C H A P T E R F O U R
R I T U A L
The bell tinkered as the door was pushed open and Tao and his brothers strode inside. As expected on a Saturday night, the inn was packed. The trio was immediately engulfed in the sounds of laughter, both joyful and drunken; sounds of chatter, both of light conversation and deep discussion; not to mention the corner table emitting the most noise from a group of gamblers, the men with gorgeous looking young girls draped over their laps.
Eyes scanning the interior for an empty table, a small table for two was spotted in the corner. Tao and Wei seated themselves as Yun dragged an unoccupied chair over from a passed out table of drunken middle aged men. A young woman approached the table to take down their orders and returned momentarily with their drinks. Settled down, Yun was the first to speak.
"Shall we begin?"
He was greeted with silence. Wei, he noticed was already staring doe eyed at a pretty girl seated beside a young man at the table opposite theirs.
"Wei, stop it, she's clearly taken!"
Wei looked away.
"Tao?"
No reply.
"Tao!!"
Still there was no reply.
"TAO!"
Tao, upon hearing his name being called suddenly whipped his head around to look at Yun with a startled expression.
"H-huh? You called?"
Mentally slapping himself, Yun replied while rolling his eyes.
"Yes, for the past minute or so in fact. Are you sure you don't want to try this out another night? You look distracted."
"I-I'm fine?"
Without warning, Wei's fist slammed the table, and Tao and Yun jumped as if startled rabbits.
"Tao...you...that girl before...is it her? Is she the reason you are so dazed right now?"
Staring at the table, Tao spoke up softly.
"It's too early to judge anything I suppose. I thought her to be very pretty, that's all. "
"Well, it's clear then we have no remaining purpose in this rowdy place. Are you sure you don't want to give it a go, just to test your competence?"
"No, no. I don't think it's necessary...anymore. "
"Shall we take our leave then?"
Draining their glasses, the three brothers paid, leaving a generous tip, and left the inn, the tinkling of the bell echoing as they swung the door shut behind them.
For the duration of the walk home, Tao never uttered a word. Wei and Yun walked ahead, joking around and throwing playful punches at each other. As they turned into a dark and narrow street for their short cut home, Tao's brothers' joking ceased. It was quiet. Too quiet. Unnaturally quiet. Eerily quiet.
They could all sense a strange presense in the atmosphere. Speaking with barely a whisper, Yun asked
"Is it just me, or does something seem off? Very off?"
Exchanging worried glances, Tao and Wei simply nodded back. The air suddenly seemed stifling, and Wei spoke with a low murmer
"Step quietly. Silently. I have a feeling that we are not alone right here right now. Better to be cautious than regret not doing so later. "
They continued on their way, walking pace slowed down and with all senses on high alert. Focused on their surroundings, they hardly registered a rancid stench fill the air, then without warning, a wrinkled black hand reached out from between two buildings and clawed onto the walls. Eyes widening in fear, the three brothers froze in shock; shooting each other desperate glances, as each was calculating the fastest escape method. Unfortunately, before a conclusion could be reached, a hooded head appeared. Momentarily, the cloaked body was also revealed.
The creature easily towered over the three of them. Seemingly human like in composure, the marled black hands, its unnatural height and cloak were the only give aways of its true nature. As the thing exposed itself, the odour swelled, one of rotting flesh and garbage combined, and Wei visibly began to pale.
Gradually making its advancement, the creature turned its hooded, faceless head towards them, then positioned itself so that it stood right in front of them, blocking the route. In the narrow street, it was safe to say that slipping past it was no option, but rather a deathwish.
Due to instinct, Tao immediately took up a fighting stance, in front of his brothers, a deadly glint in his dark eyes. Still in shock, Wei and Yun registered Tao's thought process, and decided he was mad. Was he really planning to take on this thing on his own? This thing of an unknown nature, unknown ability and unknown power? Was Tao really thinking of taking out this creature which was heads and shoulders taller own his own?
As if he were being released from a spring, Tao ran full speed toward the creature. His first attack was a simple flying kick, one which would normally land on his opponents chest to send then stumbling backwards and lose footing, but on this thing the height of his kick corresponded only with the height of its lower abdomen. Only bending slightly forwards from the impact, Tao rapidly retreated. Normally this first move had enough force behind it to stun the opponent, however this one seemed only mildly shocked, but otherwise unfazed.
Wei and Yun's jaws dropped slightly. Being inferior to Tao in terms of rank, they understood the feeling of being in close combat with him. Tao's abilities had been repeatedly drilled to hold extra force behind his blows, to target sensitive, weak areas of the body. He knew where to strike, with how much pressure, and also had the perfect timing to improvise routines and continuous attacks. He would not have made his first move without already having planned ten steps ahead.
The creature stepped towards him. Tao's eyes narrowed, judging and calculating its abilities. It was true that this was a difficult task. Generally he was able to predict an individual's fighting style based on the fluidity and speed of their body movement, but he had hardly seen it move, or had been in too much shock to register it when it had.
Aiming to knock its knees backwards and buckle the other way, Tao needed to get within a close range. Approaching it with speed, Tao suddenly felt an impact at his side, and felt himself leaving the ground. This was a complete shock, the thing moved with such speed that he had not even see it move its arm. He smashed into the wall at such an angle and with such force that the brickwork had been damaged and began to crumble.
"TAO!!"
Two distraught voices echoed into the night.
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Something seemed different tonight, there was something strange about the atmosphere. Combing her long silver hair back and securing it with a cuff, the girl sighed and opened her window.
She was greeted with a putrid odour. Looking out the window, her garden bed and other plants had begun to wilt, as if their life force were being drained away. She was now certain that there was something wrong happening tonight. Something unknown had entered this realm, something twisted, disturbed, an abomination on natural order.
Unable to overlook this fact, she extended her senses, searching through the heavy atmosphere for a signal, a clue of some sort. Whatever the cause of unease, it was not a creation of mother nature, it was something that fed off life, something created to drain it and leave behind only the empty shell of what things once were.
Finally her senses caught onto a sign. It came from a south westerly direction, apparenty from an alleyway, not too far from the wealthy estates. The odour now grew stronger and overwhelemed her, slamming the window tightly shut, she paced the interior of her room.
"This cannot do!"
Changing into practise clothes, she rushed out of her home and following her instincts began to navigate her way to a particular alleyway. Certain she was getting closer, the stench only grew stronger, and soon enough she turned off the street into a laneway.
A young man was thrown into a wall next to her. He looked thouroughly bruised and was bleeding from the nose as well as trickling blood from the hair.
Alternately
Bracing himself for impact, Tao felt his body slam into a wall for the second time. Sinking to the ground, the cold, yet gentle touch which assisted him to his feet was completely unexpected. Blinking the blood out of his eye, he looked up into a pair of bright purple orbs blinking at him, clouded over with concern.
The owner of those eyes then spoke up, her voice was flat, determined and beautifully dangerous
"It must be defeated, this abomination of nature."
Tao was confused
"Abomination of nature?"
The girl nodded, while tucking her long hair into a bun
"Are you not aware of what this creature is and can do?"
"Only in terms of combat, but I am sure there is more than that to it, correct?"
She pursed her lips and replied with a stiff nod of her head.
Helping him to his feet, Tao and the girl assumed identical stances - an open hand fighting stance. Bodies, angled at around 80 degrees, one leg behind the other, body open and left arm extended in front of the right. There would be no need for spoken communication, this stance already spoke about their combat styles, which was simply the same. The girl spoke up:
"Shall we dance?"
It was Tao who nodded and spoke up in turn, voice filled with venom.
"On my count, alright? It will not survive once we are through with it tonight. "
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A/N: Another update ^^ School's been keeping me on my toes all week!
Have some wushu Tao :L
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