fly at dead center from 300 yards. His son, Kublai Khan XI, can hit a bug from 200 yards."

"Wow!" was all Harry could say after introduction. The Uncle of the legendary Shoaling Temple, The Master of Wu Dan Swordsmanship school, a beautiful wild flower, the personal guard of Ghin GiKhan, a pair of bull's-eyes shooters! What a day!

The Palace Keeper spoke something to the Rod and not long after that, two girls and two boys walked into the Chamber swiftly carrying steaming silver mugs and some kind of bakery. The smell from the mug and the bakery made Harry's stomach gave a loud growl. Harry blushed beet-red and mumbled a quick apology to the now looking amused Rupa. "Sorry, I haven't had anything since I left. To top all that, I had quite a lot of excitement to make me hungry."

Rupa giggled, "Hey, don't worry. And besides, no one heard your stomach growl…apart from me, that is."

Harry decided to have a little fun and concentrated. Soon, there were two loud growls coming from Rupa and Rajig's stomachs. The two of them looked bewildered for a moment thinking why their stomachs decided to announce their grand presence. Then at the look they are getting from the older ones, they both turned red and mumbled, "Oops! It wasn't me doing! Honest!"

Harry was turning red from suppressing his snickers. Pai Mei Yuan and Kublai Khan XI were also having a hard time controlling themselves from laughing.

Rupa's eyes darted to Harry sheepishly, and upon seeing his face, she narrowed her eyes and whispered dangerously at Harry, "Why do I feel like you have something to do with this."

"What? Why did you say that?" Harry asked innocently.

Their attentions were brought back to the group when they heard Master Mage Pai Mei speak in a calm and clear voice. His voice was filled with strength though his body seemed weak. He said, "Young Lord, you may be wondering why as to why we are here." This was not a question rather a statement. Harry nodded. Pai Mei continued, "You have heard of the legend of Mages, I presume?"

"Yes, my history of magic teacher said something about being rare to be a mage. I don't know more than that though." Harry answered squeezing his brain for any information on mages.

"It is correct that mages are very rare. Three or more mages at the same century is not heard of in millennia. Yet here we are, a High Mage and a Master Mage at a table." He said motioning his long, bony hand to monk Chinn Tao. He then looked at his granddaughter and said, "Yuan Yuan is not quite yet to the stage of a mage, but soon will be." His face became full of unknown expression and his almost entirely white eyes became sharper, as did the older ones in the room. The younger ones, including Kublai Khan XI, listened tentatively as the old mage spoke in a passionate voice. "After two days from now, I will be done with my duty that I have been instructed to long before my ancestors' times. I have been waiting to pass on what little I have to the One that is to be the Greatest of all."

The old mage paused for a moment before he spoke again, "Now, about the rank of Mages. The lowest being is Mage. It is a rank far above average wizards. Above the Mage rank is High Mage. It is the rank where you can manipulate magic around you. You can control Elementals, magical and non-magical creatures, and other's subconscious mind. The most powerful being currently in wizarding world is this rank. Above that rank is Master Mage. Master Mage can do all that High Mage can do, plus controlling both conscious and subconscious mind, controlling objects…weapons for example… at your will, and controlling the magic core of one being. Say, limiting a High Mage's magic core to the level of a non magical core."

Harry's eyes widened with horror and he could faintly hear Rupa's gasp and Rajig's in take of breath. If what he said is true, this old man, Pai Mei, could make Dumbledore or Voldemort a squib with a snap of his fingers. But why had he never heard of such powerful beings in the world.

He decided to speak but was stopped by the old monk's voice. "While Master Mages are capable of doing such great things, they are still nowhere near High Lord Mage. High Lord Mage is also called Zenth Mage, or Zen Master. Their power makes the other Mages look like a play toy for a baby. Zenth Mages or Zen Masters are able to command everything with a mere will power. To command their will power they must first be in a state of the highest emotional level, then to emotionless level and then finally to the level of balanced emotion. When at this stage, outsider help must be supplied."

Harry sipped strange liquid from the mug silently. It tasted strange. Smokes were steaming from the tip, but there was no hint of warmth in liquid. He picked up a piece of bakery. When he chewed on it, it tasted mixture of butter and honey. He listened to the monologue conversation while enjoying the strangely satisfying taste of the food and the drink.

There would mean that being a High Lord Mage mean near non-human.