֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
Earth.
In their living room, Xui Ying sat across from her children watching the changes come over her body. Her daughter had rushed over to hold her, the fire wasn't hot but it did burn her clothes until she managed to control herself. She felt flush but there was no sweat coming out.
Luitian turned the Television on, immediately the reports of Jigui's escape from capture at the Hotel came onto the feed.
There was no escaping the future, they had to face it together. "We have to go. Its only a matter of time before people come looking for us." Ying told her children to pack and to do it quickly.
It was true that there would be someone coming for them, they had ice cold expressions on their faces when they saw their mother standing by the door, she was still catching her breath but she looked dead serious.
They were really going to abandon their home, their things, past lives and go into hiding.
"I don't know how Uncle is going to find us..." They both started to fuss about what would happen.
"Qingchi, Luitian. He found us once and he'll find us again." Xui Ying grabbed the door and walked to her car. The rain was starting, that would help slow the search once it began. She checked the streets, they were mostly clear. The Rain made sure of that.
She opened the car door and tossed her phone into the yard.
"Mom!" Luitian called out to his mother, there were sirens and lights in the distance.
"Lets go, Get in and buckle up." Not bothering to do the same for herself, Xui Ying jumped into the antique Toyota. It's older body was much better than her electric and it handled better on the rain.
Throwing the car into reverse, she lit the tires up in the driveway.
The smoke was kept down to a minimum with the patter of rain but it was still a ruckus that had alerted her neighbors. Many watched and took pictures with their cell phones.
She pushed the accelerator to the floor and dropped the clutch briefly, sending the small compact car into a hurling fishtail. She was on her way but they had to move fast. Once the neighbors point the direction they were heading, they would be on her trail.
Knowing that her life and the life of her children were on the line, she abandoned everything in her past life, nothing mattered besides them. "Ditch your phones, no more phones. No devices, all of them.. toss them out." She rolled down the windows, "Throw them out." Xui Ying needed to get all of them to safety. If anyone could track her, it would be the government and with what Wu Hai had done on Live Television, his background would circulate, hers would be included. He looked exactly like Jigui had when he was younger, it was impossible to miss the distinctions.
"We're going to the mountains, when we reach the foot we're going to bury the car and walk. No one can ever know where we went." Xui Ying started to scare Luitian a bit with her speech but the more he thought, the faster he understood everything around him.
The worry passed from his face and he started to see things clearly. "Its alright mom, we're going to be fine. The police have a few options. They can go to our house, your job, and our friends houses. By the time they get to half of them, we'll have already buried the car and disappeared. I admit, this is a complete upturn of our lives but, after what I, what we saw.. what he gave us.." Luitian was confident, even if he was a bit scared. His words drifted off and Qingchi saw his frustrations.
"We can't give up." Qingchi had a strange expression on her face as they rode in the car. "Mom! I have an weird feeling.." She felt something calling to her and quickly spoke up.
"Lets go northwest. We need to go to … Wu...cha..gou..zhen." Qingchi pressed the temples on her head, she didn't look pained but her gestures looked like she was concentrating hard. "I keep hearing that in my head and its getting stronger the closer we get, at first I thought I had been hearing Brother's thoughts but it's not. I'm hearing another voice.. Mom, we need to go to Wuchagouzhen. Otherwise its going to be dangerous." Qingchi was never one to say something as direct as that, it scared her mother into pulling over and asking questions.
The car settled on the side of the road and Xui Ting leaned over the seat. "Are you sure? We only have this one chance." Xui Ying looked over at her son and then at her daughter.
The rain was pounding on the car, no one would be out searching for them at their current location, at least, not yet.
"I have to trust that Uncle made the right choice but I have this impulse, this want to go so badly that, it almost makes me want to throw myself from the car." Qingchi was shaking.
Xui Ying was frightened. She reached over the seat further and wiped the tears from Qingchi's face.
"Its okay, we'll go there. Keep your eyes peeled and don't let me miss my turns, we'll go. Besides, we don't have any better leads." Xui Ying started the car again and got back onto the old motorway.
The Wipers on the Car ticked back and forth as they crossed the countryside at night. There were a lot of trucks passing through but no road blocks were present and there were no military checks.
Stopping rarely, they soon found their way to Wuchagouzhen. The road was wide and to the north was an old border that had been abandoned after a water contamination problem, wildlife didn't survive long.
"We have a few gallons of water in the car but its not much. We can't stay here for long if we don't find something to drink." Xui Ying parked the car near a cliff side. Below there were nothing but rocks, the Car would be found if they ditched it over the side.
"We have to bury the car. Just start grabbing rocks, we'll pile them on top. There is no point in coming back for it. We can't let people find it by accident." Luitian showed a surprising enthusiasm for his situation, he pointed to a spot nearby that didn't look like it was regularly mowed.
It took a lot longer to bury the car than they wanted but they had everything they would take with them. Xui Ying still had their passports but those wouldn't be of much use as a fugitive.
"Mom, the voice is getting a lot louder and it changed, its now telling me to go up the mountain." Qingchi took a step forward into the wet ground, her shoes started to sink the longer she waited in one place.
"You really want to climb, in this rain?" Xui Ying grabbed the coat on her daughter and told her to stay close.
The rain was stinging their faces.
Xui Ying noticed the rain kept away from her somewhat naturally, She moved closer to the both of them and said, "Stick close to me, for some reason I'm able to stay dry. It's probably the fire but I'm not arguing. Jigui, you bastard, you really know how to make plans." Cursing him lightly, she stepped through the muck and helped her children up the mountainside.
The trees were fairly thick after a while. Five hours into their climb the sun started to rise, the morning fog covered the landscape. It was getting colder the further they went up the mountain. They had jackets and Xui Ying was radiating heat.
The climb was not as uncomfortable as they imagined but the air was definitely getting thinner and there was a taste of metal in the air.
The smell of oil was everywhere, Xui Ying was being very cautious. Oil catches fire quickly.. she might survive in a fire but her children wouldn't.
"Lets get past this area faster, I have a strange feeling about this spot." When they were about to go further there was a man standing by the cliff side.
"Come with me, its not safe on the surface." His face was distorted by the mask he wore, it wasn't reflective but rather it looked like a blur.
"Mom, this is the voice!" Qingchi was growing excited and walked up to the man, she grabbed his hand. "It's okay mom, I can read his mind."
The man stopped and looked at her, then got back to walking up the mountain until they found a cave.
He led them in.
"I've felt your presence for the last half day, how can you be so far away and have me see you?" The Man looked at Qingchi, then her Mother and Brother.
"We're special." Qingchi smiled with teeth and giggled afterward. She knew it was important to remain quiet about their background but Wúliáo was already able to read her mind. There was little use hiding it, so she chose to tease him instead.
"I can see that you're special. For today at least, stay with me here. We should talk, there are questions I'd like to ask you as well. The cavern is safe from psychic interference. My name is Wúliáo." Introducing himself, Wúliáo sat in a corner.
The Children started laughing uncontrollably. "Yes, Yes, its a bit silly but its my name. Lets get inside already, the storm isn't letting up anytime soon.
A faint smile appeared on his face and he adjusted himself by an unlit campfire. He pulled out a match and struck it, lighting the kindling and rousing the fire to life.
Putting the match into the fire he looked at the family that had just entered his cave.
"There is no reason to worry, I called out to the strong psychic sense that I felt. It was so clear that I could feel it was far away. I didn't know it was a child, a young child at that. To be this powerful, you're going to be hunted as an adult." Wúliáo rarely had guests, confusing his inner voice with his outer one, he was one to hold anything back.
His words scared Qingchi slightly and she winced. "I don't want to be hunted" Qingchi got a bit timid by his response and Xui Ying almost turned to get the children to leave. Then, she remembered that they had abandoned everything. There was no where to go, they had to endure. She had the power of fire at her grasp, if worse came to worst, she could always attack wildly.
"You have a strong child, it's a rare talent, as rare as a Phoenix Feather. I never expected to come across such a person in my lifetime. I thought I was alone with my mental ability but to think another exists that dwarfs my power entirely is just starting out, astounding." Wúliáo was stroking his chin when Luitian, who had been observing, asked a question.
"What can you do to help us? We have a problem, all of us need sanctuary and security. If you believe my sister is powerful, we will all show you our talents after you show us yours." Luitian needed answers as well, it was not everyday someone encounters a Hermit.
"Uncle Wúliáo, My Uncle Jigui gave us these powers." Qingchi gave up the information without asking her mother. It was inevitable, even as they were speaking, both her mother and brother were thinking about it so intensely that it would have been a surprise had Wúliáo not heard every word clearly.
"Qingchi!." Xui Ying started to scold her when Wúliáo tried to console her thoughts.
"Its fine, I understand your unwillingness to give up such information but to be honest.. I haven't left this mountain in more than a decade. I wouldn't know who to turn you into, let alone want to." Wúliáo looked at the huddled family as they dried themselves off by the fire.
Surprisingly Xui Ying was completely dry.
"I've always been able to hear the thoughts of others, it became a constant buzz of pain and regret living in a city. I had to get to somewhere isolated and quiet. I never expected to feel your presence from so far away while I was underground. I can't even hear the oil field workers down the mountain inside but the moment I step outside, they flood my mind. Its terribly annoying." Wúliáo put down his hands from the side of his head and asked another question, "I've told you my ability, you said 'us'. Does that mean your brother also has strong spiritual sense?" With nothing else to do inside the cave, all he had to pass the time were questions.
Wúliáo looked to the entrance of the cave and got up to grab a box from the shelf carved into the wall. "Would you like a cracker?"
"I have an ever expanding intelligence, it seems. For the last 16 hours I've been getting smarter. My mother is a Pyrokinetic and my Sister has telekinetic, telepathic, soul power of some sort." Luitian wanted to stop talking and go to bed, he yawned and stretched his arms.
"....." Wúliáo was at a clear loss for words. The family wasn't simple.
"Come further inside, the temperature levels out from geothermal vents the deeper we go, its one of the reasons they had to stop the mine. We won't need the fire, plus I have blankets." Leading the family down into the cave, Wúliáo found it funny that life had this turn of events. He had given up on living around others again, he had spent a lot of time avoiding others because of his mental abilities. He had told himself to avoid others but here, now, he had offered help to three people who didn't fit the standard.
"Mom, I'm tired.. so is Luitian but he won't take the initiative to 'say something.'" Qingchi ratted her brother out for being tired, used air quotes while she spoke.
Once they had come around another corner they saw the space where the Old Hermit had been living.
The floors were clean and level, more shelves were made into the cave wall. Some books and some old scrolls laid about but nothing that looked valuable to the naked eye.
A small hand-carved set of dice was on one of the shelves.
Laying down, Ying flicked her fingers on and off with fire. She was starting to feel like she could control it a bit. For a while during the night as lightning brought thunder in from the distance, she would snap her fingers gently and spark a fire in her palms.
On and off, again and again she worked with her abilities until she got tired. It was already difficult for her to wind down but using so much energy left her feeling drained, Xui Ying laid her head down and finally went to sleep.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
It was the middle of the night and Xui Ying was having a nightmare. She sweat a lot during the night and when she finally hit a hard part during her nightmare she burst into flames and screams.
Luitian and Qingchi were forced to back away from their Mother and had been calling out to her again and again. The flames coming from her body were not burning the air or the cave walls, however her entire body was engulfed in flames. The roll out of fire surrounding her body slowly lifted her into the air.
She was floating.
"MOM!" "MOM" The children were panicking, but they couldn't get through to their mother.
Wúliáo was staring at her but there was nothing he could do, her psyche was in complete disarray.
Ying was going through a change.. one they would each eventually go through. She was undergoing it during a nightmare but the threat to her survival was as real as anything. In her dreams she was fighting, flying across the skies like a burning fairy.
She was losing. But, she never gave up, she kept raising her power. 'Again, Hotter, Faster, Faster, Faster.'
Xui Ying was dreaming of battle. Her screams were turning violent.
There was a very real danger that she would manifest her power into a projectile, Luitian warned everyone.
"Move back Wúliáo, she's about to wake up violently!" Qingchi could feel her mother screaming in her mind during the nightmare but she could also see so much more, the battle was intense and her mother had never given in.
Wúliáo started to have a look of grief on his face, the aura that leaked out of Xui Ying was intensely hot for one second and then serenely calm the next. "We need to get out of here!"
The cavern was starting to shake.
"But the rain.." Luitian didn't want to get wet, his coat had just dried and they were sleeping before.
"If we die in this cave it would be very bad. Move toward the entrance." Wúliáo wasn't interested in bargaining with the boy. "GO NOW!" Snapping slightly, he grabbed the water from his stash and threw the bucket on Xui Ying in hopes that it would wake her up.
"Shit! Why isn't she waking up." A straining sound could be heard, the heat that had been building up periodically in the cave, had become increasingly intense and the addition to the steam had changed the pressure in the room.
The beams that held the back portion of the underground tunnel were starting to glow and expand. Ying's fighting spirit had translated into the real world, her fires were burning like the sun.
"Its going to collapse if she continues!" Wúliáo was starting to panic himself, he reached for Luitian but Luitian pulled away instead.
"Mom!" Qingchi reached out her senses. She was telepathic, she wasn't going to let her mom do whatever was going by herself.
With a swaying motion, Qingchi tranced out and slumped over. Her body fell limp and she laid across the floor.
Luitian grabbed his sister and dragged her clear of the flames, he could see her eyes glowing with a pinkish hue.
In Xui Ying's nightmare, she had been bashed into a wall and was being beaten repeatedly by a large demon-like monster. It's every punch made her spit a sort of molten blood.
Xui Ying had grown extremely powerful in her dream, so much so, that she was flying with no effort and threw fireballs like a bad ass. Yet, no matter how much she grew, no matter how much power she displayed, she kept getting knocked back down by the Demon.
When Qingchi's consciousness entered the nightmare, she saw the demon taking another strike at her mother and screamed out in anger, " LLL-ET MY MOTHER GO!"
"AHH-HHHHHHHHHH!!!" Qingchi's scream curdled out, it rebound off everything and brought a wave of distortion. The Rain in the dream came to a halt from the force of the wave and the monster that had been attacking her mother was torn into pieces.
Outside, Qingchi nearly fainted from strain in the dream.
"MOTHER!!!" Tripping and stumbling over rubble and rushing to her mothers side, Qingchi wrapped her arms around her mother.
Xui Ying's eyes pulsed a few times while she flew overhead and she looked down. "Qingchi? QINGCHI!"
"Mom, wake up!" "Wake up mom." Qingchi had lost consciousness and faded from the nightmare, all of her strength had been spent in that effort. Her figure vanished from the dream like a mist.
"Qingchi? .. Qingchi? … 'wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up.'" Chanting to herself in her dream, Ying tried psyching herself up and out.
The fires in her body slowly died down and her vision went black.
'Thud'
The fires on Xui Ying's body died off and her body crashed to the floor, abruptly waking her up with a bit of pain from the fall..
"Tch-ch-ch." Xui Ying groaned, when she opened her eyes she saw the glowing beams above her and slowly backed away from her position.
The beams were going to fall, they had been deformed under the pressure from the rocks above and in a matter of moments, collapse was sure to happen.
"Mom!" Luitian wanted his mother to get out of the way, when the beams started to give way he was focusing intently on her. Her body was dragged across the floor narrowly missing the collapse of the caves structural supports.
She had escaped but she didn't know how, then, she looked over at her son. "Luitian?" Xui Ying rushed over to her children, the clothes on her body were mangled and falling apart.
She saw Qingchi laying unconscious on the ground and asked. "She used her ability?"
"Yes, we all did." When Luitian saw his feet, he was blown away... he was off the ground by at least a few inches.
Lowering himself took little effort. "I think I'll be able to fly. I think we'll all be able to fly."
Wúliáo nearly choked on his tongue before he could speak. "You said Pyrokinesis, you didn't say she was a fire spirit! and you, you're floating.." Grabbing a blanket, he threw it to Miss Xui before coughing slightly at her undress.
Wúliáo had to find a new place to live and the only place he knew of that was safe was a monastery of sorts. He would have to see the priests again, thinking about it, he sighed heavily. He never like their banter, they were always so busy bodied and long winded. "We can't stay here after tonight. We can go to the temple, the priests will know what to do. The Temple is five days north of here and it's all uphill.
"We'll be fine, just lead the way when the sun comes up. I doubt that anyone besides the children can get sleep at this point." Looking down at Qingchi's smiling face, Xui Ying pushed the hair away and sang a lullaby.
"Yáo, yáo, yáo," ….
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
Far North of the Cave entrance, a blackened figure looked out at the snow covered mountains.
He flickered with Smoke and Lightning.
"We start today." The figure clapped his hands and nine fighters came out of the shadows.