"There are no strangers here; only friends you haven't yet met." — William Butler Yeats.

"Ponder and deliberate before you make a move." — Sun Tzu.

Chapter III

The Eyes of Dawn

Dragging under with submersion, dull slams of the water splashes were heard, the current racing towards the void and angry bubbles. Kai took the plunge safely after he seized the giant bovine, forcing him to fall forward like a body shield. After the impact, the splash made a destructive blow to the victim from the long fall. The yak, blinded his sight by the heavy dims of the darkness, began to use swimming strokes where the dim orange light from above was hardly displaying but was the only way to go up. But the problem had Kai inspecting himself while his body hovered and swirled out of control.

His lamellar armor was the main culprit of gaining weight, threatening him to sink to the void ground with all the soldiers, who struggled and wailed while drowning. One by one, the enemy soldiers chortled and whiffed out their foams before they were motionless downward and floated with the current, and the water barged in their lungs. Kai even attempted to untie these knots around his armor, but at no use when the ripples above only shone midnight brown and dark gray, his short mane fluttering and blinding his eyes.

He could not yet know how long he had been hovering, but the water emerged to force in his muzzle and mouth. Helpless, as he wanted to burst his foams out, praying to his soldiers if they could see the bubbles on the river stream, Kai was floated and widened his limbs, accepting his fate. . .

His ears, muffled by the water echoes from the quiet stream, caught a dull splash and slow swirls. Nearly ending to wash away towards the abyss, something stroked on the yak's wrist before soft flows of dark apple fabric billowed. A fast grip stroked and pulled him to the light.

The passing of Great Aunt struck Oogway's heart, and the tortoise wished to remain in the Galapagos and give farewell to his late family member for a few days. Kai shared his sympathy with his companion as the yak desired to give his friend privacy and let the tortoise's people give comfort to Oogway. After a day of Great Aunt's death, the yak wandered off to the beach where their traveler junk ship disembarked; Oogway told him he could stay close to the ship crew where the sailers could use the giant's help to deliver the stack of box deliveries across the islands of Galapagos. After a few sail trips, Kai ate a pile of sweet fruits and coconut water from the fat-sized coconut fruits from the trees.

The third day invited the sky of deep rose and rot orange, and Kai stared at the sunset, enjoying the whiffs of the ocean's breeze and the coconut scents from the nearest trees. Wading on the ebbing waves crashing on his legs, Kai plunged under and started breaststrokes, hovering backward as the dancing ripples carried him in various directions, flowing away to where the currents flowed him towards the waves. Noticing he was far from the land, Kai made his swimming strokes to the right and rounded him to the front before the next wave carried him back. Kai loved the water. Ever since he was a calf, Kai dipped in the lake with his adoptive feline mother, who educated him how to tread water; every day, after his routine with her to plant flowers out in the backyard, he could jump back and do front crawls with a few laps without his help.

Returning to the land, drenched his whole fur and small mane over his face, Kai shook off all the sprayed water. He had sat down at the nearest firepit where he initially burned the wood on his own, topless, with his patched-burlap shorts in rich green and lime. Kai thought of his mother, who would be worried about him sailing away with Oogway. Although he was no longer a child, Chen Wing would always see him in her eyes. Kai could not wait to share his travel experience, witnessing the magical world the yak had never seen. He would tell his mother about the dancing ocean, the story of the haunted sail and the storm's creature, the island of Galapagos, and the passing of Oogway's aunt.

Gazed at the sunset for far too long, while the clouds left with flowing light marks in Kai's eyes, only the waves ebbed and beaten with white strokes and the large foams, and without warning or being noticed, close to his floppy ear heightened a calming tone.

"Marvelous view, is it, Kai?"

Drowning his gasp with fright, Kai bulged his eyes, clasping his chest. "Oogway! Gods to be—" he panted heavily. "—You gave me a heart attack!"

"Come now, my friend. It was my idea to bring you back into vividness," Oogway simpered, patting the yak's shoulder, soothing him as Kai's breaths lowered to a calm. "You have been staring at the sun for. . . a while."

"You mean you have been watching me while I was daydreaming after all this time?" Kai asked, sharpening his eyes.

"Well. . . I saw you swimming in the water," Oogway said. "I arrived at the sailor's ship and told the captain to set sail by the morning."

"I don't see how the turtles can go faster than a rabbit," Kai grunted, crossing his limbs over his knees, his tail joining beside him. "How did you get over here so fast?"

"With my small feet," he answered, simpering.

Kai only watched fires flickering ahead as the flashes of velvet orange embers hovered into the salt breeze. Oogway, somehow resting on the sand inside his shell, watched the fire as well, hearing the woods crack apart and the waves thundering the crashes over the beachhead. It was relaxing to see most of his home and refreshing to smell the scents of the beach, the nostalgic home on this island.

"Oogway?" the yak called. "Is it true that you are not coming back here anymore?"

"Galapagos will always be my home, Kai," the reptile told him, his voice tendering. "I only would have wanted to see the islands for the last time. Great Aunt knew where I like to reside. Far from home grows another tree. And from there, my new story begins in China."

Kai liked it here — a paradise where he loved swimming and meeting new friends — Oogway's people. But Galapagos was not like China because he loved his mother's farm, her training to be a Wing Chun student as he quite mastered his skills, almost as the gentle giant patrolling across the small valley, and his neighbors. They loved him dearly as they had their big brother to look out for each other. But times had changed indeed, and Kai needed to step his foot in front of the adventure for what other lands were like, close and far, and far and beyond.

"I may have often told you thrice, Oogway," Kai looked at the tortoise. "I am sorry for your loss. You have my condolences."

"Thank you, Kai," Oogway nodded.

"Is there anyone else who will be looking after you?"

"I am on a different path now," the reptile said, looking down to the sand. "Since Great Aunt no longer suffers, all the relatives of mine will only be living in the Galapagos and learn their ways from their new Great. My people granted me to be their Great, but I decided to give my title to my cousin, who will be worthy to watch over the islands."

"And what about you?" Kai asked him. "You still have a home back in China. Do you not?"

"My other home in China had been destroyed, Kai. Now, what I must do to restore it is to put chaos and corruption to an end," the tortoise said, his eyes of moss meeting the yak. "I must warn you, Kai. You come with me; if you lead your feet into the war, you will not be the same. There is no shame to head home."

Young Kai thought about the changes ahead of him. Regardless of what he could do to decide, the bovine was up to his decision. Returning home to his mother's cottage and farm was a better life, not only to start as a farmer taking responsibility for feeding the citizens, his mother, and himself. He wished to build a dojo from Chen Wing's proposal, but neither had the start to invest their yuans despite the calamities across China continued flooding with distant battles, suffering from several causes. One of the banks keeping their savings belonged to the hands of the enemy.

His second choice was daring. As soft as Kai was, he could not see the future of what he would become. Though he knew someone who had a friend serving in the battles, and that person changed from being a villager to a soldier — he lived to kill while defending a family and the brothers who died fighting beside the warrior. Among other ways, Kai could think of when the word "justice" meant putting enemies in chains or slaying them, including the troubles to eradicate with lesser crimes.

He thought of one way to step his hoof ahead. With a smile on his face, Young Kai began his new journey.

"I will fight with you," the bovine said. "We fight together. Brother."

Laying stiff, soaked with mud, Kai gagged and coughed out the streams of water. The river behind him calmed the raging currents, the cool water surging on his feet. Private Kai cast his harsh breaths in, gasping long, widening his eyes. He hacked out a few remains of the water spills, which his throat clutched with slight itches with burns. How long did Kai drown? How long did he wash away far and float underwater? Who saved him?

Inspecting his surroundings with the water's ripples foaming and surging, Kai looked around for any survivors - the enemies they fell after he cut down the suspension bridge. How was it possible? Knowing the splash that a splash of solid bricks splattering and thrashing Kai a thousand times worse, no one could survive the long fall. He remembered he shielded himself, forcing the enemy's body against the dive. Distant howls and chirps across the dim fog and beyond the dark orange lights at five mountain peaks lessened, the low battle drums hitting the notes of retreat.

They are falling back. Oh, thank the spirits.

Sweeping the mud off his armor, Private Kai sighted a flickering red-orange light behind the hill of the streaming haze. Without any luck finding his dagger from his hoist belt, the yak crouched down and moved onward, his feet tiptoeing. Not as good as being stealthy, he noticed his horns could appear from any fighters who would alarm everyone. With his heart flowing with deadening drums, he regarded how many soldiers were resting in the camp. What were the odds for the young soldier to kill with only fists while they bore armaments?

That would not matter to him now because he could take on three, more likely one against the same size as him either way. There could be more fire camps out there, whether enemies or allies. Anticipated to commence attacking, Kai breathed in and out, clutching the grass strands and the dirt. He was ready.

I love you, brother.

Kai advanced onward with a quick stand, and, before his eyes of aqua, sitting ahead of the fire, was a lone figure in a crimson silk Ao and a dark cherry skirt. Though not as reacted to Kai's presence, the figure appeared to have small horns honed, the fur almost silvery-blue streaming like cloudy rain. There were no other fires near or afar but one.

What is this one doing here in the middle of the battlefield?

Inspecting his misty rain surroundings, which had him determined that the coast was clear enough for him, Kai approached the side, beginning to observe the most attractive being he had ever seen. The cow had a round face, the eyes of dawn from the ember fires, and the muzzle from the wet ink brush. Her amber eyes stared at the fire.

"Are you expecting to kill someone here, warrior?" the lady's voice gritted from the soil and metal. The warrior's eyes twitched after Kai stared at her good-looking front.

The yak quivered his head, attempting to ignore her eyes that enchanted him. "I. . . I am," Private Kai said, easing his clenched hooves.

"They are gone for now. Those people who you are fighting," the female said, glancing at the yak from his feet to head, whose wet mane drooped from his shoulders. "Are you lost, soldier?"

"Who are you?" he asked her in a non-intimidation tone.

"Hmm. I was hoping you could have asked me who saved you," the female thought, limbs arming over her knees. She looked at the dancing fires once more. "If you don't mind the answer, I should say. I helped you swim out of the strong current."

"But why?" Kai arched his frontalis.

"Is that a rhetorical question?" her voice sharpened, and her eyes flared. "I risked my life so I could save someone from drowning. If a warrior like you wants to kill a subject on a gray side, maybe I should have let you drown back there instead."

Kai could hear the raging waters surging nearby, reflecting the last moments of him swept under the surface with the flow of drowned bodies hovering elsewhere. Water barged in his mouth before Kai remembered a short moment of a rose-pink figure clutching his hoof. "Forgive my manners," Kai pardoned her, approaching closer. "I should treat a lady who saved me."

The yak presented his slow bow, giving him a wince as his body triggered an ache behind his right ribcage. "Thank you."

"I am pleased to hear," the cow pulled her little grin. "Sit close to the fire, warrior. You are getting cold."

"So are you," he caught sight of her body trembling. He sat beside her, the fire breathing out the warmth to his body. It was so comforting as Kai rested well, relieving his tense flesh. "Where do you come from?"

The cow's eyes of cherry-dawn had glittered. "I am from here, of course. Just nobody."

"Is that so?" Kai thought, his hooves reaching close to the fire. "What is a female citizen in her soaked rose hanfu doing here? You look like a royal person."

"Am I? Hmm. I think your thoughts about me are somewhere confusing. I am no royalty. Dear me," the cow chuckled, palming her torso.

"You are a villager?"

"You could say that," she cracked her small smile.

Kai armed his left limb over his knee, relaxing. "So, why do you travel across the war zone, my lady?"

"I did not mean to," she pulled her brows back. "I got lost in the rain when I traveled from the northwest. The storm flooded the path, so I led myself into a place where the unexpected had happened."

"You hid somewhere?" Kai beckoned his head.

"Without being spotted. Thank the dragons."

Thrumming his throat of understanding, quite relieved to hear from her, Kai spoke to the cow. "You never answer my question."

"Did I not?" the female regarded, seeing the yak's head shaking before she stroked her torso dearly. "Oh, my. You and I have sidetracked on speaking to each other. What was the question?"

Kai droned his soft grunt. "Let's start again. I was on the wrong foot for not introducing myself."

"Neither was I," the female perceived, clearing her throat. Looking into Kai's eyes, she answered her name. "I am Wugu."

"Wugu. My honor to meet you," the yak nodded. He tapped his chest twice. "I am Kai."

"Nice to meet you."

"AUH! I see you two are getting along!"

Kai nearly jumped after flinching. Glimpsing to his left, the yak saw a group of allies with war banners who praised their brother's survival and to him giving a date night as these warriors thought. And one in the middle of the nearest hill, his reptile brother in a lamellar armor and a shell with spikes stood, smiling at his giant brother.

"OOGWAY! What the hell?!" Kai gasped and glared, rising with haste. "You made me shit my pants!"

Several soldiers marched to the plain as the tortoise spoke to the yak. "I am glad you are alive as well," Oogway strolled to him, chuckling. The brothers displayed rough grips and shoved their shoulders. "Are you alright, Kai?"

"Thanks to you," Kai snapped his eyes, giving a hard hug with pats. "Where were you? What happened?"

"My Commander's course was off; the storm had me and his army delay our marching. I notice your leader had no patience to lead the battle without assistance."

"Gods to be. . . My Captain left me!" the yak clutched his grip with vexation.

"He thinks you are wasted, Kai. We should return to our camp and surprise him," Oogway said.

"Without a doubt. I hate Captain Lung's guts," Kai bent his muzzle with disgust. Nearly forgetting to introduce someone to his brother, Kai cleared his throat when the cow behind the yak stood up from the soil. "Wugu. May I present you my Brother-in-Arms. The Commander's Sergeant. Oogway."

"So I see. I heard about you before," Wugu smiled. "From the palace you initially built. It is my honor to meet you, sir."

"The honor is mine, my Lady," the tortoise bowed to her with glee. "Are you lost?"

"I am, Sergeant."

"You must come with us, Wugu. My brother and I have camps. There's food and shelter for you to recover. You will be under my protection."

The cow, showing glee and innocence, bowed to him. "Thank you, Sergeant Oogway."

"Let's go then!"

Author's Note:

— Alright, y'all. This story will be on hold for now, as my other story (The Trinity, Book II) has planned ten chapters and will soon be uploading updates. I have mentioned earlier I must build Blood and Dirt's structure for the beginning, middle, and end. So, only time will tell when I get back into writing the warlords' novel.

— I am hoping you get the quote's reference when Oogway praised his brother for meeting a new friend. The quote was from the Eddie Murphy movie Coming to America, where the King (as you know the actor as the voice of Darth Vader and Mufasa) sees his son while the bride hops with one foot when barking. "AHHH! I see you two of you are getting along!" Such a classic scene, and I couldn't help it! And shut up, Mufasa!

— This story will be the most challenging one writing from two warlords' perspectives with knowledge. Like I said, wish me luck on writing Blood and Dirt!