by Kylie Chan
They sat cross-legged on the mats across from each other. Gold had Leo do a thirty-minute deep meditation, and then brought him out of it.
‘You don’t have the patience and strength of character to achieve pure detachment,’ Gold said with dismay. ‘You need to practise more.’
‘That’s what the Dark Lord says,’ Leo said, ‘but I just find it boring.’
‘You won’t be able to reap the full benefit from it until you stop finding it boring,’ Gold said. ‘Now hold out your hands.’
Leo held his hands out, and Gold formed them into a cup shape with his own.
‘Now,’ Gold said, ‘focus on the chi moving through your body, your essence of life, and bring it to your hands.’
Gold was still touching Leo’s hands and he felt Leo go into near-shock as he completed the exercise.
‘Leo! Leo! Take the chi back out, flow it around yourself!’
Leo’s face was slack; he couldn’t hear Gold. Gold used his contact with Leo’s hands and quickly manipulated Leo’s chi so that it flowed smoothly through him again. The small concentration of chi in Leo’s hands had made the virus multiply in his body, sending him into shock.
Xuan Wu rushed into the training room and crouched next to them. Leo is not to do energy work, it could kill him.
He didn’t know?
I knew how disappointed he would be. I suppose we have to tell him now.
‘Can you hear me, Leo?’ Gold said.
Leo nodded slightly without answering.
‘I’m going to carry you to your room, and I want you to rest for a while, and you are never, ever to try doing energy work again. The Dark Lord knows what he’s doing in not teaching you.’
Leo slowly focused on Gold. ‘Why?’ He saw Xuan Wu. ‘Why?’
‘Manipulating your chi stops the check on the virus, Leo, and it multiplies like crazy in you. If you tried doing full-on energy work, the same as I do, it would probably kill you within half an hour,’ Gold said.
Leo sagged.
Gold rose, slipped his arm under Leo’s, and lifted him. ‘Come on, my friend, you need to lie down for a day or so.’
‘I have work to do,’ Leo mumbled.
‘You are relieved for the next day, Leo,’ Xuan Wu said.
Gold took Leo back to his bedroom and stretched him out on the bed. ‘Rest.’
‘I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck,’ Leo said. He put one hand on Gold’s forearm. ‘You need to stay here and look after Michelle until I’m rested.’
Gold shifted his hand so that it was in Leo’s and squeezed. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll stay here and make sure nothing happens.’
‘Good,’ Leo said, and collapsed onto the pillow.
Six months later Xuan Wu called Jade and Gold for a meeting in the dining room. ‘This is mostly a planning meeting, Jade, as the baby is due any time. Gold, an update on the deeds.’
‘All taken care of, my Lord,’ Gold said. ‘It took me a while, but all of the properties have been registered with the relevant authorities, put in the name of your current human alias of John Chen, and your will has been updated so that Lady Michelle will inherit should anything happen. The time-consuming part of the exercise was tracking down the original deeds, because you purchased some of these properties more than a human lifetime ago, and they were still in the name of your previous human alias from a hundred years ago.’
‘Wait,’ Jade said, raising one hand. ‘In case something should happen to the Dark Lord? Such a thing is not possible.’ She looked from Gold to Xuan Wu. ‘You are one of the mightiest Immortals on the plane, my Lord, you do not need a will! Why is Gold wasting his time?’ She dropped her voice. ‘Is there something I should know?’
‘That is why I have called this meeting,’ Xuan Wu said. ‘The future.’ He leaned back and retied his long hair, which had begun to fall out of its black tie. ‘As you know, I made a vow to Michelle never to take True Form. This promise remains over me as long as Michelle lives.’ He ran one hand over his face. ‘It is very hard.’
‘Believe us, my Lord, we are well aware of how difficult it is to remain in human form. Remember how worn our human forms were when we entered your service,’ Gold said with grim humour.
‘It was awful,’ Jade whispered. ‘We thought we were going to die.’ She glanced up at Xuan Wu. ‘But you die, you spend a couple of days in Hell, you return! It has already happened twice while we have been in your service! You do not need a will, my Lord, you always return from Hell, that’s the Way!’
‘True,’ the Dark Lord said. ‘But this is not a contingency plan should the human form die. It’s a plan should I lose the human form altogether and slip into True Form.’
‘Just change back to human form again?’ Jade said, bewildered.
‘Not as easy as that,’ Gold said, all humour disappearing.
‘I have been in human form for too long,’ the Dark Lord said. ‘I am so weakened that if I were to slip into True Form now, the reptile would take over.’
Jade stared at Xuan Wu for a moment, digesting this. Then she said, ‘How long would you remain without intelligence, Lord? How long before the spirit could be restored and you would become more than an animal again?’
Xuan Wu studied his hands on the table for a moment, then looked up into Jade’s eyes. ‘I have no idea.’
‘But it wouldn’t be as if you had died, you would return eventually,’ Jade said, trying to be positive. ‘It could just be a matter of weeks, then your humanity would return, and you would come home to us. There is no need to prepare as if there is a chance you could be gone for the rest of Michelle’s life.’
‘All contingencies must be prepared for,’ Gold said.
‘I need to return to the Mountain again,’ Xuan Wu said. ‘I’m dangerously low on energy. I want to make a trip up there and return within a week. Michelle is into her third trimester and the baby will come soon. I must be as strong as possible to guard her and our new child.’
‘Do not be concerned, my Lord, we will guard her.’
Xuan Wu sighed gently. ‘I am just glad that she has agreed to stay out of the public eye during the pregnancy. I am sure that the demons do not know. You have done well.’
‘The amount of mail she receives from people wishing her a swift recovery from the “throat polyps” is remarkable,’ Gold said. ‘There has been extensive coverage in the world press. It will not be long before she has a larger audience than before.’
‘She deserves such an audience,’ Jade said fiercely. ‘She is richly talented, and endlessly patient with the limits we place on her because of who her husband is. She does not deserve to be locked away.’
‘Guard her carefully while I am gone,’ Xuan Wu said. ‘I know we were just attacked and so they are likely to be quiet, but there is always the chance another demon will try us.’ He nodded to Gold. ‘Take my form while I am on the Celestial. Be my decoy.’
‘My Lord,’ Gold said.
‘Your lady and child will be safe with us,’ Jade said. ‘We will guard them with our lives.’
‘I know,’ Xuan Wu said. He rubbed his eyes. ‘That doesn’t stop me from worrying about them.’ He placed his hands on the table. ‘I will leave for the Celestial Mountain first thing tomorrow morning, and return next week.’
Jade and Gold formally nodded their heads in understanding.
‘Very well. Dismissed.’
The next evening Michelle and Xuan Wu held a quiet, heartbreaking parting in the living room of the Peak apartment. They stood gazing into each other’s eyes, with hands clasped, for a very long time. Finally Xuan Wu released Michelle’s hands, strode through the glass of the living-room window, and stepped onto the small cloud that would take him to the Celestial.
‘You know you look ridiculous flying on a little cloud,’ Michelle said as he turned for a last look. ‘Why don’t you ride something majestic, like a big black winged horse or something? Yes! Make Star fly, Lo Wu, and ride him to Heaven and then back down to
me.’
‘Star would panic and soil the carpet,’ Xuan Wu said with a sad smile. ‘We Shen have been riding clouds for thousands of years. You cannot break us from our traditions that easily.’
‘It still looks ridiculous,’ Michelle said. She sobered. ‘Be careful, my love, and return to me —’ She placed one hand on her swollen belly. ‘To us — very soon.’
He held his hand out to her from the other side of the glass. ‘I wish you could come.’
‘Pfft.’ She waved her hand at him. ‘You say yourself it could endanger our little one. I will be perfectly safe with Leo, and your pet small Shen, to guard me. Now go, before I change my mind and jump onto your silly little cloud with you!’
‘I love you with all my heart, Michelle, be safe for me,’ Xuan Wu said, and turned away. The cloud drifted lazily upwards, then jetted off so fast it was soon invisible.
‘I love you too, my silly Lo Wu,’ Michelle said. ‘And for once I really wish I could come with you, and be sure that our little one is safe.’ She turned to the Shen and shrugged. ‘Who would like ice cream? I would like some fresh air. Let’s go down to the Peak Tower and walk around.’
‘As long as you permit me to take the form of the Dark Lord,’ Gold said.
Michelle waved one hand. ‘Such precautions are so unnecessary. But if it will make you happier, go right ahead.’
Leo drove the ten-minute trip down to the Peak Tower and Galleria shopping centre, nestled between the two mountains that towered above Hong Kong Island. The Peak Tower was five storeys high, and shaped like a semi-circle balanced on two columns. The curving underside of the building was all glass, giving the shoppers and diners within a view onto the busy harbour of Hong Kong almost directly below them.
Michelle led them to the Galleria shopping centre across from the tower. It had a number of small tourist shops selling cheap local handicrafts, as well as a Western-style café and a Swedish ice-cream outlet. Leo ordered for them, then Michelle insisted that they stand near the fountain in the plaza to eat.
Jade had passed on the ice cream, and had ordered a red-bean fleecy instead — red beans and syrup in a milk drink, with a scoop of ice cream on top.
‘The first time I saw a red-bean ice cream,’ Michelle said, ‘I thought it was chocolate. I was so surprised at the taste!’
‘Did you throw it away?’ Jade said, amused.
Michelle nodded, her lips pursing at the memory of the flavour. ‘I have never tasted anything quite so awful. Why is it that all the Chinese desserts are so horrible?’
‘Chinese desserts aren’t horrible!’ Gold said.
‘They are all mashed beans or seeds in a soup — or even, heaven forbid, fungus, or yam, or corn, in syrup,’ Michelle said. ‘Who puts corn in a dessert?’
‘But corn is sweet,’ Gold protested.
‘It’s probably because this is a culture without milk,’ Leo said.
‘They have milk here!’ Michelle said.
‘Not traditionally,’ Leo said. ‘Your average Chinese peasant wouldn’t own a cow, it would be too expensive. I think that’s why they eat so much pork and chicken here — poor man’s meat.’
‘We are not poor!’ Gold exclaimed.
Leo shrugged. ‘Tell that to the old ladies who collect cardboard for a living, and sell it for less than a dollar a load.’
Michelle gestured towards the Peak Tower’s viewing platform on its flat roof. ‘Let’s go up to the top, and watch the tourists.’
‘Not look at the view?’ Leo said.
Michelle nudged him with her shoulder. ‘The tourists are more fun to watch.’
Leo chuckled and elbowed her back. ‘Particularly the French–Canadian ones, they’re so loud.’
‘I know!’ Michelle said, giggling, as they walked to the base of the tower.
There were expensive souvenir shops just inside, and a perfume outlet. They went up the escalators, past a freak show and the entrance to a Western restaurant, to the viewing platform above.
Gold reached to touch Leo’s hand and smiled at him. Remember when we came here as boy and girl, that first time?
Leo smiled back without replying, his face full of longing. Gold’s smile faded as he remembered — he was in the Dark Lord’s form. He raised his hands and turned away.
Leo came up behind him and touched his shoulder. ‘Sorry, Gold. Yeah, I remember. I’m glad I met you.’
Gold turned. ‘I hope you find true happiness with someone some day, my friend. You deserve it.’
‘I have true happiness right here,’ Leo said, his smile returning. He looked around and sighed with bliss. ‘I have everything a man could possibly want. And when the little one comes, I will have even more.’
‘That’s good,’ Gold said. He looked around as well. ‘Where’s Michelle?’
The viewing platform was eighty metres to a side, and there were at least a hundred tourists on the platform, all crowded around the edge enjoying the view of Hong Kong Harbour below.
Gold stopped and concentrated, looking for Jade. She was in the ladies’ room below them and felt his contact.
You’re with Michelle, aren’t you? she said.
‘Oh, shit, Jade went to the bathroom,’ Gold said. He looked around desperately. ‘Leo, we’ve lost her!’
Leo and Gold immediately split up and covered the viewing platform, meeting back in the middle. Neither of them had found Michelle.
I’m checking downstairs, Jade said.
Gold strode to the wall of the elevator machinery room and placed his hand on the concrete. ‘Give me a minute, I’ll have a look at the security videos.’
‘Be quick, man!’ Leo said.
Gold’s awareness found the cables inside the building. Water, sewerage, no, no…he found the power lines, and mentally slapped the young stone Shen that was surfing the consciousness-raising power in the high-voltage electricity. The young Shen, a fluorite of less than two hundred years, grinned ruefully at him and assisted him in locating the CCTV wires.
Together they latched onto the security camera input.
Gold’s internal vision switched to a view from all the cameras at once — much like what an insect would see through its faceted eyes. The fluorite Shen pinpointed the display that was needed, and Gold moved to the recording device in the security room and wound it back about ten minutes.
The fluorite Shen mentally saluted Gold with an evil grin and disappeared.
Gold watched the security footage and saw a bewildered Michelle surrounded by a group of loud mainland tourists. They huddled around her, jostled her, and then one of them touched her, making her go limp. They guided her towards the escalator down.
Gold switched cameras, rewound the tape, and watched them take her outside the Peak Tower to the road in front where they bundled her onto a large coach.
Gold disconnected from the cameras, grabbed Leo’s hand, made them invisible, and teleported them down to the street below.
Street below, Jade.
Got it.
The tourist bus was just pulling away from the front of the Peak Tower as they arrived. The windows were heavily tinted so they couldn’t see what was happening inside. Gold seized the engine and melted it into a useless mass of metal. He raised one hand in front of the bus door and it slid open with a hiss of escaping air.
Jade stood guard on the pavement while Gold and Leo entered the bus.
Michelle was sitting in the driver’s seat, staring dully at them. Gold took her hand, checking that she was okay. ‘It’s all right now, ma’am, we’re here to get you.’
Leo tapped Gold’s shoulder. ‘Uh, Gold…’
Gold looked up, to see Leo staring at the other occupants of the bus.
All of them were Michelle, sitting and staring dully at them. Gold turned back to the driver, and checked her through his hand; as far as he could see, it was Michelle — but when he realised that she wasn’t pregnant, he knew it must have been a shape-shifting demon.
‘This has to
be a demon, but I can’t tell…’ Gold started, and the demon leapt out of its seat to attack him. He still had a grip on its hand, so he shot a blast of chi into it, destroying it.
He heard the other demons leap out of their seats before he saw them. He spun and put his hands out, ready to battle with energy.
‘What level are these?’ Leo said as he grabbed the first that came at them by the arm, spun it, flung it into the one behind it, and ran his fist through both of them.
‘No idea, Leo, I can’t even sense that they are demons!’ Gold said, blowing up a couple more with chi.
There were about twenty of them on the bus, limited in their attack by the narrowness of the aisle between the seats. They could only come at Gold and Leo two at a time.
The one at the front grabbed Leo by the throat, and pushed him into the seatback of the first row of seats. Leo scrabbled at the demon, choking. Gold couldn’t destroy any more with energy; the large amount of energy he’d received from the backlash in killing them was making him dangerously full, and he wasn’t in contact with the ground to send it there.
Jade stormed up the stairs into the bus, pushing Gold out of the way. She grabbed the demon who was choking Leo by the neck, ripped it off him, spun it into the front-row seat on the left, and snapped its head off with both hands.
Gold checked Leo; he was fine. Leo raised his hand, and Gold summoned a sword for him. Leo and Jade stood side by side at the front of the bus to face down the remaining demons.
Gold realised with shock that all of the Michelles on the bus were glaring maliciously at them, and he couldn’t pick the real one. The alarm he’d given her went off within his lattice and he concentrated to locate it — it was beneath them. ‘She’s in the luggage compartment!’
Jade changed to dragon form. She grabbed an incoming demon in her claws and tore its head off with her mouth. The other demons hesitated, staring at her, then rushed to the back of the bus. She swished her green tail with its gold fin, and sauntered slowly towards them, grinning with a dragon mouth full of golden teeth. Go get her, I have this, she said.