Chapter 14: The Reborn Warrior

The forests by Peking were dangerous and isolated. Daiyu bandaged her hand as she went deeper and deeper into the woods. She had no direction to go but forward. She had no idea where to go but forward. Hours went by for her. She didn’t care if she was lost, for she knew that she was lost. It was her mission to do so.

“I don’t know where to go!” she yelled.

Daiyu put her hand on a Chinese fir tree. She was proceeding west, northwest. She walked and walked and did not know where to go. Each tree she passes, each plant she passed, each insect she passed, gave no indication as to where she was heading.

It was a long and arduous journey of no indication. All she knew was that she had nowhere else to go but west. The further she got away from Peking, the better.

It was mid-afternoon as she stopped and rest. Her stomach was growling from the lack of food. Thirst was beginning to take hold of her.

“Anybody!” she yelled. “I need help!”

Silence reined the trees and countryside.

“Anybody,” she quietly said. “Where do I go?”

She sat down on the grass to catch her breath. She retook a look at her bandaged hand. She used part of her dress to seal up the wound. It was not serious, but she still kept an eye on it.

“A girl is nowhere to be in an isolated area as this,” She said to herself. “Maybe I am destined to die of starvation or thirst in China. If only ... I knew where to go and how to get there.”

She concentrated as she got up and continued walking.

Another hour had passed by as the sun was getting close to hitting later afternoon. She was getting light-headed from thirst.

“Anybody! I need help!” She yelled.

Again there was silence.

She started to cry a little.

“Everyone is gone ... nobody ... nothing, there is no one to save me anymore.”

After a little bit of reassurance to herself, she nodded and knew that she had to continue.

Each step she took, she felt was heading in the right direction. She took a branch and saw that she could use it as a walking stick to help her trek through the grassy plains and forest.

“I must accept myself as who I am now. I must accept myself for who I will be.”

She watched as the sun was getting lower and lower as she continued to walk. Her feet ached, and her legs had a harder and harder time keeping up.

“I am Daiyu ... I am Daiyu ... my sister is Biyu ... my father is Liu ... my mother is Lanfan.”

She took a deep breath as she continued to struggle her walk. The countryside was beautiful in China. There were mountain ranges such as the Yan and Xishan far in the distance West and North of Peking. Trees such as the Chinese Fir lined some areas that she could see and touch.

“My name is Daiyu!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

There was a slight wind that picked up that blew the foliage around her. There was still silence.

“I feel like madness is going to get the best of me. I am used to having my pesky sister around me ... my dad to give me company when he wasn’t doing his back-breaking work or my mother as she quietly worked at home. Nothing ... there is nothing now. I don’t know what to do anymore.”

She collapsed on the grass and dirt below her. The sun was setting, and it was getting dark.

She figured that it was madness but best to say it anyway. Who was to criticize her in the middle of nowhere anyway?

“My name is Daiyu! ... I am looking for Fenghuang!”

The wind picked up around her. It was the same wind as before when she yelled out her name.

“Was that? ... Was that a response to my words, or have I truly lost it out here?”

She looked around her surroundings as she saw the plants and leaves blow in the wind. She looked around but saw nothing.

“Please ... if there is somebody here ... I need help ... I am looking for Fenghuang.”

A voice appeared behind her. It was a voice she never heard before.

“I thought I heard somebody looking for Fenghuang. You seem to be lost young one.”

Daiyu turned around to see a Chinese boy, possibly a young teenager, perched with his back onto a tree. He was dressed with silk armor with some ancient writing on his chest.

“Who are you?” she asked.

Upon further inspection, he appeared to be a young teenager with a walking stick of some sort. He cocked his head lightly with a smile on his face.

“Hmm,” he said. “You say that you are looking for Fenghuang, young one?”

She nodded her head “Yes, I was told by him to go in the forest and search for him when the time was right.”

“That seems kind of a generic term for a saying like that. When do you know when the time is right?”

She gave a questioning look and thought about it. “I ... don’t know. I have nowhere else to go. My family is dead; there was nothing else I could do.”

He went and pulled a knife out of his pocket and held out his hand. A small amount of smoke appeared on his hand. The smoke quickly disappeared to reveal an apple. He then started to peel the skin off the apple.

“Terrible, what happened to you.” He said as he peeled the apple. “I have seen enough bloodshed on this side of the country. I feel sad that I can’t do much to resolve it anymore. Humans are hell-bent on eradicating themselves that even if I did interfere, it would make no real difference. Plus, everyone would know we exist, and it would only make things worse on your society.”

She went and sat down, tired, and exhausted. She put her gun down to the grass. “I don’t know what to do anymore.”

The teenager nodded, “Understandable, why you would say that. You didn’t really answer my question. Why do you feel you were ready to seek Fenghuang out?”

“There was nothing else for me to do. I tried to save my family, but foreigners from another nation killed them. I...”

He went and pointed the knife at her in a friendly tone while he resumed his peeling of the apple. The skin was falling to the grass below. “Fenghuang can be a busy character. Why are you seeking him?”

“He ... gave me a second chance at life.”

“Oh, is that it? Heh.” He nodded and smiled.

She looked down as the teenage boy looked at the apple.

“Here,” he got her attention as he threw the peeled apple to her. It caught her off-guard as she put out her arms just in time to catch the apple in her hands. Her hunger and thirst were getting the best of her as she began to bite and eat into apple quickly, trying to devour it almost madly. He had a small smile on his face.

“You know, I almost lost interest in you earlier. I was told to look for a young girl that might say Fenghuang, but the countryside can be a big place, and the conflict that tears this countryside dislocates many people.”

She swallowed the bits of apple as she nodded and horridly swallowed it. “Thank ... thank you for this.”

He nodded, “You don’t have to thank me; a friend of Fenghuang is a friend of mine. I believe your story, but you still haven’t fully answered my question. Why do you feel ready now?”

She stopped chewing and spoke to him. “I feel that I am ready to see him. I am old enough to see him. My body was not ready to make the journey into the forest.”

He shifted off the tree with his walking stick as he leaned onto it. “What about your mind? Do you mentally feel ready to meet him?”

“Yes,” she said without hesitation.

He shook his head, “No, ... I don’t believe it. You might feel ready to see him, but you still need training to be with him. He is not the type to test you, but you need to be ready to face the unknown out there. This world is a much bigger place than you ever realize.”

He picked up his walking stick and placed it on his shoulders, where he wrapped his arms over it.

“Who are you?” she asked him.

“Well ... since you stated your name I figure it is ok to tell you who I am.”

A cloud of smoke appeared over his walking stick as it rematerialized as a large long thin lance with a rather sharp tip. It formed two points on the side of the main point. He was still holding his arms over the spear as the smoke dissipated.