“What were you thinking!”
Gram waited until they were out of hearing range before he began his tirade.
“In what world did you think it would have been best to go off on your own? Do you have any idea how long I have been looking for you? No of course you don’t. My sister asked me to take care of you, and you do this.” Gram let out a snort. “I should leave you right here.”
“Sifu, no.” Daniel went down on the ground. He began to kowtow towards his uncle. “I know what I did was wrong, but I wanted to help sifu the same way you’ve helped me. Sifu, please forgive me. I won’t run off again.”
“Since you’ve admitted your mistake, fine. But once we get back, don’t think I will take it easy on your training.”
“When has sifu ever gone easy in training?” Daniel smiled.
“Don’t smile like that at me again.”
Daniel put away his smile. The two of them continued on their way back to town.
“Sifu, that other group, the one that I saw the Traditionalists fighting a few days ago, are you from the same sect.”
“Yes.” Gram didn’t have it in him to lie. He barely had enough strength left to get back to town.
“Which sect are they from. Ms. Diane mentioned that you used a technique called Heaven Shattering Fist.”
“Daniel, when your mother asked for me to take care of you, that didn’t include involving you in my sect. Whatever happens to me because of them shouldn’t be your concern.”
“I just wanted to help.”
“And because of that, I almost lost you!” There was a madness in Gram’s eyes that Daniel had never seen before. Gram took a breath as he realized how he must have looked to his nephew. “Daniel, remember, we don’t take risks unnecessarily. If I really need help, you shouldn’t even consider being the first one to act.”
“I understand.”
“Good.”
The rest of the way, the two of them kept silent. Daniel hadn’t seen his uncle so frazzled. And with his uncle’s personality, who knew what he’d do if he pissed him off now. Maybe nothing might happen. But he could just as likely blow into a rage.
When they returned back to town, they were greeted with a few stares. But they didn’t bother with them. After all, they were only stares. No one offered to help. Perhaps it was for the best. Daniel was able to bring his uncle back to the room. His bed had been relatively untouched since he left.
After setting his uncle down, Daniel plopped onto his own bed. The heat of the sun, as well trying to watch his uncle had been more exhausting than he had realized.
“Daniel,” Gram said out of the blue.
“Yes, sifu.”
“A storm will be coming to this town. I can feel it. I also know that what you have learned up to now will not be enough.” Daniel opened to ask what his uncle meant, but he didn’t let Daniel speak. “Tomorrow, I’ll be teaching you a new technique, something that should help your offensive ability.”
“Sifu, what kind of storm are you talking about.”
“War, Daniel, I’m talking about a war between the Traditionalists and my sect.”
“War?” Daniel was shocked. He had seen what the Traditionalists had. He had seen one battle. What would war even look like?
“Sifu, we’re not going to be here when the war breaks out, right. I mean, come on, we run at the first sign of trouble.”
“Not this time.” His uncle let out a sigh. It was the heaviest sigh Daniel had ever heard from his uncle. It was as though he had the entire world on his shoulder. And now, he had resigned himself to his fate. “I was given orders by the higher ups, I am to remain where I am. Even though I am mainly just a wanderer, someone who passes messages from their agents in various towns, they still consider me a war asset. Thus, they’ve asked me to stay as a soldier here.”
“So, you want to train, to be ready to fight alongside you.”
“Idiot child, do you think you are ready for such an ordeal!” Gram grabbed at his hair. He held it for the longest time before letting it go. “No, I don’t want you to fight alongside me. I’ve talked with the commander here. We will try to keep the fighting outside of town. But, there will be no guarantees. In the chaos that will happen, you will need to be ready.”
Daniel didn’t say anything. Gram let that sink into him. After that, the Western Fiend fell hard into a deep sleep. The entire afternoon, Daniel had waited for his uncle to wake up. He waited in the evening. When night finally came, Daniel didn’t wait any longer and decided that he would need to get some sleep as well.
That night, Daniel saw Jace’s face once more. He saw how hurt he was. It wasn’t like Daniel knew for sure that his uncle was part of whatever sect he was from. Daniel pleaded with Jace. But the more he spoke, the more Jace tried to kill him. Daniel couldn’t bare to hurt him. The boy just had a hard life. His father’s words echoed in his mind, that goodness must be protected.
Was Jace really good? Would unleashing him onto the world make it a better place?
His father’s teachings made sense, but what about people who were good to others, but actively worked to hurt everyone else. Was the small amount of good they showed to a small group enough to warrant them forgiveness?
Daniel’s dream ended with Jace stabbing towards Daniel’s heart. The point was no more than an inch away before Daniel caught him at the wrist. Daniel twisted the knife in his hand, forcing Jace to let go and taking the dagger for himself. Jace cried out in fear, and he had every right to be. Daniel threw the dagger aimed, right on Jace’s spine.
The boy fell to the ground. Daniel walked to him slowly. Jace was trying to get away, crawling as his lower body no longer worked. Daniel brought his leg up before slamming it down onto the teenager’s back.
Jace cried out in pain.
That cry sent Daniel jumping up in shock. He woke up covered in sweat. He looked over. Gram was awake. There were still bags under his eyes, but he looked better than the day before.
“What time is it?” Daniel asked.
“Before the sun is up.” Gram said in a rather nonchalant way. “Put on some clothes. We should get started. I don’t know how much time we got, but it’s best that we start early.”
Daniel put on his clothes and the two of them headed outside of town.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Even though the sun hadn’t come up, there was some light out, but it was merely a dimmed hue, enough for them to see, and thankfully not too hot for them to be out.
Gram stood right next to Daniel. This was different than when he would just sit a few feet away and criticize him. “The technique I’m teaching you is derived from the Black Tortoise technique that our ancestors created. While it has high defensive capabilities, it relies mostly on counters to attack rather than fully attacking. Which is what this technique is meant to show you.” Gram waved his hand. “Go ahead, get into position for the Black Tortoise.”
Daniel did so.
“The first stance is called Roving Through the Depths.” Gram unleashed a ferocious attack. This attack struck to the sides, generating short bursts of momentum. It was said long ago, that a master was able to generate a devastating blow from only a single inch away. This technique had a similar principle, but it generated it from a sweeping motion.
“Remember Daniel, this is derived from the Black Tortoise technique, this is an attack, but you don’t want to extend your limbs any farther than they have to. Let them go too far, and you will be open for a counter. Better to keep your opponents away rather than pursue them.”
Daniel understood this principle. Overzealousness would lead to cracks in defense. Better to keep defenses close by, ready to switch to the actual Black Tortoise technique in a pinch.
Gram had Daniel try to understand a little bit of it first before they moved on.
“This next stance, is known as Butcher in the Forest.” Gram went low. His attacks were ferocious, but he kept his body low, as though a predator ready to pounce. “Most people are used to fighting from above. This stance requires you to be ready to fight from a lower position.”
So, it was psychological warfare. It was meant to throw opponents off balance. It was quite the clever technique.
Daniel got down, he began to try and imitate his uncle’s movements. He bent low, but trying to fight in such a state wasn’t as easy as it looked and he fell on his ass more than a few times. Gram shook his head and moved on.
“This final stance is the Warrior Descending from Heaven.” Gram had gotten up. He began to unleash blows that could only be considered sinister. His movements were fast and precise. They aimed to cripple or kill opponents. What first began as a simple strike, made a quick movement to counter attack, aiming for soft points that could break a person’s bones or damage vital organs. Gram had used so many feints that Daniel couldn’t even tell what was real.
After Gram had stopped, he turned to look at Daniel. “It’s your turn.”
Daniel couldn’t help but gulp. He hadn’t even gotten the basics of the entire technique down.
Gram had gotten his stick out as he watched Daniel get into the first stance. Daniel began to do as his uncle had done. He used low range strikes in a sweeping motion, using small bursts of energy. Daniel unleashed a few with Gram only watching. Then he unleashed another. This one, something was off. He didn’t know if it was his foundation or if it was his torso, but there wasn’t as much power in it. Daniel closed his eyes, expecting a beating.
Tap.
That wasn’t as nearly as hard as Daniel thought it was going to be. He opened his eyes. His uncle continued to tap the stick on his torso. “Rotate your body a little more, but keep your feet planted where they are.”
Daniel did so.
Daniel did the movement he did before. This time, he felt his arm moving much faster, and it felt more comfortable too.
“For these first few sessions, I will only be slightly lenient. When you practiced the Black Tortoise technique, at least you had your mother give you the basics. But my Turtle Snake Technique is newly developed. Once you get the basics, you will have to learn it like normal.” A thought came to Daniel’s mind. Gram seemed to pick up on it as well. “And if you are not able to gain even a basic mastery in a set amount of time, I think stronger beatings will be necessary.”
Daniel didn’t complain about that. If what his uncle said was true, then there was no time for him to be slacking off. He needed to take every opportunity to get stronger.
The day went on with Daniel learning from his uncle. It was strange not getting beaten for every little mistake. But he couldn’t complain too much about it. The sun had now risen up, providing its own form of beating on them.
Half the day had already gone by and Daniel was basically an apple at how red he was.
“Let’s head back for now,” Gram said. He tossed a canteen over to Daniel who caught it with ease. It was around half full. Daniel took a bit of it. “We’re heading back?”
“We left too early, that means we don’t have anything to eat. Let’s go, I’m starving.” Gram began to walk in the direction of the town, not caring whether Daniel followed after him or not.
Daniel needed only a second to catch his breath. Then he followed after his uncle.
With his uncle so tired, he thought he might be able to get some information out of his uncle. After all this time, he only knew a little about his uncle. He just wanted to know more about him. Daniel couldn’t think of any reason why his uncle wanted to keep him at a distance from his sect.
“Sifu, why does your sect want the tech cache anyway?”
Gram shrugged. “No special reason. Curiosity, maybe.”
Daniel sighed, that didn’t get him anywhere.
“Why do you think there’s going to be a war?”
Gram turned to glare at his nephew. “If you think that I’m going to give up information so easily, forget it. I’ve lived long enough, experienced long enough to know when I’m being interrogated.”
“Sifu, I just want to know. We’re family. Why do you need to keep me at such a distance? Should I be scared for my life? Should I trust anything you say? You haven’t given me anything to go on up until now. I haven’t asked questions, right? So why now. Why when you’re leaving me here to possibly fight in a war, and possibly die and leave me, should I know not know who you are?”
Daniel expected his uncle to threaten to leave him right then and there. And as much as it would have pained him, Daniel tried to brace himself for it. But nothing like that happened. They just stared at each other.
Gram placed his hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “I have my reasons for keeping you out,” Gram explained. “My sect was one I was forced to join out of necessity. I didn’t have a choice when I joined them. But Daniel, I want you to have what I didn’t, a choice. While there are many deeds that my sect has me do that I am proud of, there are just as many if not more that they make me do that I hate myself for. Daniel, you have only seen people die slow deaths of radiation. You have seen people being eaten alive by the mutant animals of the world. You live in a world of bliss compared to what I have seen. What I have done. That is why I keep you away.”
“Sifu, are you worried I would join them?” Daniel asked. If his uncle told him this sooner, naturally he wouldn’t have joined whatever sect his uncle was a part of.
“I’m afraid that they won’t give you a choice.”
Daniel could see on his uncle’s face that he was tired; not like the kind that he had before he was able to sleep, but this was a the tiredness that came with age. This was the feeling of living in the wasteland for years.
“Sifu, whether you try to keep me away or not, I have been close to your sect. And eventually, they might not give me a choice in the matter. Wouldn’t it be better for me to know my adversary first?”
Gram snorted. He ran his hand through Daniel’s hair. “Such a cunning mind. You really are my sister’s son.”
Daniel felt rather proud to hear that.
“I won’t tell you their name, but I will tell you this, my sect has seven halls ruled by the seven patriarchs. These patriarchs run their organizations with an iron fist and are not to be trifled with. Even by our standards, we cannot confront them.”
“Why?”
“Tell me Daniel, do you know where your father learned his technique?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Long ago, your family’s name was Shao, a descendent from a student of Wudang mountain. The ways to cultivate qi were passed down through your family until they came to this area. After some mixing, your family was able to hide their origins from the world, but the family’s qi cultivation skill was never lost.”
Daniel frowned. “Sifu, why are you telling me this?”
Gram snorted. “Do you think your family was the only that passed down a qi cultivation skills. Other organizations also have such skills in their archives. The Pure Land Sect has its origins descended from Shaolin. Scarlet Grove has some connection with Kunlun. As for the Nirvana Conglomerate, they’re the only ones without any specific affiliations. There are other so called minor sects that have their skills as well. With your father’s skill, he could have joined any, but he didn’t seek fame, thus he hid himself away from the world.”
“So then the seven patriarchs-”
“All have qi techniques. And all of them have been training for years. Even if I wanted, I cannot hope to defeat any of them. They are the reason I wanted you to stay away. If they know that my technique was not passed down from my family but yours, they would do whatever it takes to get you to join them.” Daniel could only guess what they would have done to his uncle if he refused.
Daniel was starting to see where his uncle was going with this. He clenched his hand into a fist. For so long, Daniel had hoped that his father’s words could be real, that the world could find good karma once again. But every time he felt it was in reach, the dream kept slipping away.
“Sifu, if you don’t want me to, then I won’t join them, even if it kills me.”
“Don’t say that. You are my sister’s son and the only descendent of my brother-in-law. Live.”
Looking into his uncle’s eyes, Daniel realized that maybe that dream of having the world become better than before the blast wasn’t so far from reach as he thought.