Chapter 16: June 23rd, 1693

Like magic, in the course of two hours, the healing crystal shattered and vaporized into dust that lifted into the air to vanish. It did its job as the next couple of days, Ivan was starting to get better. The crystal was doing its job, leaving Feliks to wonder about his friend. He did not go back into the tunnel in the last couple of days to talk to Xuanwu. An issue remained of what he could do with his friend that stayed buried underneath the home.

The biggest problem happened the day after his father started to get better. His coughing and hacking remained, but it dropped severely. Ivan wanted to seal the open area to prevent any rodents from getting into the empty space. He tried to bury the tunnel with dirt, but this would take time to accomplish. His main goal was to keep up with the grain harvest instead of sealing the entrance. Feliks suggested that in the meantime that they simply close it, which he did by using rocks that he covered the opening with. This would make things hard for him to talk to Xuanwu but still viable by removing the stones and placing it back where it was at when he left.

It was late afternoon after a hard working day that Feliks was ready to call it a night. His thoughts still loomed at the giant tortoise that lived underneath the household, his friend that helped his father.

Feliks and Ivan were both in the home after they got done finishing up their meal. Both sat in their chairs as they patted their stomachs.

“I am happy that you keep getting better, dad,” Feliks remarked to his dad.

“Thank you, son. It is going to take some time, but I feel I got through the worst part. Still, ... feel weak at times, though.”

His father yawned as he rested his feet on another chair.

“You should get some sleep, father. It’s been a long day,” his son said to him.

“You know, that banging has stopped the last couple of days. I am glad that it has. I think you digging down there might have chased out whatever varmints were in there. I still want to get that tunnel sealed. I was thinking of building a hatch on the floor that would allow you to enter down there from up top instead of through the bottom side of the wall.”

“We will get it done, father. I promise you that.”

His father smirked as he looked at his son. “You know, ever since two days ago, I feel like something changed. Not only have I felt some relief from this damn cough, but I feel like you changed too. It’s like you met somebody or something. Have you been talking to somebody that I don’t know? Yesterday did you go and talk to Taya without me knowing?”

He shook his head. “No, father. I think I am changing only because I see you getting better.”

“Hmmm ... I don’t know. If you ever want me to talk to our neighbors in arranging a time for you two to meet...”

“It’s alright, father,” his son interrupted him. “I don’t need to see anybody.”

His father shrugged. “I just want you to be happy, son. I don’t want you to be lonely. You don’t have any friends, and it’s wrong that a good son like you should be without one. I care about you.”

Felix looked down at the table as he nodded to what he said.

There was almost a tear that ran down Ivan’s eyes. “If only your mother was here. You, son, is all I have left. If it wasn’t for you, then I would have fought suicide every day until I would lose to it. I want to make sure that you have a good life ahead of you. I don’t have much, and all I have is a farm, but it won’t stop us from handling the worst that is left to come.”

“I know, father.”

Ivan nodded. “Of course we can.”

There was a long moment of silence for both of them. Finally, Ivan stood up and walked to his bed. Without much hesitation, he fell to his bed, letting his exhaustion overtake him.

Feliks decided that tonight that he was going to talk to Xuanwu again. He had to thank her again for her help with his father. He also wanted to speak with her again, in general, to learn more about her.

It was late at night when Feliks got out of his bed. It was a full moon, so it would be easier for him to see at night, but it was hopeful that he would not need anything to see without the need of a torchlight.

He carefully walked out of the main room and opened the door quietly. He closed it behind him as he walked to the side of the house that had the rocks piled up to block the tunnel. He took a knee on the grass as he began to take each stone down. One by one, each rock was carefully removed and separated so that once he left, he could reseal the entrance once again whenever he needed to. It was a tedious process taking several minutes, but it was worth it.

Eventually, he reopened the tunnel as he pressed his small body through the entrance to the tunnel. It was pitch black as he crawled through the tunnel. By now, however, it was getting easier for him to navigate the tunnel. It was his third time now, even if he could not see at all. His hands and knees pressed into the dirt as he pushed his way through.

“I am happy dad cannot crawl through this tunnel,” He whispered quietly. “I don’t want him to meet Xuanwu yet till she tells me that it is ok for this to happen.”

The young teen reached the tunnel’s reopening as he used his hands to probe the area around him.

“Xuanu...” He called out quietly to her. “Xuan ... Xuanwu ... it’s me, Feliks.”

There was silence as he thought he heard a stirring in the distance. There was a large puff of air that blasted in his general direction. He felt some hot air hit him as he knew that was Xuanwu stirring in her sleep. There was silence once again as the quietness fell still once again.

He crawled closer and closer through the darkness to where she should be. Even with some knowledge of the area navigating the area blind was no easy task. He called out to her once again.

“Xuanu ... it’s Feliks. I want to talk to you some more.”

“Ah ... want to see my club,” she stirred. “Look at its size ... can’t argu ... what?”

Feliks could hear her stir more and more like she was dreaming even without seeing her.

“Xuanwu?”

“Ahh!” she yelled in response.

“Calm down, Xuanu ... it’s me.”

“Umm ... are you a ghost?”

“It’s me, Feliks. I came back to talk to you.”

“ ... Feliks, I knew it. You were a ghost all along. I can’t see you.”

Xuanwu felt a warm touch of his hand as his hand met hers.

“Ahh!” she yelped in response again. “Feliks, something got me.”

“It’s me, it’s me,” he told her.

“ ... oh alright.”

There was a flick of sound as claw met crystal. Suddenly there was a light that emitted from the room as the light crystal that she had been activated. The reptilian’s eyes befell the young teen as they looked at each other from the absolute darkness.

“Dah!” she yelped in shock at seeing Feliks. The light crystal went dark as she deactivated it.

Feliks was laughing at seeing her and her reactions. “It’s me. I came back. I wanted to talk to my friend.”

The crystal was once again activated as it illuminated the space. It rested in Xuanwu’s hand as they looked at each other. There was a smile on her face.

“I was just playing with you, Feliks. I know you are not far from me. How are you?”

The boy rested his hands on his face as Xuanwu placed the light crystal by the side. Xuanwu did the same thing as she leaned her head on her arm. The low ceiling of the underside of the home served as an unusual setting for the two to talk to one another. At the same time, however, it was not a bad one either.

“I am well,” Feliks explained. “How are you?”

Her eyes looked around her. “Well, I am still here. Otherwise, I am alright.”

“My father is getting better, thanks to you.”

There was a look of satisfaction on her face. “I am happy to see that I could help. I am still concerned about him.”

“Why do you say that? He is better.”

Her face started to display some worry. “Those healing crystals ... they are designed to heal injuries, not cure diseases. It would lessen his pain and suffering but not wipe out the plague either. Without knowing what it was that was causing his suffering in the first place, I can’t tell what it was that was causing his coughing. Whatever it was ... I am glad you are happy, and he is well. Normally I can’t get too involved in such manners such as your situation.”

“Why did you help me then?”

Her eyes looked above her. “Sometimes even the deities like ourselves have to act on a whim of mercy for humans. Being trapped here doesn’t help in my situation either. I am naturally the type of deity that avoids humans as of lately.”

“It sounds like a lonely life to live,” Feliks remarked.

Her eyes trained to him. “Yes ... it is.”

“You said that I am like another, and his name was also Bamboo.”

“About two hundred years ago, I was caught in a similar situation much like you see me here in China where I was buried in the sand. I wanted a place to sleep like you see me. I naturally take a break every hundred years or so where I sleep for about ten years. The ground grows around me as I bury myself into the very Earth itself. When I awoke so long ago, I end up having humans settle their homes around me. I try to find an isolated area, but there is not much I can do when humans populate everywhere. At this rate, I have to go and sleep in the Poles or deep oceans to avoid you, humans, without having a house built on me. I really didn’t think that would happen to me again, especially twice.”

Feliks looked hard into her eyes.

“Oh yeah, that whole tale of Bamboo ... about two hundred years ago, I ended up in this very situation again. I awoke to find a child much like you that was named Bamboo. He ended up finding me underneath his home. The situation was different than it was now because I was not supporting the home. There was enough room that I was able to wiggle myself out without taking out the house in the process. This was before the time I got involved in the ... well ... that I got involved with the Coalition of Deities...”

“You told me that before. The Coalition of?...”

“Hmmm ... think of it as a family, Feliks. A family of gods. I am originally part of the four divine animals. We were protectors of China against evil. Sometimes we were known as the four guardians before we became a part of something bigger.”

Feliks had this look of curiosity. “There are more like you?”

“Hmmm, exactly like me ... no, but there are other guardians like me. I am the black tortoise, the element of water. There is Baihu, the White Tiger of the West, the Azure Dragon of the East that represents the element of wood, and Fenghuang, the Vermillion Bird of the South that is the element of fire. Each of the four of us represented a different season in China and how the people worshiped us. In the many thousands of years, many different stories in how we are depicted changed over time. Some are true about us, and some are not true. It is not my place to say which is accurate and what is not.”

“That is amazing. I want to meet them all.”

She chuckled a little bit. “Little Bamboo did indeed meet them all. Perhaps history is to repeat itself then? He and I went on adventures far and wide. I miss him dearly. He was a bit of a turnaround for me. I had a bit of a troubled history before I met him.”

“Are you trying to say that ... you were evil?”

“Such a generic and simplistic term. Good ... evil ... I was like any other deity just trying to survive out here. I was part of armies in which I did things that I was not happy of. Like a river, though, those days would come to an end, and I was able to get away from it. Meeting little Bamboo was like gaining a son that I never had. I dedicated myself to his well-being and making sure that he was happy.”

“What happened to him?”

She had a look of content on her face. “He lived a wonderful life. He grew up, he moved out of his uncle’s home, and he found a woman that he married. I was even a godmother to his daughter ... wait...”

The young teen looked at the tortoise as her mind began to think over time.

“What is it?” Feliks asked her.

Her face got serious as she looked at Feliks. “Feliks, tell me what you know about your family history. I need to know everything that you know. Please.”

“I was born here in Irkutsk, not far from the fortress they built. My mother was born in Siberia, not far from here. My father was born in Northern China.”

“In other words, your blood runs through the Mongolian families just like I am, but ... there is more to it. What do you know about your grandparents?”

The child answered to the best of his knowledge. “My grandparents come from further south in Northern China. They moved their way further north before settling near the border between Siberia and China. There they had my father, Ivan.”

“Do you know anymore beyond that where your family traces to?”

“My father might know, but I don’t know.”

“Have you always been known to be the Bambuks? Has your last name changed during your lifetime or family history-wise?”

“I don’t know, Xuanu.”

There was a smile on her face as she looked at the child. Her massive hand touched the boy’s face. “It has to be ... I know you might not understand this, but I spoke to a prophet in my ‘family.’ I told him that I needed to find ... an important item, but I was tired. I have been up for almost a hundred years. A woman like me needs to get some rest, right? He told me that ‘You should go North near Irkutsk, Russia, find a plot of dirt and rest, and someone you will know will find you, and the rest will become history.’ It has to be happening right now. This can’t be a coincidence.”

Feliks did not fully comprehend what she was saying, but he could see that there was happiness on her face. She slapped the ground knocking some dirt into the air in which the young teen waved his hand to blow the dirt away from his face.

“Xuanwu, you big dummy turtle,” She said out loud to herself. “You should have known better when he said that his last name was Bambuk. It is no coincidence that your last name is Bamboo in Russian. It must be, it has to be now, Feliks ... you are his descendant. My Little Bamboo and his bloodline!”