Chapter 18: The Goddess of the Moon

It took a few minutes for both Daiyu to get dressed with a Xuanwu looking the other way. Sárkány went and put his armor back on. He unsheathed his sword when he was ready. Daiyu felt embarrassed at the lovemaking that took place to have a tortoise come walking in. Xuanwu promised not to tell anyone what happened.

“Hmmm,” Xuanwu thought out loud. “Might not want to use the club since the doorway is narrow. We already got a dragon to take the fight up close. Might want to use the repeater instead.”

Her massive spiked club disappeared with a puff of smoke as a new weapon materialized in her hand. What appeared looked like an oversized ancient repeating crossbow for large people her size. The box-like crossbow was like that of ancient Chinese crossbows. It included a box that slipped on top of the crossbow as a lever was pulled over it to load a new bolt. This would stretch the pull string back to be fired again. Indeed an incredible weapon of its time, the repeating crossbow could hold five bolts. The bolts were really not that powerful, but the bolts could be dipped in poison to help increase its danger and lethality.

“A nice crossbow you have,” Daiyu said, looking at it.

“This is my only weapon for long range,” Xuanwu explained. “Some mythics have good long-range capability, but poor me all I got was this. It is capable of killing a mythic if hard-pressed, though, and as expected from a human, you don’t want to be hit by this.”

“I got to admit that does look primitive compared to rifles we mortals use. You might need to look into getting an upgrade on that thing. You too, Sárkány, even a sword is no match for a gun when it comes to a mythic against a mythic.”

Sárkány shook his head, but Xuanwu thought about it. “You know you might have a point on that. Us mythics rely on such basic weapons. Now that I really think about that, I would like to get an upgrade.”

The room was well lit as Daiyu and Sárkány picked up a lit torch. The next room was not lit, but they could see things inside it. Sárkány took the front as Xuanwu stood behind Daiyu to cover the rear and help protect her. They decided it was time to proceed to the next room.

When they stepped inside the next room, it appeared to be bigger than the previous room. It was round just like the other was. There seemed to be something in the center of the room, but like the other rooms, it was not lit and pitch dark. Only the torches provided some light.

Sárkány walked to the center of the room as Daiyu and Xuanwu began to look at something that was written by the wall of the door. Daiyu went and tried to read the inscription, but it was proving hard to read as the other inscriptions. With her torchlight, Xuanwu stepped forward with her massive body to read the writing on the wall.

Xuanwu read the writing, “Here lies Chang’e, the Goddess of the Moon. This temple was created thousands of years ago by her during the struggle against the ten sun demons. Her husband Shin Yi successfully killed nine of the sun demons, but the last escaped.”

Daiyu interrupted, “Yeah, in the story, the surviving sun became the sun that provides us light at least that is what the texts used to say. The catch is that it was not true. My father stated that the last sun demon escaped, and he could not find it. He vowed to destroy this last demon, for it would scorch the region of China and continue from there. Even one of these things could burn entire forests down and reduce grasslands to deserts. They were a threat to the planet that nobody knew before.”

The tortoise stopped and looked at her “It is terrifying that the last sun demon was never found. It’s like it just vanished.”

The massive room was enough to put hundreds of people in it. It was like the other rooms in that it was simple in design and had stone walls around them. It was circular and had a simple podium in the center. There appeared to be something on the podium as the dragon was slowly stepping up to it. His sword was at the ready to be used.

The tortoise continued to read the inscription. “I Chang’e am the only true knower of the fate of the last sun demon. During the battle, my husband shot and killed nine of ten of the demons with ease. However, he watched as the last arrow he shot at the final one dodged his attacks. It fled from the battle and escaped into the forest to hide from his hunter and hopefully find a new time to spread its terror. It was too fast for his arrows, and to save his life, I have created the temple to encase it forever. I wait the day that somebody can slay this foul demon once and for all. In my last dire attempt, I used myself as bait and lured the demon to this temple, where I encased both of us to prevent it from causing any more danger. I hope you forgive my husband for my acts in protecting everyone from such harm while keeping us apart. I await a group of individuals that can finally release me and help me defeat this final demon before it can threaten the world again.”

Sárkány took a look at the center podium and saw what it was. It was a simple statue of a wood carving of a white hare.

The tortoise continued reading, “In order to release me, you must also release the sun demon from its captivity. One must be ready to face the foul creature. The sacred hare in the podium is the key to our prison. Destroy it, and it will once again flee the temple and out there. Please destroy this thing before he causes any permanent damage.”

“Rabbits! Such foul and heathen creatures,” Sárkány said as he lifted his sword in the air. He was preparing to slice the statue apart.

Daiyu turned around to see a dragon lift his sword into the air to drop onto the statue.

“No! Don’t...” they both yelled at the dragon.

It was too late. The dragon brought his sword on the statue. With a simple metal clink, the sword cut the figure apart, releasing whatever magic onto the world.

“Oh, you big ... dofus! We weren’t ready for this yet!” Daiyu yelled at him.

A giant quake started to befall on the temple. Sárkány backed away from the center as an opening began to form from the bottom of the floor. A large porthole began to appear. There was a light coming from deep from the pit below.

“I am ready to face you foul creature ... whatever you are. I will cut you down!”

Daiyu facepalmed, “Now we are in for it. This temple was designed to be a prison and now just released whatever was trapped in the temple. I ... think we are fucked.”

The light got brighter and brighter till they felt something substantial and hot fly from the open porthole into the ceiling. It then slammed into the ceiling with a hard force as it burned a hole through the ceiling into the roof of the building through the dirt floor of the forest floor. The hole was burned with such force and intensity that it melted the stone ceiling blowing through it and knocking small amounts of dirt and rock about the room. Whatever it was, it was trying to escape the temple at the fastest speeds possible.

“What? What was that?” Daiyu asked.

“It looked like a ball of fire like that of ... the sun,” Xuanwu replied.

“The sun demon...” Daiyu responded. “We found the last sun demon my father told me about. It was the one that escaped from him ... and we just set it loose on the world again.”

“I would not fear too much, Daiyu. We are used to things like this. That is why we made a coalition to help save humans from dangerous creatures like this. There is a perfect tunnel we can escape...”

Xuanwu was interrupted by something that lit the bottom floor where the sun demon flew from. It was a light that was traveling slowly as it rose from the same place in the porthole below. It was a benevolent light that appeared as a ball of pure white light. The ball of light then stopped before them.

Sárkány held still with his sword at the ready at the ball of light that stood before floating by them.

The light pulsated as it spoke to them. It was a feminine voice that was warm, soft, and pleasant to hear. “Whoever you are ... I created this temple as my last attempt to stall the last sun demon. I was left no choice in my actions but to hold the sun demon here. It could not hurt me, but I could not hurt it. All I could do was prevent it from escaping. I designed the temple where only the most determined ones like the gods could defeat the last sun demon.”

The light materialized into a beautiful Chinese woman that could levitate. She wore a bright red silk dress with white rabbits drawn on the silk dress. White flares from the clothing would dance around the skirt. She had a calm and happy look to her face but also a worried look to her.

“My name is Chang’e,” the woman spoke. “The Goddess of the Moon and husband to the archer Shin Yi.”

“Chang’e,” Daiyu spoke up. “My name is Daiyu. Your husband adopted me as his daughter. We came to investigate the temple ... we did not know that we released the sun demon until just now. We need to track down the sun demon before it begins its reign of destruction.”

Chang’e nodded, “We must make haste now, I can slow it down, but I am unable to destroy it.”

“I am immune to fire damage, my lady!” Sárkány interjected. “I can also try to fight it!”

“Only one god can truly kill this creature. He was fighting too many at once, which is why I trapped the escaping one with me in this temple. My husband is the true god that can kill this sun demon once and for all. Let’s go!”

Sárkány ran and opened his wings, running to the large hole blown in the ceiling. He leaped as his wings flapped hard. “To glory!” he yelled.

Chang’e hovered by the dragon as the dragon was slowly gaining speed and flew through the sizeable burnt hole in the ceiling. Chang’e herself followed suit as they both took off heading in the direction of the sun demon’s course. Daiyu and Xuanwu were left behind in the temple.

“We need to warn my father as they go and distract the sun demon,” Daiyu stated.

Xuanwu nodded, “We can fly out of here, but my sky carpet will be too slow. The magical barrier should be down now. Your marbles might work now.”

Daiyu almost snapped her fingers in realization. “Of course! We can teleport back to my father now that the magical barrier has been weakened.”

Sárkány meanwhile was flying high in the sky now as fast as his wings could take him. “Come back and face me foul demon!” he screamed at virtually no one hoping that the sun demon could hear him. The sun demon was a few miles ahead of him heading eastward. With his sword firmly in his hand, he openly antagonized the creature. “I the Great Sárkány challenge you to a fight one on one! Can’t face against a dragon, can you?!”

Back at the cabin where Shin Yi resided, he was reading one of his books in his small library. He smoked some sort of weed in a pipe thinking of things long past. He looked relaxed as he always was.

He flipped the page on the book Mythical Creatures of South America written in Chinese by gods long gone now. He thought out loud, “I miss so many of my friends and family ... Daiyu was a wonderful distraction to my sorrows. She was so well behaved and smart for a person of her age. Perhaps she truly was right that she was some warrior of another person. Fenghuang, Nezha ... I must thank you for your efforts one day for finding someone to provide me company again.”

He shifted on his chair as he put his pipe down on the table. He read the pages quietly to himself while he was thinking.

“Anhangá is still alive protecting the forests in South America. I hope he comes around and joins the Coalition of Deities. Iara is still trying to convince him, but he is in a firm belief that joining will mean him abandoning protecting the forest. Let’s see ... it was only until a year ago that a Peuchen was spotted in Amazon rain forest by one of our own. So few of the South American ... mythics ever made it. Chalchiuhtlicue, Mixcoatl that was just found a week ago, Coatlicue, Camazotz, Vucub-Caquix, Cabrakan, Ixchel, Colel Cab ... if only there were more to help shape the Coalition ranks I believe tha...”

He stopped, and his focus was driven to something else. He felt something terrible had just happened. It was not a sound, smell, or something he saw. It was just a feeling. Something he had not felt in ages and ages in the past. His heart began to race as he was starting to remember what it was.

“I know that feeling again ... the feeling of doom. The sun demon has returned. The last sun demon of the ten I killed. It intends to scorch China and then the world.”

Shin Yi got out of his seat and ran to a large chest that he had always kept closed. It was never locked. He went and undid the clasp and opened the chest with a squeaky thump as the top lid hit the wall it was mounted to. He put his hands in and immediately put it on. There was a series of large wooden arrows that he had in it.

He shouldered the quiver as he looked by the door and saw it. His nostalgia returned as he looked at his bow. It looked like an ordinary wooden bow as he picked it up and examined it.

“I used you to slay nine of the ten sun demons. I think it is time you complete your quest and eliminate the last one, wouldn’t you say?”

He gripped the handle of the bow hard as he held it to his chest. “One more time ... this time I will kill it and end their reign of destruction.”

He exited his cabin and saw a portal appear outside his home by some trees. Daiyu and Xuanwu stepped out of the gateway to stare at Shin Yi.

“Xuanwu, it is good to see you and you as well, daughter.”

“Father, we have a problem. The last sun demon has been found and trying to make its escape.”

“It escaped a temple established by Chang’e,” Xuanwu said. “You hunted the ten, but one escaped. Chang’e found it and imprisoned it and herself in the temple.”

Shin Yi sighed, “If only I knew ... I would have come to her, and we would have fought it together.”

“You were fighting nine of them at the same time Shin Yi. The last one seems different somehow. It’s possible this one would have overpowered you.”

He took a deep breath. “We will not fail in killing this creature. We must kill the sun demon. It will burn everything and turn the Earth into desert and ash. It has only one mission, and that is to watch the world burn. I know where it might show up, though. We need to head to an area that we can kill it and away from the population. Otherwise, there will be innocent casualties. I have hunted these demons for some time, and I know its behavior. It wants revenge and to kill me for destroying its ... brothers.”

“What do we do dad?”

“You have two choices; you can stay here and come and help me or stay here. I know what it wants more than anything, and that is to hunt and kill me. It will be its downfall. I am the bait and the mousetrap. It should be seeking me out before it is going to begin incinerating everything. He knows I am its biggest threat.”

Xuanwu noted to him, “We have someone already tracking it, and that is Sárkány. He is a dragon and already immune to fire.”

Shin Yi thought for a moment. “I know where we will confront it. Daiyu, I want you to take us to the Chen Tuan temple in Mount Hua. It is high and mostly in an area away from people. It will allow us a high vantage point where I can shoot it and allow our dragon friend the maneuverability to fight it. Xuanwu, your responsibility is to protect my daughter. Are we clear with the plan?”

Daiyu did not need any time to think. She fished out another portal marble from her bag and focused as she stated the words of one of the higher areas of China. She threw the marble down, and the portal appeared from the marble itself as it opened a hole to the temple high in Mount Hua.

They took their steps through the portal. Instantly as before arriving at the cabin, they appeared in the high elevation of Mount Hua. Before them, they stood at a small shrine placed in honor of Chen Tuan. It was a small stone open shrine that can shield people under it from the sun and meditate.

“It will be easier for it to track me now that I am in a high vantage point,” Shin Yi explained. “It should be coming here at its fastest speeds possible. I would say that we have about ten minutes before it will reach here. I hope Sárkány is a fast flyer.”

Daiyu took a good look at her surroundings. They were almost 7,000 feet up from the ground. It was cold, but the lack of rushing wind from a moving cloud carpet. She had a magnificent view of the area around her. It was beautiful as she could see the tree foliage below her thousands of feet below. It was still midday, and you could see the sun above radiate its bright light down the canyon and ground below. It was truly a marvel to behold. There were some areas you had to be careful where you walked. While they were on a relatively flat platform, there were no guard railings if you fell. One wrong step and you would roll off the peak or mountain and have enough time to think about your mistake before you landed on the ground far below.

“I will warn anyone around us that a fight is going to break out and that they need to seek shelter,” Shin Yi stated. “We are safe enough that no one would get hurt from the fight that will begin. Xuanwu, I want you to get your cloud carpet ready and have Daiyu on it. I will make my stand here on this peak, but with you two, the sun demon might accidentally hit you when it tries to attack me.”

Xuanwu nodded, “I am not much use here on the ground anyway. My shell can withstand some of its attacks, however.”

“That is why I am counting on you to shield my daughter in case it targets you. Daiyu’s marbles might be able to do some damage to the sun demon, but if it doesn’t, then I am counting on you to keep her away from the battle. Only my arrows can kill it.”

There were footsteps in the far distance. Xuanwu quickly reverted to her human form. She was a tall six-foot five-foot-tall woman that looked like she was from the northern part of China or even Mongolia by her features. She was a unique figure of her kind, even for a human. She looked like she could out bench any human male on the planet with her muscles. She wore Mongolian armor with leather and iron pieces strapped with gray silk fabric that lined underneath it. She had her wooden flute ready.

Daiyu went and saw a wandering monk from the high steps that wondered to the scene. She went and spoke to the monk to warn him of the embedding battle to take place and help guide him away from the area.

There was a small amount of dirt and gravel that Shin Yi saw that he saw was a perfect spot to make his stand. He took some of his arrows from his quiver and stuck them to the dirt and gravel, turning it into a makeshift quiver.

“It is time to take my true form in facing this foul creature,” Shin Yi said.

Shin Yi’s form began to change. While he was human and his pure form was human, what he wore was utterly different. His clothes began to shift and morph. The fabric started to reform into red lamellar with iron armor that formed its rectangular plates. Dark red silk formed underneath his armor. His leggings consisted of red silk with leather padding. A helmet materialized over his head with golden hair that stuck from its top. Gold lining formed the rest of the areas of the armor that helped support it. His bow, what looked like an old wooden bow, shifted into a large golden metal bow. Small golden wings were etched into the bow that flared outward that could allow him to shield himself from blows if need be. The arrows even changed to golden arrows with a sizeable serrated point to the edges. Feathers donated from Fenghuang himself formed the feathers to the bolt.

Xuanwu played her flute and tossed it away as it disappeared in a puff of smoke. She took a good look at him. “I miss seeing you in that form, Shin. I wish you were more involved in the Coalition that you have before. At least you raised Daiyu to the proud woman she is.”

“It brings back memories,” Shin Yi said to her. I think after this, I will get more involved now that Daiyu has grown up. This last sun demon has been holding me back. I always feared its return. Now we get to kill this thing once and for all.”

The tortoise in her human form saw her carpet made of clouds land next to her as she sat down on it. She waited for Daiyu’s return.

After a few minutes, Daiyu came back to sit on the carpet. She sat by Xuanwu as the carpet began to take flight leaving Shin Yi at his vantage point.

“Did you warn everyone you saw?” Xuanwu asked.

“Yes, there were a couple of monks at the temple nearby, but I told them to keep their shutters closed and stay tight till we tell them otherwise. I told them a fight of the heavens was about to take place. For some reason, they believed me.”

The cloud carpet maintained at least a hundred-foot distance from Shin Yi. Now it was time to wait for the sun demon to arrive.

It had been ten minutes when a bright ball of fire appeared from the Northeast. The sun demon had indeed altered its course and was heading straight towards Shin Yi. It looked like a small, fast-moving sun of its own with flares that rolled its sphere. It could have easily been mistaken for the sun itself. It was coming in fast as it left a flame trail behind it.