Chapter 18
Details and lies.
The island sinks slowly, and the sun shines over the destruction.
Dojo felt the change in power. He was abruptly awakened by it.
The dragon hurried to call the young dragon warriors. One per one complaint. They insisted someone must stay incase Omi returns when they are gone.
"All of you need to come." Dojo spoke softly, but the monks knew it wasn't optional.
"If this is another 1000 years of darkness build up and then the fight lasts like 20 minutes!" Raimundo warned the universe, but he was the first one to be ready.
Clay helped Kimiko up since her arm was still healing. It has been almost a month since Hannibal broke it.
Dojo half warned them to hold and rushed to the other end of the world.
He didn't know what. But he knew something terrible has happened, and his first instinct was to take the Xiaolin monks and rush there.
Clay used his larger frame to shield his friends from the winds and Kimiko her element of fire to keep themselves warm. Raimundo recognized the coastline of his country. He calmed his panic and swallowed before asking.
The wind stole his words no matter how loud he screams.
Dojo couldn't hear them until he stops.
They had gone to many places, but the Fernando de Noronha island stuck in their minds. The three of them come closer together as they push the memory of jack spicer bleeding on the ground. The island was broken now. The forests, the beaches, and the buildings were gone. Raimundo thought of Omi. The young monk had looked so disrupted by jack's death. He was the leader, and he shouldn't have let Omi gone alone to infiltrated Chase Young's lair. That day Kimiko got hurt, and Omi disappeared. A considerable size of land still floats.
"Is too small to land," Kimiko commented.
"Should we jump?" Clay suggested, but Raimundo quickly stops him.
There was someone there.
The piece of land was covered in ash and snow. In the middle of that destruction, a human shape stood.
"Drop us close," Raimundo said and turned to look at the other two. "Stay close. And don't attack until I say so. We don't if they did this." the leader points towards the Fernando de Noronha island.
Dojo flew low enough to feel the icy water. "Careful." Dojo knew the person on the island was terribly loud.
They didn't recognize Omi without his red robes. The young man they saw looked exhausted and remorseful. His long thin frame seemed so frail, his skin was covered with ash, and his eyes stare at a black liquid on the floor.
"Hey, you! Are you lost?" Raimundo tried in Portugués first.
Omi didn't understand the words, but he knew the voice.
The young man slowly lifts head. He tries to remember Wuya's instructions; what to say so everything makes sense. What to say to sound like a hero. What to say so they will forgive him for what he has done.
"Omi!" Kimiko screams first, but the three were running before anyone could answer. For a short moment, everything was like it should be. The monks reunite and laugh between a too tight group hug.
Raimundo is still speaking on portuguése, and no one knows what he is saying. Clay squeezes everyone, and Kimiko kisses Omi's cheek. Omi, the youngster of the group, cries louder and stronger than anyone.
Everything was okay, but then Kimiko asked the first question.
"Where were you?"
"Omi we looked for you everywhere! What happened? Why did you leave?"
"What are you doing here? Why are you here? Why didn't you come back?"
Omi tried to answer but he couldn't. Not honestly.
"That can wait!" Raimundo stops all questions. He takes Omi's hands and inspects the burns; the burns were the only visible damage. "Kimiko take Omi to the hospital to have someone check him. Clay help me ...pull the island out of the water."
"Partner. I'm not that strong." Clay took off his top and offered to Omi who quietly accepted.
Kimiko nods and looks at Omi. She offers a soft smile before walking towards the edge of the sinking land. Dojo came close enough for them to jump on his back. The young warriors landed almost perfectly. Kimiko avoided to use her arm, and Omi hissed through the pain.
"Omi!" Dojo cried and almost drop the monks on the water on his attempt to face Omi. "Sorry, sorry. Oh, Omi you are fine! I was losing scales!" Dojo whined and large tears formed at the corner of his eyes.
"He is fine. But he is hurt," Kimiko has her hands over Omi's shoulders. "But it doesn't look life-threatening."
"What?! Omi?" Dojo switches and twists to see the burns on Omi's arms, even at the monks ask him to stay still.
"I just need to know!" Dojo cries and twists his head in an uncomfortable position that allows him to see the burns.
Many things had happened since his disappearance. Kimiko's arm was still on a cast. Raimundo blamed himself for not going with Omi. Clay tried to stay positive. And Dojo couldn't find him.
The dragons called for Omi, but the monk was being hidden in a place with old, powerful, dormant Heylin magic.
"You are in trouble young man." Dojo tries to jokes, but his tone sounds severe and disturbed.
Omi says nothing; he clings to Kimiko as she assures him that they will fix whatever has happened, that they always do.
The hospital was pack, every refugee from the destruction of Fernando de Noronha island needs to be check for injuries. Omi asks a nurse about the situation; did people got hurt? Did anyone die?
She didn't understand Chinese, but she spoke English. Kimiko translated back and forth.
She told him that they weren't on the third headcount. They are founding more people that they have registered. She said to him that most people are well, just scared.
They are a couple who had disproportional injuries compared to the rest. Two young men. Besides those exceptions, they are mostly treating panic attacks.
"One is in surgery right now." She stops and with a soft tone reserved for her grandchildren she asks. "Is he your friend?"
The question hurt Omi, it stung and made him feel guilty.
"Do you want to see him? He also injured his arms." The nurse lightly inspects the burns. They were not very deep, but they should hurt like hell. But the child in front of her didn't flinch at her touch. He looked completely consumed by other matters. "Do you want to see him?"
"No."
Kimiko didn't ask questions. She held Omi's hand as they wait for a doctor to call them. They didn't wait long.
The old woman gave Omi an odd look, and signal them to come in.
She asked many questions, mostly about when and how any got his injuries.
They offered no answers.
Finally, the old doctor stared at the young man, a child still really, in frustration.
"There is nothing I can do." The young lady next to him was ready to fight her.
"You see. These injuries are old. Your burns had already healed; that" The doctor points "those are scars."
They tried to pretend they were in a panic and got confused. The blamed the smoke and the commotion. The old women didn't believe them, but there is too much to do to concentrate on the strange couple. They disappeared in the middle of the night.
Omi landed on the temple a few hours before the sun would rise. Everyone waited outside cover in thin bed sheets, shivering and smiling.
People who taught him trained him, and raised him.
They didn't question him.
Master Fung guided Omi to his room, slowly like he thought he might have already forgotten.
The old man sat at the end of the bed. Omi feared for a moment he wouldn't be able to sleep, but he closed his eyes and felt safe. The young man was tired and dreamt of when he was a young child. Young Omi would ask hard questions to Master Fung, and the old man would sit at the end of his bed and tell him grand stories of past masters; Omi felt safe.
Next morning Master Fung was still sitting at the end of Omi's bed. The day had slowly passed, and it was nearly noon. The man stares to seemingly nothing as he waits for the child he raised to speak up.
"Master Fung." Omi sits up.
"A consul is waiting for you."
Omi enters a shared room. All the furniture had been cleared, and a select group of masters wait inside, the three dragon warriors sit quietly looking at the floor. It was a hearing; a moment for Omi to explain his actions.
Wuya prepared him for this.
"Monk Omi, you disappeared and returned with scars formed from old Heylin magic." An old wrinkled master states.
The room fills with silence and tension as everyone waits for Omi to speak.
He started with the truth.
They thought they saw Jack Spicer die. It was traumatic to the young monks, but Omi considered himself a friend of Jack. He mourned him deeply.
Not long after, Chase Young informed them of Jack's fake death and his possession of the Bùxìng de wu. That night the young monks separately reached the same decision; they must obtain the wu. Many unpredicted things happened that night.
"I lead my friends to Chase Young's lair!" Raimundo added.
"Please be quiet." An old master orders him.
"That was my fault, I chose Omi to entered the palace alone and-
"Raimundo. Let Omi speak." Master Fung says, and the young monks are once again silence.
"It made sense. I have more knowledge of the palace inner workings, and I have the most versatile fighting style. I offered to go."
Omi felt his tongue heavy.
He knew what to say. Wuya taught him word per word. A perfect lie that would exonerate him from any accusation. Yet, he felt the words sticking against his throat.
"I entered the liar and made my way to the vault. It was open; Wuya was there."
Omi fought the words out of his throat, but he felt his chest tighten, and his stomach burn. The air in the room felt thick and hot.
"It was too easy...I knew it must have been a trap."
Everything spins into a concentrated mess, and for the first time, Omi could see where it started.
Omi remembers deciding to visit Jack Spicer because Jack Spicer was lonely and no one was there to guide him. They became unlikely friends through their mutual desire; a blinding ambition to greatness. He liked Jack, they were friends, and he felt like he understood each other.
The young monk was shaken to his core when he saw jack spicer die; fake or not. He was scared and confused. The witch was there offering Omi a deal he couldn't reject.
Jack once asked him "Do you know what temptation is Omi?"
Omi was tired of thinking about Jack. He wished he could stop thinking about everything that happened.
"You don't want the rat. You want so much more than that." Wuya spoked and for the first time Omi admitted that he wanted it more.
The young monk stayed quiet for a while.
"Wuya told me she would make me immortal; a legend." Omi felt his eyes burn as he tries to speak.
Omi didn't dare to look up, but he could feel their eyes on him.
He continued.
He told them about what the witch said. He tried to explained that he wanted an opportunity to fight one of the great Heylin. He thought that if he defeated Hannibal Roy Bean, he would be respected and celebrated. He told them that he had to act alone. He knew now that he had been naive.
"She offered me an opportunity to fight a weaken Hannibal. I thought that I would be forgiven for leaving if I defeated a great evil." Omi closed his eyes and tried to remember what was he thinking how was he feeling the moment he accepted the witch's deal. "I thought what that would satisfy her. I didn't consider the consequences of my actions."
"I killed Hannibal Roy Bean." Omi rubs the scars on his arms. "The old magic burnt me."
"What does she want?" Someone asks.
"I don't know," Omi answers truthfully. "She will come later and demand something."
No one said anything else.
One by one left Omi alone on the oddly empty room.
Master Fung was the only one allowed to stay.
Omi waits patiently for his teacher to speak, but there is no lesson to be taught.
He can't look at his student, he only sees the kid he raised.
"It'll be okay Omi." He says, and the young monk hurries to cling to his teacher. They stay like that for hours. "Your judgment was faulty and your intentions tainted. But you didn't hurt any of your fellow monks, no one was hurt. So, everything can be solved." Master Fung held Omi's lean frame. "It'll be okay."