Chapter 9: Ta Lo
Ta Lo is one of the many discrete dimensions that runs parallel to the Earthly realm. It is a lush land, filled with beautiful terrain similar to those found on earth like mountains, lakes, valleys etc. However unlike Earth it home to all manner of magical beings. From the majestic Fenghuang, birdlike creatures with fiery burning wings and feathers. More popularly known in the west as phoenixes.
To the Shishi or guardian lions, powerful elephant size feline's with two tusks protruding from their lower jaws. And many more. All of these creatures, while potentially dangerous, are mostly docile and peaceful. Never needing to show aggression to protect their territory, nor hunt their fellow creatures for food or any other unsavory necessities that have to be done to survive in the wild.
Instead all their needs are taken care of by a specific set of beings. This set of caretaker beings are known as the People of Ta Lo. Intelligent humanoids who possess such a striking similarity to humans from the Earthly realm, specifically from Asia, it is believed that they might be descended from early humans who stumbled into this dimension on accident. There used to be millions of them in this dimension, and they dwelled in great cities the likes of which far outclassed most on Earth. But most of their numbers and cities were decimated by the soul devouring monster, the Dweller in Darkness, driving their civilization to a fraction of it's former glory. These days only a handful of decent sized city states exist, each one protected by a powerful dragon such as the K'un Lun city state, home to the legendary iron fist is the largest still standing Ta Lo dwelling.
Then the was Ta Lo village also known as the Ancient Village located just off the coast of the island upon which the Dweller in Darkness was trapped in. It was the smallest state in size but oldest in age, and like all the other cities it was protected by a great dragon, this time the water dragon the Great Protector . This state was tasked with safeguarding the dark gate to the Dweller in Darkness.
Of the few remaining cities, Ta Lo Village is the most welcoming to outsiders and is most likely to lend their help against the deviants. So that is where the trio of the Ancient One, alongside Wong and Wenwu portal to.
Wenwu was the last to step through the sling ring portal from Kamar Taj to Ta Lo, still dubious on his alliance with the sorcerers. And also just generally weary of magic. As he cautiously entered through it, trying to move quickly so as not to be cut in half if the swirling opening in space randomly closed, he mulled over the absurdity of his current predicament.
Barely a month ago he was but a warlord building an empire. Not uncommon during this time. The rings he wore were the only tangible supernatural element in his life. Everything else was relatively normal and grounded. Wenwu had certainly heard of other fantastical beings, but he had never put much stock in those claims, even though on some level he knew they might be true. After all, wasn't he himself a living legend at this point? But it's one thing being open to the idea of there being supernatural creatures but it's a whole other thing diving head first into the world of the supernatural.
With barely any time to process it all he has now met a siren, a thunder god, an alien and so much more. And currently he was on a mission with two sorcerers to fight an alien horde set on destroying the earth. But to fend against this threat he must help in recruiting an army of super warriors from the people his mother used to tell him fairy tales about. It was a lot to process, so is it any surprise that Wenwu needed something to center himself with
For some people, they centered themselves by meditating or relaxing. For Wenwu he did so by hyper focusing on a task and trying to achieve said task. And the task Wenwu had decided to hyper focus on here was revenge against the witch. He knew that in the grand scheme of things it was irrelevant, but he didn't care.
The world could burn to the ground around him and all he would care about was whether he had successfully avenged his wounded pride, by any means possible.
Right now though, the oath prevented him from acting against her without consequences so he needed to bide his time till he could act. But that didn't mean he couldn't fantasize about the sorts of torments he could inflict on her when he could.
So as they materialized upon the grass lawn in front of a large red painted Chinese style building, Wenwu continued to stare obsessively at Boudicca's back all the while plotting in his mind.
Kamar Taj had sent word ahead of their arrival, so a small welcome party from Ta Lo awaited them. It consisted of eight people dressed in form fitting multicolored clothing with dragon scale armor pieces. The leader of the welcome party was beautiful Asian woman with a mostly shaved bald head but a prominent long brown pig tail haircut. She had a serious face and was dressed in a simple green bosom covering top and a a green skirt.
She quickly exchanged pleasantries and made introduction, revealing herself as Fei Fan current head of Ta Lo. Without wasting much time they were led inside into a meeting room where they all knelt down to sit on a floor lined with cushions.
"Let's not beat around the bush here" Fei Fan began.
"Ta Lo is ready and willing to help the Earthly realm to deal with this crisis, for we too faced a similar threat from the dweller in darkness centuries ago. And back then your former Sorcerer Supreme Agamotto helped us. So we owe you a debt."
Boudicca nodded, pleased with this news and thinking to herself 'hopefully the other members of the five were also getting assistance as quickly as she was'.
"How many soldiers can you offer us?" Wong asked pragmatically.
There was an brief pause as Fei Fan hesitated to answer, but eventually she did "Five hundred"
Wong winced quietly and Boudicca tried to remain stoic and not cringe upon hearing of such a laughably small force.
Wenwu on the other hand had no such tact and openly burst out laughing shaking his head in disbelief as he did so.
"You must be joking? Our foe easily numbers in the hundreds of thousands and is ever growing. What good is mere five hundred men going to do for us?" Wenwu questioned.
Fei Fan and the rest of her council looked rightfully offended by Wenwu's outburst.
So in order to avoid further offense, Boudicca shot Wenwu a dirty look to silence before turning back to look at Fei Fan apologetically. "Excuse my companion's outburst, but unfortunately he does speak some truth. Five hundred is far too small. Could you not spare a little more" Wong said sounding suitably remorseful about being a beggar with choice.
Fei Fan shook her head sadly "We must maintain a large force here in Ta Lo. Ever ready to stop the dweller in darkness should it escape. Else we doom our own dimension to ruin. And in general our numbers aren't that large to begin with. But we assure you the five hundred warriors we offer you are some of the best that we have. And they will be armed with dragon scale weapons which as you know are as hard as diamonds. And will be accompanied by a selection of great beasts of power such as the Shishi and Fenghuan"
Wenwu opened his mouth, likely to say something snarky and rude, but Wong quickly cut him off saying "Thank you. We accept all the help you can offer. Please marshal up your troops, we will have them join our other forces and together we will be launching a counter attack in three days from time"
With that the meeting came to an end and the Kamar Taj delegation prepared to leave. As they filed out chamber and out of earshot, Wenwu bluntly said what was on everyone else's mind "Their numbers is too pitiful to be of much use to us".
Wong didn't deny Wenwu's claim instead saying "What choice do we have?"
"If my army is still intact I could muster up an army ten thousand in three days" Wenwu offered.
"They are all mere humans they would only die needlessly during the battle." Wong countered.
"My men may not by magical, but they are excellent by human standards" Wenwu said defensively clearly offended by the indirect insult against him by undermining his troops. "Besides what choice do we have?"
he said using Wong's own words against him Wong sighed and looked to Boudicca, who had been quietly staring off into space clearly in deep thought. "What do you think we should do?" He asked her.
Still staring into space The Ancient One began to speak "I think, we should try to minimize the loss of human lives as much as possible. And if it's numbers we need, I might know away to increase it without risking lives"
"How?" Wong questioned.
"The Mirror of Ikkon. A powerful magical artifact that can create duplicates of those reflected in it. I often use a spell to emulate a weaker version of that phenomenon. But the MIrror's duplicates are more sturdy, more powerful and longer lasting than the one's I can make. Unfortunately it was lost during the time of the first sorcerer supreme Agamotto, in a great battle. But I believe the great battle where the mirror was lost might have been here in Ta Lo. If we can find it, we can replicate one of us and from there derive an army"
Wenwu mulled this over for a minute, an instant army of warriors on par with himself would be highly useful. Especially in the near future should, Wong keep his word and allow him to be set free after all this so he can go back to his conquering. Plus he could use it overwhelm the witch and exact his revenge.
The more Wenwu contemplated this, the more he wanted this mirror badly. The opportunities that come from becoming a one man army was endless.
"Okay, let's find this mirror"