Lian's Peculiar Adventure: Starlight Paladins
Chapter 19
Sha Lin and the Oracle Lamp
"What is this hunk of garbage anyways?" Sha Lin asked as he looked at the metal lantern he stole from Seris.
"Did you say something, sir?" the carriage rider that was taking him on a ride asked through a small window.
"Nothing." Sha Lin responded as he looked at the item, "What does this even do? It looks like its for incense…" he grumbled as he saw some slight smoke come out of the small etchings on the sphere, "I do find it weird how the core is just floating."
The archer raised the lantern and looked at it.
"Eh, it's probably just a hunk of junk. Sucks, really." He sighed and lowered it, "Doesn't even look ancient. Probably only worth the metal."
However, the lantern started to hum and glow.
"Hmmm?" Sha Lin saw the purple light coming out of it, then a beam of darkness came out and struck his eyes.
"Damn it!" he yelled and shook his head, "What the hell!?" he looked at the lantern again.
This time it was releasing more smoke.
"This damn thing is curse-" Sha Lin stopped when the vapor started to form an image, then a moving picture.
It was all a dark silhouette, but it could still be made out.
It was a carriage riding along a dark road, at least that what he imagined the black moving figure with vague horse-like entities in front of it was. He saw this carriage come to a sudden stop and then 3 shadowy figures surrounded it. The figures vanished and another scene appeared in smoke that showed the carriage overturned with one figure standing above it holding something in his hand.
Sha Lin looked at the mist dumbfounded at he was beholding, only to stay that way when the mist and the light died down and the lantern returned to a lifeless canister of iron.
"What the hell was that?" Sha Lin shook his head and set the lantern back into his leather sack, "Must be some kind of magical projector thing… Maybe that ghost lady used it to entertain herself in that dark room. Who knows? Maybe I can get some magi to buy it." He shrugged his shoulders and set the sack to his right.
He hummed a simple melody as his carriage lumbered down what looked to be a small valley dotted with rocks and dead trees. He didn't pay mind to this, since he knew the further north one went eventually the grass will grow greener and the sky would grow brighter.
"That town…" Sha Lin recollected his time in Seris, "It feels… odd. Like it was cursed or something."
"Are you talking about Seris, sir?" the driver butted in, "Yes, they say that a terrible event happened long ago there and since then it has been blocked off to all except the greatest magicians in the Magistrate. Strange for you to come and sightsee it, only the oddballs of citizenry do that- You don't appear that way. I must say that the neighboring town is quite nice."
Sha Lin remembered his place of departure, where he met Seris.
"Yep, they bu- WOAH!" the driver yelled and the carriage came to a halt.
Sha Lin was almost ejected from his seat as the carriage rocked and creaked rather aggressively.
"Gorlocks!" The driver yelled as he reached for a shotgun behind his seat.
Sha Lin popped his head out the window and saw three of the scaly beasts blocking the path.
"Stay inside, sir!" the driver cried and he undid the horse tethers and kicked them away, causing the animals to bolt away from where they came from.
The gorlocks, however, were not distracted and kept their sights on the carriage.
"These must be experienced carriage raiders…" the driver said as he saw they were fixated on him, "Sir, this is going to get messy." He cocked his shotgun and aimed at the center gorlock.
Before he could fire, an arrow shot out of the right window and careened over the gorlock on the right, striking it in the neck and causing it to scamper in pain.
"What the-" the driver had no time to question before he had to fire at the center gorlock.
The gorlocks, livid at the attacks, charged.
"AHH!" The driver screamed as the beasts overturned the carriage, sending him tumbling into the ground and disarming him of his weapon.
The gorlocks screeched and charged at him.
"Oh gods, protect me!" the man pulled out a small pendant and clutched it to his face.
Suddenly, Sha Lin jumped out of the carriage from the window that was still open and clenched The Bow tightly.
"Ready!?" he yelled and fired a rapid volley of arrows at pelted the beasts.
The gorlocks screeched and screamed as the arrows dug deep into their flesh, their marrows, and their bones until they screamed no more.
Sha Lin landed perfectly on the side of the carriage and stood triumphantly before the driver, holding The Bow high in the air.
"Oh yeah… I feel motivated!" he gave a grin and called away The Bow as he lowered his arm. He jumped off the carriage and landed near the driver before stopping and pondering.
The lantern.
The images on the lantern.
"No way…" Sha Lin mumbled to himself.
"Is there something wrong, lad?!" the driver stood up as he saw the man's once jovial attitude become rapidly distant.
"No way…" the archer ran and climbed up the carriage before jumping back in.
"What is going on…"
Sha Lin popped out a few moments later with the sack on his back and landed near the driver again. "There's no way this hunk of junk did that!" he gasped and pulled out Seris' lantern from within.
The driver saw as the archer beheld the artifact.
"What is that? It looks like a lantern of some sort…"
"It's not just any lantern…" Sha Lin rubbed the dusty iron surface of the central orb, "I think… I think… No… I- It may be able to predict the future!" he exclaimed.
The driver stepped back, then scoffed in disbelief.
"The adrenaline must have gotten to your head, boy, but I must thank you for saving my hide!" he ran and hugged him.
Sha Lin appreciated the gesture but quickly stepped aside and looked at the lantern yet again.
"There's no way… It can't be."
"Are you still thinking it can look into the future?" the driver asked dismissively.
"It saw the gorlock attack." Sha Lin responded, causing the man's ears to perk up, "Minutes before it happened, this lantern showed a smoky vision of three figures surrounding a carriage before showing an overturned carriage with a man on top."
The driver paused when he remembered the sight of Sha Lin on top of the carriage.
"There's just no way…"
Sha Lin was about to say something but was interrupted by the lantern glowing once again, catching both of their attentions fully.
The purple mist started to pour out of the crevices of the glowing iron orb and darkened into thick black smoke that formed small figures.
It was a noticeable woman figure guided by a male figure and they appeared to be arguing by the violent movements of the smoke. The smoke cleared out only to pop back up to show the same woman surrounded by two men with another man on the ground, and the movements showed the mood was noticeably calmer. This vision died down to show another of the woman now with one man walking towards a carriage, and once they entered that carriage started to rock in rhythm.
Sha Lin's eyes opened.
The driver's peppered mustached curled up in interest.
"Ha ha ha ha!" Sha Lin rubbed his hands and looked at the Driver, "Oh this is going to be great. Did you see what I'm going to do with that woman?" he asked.
The driver shook his head.
"I won't believe it until I see it." he said nonchalantly and walked towards his carriage, "Look at this mess… It'll take me a week to fix my livelihood." He sighed and kicked the dust beneath his feet.
Sha Lin put the now dull lantern back in his sack and placed his sack on his back, "Here, let me help you out." He said and walked up to the wagon, then used his might to tip it back over.
The driver stood in shock as one single man moved such a large vehicle.
"I used to be the arm-wrestling champion in my tribe." Sha Lin flexed his right bicep, "How else do you think I can hold up the weight of my daring escapades?" he grinned, then stopped.
The driver saw the man's jaw drop and turned around.
There was a beautiful black haired woman, and by beautiful it was meant beautiful. The hair that flowed from her head shone brightly despite its darkness and cascaded with the wind. Her face was soft and warm and inviting to her brilliant red lips. Her body was shapely and refined, holding a thin figure alongside the strong hips that made her an ideal candidate for bringing forth children.
"Y-Y-Your lantern said she…" the driver gulped as he took a long look at the woman, "I'm going to get in to the carriage with that fine creature?"
"Yeah…" Sha Lin sighed amorously, "Wait- Who said you!" he stopped and growled at the man.
"The smoke never showed who exactly was going into that carriage." The driver smirked, "It could be me."
"As if, you're 100 years old!" Sha Lin scoffed, "Plus, it's not like you're going to take out that soldier she's arguing with." He pointed.
The woman was arguing with a Magistrate soldier over something, but it could barely be overheard.
Sha Lin chuckled and walked over towards the bickering two, only for his driver to catch up to him. The two walked competitively, trying to outdo each other in both speed and stride as they made their way.
"Hrmm.." the driver growled and pushed Sha Lin, but the younger man returned the favor twice a powerfully.
"Oof!" he grunted and fell to the ground.
Sha Lin used this to run up but stop a few meters away from the two.
"I won't help you with that ma'am, it's not in my orders! Plus, I cannot allow you to enter the town of Seris!" the soldier yelled at her, "It's against the Law!"
"I need to study it! I told you I went to Lang Mountain Magic Academy! I'm a professor there!" the woman pulled out a scroll, "My permission will come in any day now but I need to go in there before the storms come!"
"If do not have permission you cannot enter, that is final." The soldier crossed his arms and then turned to where Sha Lin, "By the gods!" he noticed the gorlock scene and ran to him, "Sir, what happened?!"
"Gorlock attack." Sha Lin responded, but kept his eyes on the woman, "Don't worry we took care of them- Well I took care of them." He chuckled and walked towards her, "Yep, all me!"
"You liar!" the driver came up, "I took them out with this shotgun, just like this!" he pointed the retrieved weapon.
"WATCH O-"
KAPOW! The shotgun fired and struck the soldier dead in the chest, killing him instantly and sending him crashing to the ground.
"AHHHH!" the woman shrieked in horror.
"What the hell!?" Sha Lin stepped back, "What was that about."
The driver stammered when he noticed what he had done, "It-It-It That was an accident, oh my gods I didn't mean to!"
The woman went silent, unmoving and looking at the distance, distant from the situation at hand.
"What's wrong with her?" the driver asked as he walked towards the woman, "Hey, Hey!" he waved his arms.
"Darling, hello!" Sha Lin pushed her, but the woman stood silent.
"What could be wrong with her." The driver asked as the two stood beside her.
"You killed a man in front of her, she's in shock!" Sha Lin growled and held her shoulders.
"I didn't do anything!" the driver said and accidentally pointed his shotgun at Sha Lin in his anger.
Big mistake.
An arrow went through his chest and sent him to the ground, he too was now expired.
Sha Lin panted heavily as he retracted The Bow back into his body.
The woman further panic and entered a mania where her body shook without control.
"Oh no no!" Sha Lin groaned and grabbed her, then walked towards the carriage, "I need to take you somewhere safer" he murmured.
The woman was convulsing rapidly in shock and it didn't help that she had seen to people die in front of her.
"You'll be alright, darling." Sha Lin opened the carriage and set her down on the ground.
"AHHHHHHH!" the woman gave out one large shriek and manically ran about inside the carriage, causing it to shake and quake in her attacks.
"What the!?" Sha Lin stepped out and shut the door behind him, "Oh no! This is the worst! I'm out of here!" he groaned and ran away.
"I guess my predictions were wrong..." he murmured as he pulled out his lantern, "Perhaps it's vague on purpose… How sickening." He growled, "I thought I was going to get a good time too! Whatever, perhaps this will help me finally kill that group! I have the power to see the future! And no matter how unclear it is, there is always a strength in knowing the future!" he claimed.
"Oh, what a treasure!" he held up the lantern.