Lian's Peculiar Adventure: Starlight Paladins
Chapter 8
The Archer and the Mirror Man
A young man jumped off a tiger and landed near the ruins of an abandoned aqueduct.
The woman sitting behind him gasped and clapped when she saw he landed safely on a rock.
"And for my next trick." He walked up to the young woman and kissed her cheek, "I will make you disappear!" he said and slapped the tiger in the rear.
"RAR!" the tiger yelled and ran off with the woman still on board.
"Love you, dear!" the young man chuckled and brushed back his black hair.
He was an eastern man with a red bandanna on his head and a red scarf surrounding his neck. He wore a beige sleeveless tunic with embroidered edges and dark red harem pants that complemented his dusty boots.
"Haha…" he chuckled, "I sure needed to get away from her. I think she was part of the Magistrate or something."
A soft giggle sounded from behind a stone.
"Well well… Look who I see again." The man saw an elf woman come out from behind an aqueduct pillar.
She was wearing a teal clothing wraps and a face veil. She had her dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail and decorated with a silver head ornament.
"If it isn't my darling." The man said, "It isn't nice of you to spy on the competition… especially since you're number 1." He chuckled.
"What ever you say, Sha Lin." The elf chuckled and hovered over to him.
"I mean it." Sha Lin responded, "No girl can beat you, Ying. Regardless, I heard you wanted to talk to me? About a deal?"
"I heard that there is a group of people working for the Magistrate coming to this town." Ying said, "A woman in purple robes told me over dinner during the night. She said she would pay us if we retrieved them."
"Hmmm… And how important are these people?" Sha Lin asked.
"Very important. I heard there's an enforcer and a princess among them." Ying answered, "If we capture them, it will help the resistance against the Magistrate grow! I've been waiting for Valeria to arrive, but from what the woman told me, they will be here any day now."
"I guess I can help." Sha Lin shrugged his shoulders, "It wouldn't be hard considering our powers. We were always very well off together. I'll send a letter to Valeria."
"I hope she gets here soon." Ying mumbled, "You brought water?" she asked.
Sha Lin looked at the glass bottle hanging from his belt, "Ah yes, some for you, dear." He grinned and handed it to her.
Ying nodded and took a drink, then set down the bottle on a nearby stone.
However, this movement over the rock brought out a large sand lizard from under it.
"AH!" Ying yelled as the lizard ran towards her.
Sha Lin smirked.
He extended his arms and a longbow appeared in them, complete with arrow. He fired that arrow and it sailed through the sky and pierced the lizard at the neck, decapitating it.
From the bottle, a metallic Ying appeared and threw blossoms that cut it to bits.
"Yep. We make a fine team." Sha Lin chuckled as he saw the lizard head fall in pieces, "Hopefully they don't end up like him." He put his arm over Ying's shoulders, and they started walking.
00000000
Lian, Sarah, Lex, and Zhin were now riding a wagon down a desert country making their way to a town ahead of them.
"Man, it sure is hot." Sarah panted as she covered her face from the sun.
"You have a stand that makes burning flames, how can you be susceptible to the heat?" Zhin asked.
Sarah stood silent, unable to respond to that.
"We're about to enter the town." Lex informed as their wagon started to slow down to a halt as the passed the town arch.
"Looks a bit big."
"Looks like a sand heap to me." Lian sighed and placed her chin on her hand, "Perhaps we can fill up on water?" she asked and shook her canteen.
"Sounds like a wise idea." Lex responded as he stopped the wagon in front of the local inn.
"Alright, let's restock on supplies." He said and jumped off, then walked to the back and grabbed a bag.
"Hopefully we don't stay here long." Lian said as she dug her heels into the sand, "I hate sand… It's coarse and rough, and it gets everywhere…"
Sarah stepped down, "I wouldn't want to mess up my clothes either." She told Lian, "Especially if they were as fancy as yours."
Zhin walked up to them, "Mind helping us out?" he said and looked at the items still on the wagon.
"Oh, right." Sarah said and helped him pick up a box.
Lex stood inside talking to the man at the counter, asking him if they could refill on their water. "Do you also have food for travels?" he asked him.
The man pointed across the street, "The general store is where you'd like to go for that, sir." He informed him.
Lex turned to face his allies.
"We can refill our water here, but our food will have to be bought from the general store." He told them.
"I can go and purchase something." Zhin told him, but was startled by something he saw out the window.
"Hold on…" he stared, then saw a man with a red bandanna and ran out.
"Zhin!" Lex yelled and followed after him.
Zhin burst out of the inn and ran to his right, then turned down the street where he saw the man.
"Could it be him!?" he growled as he turned another street.
Lex turned the street.
"I lost him!" he grumbled and looked at Lian and Sarah, "I don't know where he went! We need to look for him!"
"It's best if we split up!" Sarah informed, "It'll be easier to find him!"
The three spread out and ran off in different direction.
Zhin, however, followed where he believed the man in the red bandanna went. He scoured many streets, pushed over many people, and stepped on many cats until he finally tired.
"Ha… Ha…" he wiped the sweat off his brow as he leaned on a light pole, "Agh!" he removed his arm from it as the metal pole was very hot.
"Excuse me, sir." A young boy walked up to Zhin with a silver disk of water, "Would you like to cool off for 2 coins?"
Zhin looked at the boy and shook his head.
"Sure, kid." He said and pulled out two coins from his pocket, and handed them to the boy, then picked up the platter.
"I have a station over here." The boy said and pointed to a makeshift table made of old wooden planks and rusted screws.
"You are quite determined." Zhin said, "It reminds me of when I was lad." He said and looked at his reflection in the cool water.
"Do you have parents?"
"Yes sir, they work in the mines." The boy responded, "They don't get paid very much so that's why I am here."
"I didn't have a father." Zhin spoke and looked at the boy, "He left my mother before I was born. My mother… however, loved me with all her heart and all her soul, until one day…. She died in an accident… or that is what the enforcers said."
000000
A young Zhin walked inside his home and found his mother leaning over her desk with a broken window to her side.
"Mother, are you alright?" he asked as he received no greeting from her, "Mother?" he ran to her side.
An arrow was stuck to her head.
"Mother!" Zhin screamed in horror and looked outside the broken window.
There stood two children, an elf girl and a boy in a red bandana, surrounded by Enforcers from the Outer Tribunal.
000000
"Never give up, boy." Zhin told the young beggar and placed the water on his hands.
"Yes sir!" the boy saluted, "Would you like a mirror?" he said and pulled out a cracked and dusty mirror from behind the table.
Zhin nodded and the young boy placed it in front of him.
Zhin poured water on his face and felt the cool relief surge through his head, then splashed some on his sweaty hair and felt it cool his scalp.
However, his eyes widened when he saw an elf woman standing behind him in the mirror, a woman who looked exactly like the elf girl from the 'accident'.
Zhin turned around to see no one there, but then turned back to the mirror to see the elf woman still looking at him, as if trying to comprehend who he was.
The man turned back to the street and saw that there was no one there.
"How are you doing this?!" he shook the mirror and threw it on the ground, "Where are you!?" he yelled to the street.
"Hey!" the young boy gasped as he saw his mirror was shattered.
Zhin came back to his senses and saw what he had done.
"Apologies." He reached in his pocked and pulled out ten coins, "Here, buy yourself something nice." He placed them in the boy's hands. However, he knelt next to him.
"By the way, have you seen a man in a red bandanna come around here? He's eastern in appearance… Black hair like mine."
The boy pondered.
"I think I saw someone like that walk to the town square." He said.
Zhin nodded and stood up straight, "Good." He said and ran off to the town square, which was two blocks away. He felt his anger rising every step he took, but it only took one black to cement his rage for good.
For standing there, by a fountain, was the man in the red bandanna.
Zhin felt his anger boil up as he walked towards him.
"SHA LIN!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, catching the attention of everyone on the street.
The man in the red bandanna stopped flirting with the woman he was with and looked at the person.
"Huh? Who are you?" he asked Zhin.
"You should know me, dog!" Zhin said, "You killed my mother!"
Sha Lin stopped and observed the man, then looked at the reflections in the fountain behind him.
"Are you sure?" he asked the water lowly, "Are you sure that is him?"
"What's going on, dear?" the woman he was with asked Sha Lin.
"Nothing, I think you should leave." Sha Lin told her and pushed her away, "Well… Hello, Zhin." He said as he walked towards him, "It's been a while for sure."
"Yes it has." Zhin growled and stood in place around 20 meters away from Sha Lin, "Yes it has."
"How is an old friend doing?" Sha Lin asked very nonchalantly, "Last time I saw you, I-"
"You killed my mother." Zhin interrupted him, "You shot her with a bow and slew her before my eyes!"
Sha Lin chuckled nervously, "It was an accident, Zhin. It really was, I wasn't aiming for her… I was… just playing around!"
Zhin snarled.
"Enough! I am here to avenge my mother! You will see her in heaven while you burn in hell!" he pointed at him.
"Stand back, Zhin! I am not here for you!" Sha Lin said, "I am here for a princess, and enforcer, and a young woman. Have you seen them?"
"Yes, they are my allies!" Zhin responded.
"Well… that settles it." Sha Lin shrugged his shoulders, "She did say there was a fourth person to bring in, so I'm figuring that's you." he said, "Now it's time I do that!"
Sha Lin extended his arms and called out his bow, then fired the arrow.
"You fool!" Zhin yelled and called out Thousand Hands, "Your arrows are not faster than my blade!"
Thousand Hands sprung out and led with its sword, then raised it up as the arrow came to meet it.
However, right when the arrow was about to hit the blade, it changed trajectory.
"What!?" Zhin gasped as the arrow avoided his stand entirely and headed straight for his head.
"Looks like you're the fool." Sha Lin murmured, "My fighting spirit is my bow! I can control any part of it, even the arrows."
Zhin's eyes opened as the arrow got nearer.
"ZHIN!" a voice yelled, and Lex tackled the man down before the arrow struck him.
"What?" Sha Lin stepped back as his arrow drifted off to the sky.
"Are you alright?" Lex asked Zhin as he picked him up, "We were worried about you!"
"Do not interrupt my combat!" Zhin yelled and glared at Sha Lin, who was wide open.
"We are a team, Zhin!" Lex yelled, "We stick together!"
"My vengeance is just that! Mine!" Zhin argued, "I don't need your help!"
"We stick together! Divided we fall!" Lex responded and then saw the arrow return back towards them, "Watch out!" he pushed Zhin away and looked at the arrow.
"I'll shoot it out of the sky!"
The Law appeared from behind Lex and aimed its cannon arm.
Zhin stepped back and looked at Sha Lin, "Why you…" he pointed at him.
Lex focused on the arrow, "Ready…."
The Law intensified its aim.
"FI-"
From the reflection inside the jade stones on Zhin's clothing appeared a metallic Ying and a blasted Lex's back with sharp blossom petals.
"HNGH!" Lex groaned and lost focus on the arrow, which caused it to come down and hit him square on the chest.
Zhin looked back and saw Lex fall to the ground with blood spewing out of his chest.
"L-Lex!?" he called out.
"Ha… Ha…." Lex panted as he saw the arrow sticking out of his chest, "Argh…" he groaned and slowly stood up.
"You're alright!" Zhin exclaimed and ran to pick him up, only to receive a punch to his stomach.
"I told you we were a team…" Lex growled as he had The Law pull out the arrow from his chest, "This is what happens when we don't stick together."
Zhin looked at the wounded enforcer, then back at Sha Lin, who had loaded another arrow.
"It seems I can take two birds with one stone!" Sha Lin chuckled.
"We need to get out of here!" Lex grumbled, "There's a stand user here… I saw it…"
"What do you mean, he's standing right there!" Zhin said and pointed at Sha Lin.
"Where is his stand?" Lex asked.
"The bow is his stand." Zhin responded.
"The bow?" Lex asked, quite confused.
"Yes, the bow." Zhin repeated himself.
"Are you sure about that?" Lex shook his head, "It can't be the bow!"
"It is the bow!" Sha Lin told the two, "The bow is my stand."
"But just the bow." Lex looked at his enemy.
"Yes, just the bow." Sha Lin nodded, "The bow and the arrow that are in my hand are my Stand."
"No." Lex scoffed.
"Yes." Both Zhin and Sha Lin responded.
"Really?"
"Uh huh." The two added.
Lex looked confused and rubbed his temples.
"What is this stand called?"
"The Bow." Sha Lin responded.
"Yes, the bow." Lex told him.
"No, that wasn't asking you for clarification." Sha Lin said, "That's the name. THE BOW."
Lex sighed.
"I've seen many things in this world." He mumbled, "But I digress, it wasn't the bow I was talking about, it was a woman in the reflection. That was the stand I was talking about, it stabbed me in the back!"
Zhin looked at him.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, "What woman?"
"It was a metal woman, looked like an elf!" Lex said, then pointed at a nearby window, "Look!"
Surely enough, from the window, the metallic Ying was observing.
"It's her!" Zhin said, "Shoot it!"
Lex nodded and blasted the window with his The Law.
"Oh no you don't!" Sha Lin launched his arrow, but it was blocked by Zhin.
"Huh!?" Zhin saw the metallic Ying on another window, "Hey Lex, look!" he pointed.
"I thought I destroyed her!" Lex looked and shot that window, but then saw the Ying in another window, "She's in every reflection!"
"Ying!" Sha Lin grabbed a nearby glass bottle and threw it up into the air then hit it with an arrow.
Lex saw the Metallic Ying appear in the glass shards and aim her pellets and him.
"AGH!" he blocked the pellets with his arms, but they still cut through his clothes and skin.
"Lex!" Zhin turned and saw the metallic Ying in the reflection of another shard facing him.
"HRAH!" he made Thousand Hands destroy that shard, but it only made her appear on another, "HWAK!" he was cut by what to him was an invisible force.
"It seems what happens in that mirror world…. Occurs in real life." Lex growled, "And there's nothing we can do about it… We must retreat!"
"What? But I have him!" Zhin pointed at Sha Lin.
"He's surrounded by an invincible stand that will keep cutting us until we are mincemeat." Lex informed, "We need to get out of here."
Zhin grumbled and the two ran off.
"Hey!" Sha Lin aimed his arrow and fired, but he struck a wagon that had unexpectedly intercepted the arrow's travel path.
"Hrrr…" he followed behind.
Lex and Zhin continued on and passed the town square where they were blocked off by a group of people watching something.
"What is going on here?" Zhin asked as he pushed through people.
"It seems to be some sort of event?" Lex responded, then they broke through.
There, at the end of the crowd, stood the elf woman they had seen in the reflections dancing.
"Hey!" Zhin pointed at her.
The elf woman stopped dancing and gasped, "It's you!"
"Ying!" Zhin said, "That's what Sha Lin said! That's your name! And you must be the user of that mirror stand we saw!"
Ying stammered, grabbed the coins, the people had donated to her and threw them on the ground.
The people, interested in a quick buck, ran to pick up the money, creating a barrier between the two and her.
"Why that-" Zhin saw the metallic Ying reflection on the eyes of one of the people around him, the was cut by the blossom petals in the reflection.
"What!?" Lex was also cut, "How are we going to defeat this stand!?"
"You can't!" Ying said from the top of a fish statue, "My Stand is REFLECTIVE REFLECTIVE." She told them, "it lives in mirrors and thus cannot be touched!"
Zhin growled as he looked Reflective Reflective appear in a woman's eyes and was cut by its petals.
"We cannot harm these innocent civilians!" Lex grumbled as he looked for a way to defeat this stand, "I don't know how this stand works, but there must be a way to stop it!"
Zhin focused and saw a streak of light from the corner of his eyes.
"What was that?" he said.
Lex looked at him, "What are you talking about?" he asked.
Zhin saw Reflective Reflective in his eyes, "Don't look at me!" he pushed Lex's head away.
"What?!"
"The Stand was in your eyes!" Zhin responded and shook his head, "What is this stand able to do?" he looked around, then saw the streak of light once more.
Reflective Reflective appeared in another set of eyes and looked straight at Zhin.
"Hrah!" Zhin yelled at the woman, who flinched in fear.
The streak of light shot out and landed in another set of eyes.
"That light!" Zhin exclaimed.
"What light!?" Lex asked, but growled in pain when he was cut again.
"That one!" Zhin saw the beam come out of an old woman's pendant.
"Thousand Hands!" he called out his stand, which led with its sword and tried to cut the light beam.
"HA!" Ying gasped as a cut appeared on her thigh.
"I missed!" Zhin saw the light beam enter a man's eye, "But it seems Reflective Reflective can only travel in that light beam… And from the looks of our elven friend, it seems that's when it is vulnerable."
"If only these people could stop picking up money!" Lex growled as the people did not leave.
"We need to get that stand to go somewhere I know I can predict!" Zhin said.
"I think I understand." Lex said and pulled out a large diamond, "I may have stolen this from the princess. Well, not stolen, as that is a crime, she told me to hold on to it."
"I think she likes you." Zhin chuckled.
"Nice jest." Lex smirked made the diamond glisten in the light.
The people around them were mesmerized by it.
"Now I just need to find that stand." Zhin looked around, but could not find anything on the people around him.
"What the hell!?" he growled.
"Have you seen it!?" Lex grunted as the stand kept cutting his body with petals, "I don't think I can keep this up.
"I can't-" Zhin looked down and saw a dog, and on its shiny collar tag was Reflective Reflective.
"Bingo!" Zhin turned away and stepped on the dog's leg, causing it to yelp and turn away.
"Let's give you distance!" Lex threw the diamond up in the air.
The light beam shot out from the dog's collar and towards the diamond.
"THOUSAND HANDS! Remove armor!" Zhin yelled, and his stand came out with its golden armor gone and charged.
"HRAHHHH!" the stand cut clear through the beam of light.
"AHHHH!" Ying shrieked a couple of blocks away.
"That must be it." Zhin and Lex quickly got out of the mob as they scurried to find the diamond.
The two dusted off their clothes only to encounter Sha Lin aiming their bow at them.
"Well well! I couldn't get a good shot because you two were in a crowd." Sha Lin informed, "But now that you're out, I can bring you to Valeria. Isn't that right, dear Ying?" he asked a glass bottle that was by a trash can.
Silence.
"Ying! Cut them up with your petals." Sha Lin repeated, "Do you need another angle?" he asked and shot a nearby window.
Nothing.
"Ying! Ying!"
"Ying is out of commission." Lex told the archer, "She won't be helping you anymore."
"I took her out for her crime. I know she helped you kill my mother." Zhin responded, "I cut clean through her stand Reflective Reflective."
Sha Lin stood silent.
"Well, I didn't like her that much anyways." He shrugged his shoulders and bolted off.
"Hey!" Lex took out The Law and aimed its cannon.
"Thanks for the diamond by the way!" Sha Lin chuckled and turned the corner, "Stupid sons of b- OOF!" he grunted when he bumped into someone.
"Hey watch it- Woah woah woah…" he saw the beautiful woman in front of him.
White hair….
Flowing red dress….
Hair pin….
It was Lian.
"Excuse me, commoner, I hav-" she saw the diamond in his hand, "Hey! That's my heirloom!"
"Stop right there!" Lex and Zhin stepped in.
"Well, what a coincidence." Lex spoke when he saw Lian and Sarah standing there.
"This man is an enemy stand user." Zhin informed them, "And the man who killed my mother!"
"I said it was an accident!" Sha Lin shook his head and started shuffling back, "Look… There's no hard feelings, right? I didn't mean to hit you with that arrow, law buddy!" he looked nervously at Lex.
"We're all good friends… Here!" he handed the diamond back to Lian, "Nice legs by the way."
Lian grunted.
"Let me finish him off." Zhin made Thousand Hands appear.
"No, come on!" Sha Lin shrieked and a noticeable wet spot appeared on the front of his pants.
"Ugh…" Sarah looked away.
"Pitiful." Lex grunted.
"You will die!" Zhin yelled, but right when Thousand Hands was about to strike, a group of children ran past him and made him fall.
"What the?!" Lian growled when the children stopped in front of them.
"Sorry mister!" a young girl said as she passed the ball to an ork child.
"Don't stand around, you big losers!" a pink fairy girl told them and blew her tongue before bumping into Sarah and flying off.
Zhin stood up, "Don't let him escape!"
"Too late for that." Sarah grumbled as Sha Lin had gotten on a horse and dashed down the street.
Zhin shook his fist, "I'll get you, Sha Lin!"
Lian sighed and shifted her crown side to side, "What a pain…" she said and placed her diamond in her pocket.
"Thanks for taking care of it, Lex." She patted his shoulder, "You're a real trooper."
"No problem." Lex nodded and they started to walk away, but Zhin pulled Lex into an alley away for a moment.
"We'll be right back." Zhin told the two women and the two went into the alley.
"So, when are you and the princess gonna be a thing?" he asked her.
"It is not like that." Lex shook his head, then noticed some blood running out from behind a box.
"What is that?" he pointed and walked towards it.
"Hmm- Oh…." Zhin looked behind the box with Lex, "Well… That's were that elf girl went."
Lex looked away, "We should get someone to look over this."
"No, we don't." Zhin shook his head.
"The Law demands-"
"Get that stick out of your ass and let's go." Zhin said, and the two walked out to meet up with their female allies.