Finished: 30th April 2005
Uploaded: 12th June 2005

Author's notes: No, the Streams of Time aren't a Shen Gong Wu … just streams of time.


Chapter 2: The Streams of Time

Drifting … floating … thinking …

Kimiko woke up, finding herself lying on her stomach, on a cold, hard floor. Using her hands and elbows, she propped herself up into a sitting position. In the dim, eerie light, she saw that she was inside an enclosed cave, roughly about the size of a small bedroom. She was surrounded on all sides by solid rock: there was no way in or out.

A wave of fear and confusion shot through her, making her tremble with sorrow. A tear fell from her face and dropped to the floor. Was this what it was like to die? Would she be stuck in here until the end of time? Never before had she felt so alone, so scared, so hopeless. She longed for the days where Raimundo was still their friend, still playing the odd practical joke and teasing Omi silly; she wanted Clay to pat her on the shoulder and tell her everything would be okay; she wanted Omi to cheer her up with his innocent charm …

None of her friends were here, though. She was all alone.

But she wasn't by herself. And she couldn't explain it, but that scared her even more.

There was another person leaning against the wall in one corner, a brown-haired man in his late twenties sitting with his knees pressed up against his chest and his arms around his knees. There were several tears and gashes streaked across his black jeans, his ashen forehead covered in little sweat-balls. He moved forwards and backwards in a gentle swaying motion, brown eyes focused on the ground ahead of him.

"She got you too, huh, little girl …?" he said quietly without looking at her, in what was probably meant to be an indifferent voice, but it ended up being more of a shaky, sighing tone, from the depths of the earth.

Kimiko looked at the man closely, trying to determine whether he was dangerous or not. He didn't exactly look sane – he seemed the kind of person that would stab his own mother given half a chance. After a short silence, she regained control of her senses. He was in the same boat she was; surely he would want to try to get out of here too.

"You mean … Wuya?"

"Is that what she's called? I never caught 'er name. The city was in chaos. I thought she'd be an easy target." The indifference was strong now. His voice was listless, lacking any emotion or force. It was as if nothing mattered to him any more. Suddenly Kimiko got the feeling that he had tried to get out of here.

"We should … find a way out of here," she said gently, feeling the stony walls for any structural weaknesses.

"We can't," he said tiredly. "She won't let us."

" … Where is she now?"

"Dunno. She comes and goes as she pleases. I – I … every time she comes, I feel cold. More and more cold. An' empty. I … can't remember … Sometimes … I …"

He trailed off without completing his sentence. He looked hard at the ground, straining to recall something; and then suddenly, as if an internal switch had been pushed, the man's demeanour changed completely. He rose to his feet, snarling, staring at her, eyes bright and wide open in insane rage.

"Rrrrr …!" He raised a right fist. Kimiko had never really let her guard down, and she ducked, knocking him over with a low sweeping kick. But then, as if nothing had happened, he curled into a ball on the floor and shivered violently, sweat pouring from his face. Kimiko was shocked by the abrupt personality changes. What had happened to him? Unless …

"Don't mind him," said the wall behind her. Kimiko let out a small shriek, scrambling to the opposite side of the prison.

Wuya phased through the wall. "He's just missing pieces of his soul. It makes him – unpredictable."

The man stood up, changing moods again, as if he'd only just noticed Wuya was there. "What do you want?" he cried in despair. "You keep coming here and then leaving me all alone; and then ya left that girl here …"

He glanced at Kimiko, who gave him a sorrowful look, full of pity. There was nothing she could do for him. Wuya said nothing.

"I'm sorry – I shouldn't have attacked ya," he said to Wuya somewhat contritely, seeming to have the idea that acknowledging a crime suddenly made it okay. "An' I overdid the name-calling. I'm sorry …"

"But I'm not sorry," Wuya chuckled. "Not sorry at all. You see, it was thanks to your life-energy that I was able to reach full power again."

She took a step forward, and he instinctively took a step back. "Before I was just toying with you," she told him, "but now I think I'll just finish you off. I can't have you running around free in the Dream World while I sleep."

"Please – don't kill me," he said in a pitiful voice.

"You simpleton! You're already dead. I've already absorbed your physical essence. All that remains of you is a sad little heap of dust on the floor. I'm just here for what's left of your soul."

Heap … of … dust …? thought Kimiko. Is that … what's happened to me?

He sank to his knees, sobbing into his hands. "I don't want to die … not like this …"

Wuya frowned in annoyance, her face as stony and cold as the walls. "If you did not want to die … you should never have been born. All who are born under Nu Wa's cycle, die under Nu Wa's cycle."

She held her right arm up, and the man turned grey and transparent; and then he split into two separate parts, one white and one dark. The white part changed shape, becoming a bright, shining orb, which floated upwards, while the dark part formed into a mass of shadow and sank down to the floor.

"Every soul must eventually return to the planet's essence …" Wuya said quietly, drawing a semi-circle in the air, where the yin-yang symbol appeared.

Wuya has two sevenths of the xing xing jing inside of her, thought Kimiko …Which … is where I am now, I guess …

The white orb moved down at the same time as the shadow mass moved up, and swirled together, recombining to form a grey mist. Wuya took a deep breath, inhaling the mist through her mouth. Kimiko looked down at the floor. She couldn't watch Wuya devour the man's soul.

Presently Wuya turned around, to face Kimiko. She looked up and backed away into the wall, but there was nowhere to run.

"Once I absorb the xing xing jing of the other elements," Wuya said, slowly advancing, "I'll be in full control of the cycle. I'll finally have my revenge on that accursed Nu Wa!"

In any other situation, Kimiko would have fought, would have kicked back and scratched and done anything to stop Wuya getting her way. But Kimiko didn't bother. If she was already dead, and her soul was trapped inside Wuya, what was the point in fighting?

"Just make it quick," she growled bitterly.

Wuya shook her head, chuckling heartily. "Oh no. I've got a far more important use for your soul, Kimiko."

A bright flash overtook the entire area, and Kimiko knew no more.

You're the bait …


Jack opened his eyes. He was standing in the centre of what looked like an abandoned city. There were skyscrapers, and houses and department stores, but they were cracked, broken; empty. Windows were smashed, doors hanging by one hinge, roofs half-collapsed, rusting lampposts and traffic lights on the floor, the roads torn asunder by what must have one hell of an earthquake …

What … happened? Where … am I?

Jack's boots crunched on shattered glass as he continued along the path of destruction, trying to see whether there were any survivors. Soon he decided to fly up, as it was faster to fly, and after ten minutes of soaring above broken rooftops, he noticed a trail of smoke on the horizon. He flew towards it, finally finding what he hoped was a sign of life.

And sure enough, next to a broken section of motorway, he could see a tiny group of people surrounding a smashed up aeroplane that must have crashed into the ground long ago. They must have made their homes within the craft, as it was the only thing around for miles that still had a roof. But when he landed, he realised just how destitute this place really was. These people lived here, but it could hardly be called living.

There were five of them, three men and two women. They all looked anxious, all looking around them worriedly, as if expecting another calamity at any moment. They were all ragged, with torn clothes, scruffy uncombed hair, a general dishevelled appearance. But what got to Jack the most was the expressions on their faces. Their eyes had dark circles underneath, as if they had not slept in weeks, and were filled with the same empty feeling exuded by the wrecked city. Despondency and hopelessness plagued each one of their eyes, as if they'd lived like this all their lives … it was as if they had never known what joy and laughter were. None of them made any signs that they had noticed his arrival.

Finally, they entered the plane wreckage.

Jack hovered towards the plane's back exit, into the inside walls of the plane; and within the wreckage, a small group of about ten or so bedraggled people huddled around three small steel barrels, fires burning within. They rubbed their hands together, shivering in the cold. One man was roasting what was probably the only food they'd had in days, and Jack made a noise of sickened disgust – it looked like a giant rat.

Jack had had enough. He left the plane the same way he'd come in, determined to find somewhere else that was more … tasteful. But after about two more minutes of flying, he noticed something peculiar.

A single child sat alone in the dusty pits of the city of nothingness, right in the middle of the cracked road: a blonde-haired girl with a blank, emotionless stare into space etched on her small face. Jack was perplexed. What was a child doing out here, in the middle of nowhere, without any parents?

He landed close to her, realising that she was tied by metal chains to a bent lamppost. Odd … He stared at her for a few moments, and then:

Sucks to this. I'm outta here.

He hastily flew up and out, leaving the motorway, heading over another road before stopping in mid-air to think. He had to find a way to … where was it he was going? Ping-jing?

Was this another Wuya trick?

He couldn't go there, even if he knew the way. But he had to get out of this city. Normally he loved the colour black and the depression that was associated with the colour – but this was ridiculous. He'd never have thought it before today, but there was such a thing as too much bleakness.

Suddenly the temperature dropped several more degrees; and Jack shivered as he looked down, to see Wuya flying straight towards him, in an upwards diagonal direction. He blinked, completely frozen, as he stared death in the face. But Wuya flew right through him as though he wasn't even there. Jack would have attributed this perhaps to the Serpent's Tail, except it looked like she wasn't using any Shen Gong Wu at all, probably using magic to fly. She was dressed differently too, wearing a bright red dress, stitched with complex and colourful patterns depicting flowers, dragons and tigers. Her head was adorned with a golden crown, which was encrusted with shimmering rubies and diamonds.

She's sure taking this "Empress" thing seriously …

He landed, hoping she wasn't in a jing-taking mood. She soared ever higher, moving her head round, scanning the roof-tops area. She must have been searching for someone. She descended, still looking around; and Jack panicked as she looked directly at him again. But she wasn't staring at him, she was staring at something beyond him. She flew towards him again, but completely ignored him as she bent over to pick up a square metallic object, on the floor beside him.

Does she even know I'm here?

She let out a quiet, irritated snarl, and stood up, easily crushing the object in her hand, letting the wires and pieces of metal fall to the ground. Jack hovered beside her, tentatively waving a hand in front of her eyes before quickly removing it back again. No response. He stuck his tongue at her, but she really couldn't see him. As far as she was concerned, he wasn't there.

Jack wasn't sure what was going on, but before he had time to get really confused, her head swivelled around until she fixed her eyes on the child in the middle of the motorway. And she smiled cruelly.

Jack gulped. She wouldn't … would she?

Wuya's greedy look told him she would.

Maybe he could warn the child to get away? It was the least he could do, since it was his fault Wuya was free in the first place. As he thought of this, his mind involuntarily went into deep-thinking mode again.

I was able to release her from the puzzle-box because I was the one who created it. But if I created it, doesn't that mean I'm indirectly responsible for trapping her inside, too? I don't get it …

There was no time for his brain to do mind somersaults now, though. Edging forwards ever so slightly, Wuya really did look like she was stalking the child as a predator in pursuit of prey would. But she was taking so long with it that maybe Jack would have a bit of time to at least inform the girl of what could happen if she didn't leave. He flew to her, knowing Wuya (for whatever reason) couldn't see him, and raised his hands, yelling anxiously.

"Hey kid! You've gotta get out of here!"

But the little girl couldn't see or hear him either. Jack reached out to grab the child by the shoulders, but he went through the child, and he toppled to the floor. And, as he looked at his transparent hands and body, it finally hit him.

"Yaargh! I'm a … ghost!"

Well, this was a bizarre twist. All those times he'd made fun of Wuya being unable to do anything because she was a ghost, and now he was one himself. Fate sure had a strange sense of humour.

He tried yanking on the chain, but, of course, his transparent hands would not grasp the solid object. Desperation completely overtook his senses – he wanted, so badly, to help the girl see the danger, but no matter what he did, the child would not – or could not – give him a response. It was the first real time he had been genuinely concerned about someone other than himself. He had called out for Kimiko, even made his own element rise to the surface because of her, but that had been for selfish reasons – he liked her. Really liked her. But this – this was to be his first selfless act. The child had to be freed, if only to ease his conscience, which kept telling him: 'This is all your fault ...'

Unfortunately, there was nothing Jack could do. And then – it was too late. Wuya landed, pouncing on her victim, holding her up with one hand, a satisfied grin appearing on her face.

The child looked up knowingly just as she held her up; but she made no effort to struggle. Was she just going to let Wuya steal her jing? It reminded him a little of the impassive way Raimundo had been when she had taken his jing in the courtyard … although this was freakier, because this girl wasn't scared, not at all. Raimundo had been terrified, but the child seemed not to care. A grim acceptance was in her eyes. Jack was horrified. Why had the adults chained her here, anyway? Were these people so used to seeing Wuya doing this that they weren't even bothered by it happening any more?

Suddenly, though, a shocked gasp drew Wuya's attention away from the small child, and she glared heatedly at the person, a brown-haired woman in drab rags, possibly the girl's mother.

The woman gasped again and fell to her knees.

"Please," she pleaded, "have mercy. We didn't know – "

"Quiet, vermin. You failed to deliver my tribute. What's more, you sheltered a well-known criminal! This child's life is forfeit."

"Jack Spicer came here of his own accord! But he's no longer here –" the woman spoke in frantic, desperate tones – "he-he left a long time ago, y-your Majesty!"

Jack started in alarm at the sound of his name. He was a criminal? How long had he been knocked out? Wait, that didn't make any sense … How could he have done anything while he was knocked out?

What the hell was going on?

This had to be a dream. Had to be. Or maybe … maybe Wuya had taken his soul after all, and his body had survived by itself, but then he'd managed to escape, and this city was all that was left of humanity …

All that was left? Just how much time had passed …?

Jack's genius mind was definitely doing roly-polies today.

"Silence!" barked Wuya. "I will not tolerate insubordination!"

Wuya and the girl's bodies became white. Jack noticed that, even though Wuya was taking away the child's chi energy, she wasn't wearing the Sun Chi Lantern. She must have figured out how to take chi using magic. When Wuya held her hand over the girl's forehead, Jack knew that she was going to take her essence. The brown-haired woman continued to plead with Wuya, to no avail.

It was horrible to watch; in the space of three seconds, the child grew wrinkly and old, aging whilst still retaining the same size; her skin sagged grotesquely and her hair grew white; then there was nothing but a skeleton; and then the bones turned to dust.

Jack felt sick. That so easily could have been Kimiko ...

The woman broke down in tears, whimpering and sobbing, but Wuya was unmoved.

"Get out of my sight," she growled.

The woman complied, turning around dejectedly in the direction of the crash site. A sparkle from a silver headband she wore on her head caught Jack's eye. Wuya noticed this too, and said: "Wait."

The woman stopped and obediently turned back round.

"What is this?" the Empress snapped, pointing at the headband. The woman was shaking, trembling in fear, and couldn't speak, but of course this only made Wuya angrier.

"Where did you get this?" she boomed, yanking the headband off her head.

"I-I g-got it from J-Jack!"

"WHAT?" Wuya roared; and suddenly the woman's body burst into flames. She screamed as the flames ate away at her body, and soon there was a piles of ashes next to the pile of dust.

Jack bit his lip. Because of him, that woman and child had died ... The smell of death was thick in the air.

A grey mist, shaped vaguely like the woman, emerged from the ashes. It was the woman's soul. Wuya drew an arc in the air; when the yin-yang symbol appeared, the grey mist separated into a shining orb and a dark shadow. The shining orb became misty again, and she breathed in this mist, but the dark shadow remained.

Wuya chanted something Jack didn't understand, slicing the air in two with one finger, and a black portal appeared. Jack could hear whispers from inside the portal. Streams of darkness came out, and the woman's shadow followed them, as they swirled around like a tornado, picking up the ashes and dust. Dust in the wind.

Twirling round and round, they gathered closer together, finally solidifying into a 15 foot tall dragon. Sleek and dark, with curved claws and teeth and bat-like wings, Jack knew what it was. A Huai-Ren.

Was this how Wuya created her Huai-Ren? From the remains of her victims?

Jack wanted to leave. He didn't want to see this any more. But the more he tried to leave, the more he found he couldn't. He had no control over what he was seeing or doing any more, which made him think more and more that this was a dream …

He heard more footsteps. Another man walked onto the broken road, and the Huai-Ren turned its head and growled. Wuya stroked the shadow creature gently on its snout.

"What is it?"

The man bowed his head respectfully. He was nervous. Jack wasn't surprised after what he just saw. No wonder those five people had looked so worried.

"I, er, trust you were satisfied with the offering?"

Wuya's eyes narrowed and she growled gently. "Yes. However … in the future I would prefer not to be disturbed," she said.

"Yes, yes, of course … Please forgive me, your Majesty, I couldn't stop her coming, she – "

An imperious wave of her hand told him to shut up. She climbed onto the black dragon's back, and the man looked relieved, as it looked as though she was finally about to leave. But before she did, she cast him one final glance.

"Do you know anything about this?" she asked, her hands now playing with the silver headband.

Her expression was dangerously unreadable, and the man became nervous once more.

"That? It's … a Shen Gong Wu, one that allows you to enter the Dream World – I think."

"That's all I needed to hear," she said. The silver headband vanished from her hands, and she patted the Huai-Ren on the head. "Kill them all," she ordered icily, pointing in the direction of the plane wreck. The Huai-Ren opened its great wings.

"Wait, please! You said if I offered you Rebecca you'd spare the rest of us!"

Wuya held a grin that would have put the Cheshire cat to shame.

"I lied."

The Huai-Ren bent down and leaned forward, snapping its mighty jaws shut on the man's neck. There was a bone-crunching crack: the man was dead. Wuya absorbed the grey mist that emerged from the body.

Jack felt nauseous again. Why am I seeing this?

The Huai-Ren flew to the plane wreck, where Wuya caused an earthquake, to shatter the plane in half. The people poured out, screaming in terror, and tried to run, but there was no escape. One by one, the Huai-Ren swooped down and picked them off; those that the dragon missed Wuya struck down with Lightning. She harvested the souls of the dead bodies.

More footsteps. This time a giant furry panda pawed its way to Wuya.

As if things aren't bizarre enough already …thought Jack, who desperately wanted this nightmare to end.

"Was that absolutely necessary?" the panda said. "Spicer will be long gone. It wasn't their fault he chose to hide here."

Wuya snorted softly. "That fool gave away the Silver Headband. I need more shen energy to dissolve the charm around the Zhong Float. Besides, they are nothing but insects to me ... and their gui make useful Huai-Ren."

The panda stared at her with a sorrowful, almost disapproving look, and she folded her arms.

"You were raised by humans ... that's why you're soft on them. But the humans you knew are long gone, killed by Li Jin - a human, no less."

"It doesn't matter. Each life has meaning, from the tiniest insect, to the greatest blue whale. Sometimes I wonder ..."

Wuya tilted her head thoughtfully. "Wonder what?"

Jack could hear the panda's thoughts: Did I do the right thing?

But Wuya couldn't, and out loud the panda said, "Nothing. It doesn't matter. I … should return to the palace."

A bright flash, and suddenly Jack was somewhere entirely different. Everything was blue. He was on an island, and far off he could see other islands, all separated by water. There was no sun, only a blue horizon that seemed to stretch onwards forever.

Jack was completely lost. He had no idea where this was. He tried to fly in a ghostly manner, but ended up jumping instead. Clearly the laws of gravity applied to souls here.

He was just about to crack up with insane laughter on the thought of spending eternity here in the Land of Infinite Islands all alone, when a voice called out his name.

"Jack Spicer!"

He turned around, and saw a Moshu-Ren staring back at him.


Clay was dreaming of his mother again. That was okay, though. He often had dreams about his mother. The only difference this time was, Omi was in this one. They were both inside his house, on the ranch, sitting at the table. There was loads of plates of food on the table, provided by Clay's mother, who seemed to think that nothing was good enough for her little boy.

"Your mother is most kind," Omi said politely, tucking into some steaming macaroni cheese, "but how are we to find Jack and Kimiko's souls if we cannot control our dreams?"

"I dunno, lil' partner." Clay glanced outside the window. "Maybe if we left the ranch … I never leave the ranch when I dream about mom."

The roast chicken stood up and said: "Could someone help me out here? I'm sweating like a pig!"

A pork chop opened a mouth saying: "Zat an insult or what?"

"Warrgh …" said Omi, dropping his fork on the floor as his macaroni made a wise-crack about his bald head. "The food is talking! Clay, why is the food talking?"

"This ain't never happened before …" Clay said, rubbing his chin.

"That's because we ain't never got our revenge before!" said a chicken leg. "And revenge will be ours, Clay Bailey!"

The food grew larger and melded together, a disgusting mass of baked beans, chips, chicken thighs and legs, pork chops, beef steaks, hamburgers, nuggets, melted cheese …

"I'M HUNGRY!" the food monster roared. "AND GUESS WHAT'S FOR LUNCH?"

Clay and Omi dashed out of the house, leaped onto the nearest horses and galloped away, being chased by … a food monster.

"Not one o' my better dreams," Clay remarked.


"You – you're a Moshu-Ren!" Jack exclaimed.

"Give the genius a pat on the back!" the Moshu-Ren said, grinning mischievously. He looked a bit like Wuya, pointy ears and wild hair – and yet not like her. For one thing, this Moshu-Ren was male. For another, he looked younger and was a head shorter than her, probably in his mid-teens. His eyes were bright and blue, and he had blond hair. He wore the dark blue and black Heylin robes.

Jack remembered he still had his heli-pack. He was ready to fly away, but the Moshu-Ren raised his hand, and Jack's heli-pack closed by itself. Jack screamed.

"I don't bite, y'know," he said, when Jack didn't say anything else for a whole minute. "I'm not Wuya – I'm not into the whole taking over the world thing."

The shock finally wore off. "I – who are you?"

"My name's Fengqu."

Fengqu? thought Jack. Haven't I heard that name somewhere before?

"But my name isn't important," said he. "What's important is that you've finally reached the Streams of Time."

"Huh?"

"I see you're just as dense as you look," Fengqu said, smiling brightly.

"What?" growled Jack.

"Listen. I've watched you before, but this is the first time we've existed on the same time existence frame. Now I can tell you what to do."

Great. Not only was he being watched by those Ping-jing idiots, he was also being watched by one of hag-face's cousins –

"Time existence frame?"

Fengqu shook his head in haughty disappointment. "You could be so great, y'know. One of the greatest geniuses of all time. How can someone so smart be so stupid?"

Jack was irate that this guy was taking the mick. At the same time, though, he had to be extremely careful. He was a Moshu-Ren, just like Wuya. Who knew what other magic tricks he had up his sleeve?

"Are you a friend of Wuya's?" Jack asked, frowning.

"Not exactly … I know her well, though."

Jack's frown deepened. That meant he was from her time period. "Did you come here to kill me?"

"Hell no! Your body's all the way in Ping-jing. Inaccessible to me, matey."

"Get to the point, then! What is it you want? What are you doing here?"

Fengqu pouted, looking insulted. It was clear he thought Jack was the kind of person who could dish out jokes, but couldn't take them himself.

"I'm here because … I'm a Soothsayer's son, apparently."

"Eh?"

This time Fengqu didn't mock Jack's ignorance, because it appeared he didn't fully understand what he was saying either. "Well, that's what they call me in my village. I'm not sure how, or why, but I'm able to travel through the Time Streams while I sleep and dream, watching different events as they occurred in the future … but like you, I couldn't interfere with what happened. I was just a spectator.

"You're here because your soul has been disconnected from your body, and it's drifted through the worlds. The worlds are all connected here, via the time streams, and you've gotten stuck in the middle.

"Now … What you saw in that dream vision there was a glimpse three years into your future."

"So Wuya …"

"Yeah … she took over the world and got the rest of the planet's essences." Fengqu's frown was sad and melancholy. Jack got the feeling that maybe Fengqu was lying and he and Wuya had been friends, but he couldn't be sure.

He pointed out towards the islands. "What are they? Different worlds?"

"Hmm … sorta. Each island represents a snippet of time; and within each island, a river flows. The rivers eventually all join the sea. Time is always flowing, and can't be stopped; however, the course it takes is up to the people within the island, or the time fragment. Understand?"

"Yeah, I think. But why was I in Wuya's fragment? There was nothing I could do to change that. It had nothing to do with me."

"That's where you're wrong, bucko. Didn't you notice the Silver Headband on your head?"

Jack hadn't, actually, but now that Fengqu had mentioned it, he realised that his goggles were dangling around his neck because he was wearing the Silver Headband around his forehead instead.

"The Silver Headband," said Fengqu, "is a very special Shen Gong Wu. When active within a person's dream, it attaches itself to the person having that dream, and transports them to the nearest place – in your case, the Streams of Time. Your future self knew that, and that's why he left the Shen Gong Wu with those people. He knew that you would pick it up in the dream."

Time was a subject that Jack found interesting, and was easy for him, since he could do multiple calculations in his head, understand the existence – and non-existence – of subatomic particles, comprehend the existence of parallel universes … If he hadn't been so busy building his robots, he would have experimented with time instead. But there was still a lot he didn't understand …

"But … doesn't that mean I can't change what happens? If that future never happens, my future self will never be able to give me the Headband, and I'll never get transported here, and then ..."

"Yeah, time is funny like that. Paradoxes and time loops and all that. But you mustn't get discouraged. Just because your future self gave you the Headband from that future, doesn't mean that that future will happen for sure. It's just the future that is most likely to happen, if things remain the way they are now. Your future self will always give you the Headband from the future; but what happens in that future is … up to you."

"So … what's got to change?"

"I don't know, to be quite honest," Fengqu sighed. "I haven't seen everything. But you mustn't let Wuya absorb the other elemental essences, otherwise it's game over. There's no way you'll be able to stop her if she succeeds with that."

"There's one thing I don't understand …"

"Only one?"

"Why are you helping me? Why aren't you helping Wuya?"

"I've seen the future – my future – and … I know there's nothing I can do to stop it. Some of the actions I took – or am about to take – I … regret doing. But they had to done – otherwise the world would have been destroyed. There's nothing more I could have done. I've even seen my own death, and the deaths of my friends and family. But you … you can make a difference, Jack. There's still time."

Fengqu's last sentence sounded odd, in a place that was overflowing with time.

"I won't be able to come here forever," Fengqu said, when he saw Jack's confused look. "Once a certain point has been reached on my timeline, I won't be able to come here any more. But you've still got plenty of time – perhaps well into your adult years. It's because we're in your present, not mine. My future has already happened, because it's your past …" He trailed off. "This time stuff's a pain in the ass to explain …"

Learning about time was great, but it didn't tell Jack what he was supposed to do next. He definitely wanted to stop Wuya's take-over from happening, though. He didn't want any more people to die because of him.

"Okay … so what should I do now?"

"Find your friends in the Dream World. Rescue the Chosen of Fire from Wuya. And then after that, it's up to you what you do. Like I said to you, letting Wuya absorb the other elemental essences is a definite no-no."

"How do I reach the Dream World?"

"Use the Silver Headband. That's its other function: to transport ghostly forms to the Dream World.

"One last thing … You MUST put a sealing charm on the Zhong Float. It's a Shen Gong Wu that lets you travel through time, and its location is deep within the Water temple. Future Wuya can't use it because of the charm, but it hasn't been done yet in your time. If she gains control of it, it's game over too. Except this one you can't redo by travelling back through time, because she'll control the whole of time too …"

"But in my dream she said that the charm was there …"

"I told you – just because you saw that future, doesn't mean it'll happen for sure. The whole definition of future is something that hasn't happened yet. It's just one possible future."

"Okay – find Xiaolin dweebs, rescue Kimiko, put charm on Zhong Float – got it. Anything else?"

"No, that's it …"

"Uh, thanks, I guess …" said Jack awkwardly. He still didn't really understand Fengqu's reasons for helping him, but Fengqu seemed just as determined to stop Wuya as he was. And Jack would have done anything to get away from those blasted islands. A little strange, but he was starting to miss the others. He liked teasing Omi and Clay, and Kimiko ... He smiled when he thought about saving her. Maybe then she'd like him.

He didn't want to be alone any more. Not against someone like Wuya. At least he wouldn't be alone in the Dream World.

"No prob," Fengqu said, shrugging off the thanks. "Just get going already."

"Silver Headband!" And, in the blink of an eye, Jack vanished.

"Dang!" said Fengqu, by himself once more. "I forgot to ask him if he would lend me a robot … Always wanted one of my own …"