It was difficult to hear anything over the cacophony of the raging waters that sped past the small ledge and over the precipice to the unknown below, not that the small boy, not a day over 6, was trying to hear anything, focused as he was entirely on the bottom of the waterfall and the seemingly endless fog beyond. This is what he had been searching for going on a year now, a way out, freedom, all he had to do was jump, but now that he was standing here with that daunting jump staring back at him, doubts crept into his mind.
‘Is it worth risking my life just to see what is out there?’
The more he mulled over this thought in his head, the more he thought about the valley, eternally unchanging, nearly every nook and cranny explored and known like the back of his hand. Suddenly, in a moment of clarity, the answer seemed all too obvious. He took a deep breath, and started running towards the cliff edge, his heart pounding in his ears as he leapt. The feeling was exhilarating, like nothing he had experienced before, in free fall, time seemed to slow, the rumble of the water rushing to the ground behind him and the crash as it arrived, seemed to fade away, his vision was gradually obscured by an increasingly bright light, then he felt something he had never experienced before, it felt like every part of his body was being squeezed from every angle. Then suddenly, it stopped, in an instant his vision and hearing returned, he was no longer falling, but rather laying flat on his back looking up at a blue sky through a canopy of what appeared to be incredibly tall trees.
“Huh…don’t know what I was expecting, but that was certainly not high up on the list.”
Disorientated, he just stared up, letting his brain process what had just happened and what he was seeing now. After a while of staring at the sky and the gentle swaying of the trees he realized that he could not hear the raging waters of the waterfall. Sitting up to get a look at the environment he had found himself in, he saw that he was laying on a moss covered rock at the top of a hill, he was surrounded with positively ancient looking trees, gnarled and weathered yet sturdy beyond belief, like they had always been there and always would be. The forest floor was a busy tangle of branches, roots, grasses and vines, not something easily traversed and a far cry from the well manicured valley.
As he took in his surroundings the reality of his situation was slowly dawning on him, he had got what he wanted, he was outside, free to explore, however, he had no idea how to get back. There was no waterfall, in fact, although this place was very green it would struggle to look any less like the valley.
‘Ok, first things first, get the lay of the land’
Taking deep calming breaths he started eyeing the trees on the top of the hill, looking for tall and easily climbable. After a few moments he locked on to a behemoth in the center of the hill, he wasn’t sure why but he got a good feeling from that one.
Scrambling his way up the tree with the occasional jump from branch to branch with little but a hope and a prayer that his destination wasn’t as flimsy and decrepit as it appeared. The boy found himself grateful for his exhaustive exploration of the valley that had seen him climbing every tree and cliff face, and exploring every cave. Now he was swinging from branches and climbing this ancient behemoth of a tree with almost an instinctual ease.
Finally as his head breached the top of the canopy and he beheld the view of the forest he had just arrived in, he found himself equal parts in awe and dispirited. A sea of green stretching from horizon to horizon in all directions, nary a landmark to be seen. The hill that he found himself on simply a small wave in the sea, one of many, indistinguishable from its peers. As he sat there on the branch high up in the ancient tree, the sun beating down relentlessly from overhead, and a light breeze gently swaying branches and rippling through the green ocean before him, he was at a loss.
Suddenly he was awoken from his melancholy haze by a colossal roar in the distance, he could see the direction it came from as it sent a great shock wave through the sea of green, the tree he was perched on swayed wildly and he could even feel it vibrating underneath him. Then hell truly broke loose, he had no frame of reference, that initial roar was the loudest sound he had ever heard in his life, and yet, it paled in comparison to what came next.
Explosions of earth, the toppling of mighty trees, huge collisions that felt like they reverberated through his very bones, and of course more frequent and varied roars. To the young boy it honestly sounded like the world was ending. What astonished him even more than what he was experiencing was the distance that he was from this seeming calamity, the trees being toppled didn’t seem any different than the one he was currently sitting on and yet they looked like tiny sticks from his vantage, but if he was blindfolded and asked to judge how close he was to this riotous event he would swear on his life that it was happening right in front of him. He sat in the swaying tree top holding on for dear life as he watched the calamity unfolding in the distance in astonishment that living beings could be responsible for this scale of destruction, his mind ablaze at the possibilities. Then, just as quickly as it began, it ended with a pained whine, and the forest went dead silent, the slowly dying sway of the trees the only sound to be heard.
“That was some spectacle for your first outing beyond the valley Xu Long”
The young boy almost jumped out of his skin and very nearly fell out of the tree when he heard the voice from behind him. After the initial shock wore off and he had saved himself from a rather gruesome fall he turned his head slowly to see an old man in a billowing black robe with gold trim standing in the air looking at him with mirth in his eyes and a smile on his face.
“Before you ask, your mother sent me to collect you. I must say I am impressed, you are a brave lad to make that jump at just 6 years old.”
Xu Long barely registered what the old man was saying, staring as he was wide eyed at the floating man that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. As he slowly processed what the old man had said he went a little pale.
“Mother knows?”
That got the old man laughing uproariously.
“Knows? Of course she does, she sees all within the valley kid.” He answered, still chuckling. “I take it from the confusion on your face that she has not started your education yet?”
Still completely bewildered, Xu Long answered “Just reading, calligraphy and numbers, senior.”
The old man waved his hand, “I'm talking about your real education.” Shaking his head, “nevermind all that, it occurs to me that in all the excitement I have neglected to introduce myself, I am Wu Zhong, but you can call me Old Wu.”
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After Xu Long thought about it for a few seconds he replied, “alright, Old Wu, it’s an honor to meet you” slightly bowing his head in acknowledgment.
The old man smiled, ignoring the disrespectful bow. “I imagine it is.” He then squinted suspiciously. “You sure are trusting, kid, don’t you think you should be a tad more weary of a strange floating man appearing out of nowhere?”
Xu Long looked at him a second like he was a little slow. “No, you know my name, you know about my mother and the valley, and you appeared almost immediately after I arrived in this place…but more importantly than all of that, you have no need to lie to me, if you want to take me somewhere, I can’t stop you, not to mention I have no idea where I am or how to get back.”
This time it was the old man's turn to look a little shocked, shaking his head. “Well, you certainly are your mother’s son.”
“So Old Wu, before we leave here, how about you show me around?”
Chuckling, Old Wu replied. “Oh, and just what sights did you have in mind?”
Xu Long looked out into the distance at the small gap in the sea of green before him. “I have to know.”
Old Wu had a serious look on his face for possibly the first time during their brief interaction. “Hmm, I suppose your bravery today deserves a little reward of the satiation of your curiosity, however, I hope that this experience has impressed upon you the dangers of said curiosity, had you truely come here without anyone the wiser as you thought you had and left the relative safety of this small hill, this forest would have ended your life before you were aware that it was even in danger.”
Xu Long tearing his focus from the aftermath in the distance and looking Old Wu in the eyes with a cheeky smile on his face replied “I understand Old Wu, this experience has truly opened my eyes.”
Old Wu just sighed, shaking his head. “Come along then Xu Long, we should make this little excursion quick.”
From the perspective of Xu Long, one second Old Wu suddenly disappeared from in front of him and reappeared at his side with his hand on Xu Long’s shoulder, the next he felt a slight tingling on his skin which he swore he could see a slight glow on, before he had the opportunity to open his mouth to ask, the world around him violently blurred. Maybe five seconds later, he couldn’t really be sure, Xu Long found himself standing on the ground, Old Wu’s hand on his shoulder, and before him a scene of chaos and destruction.
Trees uprooted and in disarray, huge gouges and craters in the earth. Xu Long didn’t see any of it, fixated as he was on one of the two giant creatures laying in front of him, both covered in nasty looking wounds, one laying completely still, the other looking straight at Old Wu and him. As they stood there in silence staring at each other, Xu Long’s brain finally caught up from the disorientation of their sudden arrival, not to mention the means of transport, but he still could not look away from those huge red eyes surrounded by white fur that were staring in his direction, he felt like he could see anger and a great sadness in them.
When suddenly he was jolted from his fixation as a voice appeared in his mind. “Why have you come?”
Before Xu Long could process what was happening, Old Wu answered. “The kid was curious.”
That was when Xu Long realized that previously the giant beast had not been looking directly at him but at Old Wu the entire time, because as its focus shifted to him he felt a great pressure envelop him. At first, he froze, as if something deep inside of him was certain that he would die if he moved a muscle, but as he looked into those huge red eyes staring at him without any apparent malice, that feeling left almost as quickly as it arrived. Now he was just left standing there at a loss at what to say to the creature.
“Hello”
All that he got in return is a chuckle in his mind as the beast's gaze left him and returned to Old Wu.
“A brave child…for a human.”
“His mother may be able to save her.”
Xu Long was completely baffled by Old Wu’s nonsequitur of a response, he fully took in the scene in front of him trying to make sense of what Old Wu was talking about. The huge snow white beast whose coat was marred by patches of bright red blood was curled up. Its head, resting over what appeared to be many tails, hadn’t moved since they arrived. That was when he saw a positively tiny ball of white fur on the ground up against the snout of the beast.
As Xu Long was still making sense of this strange turn in the conversation the beast replied. “And what then human? As much as I wish it, I will not have her life saved only to condemn her to servitude.”
“I imagine that she will be his companion.” Old Wu replied, nodding his head towards Xu Long.
Almost instantly Xu Long felt the pressure return as the beast's focus returned to him, even more intense than before, this time he was somewhat prepared for it as he met those discerning red eyes without trepidation.
“Come here human child.”
Xu Long looked away from the beast in front of him for the first time since they arrived to look at Old Wu, who simply nodded his head slightly. Taking a deep breath to steady himself he began walking towards the beast. As he slowly walked over he caught sight of, out of the corner of his eye, the presumably vanquished foe of the beast he had been conversing with. Now that he was actually paying attention to it he noticed that it was positively massive, perhaps three times the size of the white beast he was walking towards. It lay sprawled out on the ground, wounds covering its tree trunk sized legs and a particularly gruesome wound on its throat, which resulted in a huge lake of blood gathering around the front half of its lifeless body.
As he was taking in the fascinating sight he heard the white beast scoff in his mind. “Stupid stubborn old thing, couldn’t let even the most benign and unintentional of slights go.”
Xu Long returned his full attention to the red eyes, still evaluating him as he arrived in front of them.
“Well child, I am not so delusional as to think that a better opportunity for my daughter to survive is going to present itself” pausing for a long second, “and I judge you worthy. Regardless, I want your word.” The beast's eyes narrowed slightly. “Swear that you will never treat her as anything less than your equal, I will not brook my daughter ending up as the pet of some human, I would rather her die here with me.”
Looking into those red eyes, that now that he was closer seemed dim to him, Xu Long thought for a moment before turning his head to Old Wu.
“Can’t Mother save both of them?”
Old Wu just gave a slight shake of his head.
“No one in this realm can save me child, I have already taken my last breath.”
Returning his gaze to the beast, he let out a sigh. “I’m sorry.” Steeling his gaze as he put his hand over his heart he announced “I swear that I will never treat your daughter as anything less than my equal.”
As the words left his mouth the beast’s eyes that were focused intently on him closed and a red mist seemed to spread from the beast and envelop Xu Long. He felt a weight press against something inside of him, something that had always been there and yet he had never felt it before. It was an intensely bizarre experience but was over in just a moment. When the mist cleared and his perception returned he noticed that there was something in his hand that had previously been placed over his heart.
A little white ball of fur rested on his upturned palm, now that it was right in front of his face he could see its little face seemingly sleeping contently, its head resting on a single tail.