Days went by and Gram had watched over Daniel’s training. While Daniel made some mistakes, he wanted to get it right. If what his uncle had said was true, then a war would come. All those bodies had been burnt into his mind. The past few days, at night, he dreamt of them, of the death that would come from the oncoming war.
Daniel found himself in the middle of a battle. War had come, but Daniel had no idea where he was. He had no clue where he was, only that he was in the middle of the wasteland. Faceless soldiers ran past him in droves. Hundreds upon hundreds of men went into battle.
Up ahead, explosions littered the battlefield creating mushroom clouds bloom in the distance. Those mushroom clouds sprouted from the bodies that were sacrificed to it.
“Stop,” Daniel yelled. “Stop fighting!”
None of them stopped. All of them kept going. They went to their battle, their deaths. Daniel watched as they left him. He didn’t know why, but he felt regret at not being able to do anything. He felt fear over losing these people. But why? Why did he care about them
Daniel knew he should care. His father wanted him to care about all life, not just his own or those he loved. He needed to care for all lives.
But who was he to stop them. These people had their own lives, their own will. If they wished to die, then who was he to stop them.
“Save them!” Daniel looked to his right. In the sea of endless faceless people, Daniel saw someone he did recognize. Someone long dead.
“Dad!” Daniel tried to run over to his father, but other people were running past, they knocked him to and fro. But even with all the distractions, the one thing Daniel wanted to do more than anything was reach his father. People shoved and pushed him. One person even walked right over him. But Daniel kept his eyes on his father.
“You need to save them,” Spencer called out. He held out his hand for his son to reach, but he was too far away. Even he wasn’t immune to the stampeding crowd. He was swept up in the wave of bodies. “Pity those alive,” Spencer called out. But he began to be swept out of view. Others were pushing him forward. His father continued to hold out his hand, reaching for Daniel. But then he disappeared into the crowd.
“Dad!” Daniel yelled. “Dad!”
There was no response from his father, only the stamping of feet from the army.
“Let them go.” Daniel turned to the side to see who spoke. Gram stood there. He stood amongst the crowd. They moved past him as phantoms. Gram didn’t look angry or grumpy. In face looked rather sad. “You cannot change their fate any more than you can change mine. The only fate you can change is your own.”
Daniel got off the ground. He ran towards his uncle. “Sifu, don’t leave me,” Daniel pleaded. He ran as fast as he could towards his uncle, not wanting what happened to his father to happen to his uncle as well.
Boom. Another explosion echoed. This one was different. It felt different. It was as though something inside Daniel snapped, as though there was some tension inside him and someone just severed it with a blade.
Daniel looked to the side. He saw the mushroom cloud boom off in the distance. Bodies were still flying from the explosion. One piece flew over towards Daniel. He already knew what it was before it even landed, but he had hoped that it wasn’t what he wanted.
What came flying towards him wasn’t a body, at least not a full one. This was merely a single part of a body. It fell to the ground in front of Daniel. His eyes looked in horror as he looked into his father’s eyes. They were as horrified as the day he realized that he was about to die.
“Dad!” Daniel looked up at the sky. Daniel looked up towards his uncle. But his uncle wasn’t there anymore. And just like that, Daniel felt he was alone again.
He looked around. These weren’t soldiers, they were murderers all of them. They had killed parents, siblings, friends, and lovers. What right did they have to live? What right? If they wanted to get themselves killed then that was their choice.
Daniel watched them run off, run off to their death. But the more he watched, the more he realized how unfair it was. He had power, but what could that power do against the weaponry, the machinery that other sects had. He felt so useless.
Finally, a thought appeared in his mind. If he couldn’t stop the killing, the he would stop the killers. Daniel rushed forward. He rushed to see this war to the end.
Ahead of him was a light. Daniel didn’t know what it was, he didn’t care. He ran right towards it. Whatever it was, he’d smash right through it.
“Wa…” There was a voice calling out to him, but it was faint.
Daniel didn’t pay attention. It would only distract him. He needed to get up there, he needed to kill one side. This was the only way to stop the fighting, to stop the killing.
The light was coming closer. Daniel didn’t stop. Then he charged right into the light.
“Wake up,” Gram had nudged Daniel.
Daniel shot up. His body was moving too fast for him to stop. He knocked his head right into his uncle’s chin. Daniel was knocked back into bed. The blow caused a ringing sensation in his ear and a throbbing sensation at the point of impact.
“Ow.” Daniel massaged his head. “Sifu, what are you doing?”
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“Time is running out, Daniel. War has been declared.”
“Declared?” Daniel got back up, making sure he made it out of the way of his uncle this time.
“Yes. Orders have been sent by the higher ups. War is coming here in three days. My sect has decided to send a general over to oversee everything.”
“A general…” Daniel’s voice trailed off. “You don’t mean-”
Gram caught on to what Daniel was thinking. “No, they’re not sending over one of the sect elders from Law Abiding Hall.”
Law Abiding Hall? Daniel thought of the different sects that had that name, but as he reached into his mind, there were really too many to count. Law Abiding Hall was just another name for Disciple Hall or Justice Hall. These three names meant essentially the same thing. And with over the years, Daniel had met many sects and most of them used this name.
But if they were willing to send someone, then that person must have been someone they trusted to win, right? Daniel sure hoped so.
“Sifu, what are we going to do?”
“We aren’t going to do anything.” Gram motioned for Daniel to get out of bed and follow him. He brought Daniel over to counter near the sink. He rolled out a map for Daniel to see. The map covered quite a bit of area of the wasteland.
Gram pointed to a small dot on the map. “This is Blue Creek right here.” Daniel saw that whoever drew the map had also been able to include the waterfall as well as the river that led up to it. “I want you to follow the river. It’ll take you north to this town, Cloud Sea. Tomorrow, I want you to wait for me there.”
“Sifu, what if you don’t make it?” The words caused something to tug at Daniel’s heart. What if his uncle didn’t make it. He thought about the dream he just had. Loneliness, the terror of it shook Daniel to his very core. Even if he had been to many lands, at least he always had his uncle with him.
“If I’m not there within one week of when you get there, assume that I am dead and live out your life as you wish.”
“But, sifu-”
“Don’t argue!” He roared. Daniel was so scared to speak that he just went silent. They both wrnt mute for some time. Gram let out a heavy sigh. “My sect will need me in the coming war. I need to participate, but you don’t have to.”
“Then let me help. I have been cultivating my qi, I can help.”
Gram ran his hands through his nephew’s hair. “You’re a fine kid. My sister would have been proud of you. But you are my sister’s only child. She made me promise I would look after you. If something were to happen to you, you would be killing your mother a second time.”
Daniel felt that feeling in his chest. He knew what his uncle was saying, but he didn’t want it to be true. He wanted to be there for his uncle. He was the only family he had left. He wanted to be there for his uncle, to watch his back. But his parents were also his family. To get himself killed because of something stupid, wouldn’t that be dishonoring his parents?
Daniel didn’t want it to come to this. But it was happening. He felt sick. He wanted to throw up. But he kept it down.
“I want to hear you say it,” Gram said. “I need to know that you won’t stay here. By tomorrow morning, I want you to leave for Cloud Sea Village.”
Deep inside, Daniel didn’t want to leave. But this was not only his uncle’s choice, but it was also to honor the sacrifice his parents made so long ago. “Uncle,” Daniel hesitated to say the words. “Don’t die. Please don’t die.”
Bitter tears ran down Gram’s face. “Don’t think that I’ll die so easily.” Gram wrapped his arms around Daniel.
“Ten days,” Daniel said. “If you’re not there in ten days, then-”
Gram didn’t let him finish. “I know.”
The rest of the day, Gram continued Daniel’s training as normal. During his training, Daniel found that his uncle was distracted. There were more than a few times where he knew his uncle would have yelled and beat him for his mistake. But his uncle wasn’t focusing on him. His head was turned to the side, staring off into the wasteland.
Daniel continued his training, but it was more him going through the motions. It was during this training that Daniel realized that this would be how he would train if his uncle didn’t make it back to him. He would need to train on his own, find his own flaws, fix his own mistakes.
“Sifu, I won’t let you down,” Daniel thought.
“What was that?” Gram had turned towards Daniel for the first time since the start of the training session.
“Nothing,” Daniel said. He got back to his training. The training session for him wasn’t just training. This time, it was almost like a prayer. He felt that if he just worked hard enough, if he just trained hard enough, fate would see how much he wanted his uncle to live.
With each strike he made, dust fell before his wake. With each maneuver, the wind howled. This was what Daniel had been training so long for, he wanted to not only make his parents proud, but his uncle as well. Even if his uncle couldn’t see it. Even if he was distracted, Daniel hoped his uncle would be able to feel in his heart, what Daniel felt in his.
Day came to night. And the night waned on. The ground that Daniel had been training on had been soaked with sweat. But not once had Daniel fallen to the ground, not once.
A particularly cold breeze blew through the air causing Daniel to shiver.
His uncle felt it too as he grabbed onto his arms. He stirred from his stupor and found Daniel there, not having eaten anything since breakfast and covered in sweat. He tossed the canteen over to Daniel, which was easily caught. He downed the drink, now realizing how thirsty he was.
“We should leave,” Gram said. “You have a big day tomorrow.”
After having finished the entire canteen, Daniel threw it back towards his uncle. Gram caught it. He looked at the canteen and then back at Daniel. He tossed it back towards his nephew.
“Keep it,” his uncle said. “You’ll need it for your journey.”
Daniel thanked his uncle. The two of them headed back. After making their way to the river, Daniel filled up the canteen with water. That night, nothing particularly exciting happened. The two didn’t say a word, and yet it was as though they could understand each other completely.
The deep melancholy followed them into the night and followed until morning.
When morning came, Daniel had gotten ready. The two of them stood at the edge of town. There, groups of people would gather together. Many of these groups were traveling merchants or other wanderers. People would gather in groups so as to stay safe from bandits or other dangers the wasteland had to offer. This was the first time Daniel had left with a group like this. Before, just him and his uncle would have been enough to face any kind of danger they would have faced.
Before they reached the group, Gram stopped Daniel. He made it so the group wouldn’t see what he was doing. He handed Daniel a bag. This was a small bag that Daniel hadn’t seen before. His uncle probably bought it for him for the journey.
“Remember, never trust anyone in the wasteland. There are only three kinds of people that live here: criminals, those who are in hiding, and those who can’t afford to leave. Always assume that you are traveling with criminals, but never treat them as such.”
This was something that Daniel knew already. “I know sifu.”
“You better be at Cloud Sea when I reach there, or else.”
“I know, sifu.” Daniel got it.
“Ok, go. I don’t want to see you until I reach Cloud Sea.”
“I will be waiting,” Daniel bowed. Gram nodded and patted Daniel on the back so hard that his nephew nearly fell forward into the sand. But Daniel wasn’t some push over. He easily caught himself and walked over to the group.
He was halfway before he gave one last look to his uncle. His uncle had already left his spot. Daniel let out a sigh. So this was it. He looked up to the sky. He didn’t know if karma existed, but if it did, he wanted it see all the good his father had done. If his father couldn’t survive, then he wanted all that good karma to be passed onto his uncle. He took one last breath.