The Tale Never Ends

Are you not the foolish female geek! I wondered as I stared at Qin Le. Not that it mattered now, I thought again. I sighed. “Do you have your cell phone with you?” It was just a hope too sanguine to be true; I knew her answer beforehand: she would not have been lost in the first place if she has her phone with her.

She shook her head flatly, confirming my thoughts. She fished out a cell phone which was also dead too, shaking it in front of me. “It’s dead. I have made sure the battery was full when I got out. But it has been dead since I got here. It just wouldn’t start.” I nodded and told her the same about mine and we began to talk more casually.

As it happened, Qin Le was here with a tour group to visit Changbai Mountain. But the curious and inquisitive girl wandered off on her own and was separated from her group and it was too late when she realized how lost she was. Hence she could only wait for the group to notice her absence and come looking for her. The management of the tour group must be on general quarters by now, doing all they can. But time waits for no man and the inevitable night came, Qin Le began to realize that she could no longer stay put. She started to wander and chanced upon the fire I started. She thought it was started by the search-and-rescue personnel looking for her, and she sat there, waiting for them. But instead of any emergency services personnel, all she got was a young man, that was me, with six vicious wolves.

I told her a summary of how I got myself here while omitting many a great detail but apparently the concise version of my tale was enough to interest her. The burning fire reflected in her deep, black eyes that twinkled like huge gold nuggets. When I reached the part when I admitted that I was a medium of sorts, the young woman rushed to me and grabbed at my elbows, shaking me like a ragdoll. “I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! I know you must be one of those hermits learned in sorcery and magic! Come on, teach me something! Just a trick or two!”

I cast an annoyed look at her. “I am not a hermit. I have my own agency. A paranormal investigation agency. We take walk-ins. And magic is not like a magician’s trick anyone can learn on the fly. You need training. There’s no ‘hocus-pocus’ or ‘abracadabra’ for a rabbit to appear with a puff of brimstone. If that were true, we would have wizards and mages at every corner of the streets. You must have had too much Harry Potter for your own good? Can I trouble you with a magical textbook?” But what she answered was no less nauseating: for all I have told her, she had heard only the last part of what I said about “a magical textbook.” Conveniently for her, she had readily ignored everything of what I said about being sensible and realistic.

“A magical textbook?! Like those in Harry Potter?! Come on, let’s see it!” She yanked at my arm, pestering me. I shook her off brusquely. “Magical textbooks, tomes, grimoire, and the sort are things in Western fantasy. What makes you think that I would have one of those? You want something interesting to read? Head to the bookstore and get your own Daodejing.”

My rough manners seemed to have quieted her at last, although it did little to quell her eagerness to learn more. She removed the camera hanging from her neck and insisted on a picture with me. “Why would I want to take a picture with you when we could be dead if we don’t find our way out of here soon!?” I snarled. This female geek was getting on my nerves. “Moreover, you just said your cell is out of power! Won’t your camera be the same?” But girl flipped opened her camera bag and presented, much to her amusement and my chagrin, a Polaroid that runs on battery.

Qin Le powered up her camera and tested to see if it was working fine. In the end, she tugged at my arm, badgering me for the picture when she was satisfied with it. It was imperative for her to record this historic moment in her life, she said. If only I have one of these, I grimaced, I could have taken a picture during my time travels. That could really be historic. Literally, even!

With a rambunctious click then a whirr, a little photograph popped out of the Polaroid. The image it captured slowly appeared after a minute and there was a little geeky girl, beaming brightly, while clutching at a sulking me. But there was something odd about the photo; strange and weird, although I could not say how.

But the loggerheaded geek had not felt anything was amiss. She was pleased with the picture, “Hahaha! It’s perfect! Hahaha! This alone is worth the entire trip!” She coiled her arm around my elbow. “And here I’ve found a hermit sorcerer living in the wild!” I narrowed my eyes and hissed, “While I have caught a wild female geek!” Hardly abashed, she clung on tightly to my arm, begging, “Please take me as a student, O Great Wizard!”

I shook her off like I would with a crockroach and ripped the picture out of her hand. “Careful. My wife would skin you alive if she sees this.” That was hardly a joke, I mused. Edelweiss would have made sure nothing would remain of her if she had witnessed how sticky a girl Qin Le was. Not that Edelweiss was a stranger to acts of this kind in the first place, though.

“HUH?! You’re married?! How old are you!?” Qin Le shrieked out loud with surprise. But I barely favored her with even a glance; I was still busy finding out what was wrong with the photograph and I answered offhandedly, “She’s my fiancee. I’m 24.” Completely oblivious of my lack of attention, she went on prattling, “Oh, so you’re older than me. I’m 22. Is your fiancee beautiful? What is she working as? Is she a witch? Er… Maybe not. She must be the daughter of a wealthy family! Yeah, this is how it often is in novels!”

I remarked lackadaisically again, “She’s formerly a brigand.” I was poring at the photograph carefully. The picture seemed stranger by the second as long as I looked at it. But my answer made Qin Le jumped with fright, “WHAT?!”

But before she could utter another syllable, my arm shot up immediately like a bolt of lightning and that silenced her. And only the screeching of the bugs of the night pervaded around us. I had finally found what was wrong with the photograph. Qin Le began to notice the grim look on my face and she grew quiet at once, her neck ducking into her scruff like a terrified tortoise.

It was in the darkness behind us in the picture that I saw what was wrong. Far beyond the reach of the light, I could see many pairs of green, glowing eyes, surrounding all around the fire in a ring meters away from the hearth. But we felt nothing nor realized anything at all! Those green emerald-like eyes could only be nocturnal beasts such as wolves. But small wonder, given Qin Le’s loud cries and the fire which would have served as a homing beacon for whatever predators that lurked around. But I was quite certain that they could only be wolves, for only wolves travel in packs of these sizes while being able to come close to us with such stealth. I peered at the timestamp. The picture was taken two minutes ago. How far behind would they be now? Five meters? Three meters? Or are they just skirting around the edges of the glow from the fire?

How have I gone so careless! I cursed quietly as goosebumps began pimpling my skin. I immediately motioned to Qin Le to come over to my side and whispered urgently to her, “Listen well. We are now surrounded by beasts. Most likely wolves. Do not scream and make no sudden movements!” I handed the photo to her with a finger pointed to the green eyes peering in the dark. Her hand quivered as she took over the photo, but I could not make out what she was feeling, whether she was shivering with fear or was she actually fumbling with panic.

But I have more things to worry about than the panicking fits of a timid girl. I extracted my Spirit Gourd and performed a series of hand seals to complete the spell to summon the Shiyan Blade. Holding the Gourd in my left hand, I recited the spell that released my spirit wolves who immediately stood around me and Qin Le in a protective circle, snarling vociferously at whatever they were prowling in the dark.

Suddenly, I felt a tug at my sleeves. Qin Le was pulling at them, trying desperately to gain my attention as another of her arm was outstretched, pointing into the sky through a small opening in the midst of the thick boughs overhead us. “Look,” She squeaked at me and I saw a red light streaking through the sky like a comet. But I knew what it was. I thrust my arm upwards, my hands opening wide! The sky screamed and the thing fell firmly into my grasp, the Shiyan Blade!

My fingers grasped tightly on the slender hilt of the sword that was my namesake, feeling more comforted with it accompanying me into battle. With a confident whistle to my wolves, I signaled my wolves to charge with me while my left hand formed the Seal of the Sword while pointing my sword ahead of me. Then my grip loosened and I released my hold of the Shiyan Blade. It flew out of my grip and did a somersault, hovering just over me as I ran, tense and taut like a nocked arrow that was ready to spill any blood at my command!

But just before we reached the edges of the light where the predators were waiting, I screeched to a halt with the gravel and pebbles under my feet crunching in protest. Seeing this, my wolves pulled to a sudden stop as well. The beasts had crept into the light as soon as we began our stampede and they were not wolves, but rather hundreds of foxes, all in varying kinds and sizes! The foxes sat on their rumps docilely in a large ring around me, sitting obediently as if expecting my orders!

I was more at ease seeing myself surrounded by the foxes. Then I became wary. I might be a lordling of the foxes, but there has been no lack of foxes who wished for my life. There was no telling to what insidious intent these beasts might have for encompassing around me in such numbers!

With a flick of my wrist, the Shiyan Blade flew back to me. “What is this? What are you up to?” I asked icily. Then I noticed the admiring and respectful gazes from the foxes, although none of them squealed any answer.

Suddenly, a scream came from behind me at the firepit! Qin Le’s in trouble! I tore my attention back and ran back towards the fire!