Requiem IV: Death's Door the Final Hour
by Bonnie Eagan & Alisa Joaquin
Part 2: The Temple in the North
"There is a place, far to the north; a village, hidden from the world. In that village is a Shaolin Temple. It is that very place that Peter has seen in his vision."
"I was not aware that such a place existed," Matthew stated.
"It is for the protection of the Shaolin order."
"I do not understand, why would someone want to destroy such a place?"
"I do not know," Kwai Chang answered his father. "Very few know that it even exists."
"How do you and Peter know of this place?" Matthew asked.
"You do not remember?" Kwai Chang questioned.
"Should I?"
"You left me at a temple when I was small, telling me it was for my own protection."
"That was in California, the first temple of its kind, the temple that my father started," Matthew stated.
"And you know that temple was destroyed. The priests who survived didn't return to China, they started another temple, far to the north, hidden in the wilderness." Kwai Chang went on to explained to his father the day Peter came to him and asked him to be trained as a Shaolin Priest. "Master Quan greeted us. He was one of the survivors of our temple. At first, he did not remember who I was, but before we left to travel north, we were attacked. They wore black and they carried shuriken marked with the dragon."
"Shaolin?" Matthew Caine said, his eyes narrowing. He remembered his own father telling him tales of the temple in Hunan, and how some of the monks would train with several shuriken, the throwing stars. The thought of Shaolin using such weapons against other Shaolin disturbed Matthew.
"Yes. A dark force hung over the temple and Master Quan. It was Peter who triumphed and destroyed that force. But that is now in the past. I saw the men in Peter's vision. They were dressed much the same way, but there was another who led them. All I could see were his eyes. They . . . looked exactly like my son's."
"That cannot be. It sounds as if he saw the future. Could Peter be the one to destroy such a place?"
"No."
Both men turned to see that Peter was awake.
"I know what I saw, and it wasn't me. And it wasn't the future either. Pop, we've got to go back to the Tao Temple. We've got to help them, find out if anyone is still alive."
"And find the men responsible?"
"If anyone does remain, yeah. They might know who was responsible."
"Peter, we do not know if the temple has been destroyed," Matthew Caine interjected.
"It was so real. I saw the monks fall. I saw them cut down like wheat. Pop, it happened, again. And the village, that whole village was destroyed without so much as a thought. Whoever was responsible, we've got to stop them."
"There is more that you are not saying," Kwai Chang coaxed.
Peter turned his head away from his father, as if trying to hide the shame that he felt. "I saw the killer's face. I must make things right or . . ."
"Or what, my son?"
"Or there will be another stain on the name of Caine."
Continues with Part 3
