To All Our Troubles

After Mister Li escaped Seven tried to heal Doctor Fa's sister. He mentioned using his energy to push the evil energy that was blocking Meng Ruo's meridians. It sounded very wuxia-ish to me and I had no idea about it so I only watched. Doctor Fa – right he told me to call him Yuan Qi – convinced his father to turn himself in to the Triad elders and confess his crimes.

After all that we went home.

We headed to Nanjing City where the Hunter Family had a vacation villa. When we got there, everyone was already waiting for us, including my father and Uncle Victor."

"They all started asking us questions but Artemis blocked them off and insisted that we all needed rest first before we tell them everything.

"Doctor's orders." she stated firmly.

Nobody retorted.

The next day I woke up at around noon. The room I was staying was Chinese styled that I almost mistook it for my old room back in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province. Anyway, I walked around the garden of the villa and enjoyed the tranquility and beauty of the place.

An hour later, with our lunch already eaten, we all gathered in the pavilion. Dean was trying to stop an argument between Coby and Blake about who could run faster, Seth and Kai were bothering Seven about having a tour in the city square, Leo and Xander were chatting about hats, Tim was begging Kyle and Calvin to spar with him and lastly, Artemis was scolding Chen who broke a vase that was from the Song Dynasty.

My father, Uncle Victor and Lucas already left for their own affairs and told us to enjoy our rest in the villa.

I just watched everyone do their thing. It was peaceful and I liked it very much, wishing it could go on forever.

"Stop smiling like an idiot." said a voice beside me.

I turned around and saw Liu Fen.

"You're here?" he nodded. "Shouldn't you be somewhere? Like guarding the tomb or something."

"Nah. My title as guardian of that place was only honorary and besides Artemis already took the book so it's no use guarding it anymore."

"But that place has monsters."

"All those monsters should be dead by now, turned to ash and all, except for the scorpions."

"What? How?"

"The Book of Jade. If we use an RPG game as an analogy, the Book of Jade is the tomb's core and taking it meant conquering the tomb. The monsters also got destroyed."

"What a convenient thing."

"Pretty much. So if any normal archaeologists find that place, there's no need to worry about human-eating monsters that can only be found in fantasy novels, and in myths and legends. Except for the white scorpions."

"Stop mentioning the white scorpions." he only smirked. "What are you going to do now? I mean, you're immortal and all."

"Well, I'll just continue what I had been doing."

"What had you been doing?"

"Running a business."

"What business?"

"An antique store."

"Ah."

"I was right you know when I gave you the pendant." I threw him a confused look. "You looked a lot like my brother and your soul glows the same light as his."

"What are you talking about?"

"The jade pendant."

My hand unconsciously gripped the jade pendant that I had received back in the Philippines and had been with me ever since I became a trainee.

"But-"

I stared dumbfounded at Liu Fen who slowly transformed into a familiar looking old man.

"Grandpa Xue Fe!"

He just smiled. I heard the others gasp though.

""He's an old man!"" yelled the two youngest members in our group.

"How did you do that?" asked Artemis.

"Magic. And soon you can do it as well Artemis. I'll help you."

"Okay."

***

We were all seated around the round marble table with snacks laid in front of us but nobody even took some because they were listening intently to my story.

I told them about my previous life in a fantasy-like world called Agymista.

They were all pretty surprised as I expected and a little amazed as I told them my story. They laughed at the funny things and cried at the sad ones.

It was hard telling them about my death and Leo's (Agymista's Leo) betrayal but I pushed through.

"Anyway I am still Lei Zhang. And whether it's my previous life or current one, I am relieved that you guys became my friends. It was awkward at first because you bore resemblance and the nicknames but I came to accept it, the fact that you guys are not them and that you guys are yourselves." I sighed. "I bet you think it's unfair and you also probably think that I'm only friends with you because of that reason, but it's not. So you know…"

I waited for them to scream at me, even curse at me or something, but nothing happened. I received silence followed by loud laughs from them.

"What the- He! What are you-"

"Dude," Seven tried to catch his breath. "Do you really think we're that shallow?"

"Yeah Lei-hyung!" Seth said. "Why are you even worrying about it?"

"So Lei," Xander tapped my shoulder. The laughs had finally died down. "If we're anything like your friends in Agymista, do you really think we'll stop being friends with you for something like that?"

"Uhm…"

"And besides," Kyle added. "We've been together for quite some time, don't you trust us? Nobody can handle our quirks you know."

"Well, I guess and I trust you guys! It's just that…"

"Okay I think that's enough." Artemis interrupted. "My patient has a concussion and we all have been through a lot. Whether he's someone from another world or was an emperor in the past, and that we bear the same faces as his past acquaintances it doesn't matter. What's important is right now, the present. Don't you think so?"

"That's right!" Chen agreed. "Even though I did not exist in Agy-whatchamacallit, right now you're Lei Zhang, my brother and they are your friends. That's what's important."

"And right now our job is to relax and enjoy our holidays." the hyper Blake said in which everyone agreed.

***

I blearily opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling for a while. The sound of someone chopping interrupted me of my thoughts. I took my phone and looked at the time.

It was eleven thirty in the morning.

"Is Dean cooking already?" I said to myself.

I looked to the side and peeked at my roommate, Leo, who was still snoring away. I slowly sat up then headed to the kitchen where I saw Dean chopping vegetables.

"Morning hyung." he greeted.

"Hey want me to help you?" I offered.

"You sure?" he looked at me skeptically.

"What?"

"You do realize you're actually banned from cooking right? The last time you cooked you almost blew up the kitchen."

"Well that's…"

"Hyung-"

"I can chop the ingredients." he paused. "Please let me help you."

"Fine."

I flashed a smile and took over his job while he checked the rice he was cooking and the meat he was boiling beforehand.

While I was chopping the carrot, I admit it was a moment of not focusing on what I was doing, I felt pain on my left hand and saw blood.

"HYUNG!"

Dean cradled my hand and wrapped it with a towel. I realized I mistakenly chopped the skin of my own finger.

"Hyung you have to be careful. Seven-hyung will go ballistic."

"Sorry. I just got distracted."

While he was putting pressure on my wound I suddenly felt a familiar sensation I haven't felt in a very long time.

I felt my hand getting warmer, energy gathering in it. I took back my hand from dean's grasp and looked at the wound… which already vanished.

"Hyung, how-"

"I don't…" a stupid idea popped in my head. "Dean, I'm so sorry about this."

"Sorry about what?"

I grabbed the knife and lightly cut his palm.

"Ow!"

I told him to be silent and held his had firmly. I then concentrated like I used to do in my past life. I felt my hand go warm and saw Dean's cut slowly close up.

"It's… it's healed!"

My eyes were as wide as his.

"Wait, Lei-hyung… this is…"

"My ability back in Agymista but why do I…"

Silence hung in the atmosphere but it was cut off when Xander showed up.

"Morning guys, or is it afternoon now? Why are you two holding hands? Wait, is that blood?"

""Xander-hyung/-ge!""

"What?"

Our eyes widened when I saw the water in the glass he was holding froze.

"What the hell?"

Xander held the glass out.

"Ice…" I muttered.

""Guys!"" the voices of two of our vocal line suddenly resounded.

We all turned to them and saw Blake and Calvin in an unusual situation.

Calvin was engulfed in tendrils of electricity while Blake's hands were glowing.

"What's going on?" Blake yelled.

"I should ask the same thing!" Calvin yelled back.

"You guys… have powers?" Dean asked.

"""Why?"""

I paused to collect my thoughts.

"Do you think this has something to do with what happened last month?" I asked.

They looked at me. The previous month we got kidnapped and were dragged around or rather under Wuzhi Mountain in Hainan, China. My thoughts were interrupted when I head a scream from the bathroom.

"That voice," I heard Blake whisper. "Seven-hyung?"

The scream woke up almost everyone in the dorm and we all headed to the bathroom. Blake and Calvin also calmed down and so did their powers. Xander kicked the door to the bathroom and we saw a panicking Seven who was wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his hips. But that wasn't what caught our attention at first, it was the water floating inside the room.

"Guys! What the hell is going on?"

Anywhere he moved the water would follow.

"Hyung!" our youngest piped up. "You're a water bender!"

"Seth!" I called.

"""SHUT UP!"""

"Seven-hyung, clear your mind and calm yourself. Think of the water as an extension of yourself and command it."

"What?"

"Stop panicking!"

"Deep breaths Seven." Leo suggested. "Deep breaths."

Seven did as he was told and the water fell down.

"Do you guys remember what I told you about my friends in Agymista?" they all nodded. "What do they have that we don't?"

"Magic?" Tim said.

"Not exactly but you're getting closer."

"Superpowers!" Kai said cheerfully.

"Exactly! And right now I think we have them or at least those who came to Liu Qing's tomb with me."

Everybody stared at me like I grew two heads.

"If that really is the case then everyone who went to Wuzhi Mountain gained superpowers?" Blake asked.

"I think so. I mean, Artemis is currently practicing magic, remember?"

"Okay, we gained superpowers so we're basically freaks now." I heard Xander grumble.

"Wait," Seven interrupted. "Where's Kyle?"

We all gathered in front of the room that Kyle and Tim shared.

"You do know Kyle's a heavy sleeper." Tim said in a 'matter-of-fact' voice.

"He probably slept through the entire 'Seven-Calvin-and-Blake-screams' ordeal." Coby seconded.

"Dude even if a bomb went off, he still wouldn't wake up." Blake added and everybody snickered.

I opened the door and scanned the room but Kyle was nowhere to be seen.

"Err… guys?" I turned to Tim and saw him stare at something above us.

I looked up as well and saw Kyle… still asleep… on the ceiling.

"Yep, he slept through all that." Kai commented sarcastically.

"The power of flight." I mumbled.

After waking up Kyle, who was calm throughout the whole ordeal, and had him safely land to the floor, we all gathered to the living room. We were engulfed in silence and no one dared to speak. The door opened, and Artemis and Liu Fen came in.

"What's the emergency about?" Artemis asked. "I have a surgery in about three hours you know."

I motioned to Blake and he formed a ball of light in his palm while Seven summoned water and made it swirl in front of the two.

"You guys have superpowers?"

"Not everyone, only those who entered Emperor Yue's tomb."

"What about Jessa and her friends? Fa Xiao Min?"

"I called them." Kyle answered. "Nothing weird happened to them. So are we a special case or something?"

All our heads turned to Liu Fen who was only watching us from the sides.

"What?"

"Grandpa…" Calvin called.

"Please don't call me that. I look younger than you lot."

"Any way to explain this?" I motioned to me and my friends.

"Hmm… I didn't think you were perfect hosts to those troublesome things."

"Erm… hosts?" Seven inquired.

"You make it sound like we're infected with parasites or something." Calvin commented.

"You can think of it that way. Yours already activated because you got exposed to the energy spot but I'm not sure about the others. It seems like everyone got it though."

"What are you mumbling about there? There's something you're not telling us." Artemis said.

"Well…"

"More trouble is coming isn't there?" Seth questioned.

Liu Fen looked away.

"I have but one advice for you guys, no, it applies to all of us. The cogs are in place and the wheel of fate is starting to move. We all have to be prepared."

"I hate foreshadowing." Dean sighed in disbelief.

***VOLUME 1 END***