by J E Kerry
“Princess Dha-loo-ma?” Wang wonders.
Dha-loo-ma has uncloaked and is choking on the ground. Wang loosens his grip and reaches his hand out to help the princess up.
“Why are you here?” Wang asks, still confused.
She nimbly closes the gap between them, stopping short just before him.
Wang is unmoving, almost taking a step back, but not quite, staring at the beautiful face of the princess. The two wordlessly study each other, as if it is the first time either of them has seen another living creature, the world around them slowing nearly to stillness, waiting for them to snap out of their bubble. Everything else ceases to matter as Wang and the princess get lost in their own universe, shredding each other’s clothing with their eyes. The beauty of the princess renders Wang useless like a 14-year-old boy having his first crush.
“Do you trust me?” Dha-loo-ma pulls him back into reality. There’s a moment of silence between them, Wang being overwhelmed what to think of this situation until, “You should go now!” she says with a certainty that takes Wang out of his hesitation but before he can even answer, she has already cloaked and is gone.
Realizing what has just happened and that his team is already far ahead of him, he sprints through the corridor opening up to another large hangar where hundreds of spacecrafts, shaped like silver manta rays, are stored. Wang sprints to the unit, just right before they stop in front of a ‘Sea Devil MR8’.
“This is the answer on ‘how’ you get to another planet,” Sniper says, proudly pointing to the craft behind him.
Aaron spots a plaque soldered into the side of the spacecraft.
“Sea Devil MR8,” he reads.
“We’re using the electromagnetic grid to look for suitable vortex portals, usually opening every six minutes,” Sniper explains.
Unit 12 is once more bedazzled.
“Six minutes can decide about life or death out there,” he adds and steps closer to his soldiers. “Since the day of the formation of the A-Nation Council, we have worked on project ‘Ascension Day’.”
Sniper resumes his walk and guides the unit through a long row of MR8s, “The downfall of the corporations and the O.W.O (Old World Order) might be gone, but their legacy, known to you as the Rebels, still remains in the shadows of the woods. The Ascension Day will allow us to frequently populate other planets and make sure that the Rebels won’t be able to strike back.”
He stops at the end of the hall and looks over the unit confidently, “That’s all for today. Take a rest. Your first journey into the past begins in 5600 hours.”
Wang & Dha-loo-ma
The door to Wang’s bedroom opens as he returns from the orientation morning at S-8, still exhausted from weeks of training and the 4 Chambers of Death, being seriously in need for a good portion of sleep. He hasn’t felt that beaten in months and even more so is surprised to find Dha-loo-ma sit on his bed, studying the 3D holo-pictures of his family.
“Princess?” Wang’s eyes go wide as he steps further into the room, immediately noticing a different vibe about her. The sliding door closes automatically behind him and he takes his chair to sit down, now directly facing the most beautiful creature he’s ever seen in his life.
“Are you alright?” he probes further, waiting for Dha-loo-ma to finally explain what this is all about. Why is she here? Why him? Wang still feels a little embarrassed about the incident with her in the hallway, but he wants to know why the Lyr-an princess was lurking around and following their unit when she should not even be allowed neither on that level nor the SFB itself.
The princess avoids any eye contact at first and keeps her gaze on the pictures, ignoring his question completely, until “Do you miss your parents?” she hands Wang one of the holo-pictures as their hands accidentally touch, turning both cheeks into strawberry blushes of red and forcing long forgotten butterflies to hatch in their tummies.
“Every day,” Wang says, collecting himself, and looking down to the moving photograph in his hands.
“I can teach you to connect with them,” Dha-loo-ma offers.
“How?” Wang wonders again, “and what happened? Why are you here, Princess?”.
Dha-loo-ma puts the pictures aside and changes the subject.
“Let me show you something,” she suggests and carefully takes Wang’s palms into hers.
Dha-loo-ma’s focus is on their Qi, which rises under her manipulation to become two spheres of light, each with a trail stringing behind them. Both orbs, one violet and one blue vanish into a freshly opened portal, entering the astral plane.
Dha-loo-ma’s and Wang’s souls light-travel through the vast expanses of space until they come to a flashing stop at the gates of the Milky Way.
“What’s happening?” Wang looks around, confused. The stunning sight of the celestial bodies that form their galaxy all agglomerate into an infinite backdrop of yellow, red, black and white, accompanied by stars, planets, asteroids and any other number of flashing lights and quick moving gas giants that are more than disorienting, they are dizzying.
The violet string of light skillfully twirls around Wang, bringing him out of his daze. It’s Dha-loo-ma’s soul.
“I’m here, don’t worry,” she says soothingly, almost whispering.
“Dha-loo-ma?” Wang recognizes her voice and his attention suddenly wanders down to himself; a blue string of light is attached to his soul, like the tail of a comet.
“Where’s my body?” Wang asks as he stops listening to the sound of his voice, which as it is now, sounds more to him like reverberations of his own perfect thought of what it would be. Aging, damage… not the voice he remembers. It is like he is born anew. He can’t quite ‘hear’ himself speak, not with real human ears, but his words resound clearly, and he knows the princess can hear him here as well.
“What you see is your soul,” Dha-loo-ma explains.
“I don’t understand,” Wang wiggles with his tail.
“Once you learn about the secrets of the ‘Eye of Qi’, you will be able to use all cosmic forces that exist, and travel with your light-body through dimensions,” she adds as they float further through the Milky Way. “Every interdimensional being uses sound, light and form to move between worlds. I will teach you to change your frequency and follow the law of ‘Sound-before-Form’.”
Their souls pass by stars of various glowing colors, some surrounded by debris rings.
“Only very few ascended 13th density souls belong to the ‘Order of Light’ that protects the secrets of the Eye of Qi and its mystery teachings of the ‘Source’,” the princess continues. “My father is one of them. Before he left, he told me about the ancient ‘Prophecy of A-an’ and the Circle of Shambhala.”
The speed with which they are silently carried is the sort of astonishing movement that would have Wang spewing out his lunch. Now it was a dull thing he barely felt as out of place engaging in in this form as he did running in his physical body, much like the thin tails of light that lashed back and forth behind them felt in no way alien.
“It’s no coincidence you left your old life,” Dha-loo-ma notes.
“What do you mean?” Wang wonders as they pass through a ring of debris.
“You’ve been mentioned in the prophecy as the ‘Great Warrior King of Shambhala’.”
“Prophecy?” Wang’s tone rings with disbelief. He has never considered himself someone special and it all sounds too fantastic to him. The princess could be messing with him as some sort of cosmic joke or this might be a secret test of the SFB he has to undergo to prove his sanity. Dha-loo-ma could be a decoy, which would make sense considering the fact that she was at the SFB, following the unit, to see who would sense her first.
Wang’s mind is spinning while Dha-loo-ma’s light-body leads him to a Black Hole.
“There’s much to learn before you will walk the path of a ‘Spacetime Warrior’,” she says, and their souls are pulled into the black vortex.
Seconds later, Wang awakes from his s
piritual journey, gasping for air. He slowly rises from the chair, trying to put his frazzled mind back together, not feeling much wiser than before. He turns to Dha-loo-ma and his eyes meet her own fine contemplation of him. He’s found it can be hard to keep a hold of it. And just as he finally is able to look Dha-loo-ma in the eyes again, wondering whether he can trust her, she seems to have read his thoughts already.
“So, will you trust me?”, the princess asks with an intimidating, yet sweet expression on her porcelain Lyr-an visage. She reaches her slender hand out to Wang and stands up as well. A heavy silence befalls the room, fueling the sizzling chemistry between them.
Wang stares at the extended hand for a moment. Looking into her eyes, his expression softens to match hers and his doubts suddenly dissolve on their own. It all feels to him like some cosmic déjà vu, reinforcing the feeling he has that he can trust her, and with his life.
Accompanied by a confident nod, he shakes her hand with a certainty he has only ever displayed with Zhao, as if they had been friends just as long.
“I will,” he says.
“There’s something else,” Dha-loo-ma reveals.
“Okay…?”
“I’d like you to teach me the art of fighting,” the princess requests with a mysterious smile.
“Right now?” Wang asks puzzled, but honored. It had been one strenuous event after another over the past discernible period and all he wants to really do now is fall into the arms of a soft bed for several hours..
“Yes,” she says. “Unless you have something else to do?”
“No,” he shakes his head, playing it cool. “Not really.”
“Then, let’s go!” Dha-loo-ma winks with her seductive silvereyes. Not even the strongest soldier could resist them.
The princess is just about to cloak when she invites him with a smile, “And, call me Dha-loo-ma”.
“Dragon,” Wang accepts, once more honored and secretly hoping that all this isn’t just a very well-played simulation.
∞∞∞
Moments later, two SFB Dragonfly Jets rapidly zip over the Tianzi mountain range, individually piloted by Wang and Dha-loo-ma. Each vehicle is similar to the structure of a dragonfly and has long flat wings pushing out to opposite sides and a long stem stretching back into a double-rotored tail. The cockpits are rounded, transparent compartments, ideal for holding a single individual.
The mountain range is famous for its high rising fingers of earth and rock, sticking forth from the ground to point toward the skies, and lush with vegetation at their very tips and even across their rocky sides.
The craft speed into a thick layer of mists, along a dangerous cliff-face, chasing one another through the clouds, before steering down toward a Taoist temple and landing in front of an ancient Chinese pagoda.
The pair step out of their jets and walk over to an ancient Taoist shrine.
“Before we start our training, we should honor Zhenwudadi,” Wang suggests as they set foot in front of the sacred place.
“Xuan Wu was known as a powerful god in Taoism, able to control the elements and capable of great magic.” Wang commences. “He is revered by Martial Artists, and we call him the Mysterious Warrior.”
“He sounds like one of our spirits,” Dha-loo-ma says as she observes Wang taking some incense sticks out of a wooden box and lighting them from a close-by fire, hidden within a bronze cylinder. He gets on his knees for a prayer. She follows his example and sticks the incense into a big bowl next to the altar.
“Are you ready?” Wang asks as he gets up.
“Yes!” Dha-loo-ma says, eagerly following him to the training spot nearby the temple grounds.
The next couple of hours Wang trains the princess in the internal and external styles of traditional Chinese martial arts and far-eastern philosophy. Thanks to Dha-loo-ma’s enhanced extraterrestrial DNA, she’s able to learn ten times faster than a human Earthling of only two strands. Her mind is able to absorb, filter and execute new material immediately by copying movements, words and actions at once. You could compare her quick apprehension with the one of the latest non-conscious AN-CDC Synths that are able to mimic organic locomotion, self-regeneration, and spatiotemporal regulation. They operate on a highly advanced DNA-based, microfluidic nanobot smart chip that is able to process anything they learn and experience within seconds by communicating with brain, muscles and nerves simultaneously.
During their first session, Wang teaches the princess a traditional Chinese Hu-Lei-Jia (thunder style) Tai Ji routine, featuring both soft and explosive movements, just like a sudden thunderclap on a dry day. It is one of the lesser known branches of the Chen Tai Ji family-style, which is the oldest and the parent form of the five traditional family-styles of Chinese Tai Ji, the earlier mentioned internal Chinese martial art that embraces the mind body and spirit, practiced for both its defense training, its health benefits and meditation. As a cosmological term that is based on the flux of Yin and Yang, Tai Ji Chuan can be translated as the ‘Supreme Ultimate Force’.
He also connects telepathically with Dha-loo-ma and allows her to become part of his thoughts.
“Flow with whatever may happen, and let your mind be free,” Wang commences with the training, executing an elegant flow of movements. “Stiff and unbending is the principle of death. Gentle and yielding is the principle of life. An army without flexibility never wins a battle. A tree that is unbending is easily broken. The hard and strong will fall. The soft and weak will overcome.”
After two hours and a little break in the shadows, their second session begins with traditional Chinese Wing Chun, translated as ‘an ode to spring’. In contrast to Tai Ji, Wing Chun is a close distance martial art, aiming to use the shortest and quickest movements to the opponent’s vital points.
Wang educates the princess on self-defense, utilizing both striking and grappling while specializing in close-range combat.
“You must learn to flow with the opponent instead of dominating him,” he advices. “The shortest and fastest distance between two points is a straight line. The center is key. Control the center, and strike along the center. Receive what comes, follow what leaves, strike when open.”
Only an hour later, they continue with the third session as Wang dives deep into the secrets of ‘Bagua Zhang’, the eight-trigram palm routine, referring to the trigrams of the Chinese I-Ching (the Book of Changes).
While they start practicing ‘Circle Walking’ and the overall stance and movement training, Wang explains once again telepathically, “If you want to master Bagua Zhang, you must firstly understand Chinese culture. No matter whether rich or poor, Chinese people always base their lives on natural laws, reflecting them upon the construct of a harmonious nation. This basis wants the good of the society, the smooth workings of relationships and the duty to serve the needs of a prosperous society.”
“I don’t quite understand,” Dha-loo-ma says as they walk in their circle.
“Let me put it this way. Here on Earth we have generally separated the ideas of Eastern and Western believe systems. The western society sees progress as a straight line or an arrow, shooting high and far, while the Chinese philosophy nurtures the idea of progress within a circle, based on the concept of natural cycles such as the cycle of seasons, day and night, life and death.
“I get it now,” Dha-loo-ma says as she walks around the edge of the circle in various low stances, facing the center, periodically changing direction as she executes forms, “It’s like preparing for a possible war in the midst of peace because nothing lasts forever”.
“Exactly,” Wang confirms, following with a change of direction, “but also to keep up your struggle in life, knowing that your turning point of success is close”.
Wang leads the princess out of the circle and crosses to walk an infinity line, keeping Dha-loo-ma’s senses sharp.
“Once your technique has reached the highest level, your body will become a palm, or as we say in Chinese ‘The whole body is one palm�
��. Because the power of the eight diagram palms knows no bounds,” he continues while simultaneously initiating a fighting routine with his whole body. “Movement like a dragon, and palms like the wind. Align your Qi and use your body as one unit. Avoid the substantial and attack the insubstantial. Withdraw the body and become a shadow. Borrow the energy of your opponent and utilize it.”
Dha-loo-ma proves her master that she’s learned well and gains the upper hand, “Let your mind harmonize with the intention, and the intention harmonize with your Qi, so all Qi will harmonize with your power,” Wang shares his final thoughts just as the princess pins him proudly smiling and with one hand-move to the ground, returning his gesture from their first encounter in the SFB hallway.
At the completion of their training and with breaths calming, Wang and Dha-loo-ma sit at the cliff’s edge to embrace the picturesque view of the fluctuating colors of the sunset on the horizon. They lean close enough to touch but don’t. There’s again that chemistry lingering between them, something very familiar and yet unknown. A feeling of being bound to each other by something higher than fate.
The princess gently reaches for Wang’s hand and pries open his palm, “The Eye of Qi,” she uses a finger to carve an alien sign onto his skin. “This sacred symbol forever connects our souls. Only a ‘Chosen One’ is allowed to mark another with it. Soon you’ll learn how to activate the eye and use its collective power to walk the path set for you.”
The symbol glows for only a second and leaves a light mark on the skin’s surface, depicting a triangle surrounded by lines representing frequency coming together as a spiritual eye.
The princess shows him her own palm, marked with the same sign. Solemnly, Wang traces a finger over the identical marker.
The dense, prickling, almost electrifying atmosphere between the pair hangs in the air, expressed by the soft smiles on both of their faces as the sun in front of them slowly dips below the horizon, flaring outward its golden red rays into dusk.