The three continued to walk deeper into the jungle for hour after hour until Alexander suddenly pushed Lenora to the ground as an arrow flew by where she had been stood only a moment before. “You know you shouldn't attack people you don’t know." Shouted Alexander to their unseen attacker.
A young, black-haired boy wearing spiked gloves appeared from the trees. Holding a bow in his hand, a quiver of arrows were slung across his back. “What're you doing here?” he questioned, keeping an arrow notched on his bow string and his eyes on the two humans and their companion as he waited for their answer.
Alexander took a brief glance down at the medallion he held and saw it glowing. “Are you a master of the White Rose?”
The boy tensed up. “Who are you?” he asked cautiously.
Alexander smiled, the boy’s response all the confirmation he needed. They had found another Master.
“Why don’t you take a look at your medallion?” He gestured at the medallion the boy had around his neck. The young boy raised an eyebrow, took the medallion and pointed it at the two newcomers, seeing it glow brightly. “Very well. This is all the proof I need that you mean me no harm. Come. Follow me and I'll take you to my campsite,” he said as he headed off through the trees.
They were led by the boy to a clearing less than a mile away. A log cabin stood near the center, land left free on all sides to no one to sneak up catching the boy unawares. “Welcome to my humble abode. My name is Mason, and I’m the former student of Master Estefan. Since his was killed I’m the current Master."
“I'm Alexander, former student of Master Luray,” Alexander replied.
“And I'm the former student of Master Thompson. The name's Lenora.”
Alexander turned to the jaguar. “And this is a jaguar we saved from some poachers after her babies and mate were killed."
Mason nodded. “What'd you do with the cubs and their father?”
“We gave them a burial, it seemed the right thing to do."
“Glad to see there's still compassion in this world. May I ask why you're walking in the rainforest to begin with?” asked Mason.
Alexander sat down on a log near the entrance to the cabin. “We’re looking for allies, either Masters or their recent successors, to help prevent the rise of the Lord of Shadows."
“I thought that may be the case. My Master was killed a few months ago, and I have been trying my hardest to keep the poachers out. I've also seen the medallion crack twice since my master was killed.”
“All of the Masters but one have been killed. Can you help us?” asked Alexander.
Mason sat down beside Alexander. “I will assist you since it was my master’s last wish to help you. But first, we need to get stronger. Otherwise, we stand no chance." Alexander and Lenora nodded in agreement.
The next morning, the three arrived at a nearby river with a clearing and the three stood facing one another. “We need to have an idea of what we've got to work with."
“I'll start,” began Mason. “I know the Brazilian style of jujitsu, and I’m a master at using my spiked gloves that can extend with a hidden button. I've studied, but have yet to master, another form known as capoeira, which is a dance style of fighting."
Alexander went next. “I know the five animal kung fu styles plus Muay Thai. I can use a tanto pretty well, but have yet to master it. I have mastered a short sword and am working on dual wielding.”
Lenora looked at them. “I have mastered Muay Thai, as well as Snake and Crane. The only weapon I can use with any proficiency is the staff, but I prefer to use my knees."
“I'll teach you Jujitsu to give you both more styles to use and maybe confuse your enemy." Mason got into his stance with the other two doing likewise.
Xxx
In the middle of the Amazon, Nicolson and Kira appeared from within a black portal. “Let’s find these weaklings and call it a day,” said Nicolson as Kira stayed silent. “I thought you'd be excited to fight this boy, since your last mission was interrupted.” He smirked.
The red-haired woman growled in response, “Don’t mention that failed mission, Nicolson,” she said with venom.
The man chuckled. “Or what? You aren't near my strength or any of the generals. You’re kept around purely as a meat shield and for eye candy.”
Kira growled while fingering her sword. Just a little slash and he won’t be bothering me, she thought, anger etched across her face.
The two walked up to a clearing and saw the tied-up poachers that the Masters had left. “What do we have here?” he asked, as Kira gave them a disgusted look.
The poachers looked at the two. “Those two little brats jumped us and prevented us from catching our prize,” said the one with the hat.
Nicolson bent down and untied them. “What did the brats look like?” He gave them a creepy smile.
“A young woman with black hair but no weapon," said a poacher. “I did not see the one who knocked me out.
“Do you want revenge against them?”
The three looked at each other and nodded their heads. “Yes,” the leader said.
The general laughed. “Good. ’Cause those two are our targets. Help us kill them, and you'll have your satisfaction,” he told them cutting them lose.
The five left the area in search of their quarry and headed deeper into the forest.
***
The three were resting in the log cabin when Mason woke up, startled. “Someone triggered an alarm!” he whispered waking up the other two. Looking at the clock it was five o’clock in the morning.
“We're about to have company.” As they got their equipment, the jaguar woke up and joined the three, curious. The four walked out and saw five figures approaching from the East.
Alexander’s eyes widened with shock, but turned into pure rage and anger as he shouted, “You murderer!” He pulled his short sword from its sheath.
Nicolson smirked. “It's been awhile, boy, since I killed your master.”
Alexander tried to calm his emotions and steady his breathing. Kira fleetingly looked at the two with sorrow in her eyes before she steeled her features. Mason caught her expression. Why would she be sad? Isn’t she on their side? He thought.
“I will take the woman. I need to see something,” Mason told Lenora who nodded.
“I will deal with the three idiots with guns,” Lenora replied.
Nicolson smirked and charged forward, attacking Alexander with his sword. Alexander blocked the initial strike and then span and kicked in response. “I will avenge my master.” He put his sword diagonally over his chest in a defensive posture.
Nicolson chuckled as a maniacal grin was formed on his face. “We'll see.” He in turn pulled out the jagged blade that he took from Master Luray’s corpse, further fueling Alexander’s rage.
Alexander was engaged in a sword duel with Nicolson, and neither was backing down. “You won’t win, boy. I've got more experience in swordsmanship than you do.” Nicolson blocked a blow with his sword and hit Alexander with the end of the handle, knocking him back. Alexander pulled out a long knife from a hidden sheath in his pants and started to fight his enemy with both weapons.
Noting the skills of his young combatant, Nicholson spoke, “You fought well, boy, but you'll die like your pathetic Master."
At this latest jibe, Alexander put his sword away and instead got into his Muay Thai stance. The general laughed. “You were foolish to put your sword away, hoping I’d do the same. I have no honor and don’t care about any of my opponent’s handicaps!” He rushed Alexander with his sword raised, ready to deliver the killing blow.
He thrust down, only for Alexander to turn his body at the last second, the attack flashing past him without contact. Alexander twisted something in his hand, and struck Nicolson’s chest. Blood poured from the wound.
“So… careless…” gasped Nicolson as he fell down, a small dagger protruding from his heart.
Nicolson was dead and Master Luray was finally avenged. Alexander
exhaled. He put his back on the tree he was next to. He covered a wound he’d received in the fight with the remains of his shirt, and waited for his friends to show up.
Xxx
Mason was currently using capoeira against his opponent, who was using the same style in reponse. “You really don’t want to fight, do you?” he asked. “Your attacks they are too predictable for a trained assassin.”
“I've got to. My feelings don’t matter.” She spun on her hand and tried to kick Mason.
“Moron! Your feelings do matter, not what other people think,” Mason countered as he tripped Kira with a kick, pinning her to the ground.
Kira growled. “Do you know what suffering is? I was kidnapped by Nicolson when I was two years old,” she told him as she tried to get out of his grasp.
“So? I never knew my parents either. I was raised by monks and nuns at the monastery, but it was burned by the acolytes of the Lord of Shadows!”
He continued, “I would've died that day, if it weren’t for my master, who rescued me. For the first time, I knew what having a father was like, but I never felt complete, as I still wondered if my parents abandoned me," Mason told her as tears fell down his face. “You’re not the only one who hassuffered.”
“You might've had it rough, but at least you had people who cared about you! I was trained only to be a killer and a fighter—no childhood and no friends!” shouted Kira.
“My master discovered and found out that I was found by the monks on a street corner.” His opponent was bleeding from a knife wound in her side. “I begged my master to train me. He refused for the first month, but I was persistent, and he finally agreed. I could've gone down your path if I still wanted revenge for my first family’s death.” He got up freeing his opponent.
“I pity you,” said Mason as he got up and lowered his arms. “Now's your chance to prove that you've got no feelings. Kill me in cold blood and we'll see how you feel."
Kira drew a knife. She brought it up, but then couldn't bring it down. “Why do you care?” she cried.
“Because we're the same. We have both lost something early in our lives, but the difference is, I found something to protect." Mason looked into her eyes and only sorrow. “What’s wrong? This fight won’t end until you strike me down."
Kira growled and raised her dagger higher but threw it on the ground in frustration and stormed away from her fight.
Mason had a sad look on his face, and he shook his head. “She would make a decent ally if she conquered her superficial demons." He turned around and picked up her dagger and rushed to the other fight.
Xxx
Lenora walked away from her battle with two of the poachers dead, and a third on the ground unconscious. One dead after being mauled by the feline; the other one hit with the blow to the head.
The third poacher began to stir. Coming around he pulled out a pistol and got up suddenly and smirked. “Take this, you bitch,” he said as he pulled the trigger.
Lenora screamed as the jaguar fell to the ground in front of her with a bullet wound on her side. “No!” she yelled as she rushed up to the last poacher and killed him with a knee to the temple. She rushed up to the giant cat and checked for any sign of life. She put her head down after finding no pulse or heartbeat and started to cry.
With the adrenalin wearing off, it hit her she had killed three people. She started to shake from shock. Mason ran up from the edge of the clearing. “Lenora, you okay?” he asked.
“I killed them,” whispered the female master in shock.
Mason grabbed her shoulder. “Look at me. It was them or you,” he said. “Did you like the feeling of killing them?”
“It sickens me,” said Lenora as she stared at her hand.
“That is all that matters,” said Mason. “Let’s see if Alexander needs help.”
Alexander breathed in as Lenora and Mason walked into the clearing, carrying the dead jaguar between them. Lenora spoke first, “My opponents are dead after one of them killed our feline friend.”
“My opponent fled, so our battle was indecisive,” said Mason as Alexander breathed in.
“I killed my opponent and avenged my master’s death," Alexander responded. “We've got to give the jaguar a funeral. It fought bravely and it's the least we can do." Alexander clutched his wound and grimaced as he spoke.
Alexander’s wound was cleaned by Lenora, before Lenora and Mason dug a grave, laid the dead jaguar in and prayed for its soul.
Following the funeral, Alexander was helped back to the cottage where Lenora was able to better clean his wound. As night fell, the three slept, their opponents reduced to ashes in a bonfire.
***
In the temple, the Lord of Shadows was furious after getting a report back on the fight. “Nicolson is dead, and Kira left her fight unfinished!”
Kyral smirked. “I knew we should have killed her.”
“This is not a laughing matter, Kyral. You need to know when it’s appropriate to crack jokes,” said Kevin. “We lost a great asset, and another might've betrayed us.”
Enough!” shouted the Lord of Shadows. “Shun Xian, I want you to exterminate the final master in Korea.”
The only blond-haired, female general, with a slim body made for speed, giggled. “Yeah, it's my turn." She got excited as she vanished in a black portal.
Chapter 8: The Fall of the Last Master
In a temple on the outskirts of Seoul, South Korea, a black-haired woman of roughly forty years, walked down a stone walkway to a farm that she owned, in a long, red dress with a sword at her side.
“Where is that lazy student of mine?” she wondered as she looked around. She rounded the corner to see an older teenager laying on a pile of hay, sleeping peacefully, his green vest exposing his chest. The woman sighed and kicked the hay. The boy tumbled to the ground, hay falling on top of him.
“Mistress Wu, I was sleeping,” he complained as he got up.
The female sighed. “Yuan Sang, have you finished your chores?”
The teen groaned. “Most of them, Mistress," he yawned.
The woman glared at him hands on her hips. “You’re a genius in fighting, but in your work ethic, you’re lazy,” she said with exasperation.
“Not my fault that the hay looked comfortable,” he said shrugging his shoulders to get the cramps out.
“The point of chores is to finish them, not to make a lounging area,” said Mistress Wu with her hand on her head. “You cause a lot of headaches for me. Lunch is ready. Come inside. When you’re finished, you can stack the hay and feed the chickens.”
The boy finally jumped up. “Yes, Mistress, let’s eat!”
Xxx
A portal opened in southern Kumi, South Korea, and the blond-haired female general walked out. On her hands eight inches claws that were curved down at the end. She headed north on foot talking to herself as she went, “The joys of the kill, the flesh being cut by the blade - I am so excited!" She licked a claw of her blade and smiled.
She had only been traveling a short while when she came across a crossroad. Five armed men appeared from behind a building.
“Look at what we have here, gentlemen. What about it, sweetie? Give us what you own, and nothing will happen to you,” said one of the group. By the way he spoke first, she assumed him to be the leader.
The general shook slightly. “I am scared. How am I going to fight five big, strong men?” she said, faking a frightened voice.
The men leered at her, and the leader spoke again, “Just the way I like my victims, scared of the situation.” The five advanced on the solitary female, determined to have some fun..
A few short minutes later, the female general skipped away from a scene of utter carnage, her claws red with blood. Fools, she thought as she started to giggle, “Now, that was fun."
Xxx
Mistress Wu was sipping her tea when the cup cracked. Could it be? She thought. Placing the damaged cup down on the table before her, she stood and walked ou
t of her small house.
Across the yard she saw her student working on his chores. “Yuan Sang, I need to talk to you,” she said. Her student looked at his teacher and saw concern on her face.
“What is it?” asked Yuan.
“I need you to take this and flee,” she said as she handed him a medallion.
“Why? What is going on?” he asked.
“Assassin of the shadows,” said Wu.
“But according to your stories, they were defeated,” Yuan replied, the worry evident on his face.
The woman sighed. “They could always return, and I am the last of the older masters. I want you to find the other pupils, who have now been elevated to masters, and help them any way you can,” she said.
“I will, mistress,” he replied as he left the grounds and fled into the forest.
The master sat in a lotus position with her sword sitting on her lap. “This will be my last fight," she said.
Shun Xian approached the temple with a carefree expression on her face. Seeing the female master sitting, she smiled. So, she has been waiting for her death, she thought as she walked up to the master.
“I have been waiting for you, assassin.” Mistress Wu got up, her right hand holding the, a sword with a curved blade.
“Today you will die, dear,” the general mocked Wu. “Just like the other masters before you.”
Wu got set into her stance, ready for the battle. “Your master will not take from me what he seeks!” she declared charging against the female assassin.
Shun ran at the master, claws raised, only to be blocked and kicked back.
Shun spun in the air and landed on her feet. “I guess it won’t be easy,” said the crazy female as she held her arms apart, claws extended. “That’s good. I need some extended fun!”
Wu held her sword to her side, pointing the blade down. The Shadow assassin ran forward, scraping the dirt with her claws as she approached. She brought them up as she reached Wu, and flicked dirt into the master’s eyes, temporarily blinding her. She thrust forward to take advantage, but missed the master and was kicked in return to the right side as Wu held her position. So, she can fight blind, thought Shun as she smirked. Finally, a challenge.
The Lord of Shadows Rises Page 7