The Tale Never Ends

My spirits lifted partially when I saw the six different holes. Lin Feng often carried six throwing darts with him and each of them shaped variously. It must have been Big Sister, Lin Feng, and Chongxi who had just exited the elevator and they must have also realized the peculiarities about this place.

Naturally, Big Sister must have already realized this when I stabbed my sword through the wall. That reminded me of the movement of the elevator when they were coming up to the second floor. The elevator had to stop for a short extended moment on the second floor before coming up to the third. Then I noticed. This means that the elevator could have returned to the first floor to initiate the transition from the Real World to the Fog World… But if that’s true…

Then I remembered, of all the buttons in the elevator, only “1”— the first floor—has no twin! There was only one button for “1”!

Edelweiss saw me grinning and asked, “What is it?” “The first floor,” I said, “That’s where these two different dimensions intersect! The middle-ground between both the Real World and the Fog World! And I’m betting that Big Sister too has discovered what we’re in now.” As I said, I used my sword to scratch the taijitu symbol, the round black-and-white symbol that represented Yin and Yang, to illustrate my hypothesis to her. Big Sister and the others were now separated from us like the Yin and Yang parts of the symbol.

We waited in the dark for quite some time. So long that I would have thought they had left. I was just about to give up waiting when an invisible hand scratched a tick just below my taijitu symbol. I chuckled and thought, Well, at least Chongxi is in his vigilant self now.

Then, a single English letter appeared. A capital T. “Huh?” Edelweiss gasped. But I raised a hand to calm her, signaling for patience.

And indeed, three little vertical lines with rising lengths appeared beside the capital T, drawn to illustrate the symbol for cell phone signal. Then a cross appeared to denote the failure of our cell phone signals. A comprehending “Ah” slipped past her lips as Edelweiss understood finally. So Big Sister and the others had tried calling us, but to no avail.

I paused to think, then I drew a capital Y and added a circle right below the base of the alphabet. Seconds later, Big Sister returned with a tick above the Y alphabet.

I flashed nods to Na San and Edelweiss. It was time we press on.

We rushed through floors second to ninth without any trouble. Every floor looked almost the same and every one of them was empty. There was no one at all. Finally, as we prepared to board the elevator for the tenth floor, we gulped hard. The tenth floor. The boss level, where Mr. Huang would be waiting. We knew that Mr. Huang took up lodging at his office so, Heaven forbid, he would be there licking his lips with anticipation for our arrival. There was no way he was unaware of our presence given all the brouhaha we had caused.

The doors of the elevator slid open with the ominous chime of the bell that sounded like a death toll and the dark hallway, with not even one lighted lamp, only seemed to portend the terrible showdown waiting for us. We stepped out of the illumination of the elevator and the doors closed behind us, allowing darkness to engulf us whole, casting us all into a somber mood as my grip tightened around the hilt of my sword. I led Edelweiss and Na San ahead, pacing briskly through the same cubicles we had come by in the day.

The twin doors leading into Mr. Huang’s office was ajar when we arrived. I looked to Edelweiss and Na San to make sure that we were ready. Na San shifted instinctively to stand in front of me and he pushed it open before I could, storming in before I could stop him! But what was inside shocked us greater. Inside the office was contrary to what we were expecting! Mr. Huang’s office was a black hole of silence and stillness, only an eerie shade that welcomed us in. Na San proceeded carefully; he would know better than to let his guard down in a seemingly-empty office. With his shamanic drum held out and his other hand with the drumstick on the ready, he inched step-by-step, stealthily as he could, until we reached the door behind his desk and chair. The one that led to Mr. Huang’s little humble abode, his one-room dormitory.

I placed my hand on the handle and I took a deep breath. Then, as quickly as I could, I swung it open with a whoosh and Na San began hitting on his drum. Only what came out of his drum was not the sharp ratatata or tumtumtum of normal drums, but instead the rumble of thunders!

But the thunderclap hardly lasted long. Na San’s hands lowered right after one beat. And we sighed. There was also no one here in this dingy little room, modestly furnished with a little safe, a creaking iron-wrought bed, a matching bedside cabinet, and a sink.

We looked at each other and relaxed finally. All that tenseness and anxiety, we grinned at each other, only for nothing. So Mr. Huang was not here. That could mean that he could be waiting in his office in the Fog World.

Then a litany of soft, but audible footfalls echoed off the walls of the corridor outside, rapidly stiffening our smiles. Then came the creak of a door being pushed open and the distinctive click of the door latching to a close. Gods, there really is someone here?!

Without even a moment’s thought, I dove at the door, flung it open, and I rushed out to the darkened corridor flanked with cubicles of offices, with Edelweiss and Na San hot at my heels.

When we entered the quiet and shadowed corridor, every door was closed. We could not see which door was just opened and closed by our unseen intruder and so, we could only try to open each of them to be sure.

The first door refused to bulge, allowing only a loud clack as its lock refused to yield. Then the second, that too came out as a big No. Then the third, which handle twisted readily at my grip. What was more, I realized that the door was left slightly unclosed when I grabbed the handle. Na San and Edelweiss rejoined me when they heard the different sound coming from my way, approaching me softly and carefully. With a nod as a signal to them, I hurled the door open with Na San bounding in deftly like a panther!

Just as Na San rushed in, he felt something coming at him. Something dark threw itself at him just as his eyes got used to the dimness, howling like a terrified monkey right into his face with foul language, “YOU BASTARD!!

Bang! The unseen assailant’s blow landed squarely on Na San’s face and he collapsed. The figure looked up, only now he discovered that the enemy he had just incapacitated had two more allies right behind him, and with a howling “Gods help me!”, he tried to make for the exit.

Right before I could make out who our mysterious assailant was, Na San screamed from the floor, “Your Highness! It’s me!” Only his warning came a tad too late; Edelweiss’s hand wrapped around the man’s throat and she apprehended him with a headlock around his neck, making him oddly resembling a ragdoll. This allowed me to see the man’s face and indeed, it was Jin Qichen!

The self-professed prince seemed to be ignorant of Na San’s earlier calls, still struggling to free himself from Edelweiss’s vice-like grip like a furious chicken. Na San, in spite of his bloodied face, threw himself to Jin Qichen’s legs, hugging them tightly as he cried, “Your Highness! Finally, I’ve found you! Thank Heavens, Your Highness!”

The howling monkey teetering on the edge of complete insanity that was Jin Qichen finally cooled down only after he heard Na San’s wails. He twisted around and recognized Edelweiss and then his eyes found me and he burst into tears, sobbing frenetically, “Gods in Heavens! It’s you guys! It really is you guys! I can’t believe it!”

Feeling slightly amused, I asked, “Who else did you think we were?” Jin Qichen wiped off his tears and stomped the ground vehemently with frustration, giving a kneeling Na San a contemptuous kick, “How did you find me?! Why is Na San with you?!” He glowered at Na San, “And where have you been, slave!?”

With the chance when Jin Qichen’s attention was occupied in chiding his servant, I had a good look at him. He looked absolutely shabby and dusty, with even that expensive-looking mink coat of his missing. In fact, I would have thought he could give Na San a good run for his money! Edelweiss released her grip of Jin Qichen at last and I asked, “What happened to you?” Still looking disoriented, Jin Qichen stammered incoherently, “I was meaning to ask you what’s happening here?! There’re monsters here everywhere! Ghosts too! I saw a few Na Sans, then I saw a couple of yous, all in a rampage, bloodthirsty for my life! I’ve been running! But I know. I know they’re not real! Not real…” He paused to choke back a sob, breathing heavily.

It seemed rather clear to me that Jin Qichen had had a terrible shock and he looked terribly confused. He bawled and bawled with more tears streaming down, “Oh, Gods! What a long night this is! Gods in Heaven! Please help me!” I shoved him and he lost balance and fell. He crashed to the ground, skittered away from us, and curled himself into a shivering ball, but he seemed to calm down a little. “Tell me,” I said again quietly, “What happened after you were taken? Where have you been for the past few days?”

“What do you mean by ‘past few days’? I thought I was taken here by them today?!” He cried with shocking disbelief. Then he halted like a videotape stuck on freeze-frame before he looked as if he had remembered something. Then out of nowhere, he spun and gave Na San one of the most terrible slaps I had ever seen on his face. “You imbecilic slave! How dare you left me on my own!”

Na San only kept his head bowed on the floor, uttering not a single syllable.