“Good Luck Xia” said Adam, Julian’s father “We’ll keep in touch.” He patted her back and smiled at her.
“Thanks” answered Xia, “I’ll miss you all…”
Grief enveloped her body and she raced towards the car. Asra hugged the children (except Julian who stood at her window watching with tears) and shook hands with Ankara and Adam.
“Good Bye, Hope we meet again” saying that Asra walked towards the car and drove off to the airport to board the flight which would change their futures.
They did not know that what was waiting for them was dangerous and lethal, waiting to pounce and they did not know that this step was to lead them in the darkness of peril, where others would join them.
Chapter Three
~An Ancient Myth~
Xia stepped out of the plane stretching out after the cramped journey and inhaled the mint jasmine fragrance which spread over the serene atmosphere. She gazed at the huge lush green mountains and marveled at their splendor. Around one shoulder she had slung a brown bag and held another green duffel bag in the other hand as she walked towards her agitated mother. Asra stood nearby talking to a young officer, her face flushed with annoyance. Flipping around she motioned irritably for Xia to join her as she adjusted the heavy bag on one shoulder.
“This is my daughter, Officer Kimberly” said Asra sharply.
“Yes, beautiful young girl isn’t she?” said Kimberly in a scrutinizing way as he had been informed of two people from America bringing drugs and naturally he suspected the first two people who emerged from the plane. Xia did not like this officer. His aquiline features and bald head were enough for her to dislike his arrogance and the impatience with which he watched them as if they were wasting his time not the other way round.
“Now can we go?” asked Asra frustrated, “you’ve checked everything already!”
“I would like to see the young lady’s bag as well.”
Xia’s eyes froze over and looking directly at him she grumbled. “I am going to scream and throw this bag on your head and then you can explain that to the authorities.”
“Umm…Yes, my ladies, go!” he said waving them off as he had targeted a band of hooligans nearby who were teasing the passengers by throwing the party sprays on their hair laughing as the men and women insulted them.
“Come Xia, we’re going to freshen up,” said Asra leading her daughter to the yellow taxis in the parking lot and the young girl followed her misery forgotten for a while as she stared at her mother’s homeland for the first time ever. It was absolutely beautiful with the shading lanes of green and brown to the small streams and busy markets but compared to where she grew up she found everything weird especially the air mingled with humidity, pollution and freshness from the mountains. She was not aware that behind the bushes in the corner was concealed a creature watching her with the yellow gaze, watching every step till she moved away in the taxi and then those eyes vanished.
***
Soon after an hour in the taxi, Xia was bored of watching the sites and she felt slightly sick almost flooding with relief as they got out near a hotel called Sunshine Reserve, a funny name for in this place there was no sunshine and it was shoved in the corner, tall and patched with dirt. Xia said nothing as she walked after her mother into the reception counter where stood a sallow faced woman with long hair of black and as they went to the seventh floor in an elevator and into their room. Xia hated it on first sight. There was a tiny cramped hall which led to a small table with two chairs in the corner bearing dirty glasses and a water pitcher. The beds were forced into the other end with a tattered table between them. An air conditioner stood in one end opposite to the tiny bathroom. If the setting was not bad enough they had plastered the walls with a murky yellow paper in which were green flowers outlined in fluorescent pink along with a gruesome carpet which was hard and partially destroyed in the shades of bright pink.
Asra too stared horrified at the hotel’s interior and then looking at her daughter’s repulsed features, she laughed nervously. “I think I placed the wrong reservations. Instead of Sunshine Haven, I got Sunshine Reserve.”
“Uh-huh. So now we’re going back to the hotel called Sunshine Haven?” asked Xia with the tiniest bit of hope and closing her eyes as she heard the answer.
“I don’t think so. I mean now we can’t go changing hotels can we dear. We’ll live here. I’ll order the food,” answered Asra with a forced smile as she walked to the phone outside the door.
“The food will be dumpier than this place,” muttered Xia irritated as she flung her bag in one corner and jumped on the bed. It made horrible squeaky noises as she moved on it, lying down and wondering was she to live here forever. She hoped not for her mother had said probably and in the plane she said that there was a twenty-five percent chance that they would remain here.
Soon a waiter with the same sallow skin came inside holding a tray and Xia jumped up as her mother took the food and gave the man a crumpled note of money. He left immediately and Xia walked over to see the food relieved that it wasn’t stuffed oysters or something like that. There were two plates of noodles topped with steaming sweet-and-sour chicken and both of them sat to eat it along with their gasless sodas. The meal wasn’t so bad but the lunch on the plane had been more delicious and at least they gave a nice soda during the journey. Asra went to the bathroom to take shower as Xia picked up the stack of magazines she brought and began leafing through them finding nothing interesting and she just studied the fashions which were as usual outrageous as were the models.
“Xia, are you fresh enough to visit someone?” asked Asra the hotel room as she cleared away the remains of their lunch after emerging from the bathroom.
Xia looked up from a magazine that she had brought along to relieve some of the boredom, “What? Yes I am, why?”
“I have to meet a special person and you have to, too. A person who you haven’t seen ever,” answered Asra taking away the magazine from the hands of her daughter as she stuffed it along with her belongings. “Do you want to change?”
“Should I?” asked Xia glancing at her scruffy black clothes and then gave a nod, disappearing into the small bathroom and emerging three minutes later adorned in faded jeans and a long tee shirt. “Okay let’s go.”
Xia went downstairs and waited in the cab as Asra called some hotel personnel to take the bags into the room they had booked and told them what she wanted ordered for dinner.
“Go to Deadfall Creek,” said Asra to the taxi driver when she returned. Xia said nothing but looked at her mother strangely for the name sounded weird to belong in China. She gazed out of the glassy windows watching the apartments speed by followed by markets with hawkers selling several items. Soon they turned sharply and all the lively environment was shattered as now a lonely clearing could be seen with no inhabitants.
Deadfall Creek was a beautiful valley with fast flowing rapids and falling waterfalls amid the rolling plains of green. But such a beautiful place was isolated; it was unbelievable. Suddenly Xia spotted her mother walking briskly to a cave which stood in the middle of nowhere and there was only a small spring located nearby. The waterfalls had been left behind.
“Mom!” she exclaimed, running beside her. Xia noticed a beautiful altar carved with ancient stone. The altar’s smooth, polished surface glistened in the beaming rays of the sun and looked as though no dirt had fallen on it for a very long time perhaps centuries. She was about to touch its ancient rune markings but was stopped by a sudden voice.
“Stop!” exclaimed an old man emerging from the cave. Xia whirled around and looked at the speaker. He was old, aged with wrinkles on his face. He was slightly deformed and looked eerie but there was some peculiar warmth in his deep black eyes. He possessed a long grey beard with wispy hair that fell to the back and was clothed in a midnight blue robe which was tattered and torn from several places.
“Xia, come and meet your grandfather Ching,” said Asra as means of introduction.<
br />
“Grandpa Ching,” said Xia, blinking in surprise for never had she heard his name mentioned in her life, “Hello.”
Ching beamed down at his granddaughter fondly as he ruffled her hair and his gaze shifted to Asra uncomfortably and Xia noticed that his hands were locked together under the beard as if strangling one another.
“Asra why have you come?” he asked seriously.
“For the same reason I left,” answered Asra quietly yet her features wore a subtle anger and contempt at returning to this place after so long.
Xia was puzzled, “Am I missing something?” she asked.
Ching gave an uneasy grin to Xia his gaze still centered on his daughter, the gaze was troubled yet he knew of what she spoke of. After what it seemed eternity, he tore away his glance and looked at his granddaughter and then his heart felt like lead. He hoped that the suspicions of his daughter were wrong; he also knew she hoped the same.
“Xia first I’m going to make you a delicious cave meal and then I’m going to tell you a story, a long one,” said Ching with graveness, “you’ll join us Asra although you know it.”
“Come now to my abode,” he said chuckling at his remark for the cave wasn’t much of a home but he had just said that to lighten the seriousness that hung in the air. He would make sure of the truth before revealing everything but for a while he would treat it like story telling and a joke.
Xia held Asra’s hand and walked through a tunnel into the dim lit, hollow cave which, to Xia’s surprise, contained cushions and sofas. There was even a stair case leading to upper storey of the cave from where wooden doors could be seen. Inside the cave walls had been lined with a brown marble and the floor was carpeted in a dirty yellow. It was quite homely but Xia saw her mother grimace at the taste probably planning already how to remodel it.
Ching shuffled to a small alcove at the back of the stony structure and Xia realized that was the kitchen. She walked around the cave finding the ancient stone fascinating and the items that seemed to belong to an entirely different world, scattered around the room. There were quills and parchments, she didn’t see a single pen or paper. It surprised her and glancing at Asra to share her excitement, she saw her mother brooding over the mantle, staring at some pictures and it was obvious she was not in any mood to talk.
Soon Ching came out with two plates of gravy in which she saw small pieces of chicken, sliced to perfection and taking a spoonful of the broth, Xia almost groaned with pleasure. The gravy was succulent and thick, the chicken was broiled so perfectly and the taste edged between a blend of Chinese and some creamy Thai version. She grinned at Ching in admiration and he smile back fondly.
“So Xia ready to hear the long story?” said Ching taking a seat on the bright cushions and motioning them to do the same.
“Well, I guess so,” said Xia curiously.
“Carry on the father. Make it quick.” said Asra curtly. Xia just gave a long look to Asra and spooning more of the gravy she listened to her grandfather with rapt attention.
“Okay,” answered Ching passing his daughter a steely look, “Here goes…Long ago in ancient lands called the Magic Plains, a great king, Annox, forged three small stones with ample powers. However, if these stones were placed in the wrong hands, its bearer could gain inhumane, indestructible powers. To ensure the protection of this stone a few of Annox’s descendants were chosen to guard this one stone, the firestone. This duty placed a heavy burden on the bearers’ shoulders, as they had to protect this stone at the cost of their life. The bearers’ were named ‘Annoxonum’ which meant ‘the firestone bearer’. Greedy people formulated noxious plans to get this stone but all Annoxonum succeeded in protecting it. Annoxonum are detected by the creature Axhelius, a panther, the darkest kind, but they now beware it as it has become evil. A dark sorceress, Aria, captured the noble Axhelius and used her witchcraft to convert it into an evil, mutilated beast. Annoxonum have been battling evil for centuries and they die at quite an early age. It is the duty of the Annoxonum to guard the stones or work against the schemes of evil for throughout time evil has raided several times. I do not know the beginning of the stone but from books I have read about the firestone. I know nothing more now than you do Xia, what is to be known is with others in the Magic Plains. This is the place where you have entered and it stretches over the entire world unseen to those who have no magic blood. There are several places from where you can enter these plains all in different corners of the world.”
Xia was stunned by this short but enticing legend, it was astounding and every part held a separate twist. It seemed to be preposterous to be real but yet it was interesting for this was one piece of history she liked compared to the boring notes in the museums.
“Is it over?” she asked regretfully “It was so exciting.”
“Yes, it’s quite a captivating story especially for young teenagers like yourself, sadly it’s over,” said Ching his eyes glittering as he rubbed his hands together.
“Aww… I wish I was an Annoxonum,” said Xia with a faraway look in her eyes, “By the way was this Annox a Chinese?”
“No, he was a man of these lands. They were not divided into the races we are in. they’re different. Perhaps if you’re lucky you would meet some others who have been born here.” smiled Ching glancing at Asra sharply, for he was assured that Xia could understand and bear the burden of her history with ease for the two had kept the secret of the reason of her father’s death for far too long but still the suspicions that Asra had come with hardened his gaze till his daughter flinched.
Asra sighed, “Father we better head home now.”
“No Mom! It’s so much fun here!” protested Xia “Grandpa is a great story teller; Grandpa Ching is this story true?”
“Yes my child every word is true,” said Ching still gazing at his daughter with that piercing look that seemed as if it could probe into the darkest secrets in one’s heart.
“Wow!” exclaimed Xia, her face glowing with happiness “Grandpa…”
“Now Xia, enough,” interrupted Asra standing up suddenly “its becoming dark outside, we have to leave” Asra looked sternly at Xia and then glanced at Ching who shifted his gaze to the floor as if suddenly uncomfortable.
“Okay Mom, great meeting you Grandpa Ching,” said Xia, getting up. She brushed some dried leaves off her jeans and pulled some loose strands of hair out of her eyes.
“You’ll come tomorrow,” announced Ching through a grin at his lively granddaughter.
“We will?” asked Asra, bewildered.
“Yes.” Ching gave her a sharp look which Asra seemed to understand and then bowed her head.
“Okay so see you tomorrow grandpa, I can’t wait!” exclaimed Xia waving at him as she left the cave never noticing the brief exchange of troubled words between father and daughter and not aware that the both held hope for her, hope that what they suspected was not true especially Asra for she knew she could not cope with that truth that took her husband so long ago.
“Are you sure Asra?” Ching asked quietly.
“I don’t know father. It seems to be. She said something watched her at night and I even asked her teacher at the dance and she confirmed that.”
“You know what you’re suggesting?”
“Of course I do. But I know it will not be because I won’t have another one of those times like with Norman.”
“He was a fool. He came on purpose to protect you even though he was not a descendant. That’s why he met the worst end possible because he was weak.”
“Father! Norman wasn’t like that before.”
“Go now. Xia will wonder at our conversation but she is the last descendant so far until she had her own children.”
“I know.”
“You could remain here if you’re worried.”
“No. Not yet.”
“Mom you have a cool dad!” said Xia with admiration to Asra as she was waving to another taxi as she hurried towards her daughter from the cave.
/> “Yes Xia, so did you,” said Asra through an upset face.
Xia said nothing and remained quiet during the whole ride back to the hotel. She never knew her father, there was no picture of him at home but never had she ever felt the need of him.
Chapter Four
~The Trusted Eagle~
Chirp! Chirp! The melodious chirping of the birds woke Xia up. She blinked her eyes, trying to get accustomed to the dark lightless room. Yawning and stretching her arms she flopped out of bed and straggled towards the miniature bathroom suddenly remembering where she was stuck with a grimace. After taking a quick shower she got dressed into a navy skirt and a pale blue blouse while Asra was frantically running round finding some suitable clothes to wear. Finally she settled on a long yellow skirt and a black, silk blouse that was slightly rumpled during the packing. She had already eaten breakfast as Xia sat down looking with a tight frown at the soggy eggs and barely crunchy toast. She settled on eating the toast alone and drank with closed eyes, the bitter juice which smelt strongly of rotten grapes but she didn’t dare ask the flavour.
“Are you ready Xia?” Asra asked as she combed her wet hair and fastened it back with a barrette.
“Yeah,” replied Xia tying a slightly wet band into her long black hair before glancing at her frazzled mother with a small smile, “So are we going?”
“Yes in a minute.”
“Okay I’ll wait and read one of these boring magazines which I’ve read only about a million times. I guess the room service personnel have taken a trip to Disney land, huh?” asked Xia with a hint of sarcasm that she didn’t bother hiding as she referred to the mess that should be taken care by room service but that just revealed that this hotel was one of the worst she had ever seen.