Chapter 17: The Temple of Guicang

It had been hours as Xuanwu told them that they were now in the province. She held up her hand and closed her eyes. She used her senses to try to guide her movements. Sárkány was still holding Daiyu in her arms and lap that was still asleep.

The cloud carpet was slowing down as the tortoise felt around. She used her arm to try to sense where the magical disturbance was coming from.

“I do feel something ... it is very faint,” Xuanwu said quietly. “It is coming northeast of here.”

Her hand went to the direction, and she pointed. The cloud carpet began to speed up as it went to the direction she was pointing. She repositioned her tail so that it was wrapped to the other side of her body and shell.

“I would say another few minutes we will be there. I feel it getting stronger the closer we get.”

“Understood lady Xuanwu,” Sárkány replied.

Daiyu was shifted awake from his words. She had been asleep for a couple of hours. They had reached the area and were now getting closer to whatever was creating the magical disturbance that everyone was looking for.

“I don’t think this is a shard we are looking for by the way I feel it,” Xuanwu said. “It would be too easy if one just popped up here ... trust me I know. No, this is something else. It is good that you are here Big-D we might be heading into trouble.”

“My sword stands ready!” Sárkány yelled. Daiyu was definitely awake now.

“Are we ... there yet?” she said, stirring in his lap.

“We are near the location, my lady.” She looked up to see a dragon’s head peering down at her. She stayed where she was trying to keep warm.

“You can be really loud at times Sárkány, did anyone tell you that?” Daiyu told him

“Trust me. I have told him that a lot in the past. Always the valiant knight running into danger oh so willingly,” Xuanwu said as her hand continued to guide them.

The carpet was slowing down now as it traveled at a running man’s pace. The wind was no longer a burden anymore.

“It looks like the recent earthquake unearthed something,” Xuanwu said lightly. “That is why we are picking it up now. Whatever it is, it’s big but not monstrous either. I am picking something up that is ... evil, but I am also picking up something pleasant at the same time. It is coming a few miles away. We should be able to see something from the forest canopy. It might be the spot depending on how thick the forest is.”

Daiyu shifted herself so that she could get out of his lap. He released her hold on her as she lay down on the carpet, trying to bring herself to the edge of the carpet. This would allow her to see the forest below. Sárkány, feeling entitled to protect her, got beside her lying right next to her. His body rested comfortably beside her. His tail smacked her leg but did not hurt her as his left-wing lay on top of her.

Daiyu was nervous, looking at the forest below her. With a dragon close to her, though, she had nothing to fear of falling. She instead focused on trying to find what was creating a “disturbance” that she could look for.

“We are very close to it now,” Xuanwu said. “It is to the right of us now.”

Daiyu and Sárkány were looking. Daiyu swore she saw something hidden beneath the forest canopy below. It was hard to tell what it was from their location.

“I think ... I saw it,” Daiyu said. “It looked ... no I can’t tell what it was.”

The cloud carpet began to adjust to the direction as it continued to get closer to the location.

“We are almost on top of it now,” the tortoise said. “I am taking us close to the ground now.”

The cloud carpet began to descend slowly. Daiyu was keeping a close eye, and it was there at the same spot where she last saw it that she saw it again.

“I see something down there. It looks like a cave in of some sort. Some underground cavern that caved in when the earthquake hit. It looks like whatever was done there was knocked open.”

“We are definitely here,” Xuanwu said.

Sárkány stayed quiet as he looked below the forest floor below. The carpet was getting lower and lower each second. Eventually, it reached the treetops as it progressed below it. Daiyu could see a cave in clearly now. It was quite large for an opening. It was as if the dirt below had opened up to something dark below them. The opening was so large that the carpet could quickly enter it and go below.

“Looks like something wasn’t trying to be found if an earthquake finally opened it up,” the tortoise said.

“From what I know,” Daiyu explained. “Those shards are so important for you guys to find. Conflict usually unearths it too.”

“It does both usually,” she responded. “It draws us to the area naturally. The problem is that the fighting masks it very well too. We can go through whole conflicts and wars and find nothing. Those shards are incredibly difficult to find. I mean, you could be standing on it before you will even notice them if you’re lucky.”

“What do they look like?”

“They give off a variety of colors when you look at it,” Xuanwu explained. “All colors of light reflect off its surface. We have been fortunate that extremely little human contact has found them. We fear that much like gold if you humans find it, you will go to war over something that trivial. It’s one of the reasons we place so much value on finding them. We are even willing to kill mortals if they refuse to hand it over to us. We usually try to avoid it on the very few times they were ever found and steal, buy, or coerce mortals to give it up. We have had to do it twice so far, one of them even becoming Oya’s longest assignment ever.”

“Oya?”

The tortoise looked at her “Oh, you will get a chance to see her sometime eventually the route you are going. If you are joining up our ranks, you are going to meet a lot of...”

“Mythics,” Daiyu interrupted.

The tortoise scratched her head. “Hmm ... I like that term. It encompasses all immortals, mythical characters, and fairy tale characters into one term. You might want to recommend that to our counsel of deities. That might become a universal saying in no time.”

The carpet began to reach the ground floor as it reached the opening of the mouth of the cave-in. The place was still lit up well as light flooded into the depths below. The carpet traversed into the mouth as it revealed dirt walls all around them except for one direction. Stone walls and a large entrance exceeded in front of them. The access was made of stone just like the walls but had a closed-door with inscriptions on them. The carpet reached the ground floor of this stone building buried in the sands.

Xuanwu looked at the entrance and said softly, “Queue in Sárkány in three, two, and...”

Sárkány unsheathed his sword and got off the carpet. “As he stands at the door of destiny, the valiant knight and his trusty companions set forth to certain danger. What lies before him? What dangers come into play? What...”

“Does ... he do this regularly?” Daiyu asked Xuanwu as he kept talking. “Talk and monologue everything that is happening out loud?”

The tortoise sighed, “Just let him do his thing. He loves missions like this. He really puts himself in the moment that is for sure.”

“Come!” Sárkány continued. “Come evil heathens and face my blade! For I am the great knight sworn to protect my friends from harm! But first, what befalls him but a closed-door!”

Daiyu tapped her chin as she thought out loud “It looks like this is some underground temple that is buried in the dirt. I have no idea how old it is. There are inscriptions on it that I can try to read if the dragon will stop talking to a closed door.”

Sárkány turned around and lowered his sword as he watched Daiyu step up to the door. She put her hands on the door and tried to read what was written on the door.

“I am having a hard time seeing it. The light fills the room, but it only goes so far. Do we have a way to light up the area?”

Xuanwu looked around and could see some old torches placed on holders at the side stone walls near the entrance.

Sárkány spoke, “As the valiant knight steps back from the entrance, his eyes befall on ... yes, a set of torches that we can use to light up everyone’s path!” he picked up a torch with his free hand and picked it up. He held it and continued, “Yes, but how to light up these torches, can it be? Yes! The great knight knows the gift of fire!”

The dragon with a short puff blew fire from his mouth onto the torch, lighting it up. The area became better lit. He handed the torch to Xuanwu and took another torch and lit it up as well.

The light got better as the dragon brought his torch near Daiyu so she could read the inscriptions.

“Ah ... that is much better. Thank you,” she politely responded

Daiyu began to read the inscription, “It is old Chinese text. I can barely read it. Xuanwu, are you able to read this text written on the door.”

Xuanwu looked at the door, “Good thing this door is large enough for me or I would never fit, and I would have to take another form to proceed on through.” She began to read the text “Boy ... I have not read this type of text in a long time. Let’s see ... Those that befall this temple. You have reached the Temple of the Moon. The resting place of the great goddess Chang’e...”

Daiyu’s eyes lit up “What!? That can’t be possible. In the old story that Shin Yi told me, Chang’e his wife fled to the moon where she became the Moon Goddess. At least that is what he thought. The books I read also conveyed the same story as well. She took one of the pills from Shin Yi and was granted immortality where she went to the moon.”

Xuanwu backed up and looked at her “Not every story about us can be taken so seriously at times. Some of our true stories are twisted up and mangled by mortals and every once and awhile ourselves.”

Daiyu continued, “Shin Yi told that when she disappeared, it was during the fight with the ten sun demons. After the last sun demon fled the battle, so did she. He scoured all over China, trying to find her but could not find her. He even sensed she was still alive like she was trapped somewhere.”

“I do remember now,” Xuanwu stated. “That the Coalition of Deities launched a small search for her when Shin Yi joined the Coalition. I was not a part of it as I was on a mission of my own at the time; in fact ... oh, it was that mission now that I remember.” She started to laugh as she got lost in her own thoughts. “It was the same mission that Sárkány and I were on.”

Daiyu looked at the inscription on the door itself as she spoke out loud. “Have we truly found you, Chang’e? If so ... why here? Why did you seal yourself in a temple? Did you not love your husband? Did you not care for him anymore? I have so many questions.”

Xuanwu continued to read the text on the door “If you wish to save me, follow the white hare.”

Daiyu scratched her head “So what does that mean? I don’t see any rabbits.”

“Rabbits! Where!? Show yourself, foul creature!” Sárkány demanded as he looked around the temple entrance and caved in room.

Xuanwu stopped reading and looked at the dragon on guard, his sword at the ready looking for anything dangerous. “Relax, Sárkány. I don’t think the inscription meant it literally. It must mean ... I ... I don’t know what it means.”

Daiyu scratched her head as she looked at the walls. “Something tells me this door is magically sealed. If Chang’e made this, then it would repel magic. I have to try it out. Stand back. I am going to try to blast the door.”

Both Sárkány and Xuanwu stepped back a little bit to give her room as Daiyu turned to her bag of marbles. She fished her hand and began to search for something. She pulled out a green marble and then put it back in. Then her fingers pulled out a red marble.

“Perfect ... here goes nothing.” With a simple heave, she threw the marble at the door, and the marble exploded on contact. It created a concussive blast and a pillar of fire as it burned brightly on the door. As quickly as it happened, the flames died quickly, revealing a perfectly untouched stone door.

“Nothing. Yep ... it’s magically sealed.”

“Step back, my lady, and allow me to bust open the door!” Sárkány ordered.

Daiyu stepped away from the entrance to give the dragon his wide berth. The armored dragon knight stepped up to the door where he swung his sword at it. It gave a loud metal clank sound as the stone didn’t even chip.

“Hmmm, what foul magic seals such a perfect temple!?” he yelled as he stepped back.

Daiyu looked around and saw something on the side of the stone wall. It was a picture of a rabbit inscribed in the stone itself.

“That’s it!” she said in realization. She walked beside the entrance towards the etching and put her hand to it. Xuanwu looked at her and saw what she was looking at. Daiyu then realized that it was a button of some sort. She pushed the button, but nothing happened.

“Well, I thought it would work. Shit.”

Xuanwu looked at the other side of the wall of the entrance and saw another etching of a rabbit. “Looks like there is another button here, Daiyu. Hold on. I will press it and see what happens.” The tortoise kept pressing the button, but nothing was happening.

“Wait, let’s both press it at the same time and see what happens!” Daiyu yelled across. “At the count of three, we push the button.”

“Wait,” the tortoise said, confused. “Do we press the button at the exact time you count to three? Or do we press the button after you have reached three? Are you counting up from one or counting down from a higher number?”

She clarified, “I am going to say one, two, and three, then push the button, ok?”

Daiyu got ready, and she counted “One ... two ... three” as she pushed the button. Xuanwu got confused.

Sárkány was poised ready at the entrance.

“What happened? Why didn’t you press it?”

The tortoise shrugged innocently “I thought you said ‘one, two, and three’ all you said was ‘one, two, three!’ come on I am trying here.”

“Ugh alright, one ... two ... and three!” she pressed the button. A half a second later, Xuanwu pressed the button. Nothing happened.

Daiyu looked back at the giant tortoise, “What happened you hesitated!”

“No, I didn’t. I am still confused with how we are supposed to do this ... I know, we push the buttons at the same time we hear Sárkány tap the stone wall with his sword. Sárkány, tap your sword by the entrance sound good?”

Daiyu shrugged, “fine.”

The dragon took his sword and used the flat line of his blade and tapped the stone wall. A metallic sound ringed as both Daiyu and Xuanwu pressed the buttons at the same time. A rumbling around the temple as the front entrance stone door slowly opened.

“With great effort,” the dragon spoke. “The great door of the temple opened! Without hesitation, the valiant knight rushes in to face his foes!” The door was fully opened, revealing a dark passageway in front of him that could only be seen with a lit torch.

Daiyu walked up to Sárkány as Xuanwu followed suit as well.

Before she could say anything, Sárkány charged into the entrance. “Bang the war drums! I am coming to face you heathen foes!” He ran at full speed with his wings almost open and sword defiantly at the ready against a dark corridor.

Daiyu shook her head as the dragon continued to charge. The talons on his feet made noise as it struck the stone floor. “You can’t stop me, fate! I am ready for whatever you throw at me! I...”

Suddenly his foot hit a button faceplate as the stone wall itself slammed into him, crushing him to the wall.

“Sárkány!” Daiyu yelled.

She stepped forward, but the tortoise put her hand on her shoulders to stop her. “Trust me. I have seen this before. He will be fine.”

Daiyu looked back to see that he was not crushed as he slowly pushed the wall back in its place. He was completely unharmed. “I am alright, my lady! I can take many...”

Sárkány’s foot touched another button as the top ceiling slammed down on him crushing him to the floor.

Daiyu had a look of shock.

Suddenly as quickly as it happened, the dragon used his body to push the pillar back to its place.

“The great dragon can take many blows! His strength and valor go hand and hand! Nothing can stop him when...”

His foot pressed another plate on the floor when a stream of arrows flew from hidden arrow launchers implanted in the walls itself. The arrows bounced off his armor and scales doing nothing to him.

The tortoise laughed “This is why I am happy to have him with me. He just sets off all the traps. At this rate, the place will be safe in no time.”

“I the great dragon knight fear no traps, no foe, no challenge! I can...” His foot landed on another trap button. He could hear rumbling in the distance as he listened carefully. Daiyu and Xuanwu watched in silence as the dragon was doing his job in disarming the temple of traps.

A sizeable rolling stone boulder came rolling down towards Sárkány from deep in the temple. The boulder was massive in size, capable of crushing anything in its way.

“Fool! No boulder can stop the valiant knight from...”

There was a sudden crash as the boulder slammed into Sárkány with a massive force. He had his sword and torch in his hands as he tried to catch the boulder as it slammed into him. The rolling rock pushed him back as it looked like it was going to crush him. His claws on his feet imbedded into the stone below him as he managed to stop the boulder dead in its tracks. He then began the process of rolling it back as he pushed it deeper and deeper into the temple.

“Come on,” Xuanwu beckoned to Daiyu. “I will get in front of you as we walk down the corridors before he gets too far ahead of us. I will use my shell and armor to help take any blows from any trap that he hasn’t set off yet. At this rate, I think he probably set all of them off by now.” There was another crash far ahead of them, followed by more yelling from him. The tortoise nodded, “Yeah ... I think he got them all.”

Daiyu walked behind the towering walking tortoise. She was so large that if there was another trap, the tortoise’s massive shell could absorb the blow with relative ease. Her hand was placed on the back of her shell. She avoided walking on her long tail as it dragged behind her.

“So, what do you do when you find a shard?” Daiyu asked.

“We have a place where it is guarded. So far, four have been found. Not all our stories end up with us finding a shard, though, due to how difficult they are to obtain. Sometimes the missions go like this, where we end up finding a long lost deity that wasn’t taken out by the Great Cataclysm. That in itself is a great find, so don’t get us wrong if we end up failing to find a shard. At this rate, it will take hundreds of years to find them all. If we can ever find them all.”

Xuanwu stepped on another plate that Sárkány already stepped on. Nothing happened.

“Good. Don’t have to worry about that one.”

“Why are you worried about the traps?” Daiyu asked.

“It’s not me that I worry about. Us immortals are pretty ... well ... invulnerable. When it comes to us encountering mortals, the true thing that we fear is them getting killed. Believe it or not, stories like us really involve us protecting you guys from harm and not the other way around. At the same time, I am worried more about mankind and where it is going at times. They are still here though and going strong, so at least that says something.”

“Not with China. I fear for what is happening to the Chinese. I had a past life as a Frenchman and came back as a Chinese woman. I had a life with a family, and they were wiped out by foreigners.”

Xuanwu stopped and turned around in the corridor. “I am sorry to hear about that. If I had it my way, I would come and try to defend the people in China from harm. I had a past prior to this too. I served in Genghis Kahn’s army once since I was born around Mongolia long, long ago before the stories about me were even written from the Chinese themselves.”

“You were an invader once?”

She nodded, “We all have our pasts Daiyu. Some of us were pretty evil before we joined up the Coalition. The Treaty of Enki really became our saving grace for all of us. We became spectators for humanity. We would take part in your history but do what we could to stay out of it. Nonetheless, ... love can affect your decision making. Our histories are filled with us ... mythics falling in love with a mortal to do something we don’t normally do. Thankfully in an amazing turn of events, us falling in love and taking a mortal for a mate is allowing us to fill those ranks that were wiped out from the Great Cataclysm. My son serves in the Coalition on missions when called upon. He is just like his father.”

She turned around and continued to walk as they spoke. “Why not get more involved? I am sure that you could guide and protect us in the future to come.”

“I often get that question a lot from you mortals,” the tortoise said. “The fact is simple, and there are many reasons. If I ran up to the capital of Peking right now, showing who I was, how would it affect your beliefs right now? If I started to fight against foreign armies as the giant tortoise in this form and started bashing every attacker to the ground, how would that affect the other mythics in their decision making? Other deities would side with the foreigners because they feel it is right, and I would be fighting against fellow mythics. Our number would be reduced ever the more till we are no more. My son would be dead, and everything we worked hard for would be gone forever. It isn’t like we don’t truly get involved. We do help on the sidelines. We can take up human form and, on occasion, meet and associate with others. Few humans that discover who we are, people will either not believe them, or we simply take them in to be a part of us. If anything, we are generally a welcome sight to most others when they find out who we are.”

“It sounds like you talk from experience,” Daiyu replied.

“Aye ... we all do, even our valiant knight, the dragon who ran down the corridor taking all the traps. He has his own story to tell. Simply ask him about how he got that sword; you might enjoy the story he has. Maybe one day, we will reveal ourselves to the public and let the mortals know that we exist. For now, we are to simply stay away as much as possible or enjoy moments such as these. We help out humanity along the way or when somebody from our ranks or a nonmember of the Coalition decides to go nuts and wreak havoc on mortals. It’s not like we are heartless, though. We have been known to go and help out areas that have been ravaged by war or natural disasters in our human forms, for example.”

They stopped talking to see the light at the end of the corridor. It led to a large room that led to another open door. They safely traversed the trapped corridor to see Sárkány had pushed the rolled boulder to the corner of the place where it lies safe and away from everybody.

“Thank you for courageous acts in taking on the terrors of the temple and waiting for us Big-D.”

The dragon took his sword and bowed with the torch still brightly lit in his hands. Daiyu went and started to look around the room. There was really nothing there as it was just an empty room. She was about to walk into the next room when Sárkány ran up to Daiyu and stopped her before she went any further.

“My lady, there may be untold dangers in there! Let me be in front of you so I can protect you.”

Daiyu sighed as she looked at the towering dragon. “Alright, lead on my valiant knight.”

The dragon stepped in front of her as they both walked towards the entrance to the next room. Xuanwu was about to follow them in, but something caught her sight in the room. Her torchlight revealed on the side of the room an inscription that was written on the wall. The tortoise stepped forward to take a look at the text written on the wall.

“What is this that I am reading?” the tortoise read. “Hmm, for the next room, it required that two...” She kept reading the text as her reptilian eyes widened.

Daiyu and Sárkány walked into the next room and saw that it was also an empty room with another door. With the exception of one thing, and that was the floor. There appeared to be sets of unlit torches around the room that were set in holders in the wall. The floor was covered in red silk. It was a circular room instead of a square room that Xuanwu was still in.

Xuanwu turned towards the entrance and yelled, “Don’t go in there! Otherwise...”

Daiyu turned around to see a tortoise try to run to the entrance, but a large stone door slammed closed on both sides of the circular room, trapping them inside. The tortoise slammed into the door with her might but bounced off the door.

“Well ... shit,” the tortoise said as she looked at the stone door.

On the other side, Daiyu yelled, “Xuanwu, can you hear me?”

“Yes ... I can hear you, but just barely. Might have Sárkány try to talk I would hear him just fine.”

Sárkány stood defiant, ready with his sword and torch at the ready. He looked the other way at any possible escape route, which there was none.

“Is it possible you can break the door down Xuanwu!?” Daiyu continued to yell.

The tortoise looked at the door and stepped back. “I can try! I don’t think it will work if it is magically protected. It might repel my attacks!”

Xuanwu threw the burning torch aside as she held out her hand. A massive amount of mist and smoke enveloped her hand as her massive club formed in her hand. She gripped her massive club in her hand as she spoke to her club.

“Alright, old faithful, I have used you in many battles before. It will be just like the Chicago White Sox I saw in 1907. The mortals truly know how to create a game by using a club to smash a ball to try to out beat the other team. One day I should get a chance to play that game they call Baseball.”

She got to the side as she lay her club to the front plate of her shell as she spat on her hands to get a good grip. With both hands, she stood like she was ready to strike a flying ball thrown to her.

“Alright...” She lifted her club up. “Here comes the pitch...” she pulled back her club behind her shoulders and gave a mighty swing into the door with all her might. The club smashed hard into the stone door creating a massive smack of enchanted wood and metal against a robust stone door. A stone door magically sealed to repel such attacks.

A massive sound could be heard from both sides of the door as the club smashed into the door. The door did not even budge. It didn’t even chip as the club bounced off the door like it was nothing. If the tortoise had a battle-ax, she could chop a large tree down with one blow. Not even she could put a dent into the door. The shockwave of a club not going anywhere traveled up Xuanwu’s arms and wrists as it caused searing pain to travel up her arms.

“Owww!” she yelped in pain. She dropped her club to the floor as she shook off her pain. “Yeah, I don’t think it is going to work, Daiyu!”

“Let me try one of my marbles out!” Daiyu yelled back. She reached into her bag and fished out a marble, but there was no color to it. It was as if she was starring in a glass marble.

She sighed, “I don’t think it’s going to work! There is something wrong with my marbles. It’s as if!...”

“I don’t think these doors are magically protected!” Xuanwu yelled back. “This temple has a magical dampening field that it’s generating! It’s preventing the marbles from having any power inside here!”

“I can try my fire, my lady!” Sárkány yelled. “My fire is not magically based. It comes from within!”

“I wouldn’t risk doing that, Big-D!” the tortoise shot back. “Fire is not going to do much on a stone door anyway! It will be just like it did when Daiyu tossed the marble at the door! Generating fire will only eat more air you are breathing Daiyu! I don’t think we can change forms inside this temple, either Big-D. You won’t be able to go heavy hitter form!”

Xuanwu took her torch and held it close to the door. She did notice that there was still air coming through the door edges, so it meant that she would not suffocate in there.

Sárkány walked up to a torch and lit one in the room on one of the holders. He then sheathed his sword and took his free hand and smothered the burning torch in his hand, tossing it aside with simple ease so that way, his hands were free. He looked uneasy.

“Well ... fuck! How do we get out?!” Daiyu yelled.

The tortoise laughed, “Well ... I don’t think you will like this my mortal companion or you Big-D, but I did find out! I tried to stop you from going inside when I read an inscription that was written on the wall in my room! Remember those rabbit buttons on the outside that we had to press together?!”

Daiyu nodded, “Yes!”

“Ugh, rabbits!” Sárkány replied. “Most dangerous creatures on the planet.”

“You know why there were two buttons that we both had to press at the same time!?” Xuanwu explained. “This temple was designed for couples to enter and hopefully break the seal holding Chang’e! That is why it requires two to enter the temple, not just one individual!”