Packing his things, Zhan was finally settling his mindset, he did not want to feel as if he was leaving his family. What he wanted was to succeed in his quest, return to his family and start his own just like he would joke with Wu Hai about.
The moment had come, Zhan was standing before the door looking at his parents with pride in his eyes.
Ooran fumbled.. "Shit! I'm such a bad Father, hang on!" Calistown had hit him in the chest and he ran off.
Running like he was a Chicken with its head cut off, Ooran finally returned with a cloth bolt. When he unfurled the cloth a small Dagger and a Bow sat gently on the Table. He said "These, these are the weapons my father gave to me, although I only have the one set... we can get another for Wu Hai when he comes of age. Take these with you, and I hope they serve you as good as they served me. You'll need arrows and a new string but, you'll find this bow is of excellent crafting for this area. I love you Zhan, So does your Mother. You had better enjoy your youth, and come home one day to not let your mother worry herself to wrinkles." Ooran was trying to not cry like his own mother had done when he left during his coming of age quest.
Stowing the bow in the cloth, and the dagger in his belt Zhan walked off down the trail towards the mountain's base and towards his future. Calistown cried in Ooran's arms for a few minutes before they all went inside and got ready for bed.
That night, while remembering his brothers face and the look of him walking on the path of his choosing, Wu Hai was playing with the Darkflame in his hands. Setting his bedding on fire, he quickly jumped to the side and put out the flaming sheets.
"Apparently the flames can transfer" Wu Hai experimented a few more times before going to sleep.
In his sleep he had a dream 'clear walls and blinking lights were everywhere', he didn't experience it for long, but he felt it was familiar.. he couldn't figure it out.
Waking from his sleep, Wu Hai noticed the empty bed across from his. He had lived with his brother his entire life, and now he was off learning how to be an adult. It was not all bad in his opinion, the main living area had breakfast served and there were extra portions.
"Calistown, you sure outdid yourself today." Ooran really tried to make his wife feel better knowing his son was out.
She nodded and sat down beside him, smiling at her youngest gobbling down an entire plate of food. While Zhan was away, Wu Hai would have to make sure to eat his portion so he wouldn't make his mother feel bed when she had less to cook for.
"Good boy, when you've finished eating go do the chores.. but don't forget to catch something for dinner, I'd like fish today! its been a while and Its what I want." Calistown was energetic as ever.
She perked up especially when Ooran pinched her in the ass, with slightly red ears she grabbed the dishes and disappeared into the kitchen. "Don't start what you can't finish!" Calistown added, gleaming at Ooran who could only feign ignorance in front of Wu Hai.
He looked at his son and Ooran told him to head outside and start. Giggling could be heard from inside the kitchen.
Grabbing his boots and the Ax, Zao Wu Hai went out to the yard and found a cut stump to hack up some firewood. It was fall, nearing winter and firewood was important to have in stock. One winter, it lasted a lot longer and all the firewood outside had moistened; Thus they could not start a fire for half a day and his Mother had gotten ill. She fully recovered, but everyone grew more vigilant about matters concerning chores.
Heaving the Ax time and time again Zao Wu Hai had gotten use to this sort of work, and as such the firewood was chopped in a matter of hours. With his woodcutting done for the day, he had only to search for dinner.
A Mountain Creek fed a small Pond halfway down the Mountain, it was not large and only a thousand meters in size but It had clear water and a falls. Zhan and Wu Hai would play there sometimes, Wu Hai had been playing on the edge of the falls and fell in. Lucky for him, the mountain pond was deep enough from the long running waters.
They had found a cave halfway down the falls and called it their secret hiding place. There was nothing they thought was special about the cave, It wasn't deep and wasn't tall, but it sure was hidden. Once when their father had scolded the two, they had hidden there till dinnertime. Neither of them had given up its location. It was a perfect place for him to work on his fire. With all the water around, if worse came to worse Wu Hai could just jump into the Lake.
Glancing around, Wu Hai found a small bush with a water-catch nearby to trap fish in, and quickly gathered the four largest. Glancing down, he noticed a gold, glittering light. He reached down for it, pulling it up it took a lot of force. He also found out that its original owner was very much still attached, as the battered corpse floated up from the bottom of the Mud.
Looking at the corpse, It was obviously fresh.
It had been at least a few days. The flesh was starting to slope and swell. Not afraid of the concept of death, Wu Hai pulled the corpse out of the mud hole, he examined it closer. He didn't recognize the corpse, so it was not his brother and Zao Wu Hai finally relaxed a bit before examining what the fellow had on him.
The Gold was an armband, it didn't look like it had much significance with its twisted metal pattern it showed no insignia or specific design. Wu Hai put the armband into his boot and looked into the pockets of the man. There was a small piece of cloth with what looked like a woman's name on it 'Charity' and a few coins.
"It seems like he wasn't robbed." Wu Hai kept poking around the mans clothing and found a few more items, A Compass made of jade, A scabbard to a very large weapon and still hot dagger placed into his back.
Pulling the Dagger from his back he saw the wound steaming. "This might be a Magic Item or Cursed Item." The Scabbard on the mans back was enormous. "If it held a Sword, It must be somewhere around the falls. I'll have to check it out tomorrow." Packing away the scabbard as best he could into the bag he brought Wu Hai looked down at the now nearly naked corpse.
Finally, there was one more item, a token he had found under the mans shirt, hidden under some Fat. This small wooden plank looked more like a beggars signboard than a token. Wu Hai could clearly feel some sort of energy coming from it, just like the dagger it was only slightly different and less sinister.
The words 'Never Steal from Bears' was written crudely on it clearly show the craftsmanship, but He couldn't figure out the weird aura. Wu Hai amused a bit and tucked the token in his pocket. Securing the fish and running back up the mountain Wu Hai was hungry for dinner.
The Suns were setting and Zao Wu Hai had gotten himself a strange adventure of his own. Thinking about his brother and what he could be experiencing made Wu Hai anticipate his own coming of age ceremony.
Not understanding why the dagger was hot, he wrapped it up .. luckily he did or those fish would have been half cooked before he came home, and his mother would have been disappointed and have a bunch of questions. Wu Hai sat in his bedroom and unpacked the scabbard. There were a few small designs on the lower half. It looked like it belonged to a sword from afar, but now he thought, 'Why is there a hole here?'
He stuck his finger in, and a small compartment opened up on the bottom. A Small Wooden Cube with 6 different markings in different conditions were glowing with a radiant intensity. Picking the cube up, he didn't feel any difference in his magic or the strength in his body. Then, he looked down again noticing he was a few inches off the floor. Dropping the cube, it still laid lit like a star in his dark room.
"This cube, can I really be this lucky?"
"I just found out about having magic, and now this. There is far too much going on, are the fates telling me things?" Wu Hai pondered a moment and lit his fire.
The Cube had landed with the face being on the Fire Side. Wu Hai turned out his flame and checked the Cube. The Cube didn't have light on the side but top was still lit.
"Does this thing have anything to do with determining magic types? Mother once told me there were twelve traditional schools of magic, with Nine Primary, seven of those being lucky but this a cube only has six sides. Maybe there is another?" Wu Hai quickly checked the scabbard, but didn't notice anything.
The spot on the bottom of the Scabbard was big enough to hold a few small items, but was empty.
Looking at the cube, he couldn't stop but think about the man. "What was he doing that he was stabbed, and eventually buried under mud. He hadn't been robbed, only attacked. This cloth, Compass, Dagger, Cube and Token are all quite mysterious, I had better find the weapon but I don't even know what to look for." Wu Hai looked at the scabbard a bit more than tossed it aside for the time being and gazed at the compass. It didn't point north.
"What the.. " When he had the compass in his hands he looked north and the arrow was pointing to the east. It was rather peculiar, he sat it down on his bed and grabbed the dagger. When he grabbed the dagger, this time he was prepared for it to be hot. However, the power had gone down for some reason. He put his darkflame into action and the weapon glowed an eerie black, extending to 2 feet long. Its flames were almost liquid in shape.
Rather than panicking Wu Hai decided he should show some restraint and backed down his fire, the blade still glowed but the fire disappeared as soon as it was willed.
Resting the blade on a stone near his window he pulled the token From his pocket. This clumsy thing kept poking him in the leg, all the way home he was half tempted to toss it into the woods. Since Wu Hai had made it home and inspected most everything else, he was going to put some time into this. Just when he was about to start, his mother called him for dinner again.
Zao Ooran had a devious look on his face. Ever since Zhan had left, their father looked more full in the face and his mother was brimming with joy from how much attention he had given her these recent days.
"Father" Wu Hai greeted his father, and sat at the table. Wu Hai could never keep a secret from his parents for long, well... except for the cave. So, he set out to tell his parents about what he encountered and even pulled out all things he'd found on the dead man.
"Wu Hai, Never speak of this to anyone" Ooran's expression went grim.
He then added "Matters of the dead can bring you great trials, I can assure you that if that man died with a dagger in his back but was un-robbed, that someone will come for him. We must be prepared, Calistown, Go get all the Oil you've been storing and keep it near the door."
"Wu Hai, Are you sure this is it, this is all you found?" Ooran looked at his son and startled him a bit.
"Wu Hai!" Stammering, Wu Hai patted himself all over. Checking his boot he found the cloth with the golden ring.
After seeing the Armlet, Ooran sighed then called Calistown to the back room.
"Father, you know of this?" Zao Wu Hai asked.
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