The Untold Story

The Untold Story, Chapter One: The Journey

“There weren’t always dragons in the village”, muttered Master Shen.

“Pa! Pa! Where are you?!”

“Watch out, Li!”

But it wasn’t enough. The steel blades sliced through the thick air as it sank. When it cleared there was nothing left but the smell of death and blood.

That was the last time I saw my father. I was 6 years old, unfit to take on life alone, but I had no option. I knew I must continue my journey, I had to follow the sacred scroll. After being discarded into the river below the land I found myself washed up on an island. There was no food in sight, and no water other than the sea of salt I had just come out of. What was I to do? Where could I go? Here, my journey began.

Deep within the heart of China, I began my hunt. “Why was Pa so fixed on those dragons? What did the scroll have to do with his death?” I questioned myself, trying to find a reason my father would sacrifice his life to protect this secret. I was far from home, the only village I had ever known. Luckily, I was equipped with my trustee bow and arrow, she could strike down any fruit, low or high. As I moved deeper into the island I found very few signs of life, primarily sea creatures, a few birds, and insects, but surely no dragons. On the back of the scroll was a tiny map, with little to no detail, I was weary, but it seemed like a blessing to be washed up on the island as my next journey was to the top of the ninth mountain, Mount Rei.

As I began my hike up the side of Mount Rei, my fortune bettered. “Water!” I made a friend along the way, I called him Chi, he was a small lizard creature. He kept my company, frankly, he kept me sane. As I scooped the water out with my hands, I drenched my head, it was refreshing. As I looked up and cleared my eyes, a man 6 feet taller than I stood in front of me. A spear made from bamboo accompanied my tiny nose,

“Who are you, and how did you get here? This land is forbidden.”

I took a deep breath and mumbled, “forbidden?”

Moments after the encounter I immediately blacked out, waking up in a shack on a bed made from the bamboo sheath and banana leaves. “Are… are you… cooking?”

“A man must eat”, he replied. “Are you hungry?”

“What happened to me? Where is Chi?!”

“Oh, this little guy?” he pointed to his shoulder,

“He’s a good company, I see why you brought him along. As to your mysterious episode, my only guess is exhaustion. How are you feeling now?” He shoved a bowl of what appeared to be Monday’s special into my hands.

“I’m sorry sir, I’m just not hungry right now, I must keep moving.”

“Sir?” he rose, “That would be my father, you can call me Tao.”

“Hi Tao, my name is Longwei, but you can call me Li.” Tao turned to me; I could tell he was surprised.

“Eat. You leave in the morning, you must rest.”

The sun came up the next day. I turned To Tao, “It’s time.”

As we began our quest up Mount Rei, I started to wonder why Tao wanted to accompany me on such a strange journey. “Tao, why are you coming with me?”

“Well, little one, you did sleep on my bed all night, plus I have nothing better to do, and I am the only one that lives on this island you know.”

“The only one?”

“Yes. About fifteen years ago a great monsoon engulfed the island killing off all its people, including my Ma and Pa.”

“Where were you?”

“On this mountain…”

“Chi! Chi! That little pest is taking off, I must follow him!” We started running after Chi, following him up the mountain, but then he just stopped running.

“What happened next, Master?!”

“Ah, your eagerness yields patients young one. This story holds many secrets.”

As we caught up with Chi, the atmosphere changed, like when the mist fell with father.

“Get behind me young one, and whatever happens, don’t let anyone get ahold of that scroll.”

“AHHHH!!!”

I stayed behind Tao, I turned for a moment, and behind me were sounds of blades colliding. I looked back to Tao; he was fighting another man. This man was quick, almost like he slithered through the air. “Who are you?!” Tao questioned.

“The answer is in the fight,” the man replied.

I watched Tao and this man fight, before I nearly decided to run the man took Tao down. “You must ask yourself, child, is this your fight?” I was so confused; I didn’t even know he saw me there. Tao, unharmed attempted to gain a standing position but he was pinned, “Run Li! Run!” Before I could take a step forward the man appeared in front of me, in the same way, Tao did. “You will go no further than I, fight!”

I was now in a battle with this man that just pinned down Tao, I can tell you now, that the training I had was no match to his. I gave all my efforts, I think he let me get a couple of strikes before the man took a step back and told me, “You are young, but you are fierce. The strength that you need is within, you may pass.” And he vanished. Tao and I turned to each other. “Was… was that real?”

“As real as I can explain, young one. Gather yourself, let’s move.”

We continued to hike. “Who was that man?”

“If I’m correct, that was Snake.”

“Snake?”

“Snake.”

Night fell, “Let us go Li, we must seek shelter, there’s a cave a few paces ahead. Tao tended to a fire, we ate the fruit I acquired the first night, “This will hold us over until tomorrow, but we must hunt for more food.”

I couldn’t stop wondering about that man, and why Tao referred to him as Snake? Who was he and what did he want to do with us? It was clear he didn’t want to hurt us, but he didn’t want to make it easy either. I kept thinking about the last words he spoke to me. “The strength you need is within…”

Tao noticed my confusion. “Li, there is something I must explain. This mountain, Mount Rei, has… it has spirits that live here. That is what makes this journey so hard, the things that you will experience here have no explanation, they’re dangerous, and we must stick together.”

“Sprits, Tao? What kind of spirits?”

“The ones that will prepare us for what lies ahead.”

“Uhm, okay.” I shrugged, finished my fruit, found Chi, and rested near the fire. “Goodnight Tao.”

“Goodnight, Li.”

“Li, it’s morning honey, wake up”, it was a woman’s voice. I peeked my eyes open, “Ah, Ma, five more minutes!”

“Ah, Li, don’t be so silly, today’s the big day.”

“Pa! Pa! Where are you?!”

“Huh? Where’s ma?” I was confused. “Ma, Ma?!” A tear rolled down my cheek as her memory faded away. I woke up. It was all in my head. “I am a fool,” I pondered. It was still dark, and the fire was low, Chi and Tao were both still sleeping. I grabbed the scroll and opened it before I was the blank scroll that appeared with a drawing of the snake. “Well, this is new,” I thought to myself. What is this? An accomplishment? A record? As I was looking at the scroll, a picture of a Crane started to form. I dropped the scroll. I grabbed my bow and arrow, “What is the meaning of this?!” I shouted. Startling Tao, he grabbed his sword, “What’s going on Li?! Who is here?!”

Panicking I pointed to the scroll and yelled, “The… the scroll. It was the scroll!”

“The scroll?” Tao picked it up and opened it. “What is the matter? There is nothing here.”

“Nothing?” I took the scroll from his hand. “Don’t you see the markings? There’s a snake and a crane just appeared.”

“Um, Li, I believe you, I just don’t see it.”

“Uh, okay, okay. Well either way it made a little sense until the crane appeared, that’s why I grabbed my bow!”

“Ah, young one, I heard you murmuring in your sleep, are you okay? You might just be shaken up from a bad dream. You’ve been through a lot these past couple of days.”

“No Tao! I know what I saw! The snake came after we battled him, so where is the crane?! It should be here by now.”

“Remember what I said young spirit, this mountain will show you things you may not understand right now, get some rest, we still have a long journey ahead of us.”

I closed my eyes and drifted back to sleep.

Thunder rattled. I opened my eyes. “Good morning young one, I went out this morning and found some fish and fruit. Eat.” As I ate, I sat and thought about last night, but it was hard to remember much about it. All I know is I felt a sense of acceptance for what happened. I picked up Chi, I picked up the scroll, this time, leaving it rolled together. “I want to hike.”

“Yes, but you need strength. We will get nowhere with a tired body or tired mind.” I knew Tao was right, but I was just so eager to get moving. After the rain settled a bit, we began our hike upward. The mud made the terrain slippery; it was harder to hike but I knew I must make it closer to the top of the mountain. I looked to the back of the map; it had altered itself. It showed the rainfall and the marking of the snake and crane. “Look, Tao! You must see this!”

“Yes, young spirit, that’s Mount Rei, where we are headed.” We kept moving. I knew Tao couldn’t see the markings, but why? I knew I couldn’t get hung up on the thought, but I only hoped I wasn’t delusional about what I saw. I remembered the snakes’ words; in time I would understand.

“Look up, young one.”

“Ah. We must climb up.”

“Jump onto my back and hold tight.” Tao starts up the rock wall of the mountain. “I remember doing this 15 years ago, and it was not this hard.” I began to chuckle.

“Well, Tao, I hate to break it to you but carrying all that fish in your belly will do that to you” Tao begins to laugh.

“Ahh!”

“Tao!”

“Li!”

In a matter of seconds, I was hanging upside down, and Tao was holding onto my ankle. “I got you, young one.” I could feel his grip weakening. “Tao, you have to let me go!”

“NO! I have you!” Tao was swinging back and forth as the wind grew bolder.

“Tao! I am only making this more difficult; you need both hands!”

“I am going to swing you on 3, get ready to grab ahold of something! 1, 2, 3!” I was launched into the air, and for a moment in time I was looking at Tao from a bird’s eye view, I heard my mother's voice again, but this time I knew I was awake, “You will soar.” I landed flat on my back. I sat up and saw Tao climbing over the edge of the mountain, I looked around, we were on a narrow cliff. I immediately turned to the scroll, it revealed to me the markings of a Tiger and Leopard. “Tao!” He came over to where I was sitting, and patted me on the head, “Good job young one, I knew you could get over that ledge.”

“Tao! Look at the scroll.”

“Ah, yes. The legendary Leopard. I was always fond of the spots.” Tao walked forward.

“You can see them?!”

“Yes. Young one, I can see the leopard, beautiful creatures, slightly deceptive but for good reason. Let’s move.”

“Well, Chi, that’s weird but, he can see something.” Chi nods in agreement.

“Look Li! The top of the mountain is near!” As we neared the top, I started to sense something weird, almost like we should not be there. I looked at Tao, but he was committed and seemed to fear nothing ahead or behind him, so we kept moving. The feeling grew stronger, and I started to see mist forming in the air. “Uhm, Tao…”

“Yes, young one, what is it?”

“I don’t have a good feeling about this…”

“It must be that fish you ate!”

“Very funny Tao, but really, I feel like maybe we should turn-” Tao covered my mouth with his hand, “Shh! Shh. Do you see that?” Tao points ahead of him, there was a door-like structure, made from rock and stone. Tao whispered, “We must be very quiet as we approach this entrance, you don’t know what’s on the other side.” Tao instructed. Chi and I nodded. At this moment I knew, this was the final challenge, or so I thought.

As we approached the entrance Tao was no longer talking, he used gestures the entire way into the cave. He pointed at every trap, it was as if he knew where they were all located. “Okay young one, watch out for any traps- Ahhh!”

“Ouch!” I was rubbing the top of my head. “That hurt.”

“Yeah, I was trying to warn you, welcome to the inside of Mount Rei.” I couldn’t believe it. We made it! We made it to the top of the mountain, and now we were inside of it! But, why? I turned to the scroll, there were the same figures on the inside, but the back of the scroll no longer contained a map.

“How will we know where to go now, Tao?”

“As you have trusted me, and I in you, now we must trust the spirit of the dragon to guide us. We must rest.”