Sibling Rivalry
Chapter 18 REWRITE
Po, the Five, and Zulan stood around the glowing orange ring in the clearing. Po was the first to approach the ring, reaching down to touch it, it stirred something within him - something he couldn't quite put his paw on. Nevertheless, he focused on the qi within himself, melding it with the orange ring, manipulating it to his will. A bright flash of light blazed, fading quickly, opening a portal to Spirit Realm. Taking a deep breath, he stepped through, the rest following him.
Opening his eyes, he saw the same elaborately decorated room they had been in before. The light in the room had grown dimmer, the ominous whispers of the apparitions had become more sinister, risen from whispers to soft spoken voices. The apparitions had their backs arched over towards Lily in the center of the room, their glowing eyes burning, faces contorted, their words sharp, merciless, and full of strife.
"You are weak. Hesitancy is not a good quality in leaders," the red-eyed apparition belittled.
"You are pathetic. Many animals would give anything to be in your position, young, healthy, and able to go after their ambitions. Your aversion to go after your aspirations is abhorrent," the yellow-eyed apparition scorned.
The hunched over panda apparitions turned to the warriors, the 7 animals, gnarled scowls on their faces.
"I will tell you only once. Let my sister go," Po commanded.
"No. She is ours. This prison is hers alone. We will tell you only once. Leave," the red-eyed apparition said.
"Not without my sister," he asserted.
"Then prepare to stay imprisoned with her!" the red-eyed apparition shrieked. The red and yellow-eyed apparition grew tall and lanky, matching the height of Po, its paws sharpening to become more claw-like. The Five joined Po in ready stances, focused and alert.
The apparitions attacked first and the crew of warriors dodged and blocked the attacks, focused. Tigress, Monkey, and Mantis took on the merciless red-eyed apparition while Crane and Viper took on the callous yellow-eyed. Zulan and Po ran to the stone Lily kneeled down on the ground, devastated and broken down by her psyche's cutting words. He hoped he wasn't too late. He hoped he could still save her, their family, and all of Pandania.
"Āmà taught me how to use my qi in more ways than just to heal or make plants grow. She taught me how I could harness it truly, controlling my qi so the energy extends my body and can manipulate the world around me," Lily had said. Gods, he hoped this would work.
Lily was kneeled down on the floor, her paws to her chest, as though she was trying to keep her heart from beating through her rib cage. Her tunic was too tight. She couldn't breathe.
I don't know what to do, she thought, devastated.
"Lily!" the phantom calls to her. The phantom is shaking her, calling to her, with the voice of her confidant Zulan.
"How dare you take on the voice of my closest friend. You're despicable," she growled.
"Lily, it's me, Zulan! Look at me! Please!" The phantom shook her once more. Lily scowled, opening her dull gray eyes, to look in the direction of the Zulan-like phantom. She heard a gasp. It seemed very unlike a phantom to gasp, to be surprised by her blindness, when they were the very ones to take it from her. "Lily, it's Zulan, really. I'm right here. Po and I are here. We're going to get you out of here. We're not leaving without you."
"Stop with your lies," she hissed with a scowl.
"Lily, it's us. Please come with us," the other phantom spoke - with the voice of her brother this time. The phantom lifted her off of the cold stone she kneeled on, and tried to carry her away. She felt a strong force push them back, before the phantom could take more than a couple of steps away. These phantoms were very strong illusions. She could feel the strong muscles of her brother's arms holding her, she could hear the gasp and desperation of the phantom who took on her best friend's voice and likeness. The phantom who took on her brother's likeness laid her back down.
"No one can save me. No one can take me from here. Only I can take me from here," she said with no emotion in her voice. She faced forward, staring into the void, the darkness that laid before her.
"Lily, please. Let yourself leave," she heard Zulan beg. She closed her eyes, frowning, a tear escaping her.
"I can't. I can't. I will disappoint everyone. I already have. I am nothing. I am pathetic," she repeated what the phantoms had spoken to her. For several hours, the phantoms had been telling her the harsh truth of herself. These phantoms were the voices of her inner critic that she had long been trying to ignore.
"We're running out of time," she heard Po's voice hiss. Lily felt a paw on her shoulder and slowly light, a visual filled the darkness around her. She could see again! Wait, no, this wasn't true, real sight. The background was a haze, a blur, but what was directly in front of her became clear as crystal. Before her, a vision appeared, a forest of tall trees, and a dirt path that split in two: a fork in the road, a crossroads. She turned to see Po standing next to her, a mirage or illusion, clear yet hazy around the edges.
"If there's anything I've learned in my short time as the Dragon Warrior, it is that we change from moment to moment, and our ability to change and adapt makes us who we are." He pointed towards the two split roads in front of them. "The good news about roads is you can walk back at any time. It may be harder, it may be longer, and more difficult but you can always go back. There is no right or wrong choice Lily. Who you are and who you become is a choice you need to make, no one else's. Who are you, Verdana, Lily? Who do you want to become?"
Her body seemed struck, frozen to the ground in front of her.
Who am I?
"I am a girl who loves my village. I am a girl who longs to see the world beyond my village. I am the daughter of the boar who led the displaced after an attempted genocide. I am the daughter of the village chief. I am descended from a great warrior, who sought to protect our ancestral home. I want to be the next village chief yet I want to travel all of China and the lands beyond it."
Anxiety gripped her gut, threatening to take over her. She stood firm, forcing her body and face to stay forward, standing tall. Creasing her brow and focusing intently, she felt a stream of qi flow in front of her directly. Slowly, a third dirt path emerged between the two footpaths.
"I don't know where this path will take me. I only know I am choosing who I am, who I want to become, and who I'm meant to be. I will become the next village chief..after I leave and come back. I have to see the world, have to know who I am beyond these mountains before I can take on my father's mantle. I am Verdana, Lily, future chief of Pandania, traveller of the world. This is my choice."
The vision faded before her before a staggering pain released itself under her gaze, her paws going to her face. It went away just as quickly as it appeared, blinking, she saw the world around her come into clear view. Looking up, she saw the team of kung fu warriors in fighting stances a short distance away as dark shadows faded away from them. Turning, she saw her brother and her best friend beside her, with her through all of this, just as they had promised. She threw her arms around her brother, whispering her thanks to him before turning to her confidant and doing the same.
Po held out a paw for her to lift her onto her feet.
"Let's go home."