Warriors of the Way-Pentalogy

by Orlando A. Sanchez

  She screamed then.

  I walked through the threshold of the tré and felt a slight buzzing in my body. Her eyes grew wide as she backed away. “Infierno,” I whispered as the staff grew hot in my hands.

  “No, this can’t be.” And she crumpled to the ground, defeated.

  The large mirror showed my plane. As I looked down at Mara, Maelstrom jumped in my hands, hungry for destruction, for death. I raised Maelstrom to deliver the killing blow. It whistled as it cut through the air, only to be stopped inches from Mara’s head. It was Meja. In her hand she held a sword that seemed to be forged from ice, cool and blue, covered in symbols like Maelstrom. It held Maelstrom from crushing Mara’s head. “Now, Zen!” Meja yelled. I briefly registered that Zen was behind me, before I was pushed into the large pane of glass that led back to my plane of existence.

  SUSPICION

  WHEN I ARRIVED on the other side, I was surrounded by monitors, weapons drawn. Maelstrom was nowhere to be seen. To be honest, I could barely remember what had occurred. It came back to me in pieces, nothing coherent.

  “Take him to the detention area,” I heard one of the monitors say. A pair of bracelets was placed on my wrists and I immediately felt suppression on my chi. No matter how much I tried to gather it, it was like trying to grab smoke.

  As I was led to the detention area, the monitors around me cast sidelong glances at me. No one spoke. I could see Meja up ahead of the procession and as I counted the monitors, seven in all, excluding Meja and Zen, I wondered if I was that much of a threat. Zen looked back at me and I held his gaze, knowing that things looked bad for me. How could I explain it? It wasn’t me, yet it was? Would Sylk come and speak to my innocence? Somehow I didn’t think so. We walked down several corridors, our footsteps echoing against the walls. The lamps cast their golden glow against the roughly hewn walls and I realized that this part of the underground facility was not meant for guests, students or luxury. After what seemed twenty minutes, we arrived at a door that looked like it would take five or six people to open. As I counted the latches, I realized why there were seven monitors. Each of them grabbed a latch on the huge door. It opened slowly at first. I had no doubt as to its weight. The seven monitors opened it enough to create space for two people walking abreast. Meja and Zen walked in first. She turned and looked at me. I got the message and followed them in. The seven monitors began closing the door once again. Now I was confused. How would Meja and Zen get out? Why were they being locked in here with me? I turned to see the immense door gliding to a close, sealing us in.

  I looked around the cell. As cells went, this one was on the large side. Maybe it was a cell for a giant at one time. It was lit with a subdued glow coming from some of the stones. I calculated that it was roughly thirty by thirty and the only way out was just closed behind me. With the exception of a stone slab that protruded from the wall, the room was bare.

  “What the –”

  “Silence,” said Meja. The tone in her voice meant she was all business. I looked at Zen, but his face was a stone mask.

  From the corner, a figure emerged. It was Devin. “You have no idea what we went through to get you.”

  “What you went through? What took so long? Are you telling me it took months before you could find me?”

  The sarcasm was heavy in my voice. Devin, Meja and Zen looked at me oddly, so I decided to ask the obvious question.

  “How long have I been gone?”

  “From the moment Anna took you until this moment has been four days and a half.”

  I sat on the stone slab. It had been months with Sylk – at least six if not more. I had no real way to tell. The days had blurred into each other. One thing I knew for sure —it had not been four and a half days.

  “It was at least six months. I thought you had all given up on me.”

  Zen came over to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

  “We were told to forget you, D., that no one student is worth risking the entire school. You were considered a casualty of war.”

  “It was Devin who organized a group and had us violate every rule to search for you,” Meja said. It was clear Meja didn’t approve of what Devin had them do.

  Zen smiled. “We broke a lot of rules, but we figured if someone wanted you bad enough to snatch you, then we should get you back.”

  “Who was it?” asked Devin.

  “Anna is a personal guard to Sylk.”

  Devin turned away, pensive.

  “His aura is tainted, Devin. He could be under Sylk’s control and we wouldn’t know it. Look at what he did with Anna. She was a monitor and we weren’t aware of her until it was too late.”

  “Well, there is that, Meja,” said Devin.

  “It may be simpler if we just kill him now,” Meja, my fan, said. I could tell from the look on Zen’s face that this was a real consideration, so I remained quiet. With the bracelets I had on, I wasn’t going to focus my chi into anything but an idea. Even if I could, I doubt I could summon Maelstrom again and stand against both Devin and Meja.

  “I’m going to take your advice into consideration, Meja, and keep him alive for now. We may actually need him.”

  Meja looked away, clearly upset, then she turned to me, anger in her eyes. She stepped close to me and spoke: “If I so much as suspect that you are a traitor, I promise you, your death will not be swift. Devin may think that you are with us but I can see the taint that permeates your aura and being. I will be waiting and watching.” With that she stepped off to one side.

  Devin drew closer.

  “Meja tells me that you were able to manifest your chi weapon?”

  “Yes and I also told you it was malevolent and radiated death. Ask Zen,” she said.

  Devin stayed focused on me.

  “You mean Maelstrom?” I answered.

  “Maelstrom, hmm? Did you name it or did the name pop into your head? Did it speak to you? Think carefully before you answer, Dante.”

  Did it speak to me? Had I imagined the entire thing? There was no way I could have; even Meja and Zen saw it.

  “It spoke to me and told me its name was Maelstrom.”

  Meja looked disgusted. Zen was surprised. Devin was pensive still and looked at me, his stare unnerving me. “Were you controlling Maelstrom or was it controlling you?”

  “I tried to control it, but I couldn’t. It wanted to kill and destroy. If Meja hadn’t shown up when she did, I would have killed—”

  “It’s a good thing you haven’t killed anyone with it yet.”

  “But the twins?”

  “Fortunately for you,” Meja turned to me, “those were projections of Mara’s chi. Had you killed Mara, Maelstrom would be bonded to you and your dark aura and every time you used it, it would get worse until one day, no more you. Only Maelstrom, only the weapon.” She turned to Devin, her intention clear.

  “I still say we kill him and save ourselves the grief, Devin.”

  “Enough, Meja. No one is dying here today.”

  “That weapon jeopardizes every—” Devin gave her a look.

  “His life is preserved —swear it, on your word.”

  Meja clenched her jaw and remained silent.

  “Swear it.” Devin’s face grew hard.

  Meja, not flinching from Devin faced him, “On my word, I swear his life is preserved.” A palpable tension left the cell.

  “Good, now that the situation of Meja trying to kill you is resolved, let’s see what we can do to get you out of here.”

  ESCAPE

  I HAD NO idea what Devin meant. I saw no exit out of the cell. He went over to one corner to discuss details with Meja, who still looked like a sword in my stomach was a good idea, leaving me alone to speak to Zen.

  “You don’t have to worry about her, ever,” Zen said as he got close.

  “Why? It looks like she wants to erase me first chance she gets.”

  Zen laughed. “That may be true, but she swore an oath on her word, so she would die before lettin
g harm come to you.”

  Now I looked back at Meja, having a hard time believing she would defend me at the cost of her life. “Why would she do that, swear that oath?”

  “Because Devin asked her. She owes him her life. Also he is her big brother.”

  Now that Zen said it, I noticed the resemblance.

  “Still, Zen, just because he asked? Come on.”

  “Dante, a life debt is no light thing among the warriors. Even if he weren’t her brother— which by the way would have been enough— the life debt is serious business.”

  “So what does this mean?”

  “It means you have your own personal bodyguard. Hey, you could do worse.”

  He laughed then, I didn’t join him.

  Devin walked over to where we stood.

  “It’s been established that you can’t stay here. If someone were to see you, specifically a gatekeeper, they will kill you on sight.”

  “What about the monitors that brought me in?”

  “They can be trusted.”

  “Can they?”

  Meja stared daggers at me with her gaze. “I’m just saying, after Anna, can you trust any of your monitors? Or anyone in the school? How was Sylk able to put one of his people in the monitors?”

  Devin looked pensive.

  “You have a point, but that’s for me to worry about,” he said.

  I looked around the cell noticing the lack of exit.

  “So how do we get out of here and where am I going?”

  Devin walked over to one corner of the room.

  “In a moment a portal will appear, right here.” I examined the wall, surprise on my face.

  “This cell was for the last giant rogue we had. They have long since left this plane. The doorway was a way to circumvent opening that massive door, and its existence was only known to a few.”

  “That handles the how. What about the where?”

  “That’s a little trickier. The moment you leave, you will be fugitives from the school.”

  “And that means?”

  Devin paused a moment and turned to Zen.

  “You have a choice, Zen. You can go back to your room and you won’t be implicated in any of this. I can keep your involvement away from the attention of the monitors.”

  “Can’t do that, with all due respect, Senpai,” Zen said, bowing. “It’s not who I am —besides he is going to need a guardian.” He said the last with a smirk. “No offense meant,” he said as he bowed to Meja.

  “I can’t ask them to place themselves at risk, Senpai,” I began.

  Devin raised his hand silencing me. “Do not dishonor what they are doing. It is out of their free will that they choose this path. Meja is bound to you by her word and Zen has chosen to go with you. Honor him.”

  I couldn’t understand why they would risk it all to be with me. Zen would be cast out of the school and Meja would be turning on the monitors, the group she led. As if reading my mind, Devin spoke. “Sometimes the paths we choose seem like the wrong one or the most difficult. Many times it is the only path that can take us where we need to go.”

  At that moment a low rumble followed by a deafening crash slammed against the door. Devin calmly walked over to the door. “That will be Darius and the monitors. Move over to the side so they won’t see you.” I moved to the corner of the room where the doorway would appear. A small section of the door slid back and a face appeared.

  “I can’t say I’m surprised, Devin.” It was Darius. Behind him, it appeared there were twenty to thirty monitors. “Open it,” he said to the monitors. The monitors grabbed the handles and began to pull and the door began to open. This was not looking good. Devin closed the section in the door and locked it in place.

  “Meja knows where to go. In that bag, you have enough money to keep you moving for a while. You will have monitors and Sylk’s people after you. Trust no one.”

  The doorway appeared in the wall as he said those last words.

  “Go!” he yelled as the monitors began opening the door even further. “I will keep them busy.” The monitors began pouring in. Zen grabbed my arm as I saw Devin flinging monitors back out into the hallway.

  “Let’s go. They cannot harm him,” said Meja. “I cannot say the same for you.” She pushed me through the portal.

  FUGITIVES

  THE DOORWAY LED to a tunnel that was dimly lit. After a brief moment, my eyes adjusted to the darkness. Meja set off at a dead run and I followed her while Zen brought up the rear. The tunnel itself was of carved stone. It felt like we were still in the school, in some unused portion, long abandoned. The tunnel quickly veered left and Meja quickened her pace. I looked behind us to see if anyone was in pursuit. Apparently she wasn’t taking chances. I matched her pace and Zen, for all his size, kept up with us. We ran this way for about five minutes. If it had not been for all my recent training, I would have been exhausted by now. It felt like we had run a mile or more. As we reached the end of the tunnel, a large door loomed before us. The door looked ancient, the wood stained with age in several places, and the hinges were as long as my arm and made of iron. The door itself was etched with markings I didn’t understand with the exception of one. In the center of the door was the symbol of the monitors: an owl in flight, backed by a crescent moon. Meja approached the door. She was breathing as normally as if she had just taken a stroll and not run more than a mile in five minutes. My respect for her physical fitness went up a notch.

  “Stay back. This door is keyed for monitors,” she said.

  As she drew close to the door, a shimmering wall of blue light coalesced about ten feet behind Zen. He turned around to look at the wall that effectively trapped us here.

  “What happens if you can’t open the door?” I asked.

  Her attention focused on the door, she answered, “See that wall of energy back there?” Like I could miss it?

  “In about three minutes, it will start closing in on us – its sole purpose to destroy anything between it and this door. Seeing as how this is a complicated lock, you may want to let me focus.” I bit my tongue to cut off my answer I was about to give. Zen took a few steps away from the wall, a concerned look on his face.

  Meja placed her hands together in what looked like the universal gesture of prayer. She began taking a few deep breaths. I thought that prayer was a fantastic idea if it would get us out of there. I wisely kept my suggestion to myself. Meja’s hands began to glow a deep magenta. She touched the monitor symbol and it seemed as if the symbol absorbed the energy. For a few seconds, the symbol glowed with the same color and then I heard the bolts slide back and the door opened inward. As she pushed the door I noticed it was at least six inches thick. No one was going to knock that door in any time soon. The door led to a kind of circular chamber with many other doors. The chamber had six doorways in it including the one we entered through. Above each doorway was a plaque with symbols.

  “What do they say?”

  “They are destinations to other places.”

  Something about the way she said places set off alarms in my head.

  “What do you mean places? Like where Sylk took me?” She looked at me calmly.

  “This room is called a hub. Each of these doors leads to a place in this plane.”

  “What do the plaques say?” It was Zen, who up to that moment had been silent.

  “Two of the doors lead to watches, the Eastern and Northern,” she said as she pointed. “I suggest we avoid those. These two,” she said, pointing again, “lead to other schools, again not a good idea.”

  “This one,” she said pointing to the remaining door, leads us to the street in New York, where Sylk will have his followers and where teams of monitors will be hunting you.” She turned to me as she said the last word. “Are you ready?”

  Zen and I both nodded. She placed her hand on the symbol and pushed. The door opened and much to the shock of pedestrians, we stepped into a warm summer night in New York City, the city that never slept.
<
br />   BLACK LOTUS

  “WE NEED TO get off the street.” I couldn’t have agreed more.

  “If you see a mirror, don’t linger and stay close.”

  It suddenly dawned on me that every mirror was a ‘window’ for monitors or Sylk. We were going to be extremely vulnerable.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “I’d rather not say, considering that we may have monitors who can overhear us around us even now.” We made our way down Fifty Seventh Street, crossing Eighth Avenue. I turned to see we had exited the newly redone Hearst Building. Half a block away was Columbus Circle and beyond that Central Park. The street was vibrant with activity as only New York can be. People going to and fro, some at a pace just short of a run, others were languishing in an evening stroll. It was why I love New York; it’s alive, warm and unforgiving at the same time. No other city could compare, now that night held another menace: hunters.

  “This way,” Meja said, as she led us to Central Park.

  “When they begin tracking us, we will lose them in the park, without bringing danger to innocents.”

  “Central Park at night?” Not a good idea as every New Yorker knew. As we crossed Columbus Circle, I noticed a man following us. He was tall, and stood out somehow. His blonde hair cut short to his head, he wore worn out jeans, what looked like construction boots and a plain white oxford shirt. There was something about the way he moved that set him apart from the throng of people on the sidewalk.