Chapter 2: Ling-Sheng Su Temple
Ling-Sheng Su Temple was a sanctum in the mountains of Nepal. Powerful warriors trained there in a lot of different disciplines.
But, unlike other warriors, these weren't patriots fighting for their country, greedy pirates or men in search of challenges.
The noble warriors of Ling-Sheng Su Temple were looking only for their inner peace through fighting, and to purify those people who got evil inside of them.
The master of the temple was a wise old man, who despite his age was in a better shape than the most athletic guy. Through years of devotion he came up to master all known fighting styles, and now he taught them to young students who wanted to be as powerful as he was. Nobody knew his name, but he was known as Edge Master, because it was said that he was the only man in the world who had been in front of the famous sword, Soul Edge, and hadn't tried to get it.
But not all the apprentices were as far from his level as it would be appropiate to expect.
One of them, Kilik, had a really great potential. His fighting style was the Staff. He used an iron staff as thick as a thumb finger and two meters long. It could be used for both offensive and defensive moves. He was, without any doubt, the best student in the temple.
But Edge Master noticed Kilik was not only a great fighter. His way to treat his partners was great too. Kilik seemed to be a better person than most warriors.
The best evidence of this was his relationship with Xianglian, a girl who was also a student in the temple.
If you had arrived at the temple recently, you'd have said that he had a romantic interest in her, but Edge Master, who had been observing them for years, knew Kilik loved Xianglian in the way a brother loves his sister.
Xianglian was, probably, the only thing in the world worthier for Kilik than his staff. And clearly Xianglian was fond of him too.
Ling-Sheng Su Temple was usually a peaceful place, but that wouldn't last forever.
...
This happened on the last night of the year, when the master and the students were celebrating the end of course.
Edge Master had been preparing a feast for a week. He had descended from the mountain where the temple was located in order to pick up juicy fruits and hunt appetizing animals.
It was being a magical night. Edge Master could be very demanding with his pupils, but he also loved them very much, and it could be told by the fondly way he had cooked all the food for them.
All the students were seated around a huge stone table, presided by the master.
At the end of the night, the best student of the year would be chosen. It wasn't a surprise to anyone when Kilik won for the fourth year in a row. And, one more time, he was forced to improvise a speech in front of his partners.
- Well, ah... – muttered a doubtful Kilik. – We're here again. All together in a place which has become ours. In this place we learn to fight, but...it isn't all about fighting. Here I'm learning to love my fellows…and to be loved by them. And I wouldn't be here, one more time, in front of all of you, if we didn't love each other as we do. And our master too. Thank you everybody for another year working hard together. And thank you everybody for another year loving each other. Thank you, master, for giving us the chance to become great fighters. And finally, I have to say "thank you" to a person above all. A person who helps me in bad moments and who is always there to share the good ones too. Thank you, Xianglian.
Xianglian smiled.
- Well, any more words I could say won't be enough, so...that's all.
Kilik went back to his seat, beside Xianglian's, between rounds of applause, and the girl kissed his cheek.
- I have a present for you. – said Xianglian with a big smile, giving him a pendant.
Kilik looked at her lovingly and put it around his neck.
The master stood up and took the turn to speak.
- Well, boys and girls. You know how we work in here. We only rest when it is strictly necessary. So have a nice sleep, 'cause tomorrow we are back to work. Good night everybody, and congratulations for this finished course!
He gave a clap which was the signal for the students to get up and go to their bedrooms.
But the sleep wouldn't be as nice as the master had wished.
In the early morning, the master felt something strange. Something unexpected.
He got up and got out of the temple. He felt it even stronger outside the temple, coming from the south.
He hadn't been sure about it at first, but now he knew what it was.
An evil feeling like that...could only be Soul Edge.
Indeed, it was the Evil Seed, a perverse aura which could get inside everybody who wasn't strong enough to resist, transforming them in bloodthirsty killers.
Edge Master knew he could resist the Seed, but his pupils were too vulnerable.
He hurried and awoke all of the sleepy and confused students.
- What's going on? – asked a complaining Xianglian.
- Surprise training! – lied the master, who didn't want to worry the students. – Run to the north as fast and as far as you can.
The stunned students followed their master's orders. All of them but Kilik.
The best student of the year sensed something was wrong, so he confronted his master.
- Master, what's really going on? You can't lie to me.
- Kilik, something very bad is happening here very soon. You should be as far from here as possible. Trust me.
- But…?
- Run, dammit! – interrupted Edge Master.
Kilik reluctantly obeyed.
Edge Master went after his pupils in a hurry, but disaster was imminent.
They weren't even two kilometers away from the temple when the Evil Seed caught up with them.
Edge Master watched terrified as his students got an evil twinkle in their eyes and turned ones against the others.
He could have tried something, but he knew his pupils were going to kill each other, and the survivors would spread terror in the surrounding villages.
But not everything was lost. Through his tearful eyes, Edge Master saw a ray of hope.
Kilik hadn't got the Evil Seed inside of him. He was also fighting against his partners, but only in order to protect himself.
Undoubtedly, Kilik's soul was strong enough to resist the Evil Seed, in the same way Edge Master's was.
The master ran among the possessed students and grabbed Kilik's arm.
They escaped, but in order to do that, Edge Master had to kill some of his beloved students.
Not much later, the surviving evil students stopped fighting among themselves and ran back towards the temple.
Kilik and Edge Master followed them as they could, since the Evil Seed made the students faster and stronger. When the two of them were back in the temple, this had been reduced to ashes.
Edge Master couldn't restrain his anger at the view of the ruined temple which had been his home for decades, and he attacked his possessed pupils, ignoring Kilik's pleas begging him not to do it.
The master got inside the ruins and got his best weapon, a big trident, and he started killing with it the students he had once loved.
But when there was only an evil student left, he hit the master with his sword.
Edge Master fell wounded and he dropped his trident.
The attacker lifted his sword using both hands, willing to kill him. Edge Master, devastated by grief and pain, raised his eyes and saw the face of the person who was going to execute him.
When he recognized her, he got petrified.
Above him, a girl was holding a sword hanging over his chest and with her eyes glaring with malice. She was Xianglian.
She was about to give the death stroke when, suddenly, a long iron staff broke through her abdomen.
The girl dropped her sword, which hit the ground close to Edge Master but didn't touch him, and she collapsed. She was dead.
Behind her, Kilik was holding the staff, which was now covered with the blood of the girl who had been like a sister for him.
Kilik dropped his weapon and, crying, he leaned over Xianglian's body. He stroked her lifeless face and looked at her eyes. The evil shining had disappeared. The Evil Seed was gone, but it had taken away Xianglian's and many other lives.
Kilik closed her eyes and remained embracing the corpse for a while.
At last, he stood up and helped the master to do so. The old man sat on the remains of the temple and Kilik, trying to hold back his tears, treated his wound using a medicinal plant which grew in the temple surroundings.
Edge Master put a hand on Kilik's shoulder and said:
- I'm very sorry.
Kilik nodded.
- What happened, master?
- Your partners have been possessed by an evil energy. A very strong energy.
- But... What about me? Why didn't I…?
- It seems like you are stronger than they were, Kilik. You have the strength I had when I was your age.
- What? – Kilik was very surprised. Too many emotions for one day.
- Not everyone can resist Soul Edge, Kilik. In fact, this is very unusual.
- Soul Edge? Soul Edge has something to do with this?
- Soul Edge is the source of all this evil energy. The Evil Seed has been released.
Kilik was listening very sad and a little scared.
- And it will corrupt every good soul in the world...unless somebody does something to prevent it from happening.
- Who can? – asked Kilik, thinking he knew the answer.
- Those people who can resist Soul Edge's power. People like you and me. But it's very dangerous. I'm not going to ask you to do something you don't want to do. I could find you a home and…
- No! – Kilik interrupted. – I won't stay idly by waiting for the Evil Seed to reach me. I'm going to help you to find and destroy Soul Edge.
- That's a really difficult task, I hope you know. You've surely heard about when I had Soul Edge in front of me.
- Yes. And that you are the only one who didn't surrender to the temptation to take it.
- It's true, I was strong enough to resist...but it's also true that I wasn't strong enough to destroy it.
- So…you have attempted it before.
- Yes, I did. And as you can see, it didn't work. But I hope we both together can do it.
- It's okay. – accepted Kilik. – I owe it to my partners.
He grabbed the pendant Xianglian had given to him and stretched it against his chest.
- And I owe it to Xianglian.