UNEXPECTED SURPRISES

Would you like to know your future? If your answer is yes, think again. Not knowing is the greatest life motivator. So, enjoy, endure, survive each moment as it comes to you in its proper sequence, a surprise.

Vera Nazarian

It was dawn. The morning weather was cold and foggy. I was excited to have received a chance to see and feel my parents, even if it was just a dream. It was like I had been reborn. The feeling is unexplainable, but it was good, nonetheless. Chung Lee and the other students were up early, practicing. I came out to the training court to watch them rehearse their skills. Our new Grand Master Longwei was teaching the students some new moves. It was interesting to see the pupils absorb knowledge from the new Grandmaster. I assumed that the students wouldn't like nor catch on to the new wisdom they were receiving from the new guy but come to find out; they were beginning to like Grandmaster Longwei, maybe more.

I had an urge to join them. At first I resisted, but then, I decided to partake in the show. What the hell? Besides studying, it wasn't as if had anything else important to do anyway. What harm would it do for me to apprehend new moves so I can take better care of myself for once, I mused, shaking my head. "Might as well get used to this," I mumbled to myself. One student peered at me, sighing. I could tell he wanted to ask what I was doing and why I wasn't carrying hot towels on the sideline, but decided against it, minding his own business. Another pupil made a funny face as if I hadn't bathed in days, not uttering a word to me, just concentrated on the new Master and the lessons he was teaching us. I think I saw her wink at him once or twice. Her name was Lilian, the class flirt. She had a bad habit of flirting with strong, cute guys in class. Once, I approached her but she rejected me, making a tsk, tsk sound. "Sorry!" she began, rolling her eyes. "but I like strong men, a man that can protect himself and me. Bye now."

I mentally kicked myself for believing that a gorgeous girl like Lilian would ever go out with a studious, lame guy like me. Anyway, I decided to leave the girls alone for a while until I can prove to myself and others that I'm not as timid or cowardly as others believe.

I repeated what others did, moving however they moved. Afterwards, we stood still at attention, then two students were called out by Master Longwei to fight each other. It was all part of the training. They began fighting at Master Longwei's command. They fought and fought hard for twenty minutes. One was defeated, knocked down by the other. Two other students were commanded to come out, so they did as the Master ordered. The stronger one defeated the other. Later, Chung Lee was called out to fight another student. They fought for a few minutes, then Chung Lee defeated him. It was very much expected because he was the best student fighter in the temple. Aside from our Masters, no one was strong enough to match him.

"Who else would like to challenge Chung Lee?" Grandmaster Long-wei asked.

The Temple was as quiet as mouse, searching for cheese. So quiet that you could hear a pin drop around the corner. Chung Lee was the strongest kid in the Temple! Who would be foolish enough to compete against someone of his caliber? Even if someone was suicidal, they would rather get devoured by sharks and call it a day than to compete against Chung Lee! I knew that no one would challenge him for everyone knew he'd win.

Apparently, my hippocampus wasn't working properly because I stood up and shouted, "I'll challenge him." I must've forgotten about the time when I almost died from the hands of another student years ago. The time when my father was so disappointed in my losing the competition that my mother stopped the brat from choking the daylights out of me.

I don't know what I was thinking, challenging Chung Lee. I just knew it was too late for me to change my mind. Once you accept or challenge someone into a fight, you cannot go back on your word. If you do, then you'll always be known as a coward. Plus, there's a chance that you might get your ass kicked for backing down at the last minute.

Everyone roared their asses off when they heard me say I would challenge him. It wasn't anything new because it was expected. That's what you get when you're recognized as the "lazy" student and then suddenly you want to fight the champion. "Alright Lui." he said, signaling me to come forward with his index finger and with a straight, stern face. Even though I knew that he too, wanted to laugh with the rest of the students, but didn't. He was the new man at the Temple, so it was his job to be as observant and fair as possible or he might lose his job on the first day. "give it your best shot." Master Longwei called out.

Without warning, I realized that everyone was pointing at me, laughing. I was already known as the laughingstock of the Temple. Damn! Did I really have to make things even more complicated by daring Chung Lee to fight me, of all people at the Temple? He had a better chance at winning a fight against the new instructor instead of dealing with me. Sluggishly, I walked out to answer Grandmaster's call as they all continued to watch and laugh at me. "Ready to get your ass beat?" Chung Lee asked, laughing scornfully at me. I didn't say a word, I just stood there, wondering why I raised my hand in the first place. I knew I could never beat him. After all, the other students who were much better fighters than I, could not beat him, so why the hell did I raise my hand?

What was I thinking? What came over me? Soon, we were set to fight. Master Longwei gave the order to begin and before I knew it, I was down by a massive kick which landed hard against my chest. My body slammed on the ground as if the concrete soil itself was going to crumble and all of us were to pay the Devil a visit sooner than later. That was the kind of kick Chung hit me with; the knock-you-on-your-ass without-a-second-notion-kind of strike. I swept the floor clean with my face and with my tongue as both a broom and dustpan.

The students laughed as I managed to pick myself up, getting set to continue. Master Longwei was the only person who didn't laugh or crack a smile. He didn't find my failure comical like the others had. "Quiet, students!" Master Longwei gently, yet firmly ordered. "there's nothing funny about someone getting hurt or making a mistake. This is practice, not a competition. Show some respect because this could be you." He turned to Chung and me and said, "Continue!"

Chung charged at me with full force but this time, I was able to defend myself from some of his attacks with a few blocks here and there until out of nowhere, a punch landed on my jaw and knocked the breath out of me. I could have sworn that my trigeminal area was dented. My tongue was bleeding and it felt as if my mandible was broken. Was it broken? Were my teeth shattered too? Slowly, I felt that my teeth luckily enough, were still in place. I could still move my tongue, despite the blood flowing from my oral cavity. Once again, I swept the floor clean with my face. I was more determined than ever to defeat Chung Lee at his own game. As soon as I hit the ground, I felt a strange feeling, electrically charging my body. It felt like an energy flowed through my body, like an electrical current. What was happening to me? I stood up and everything changed.

My vision was stronger as if I could instantaneously foreshadow every move Chung Lee was about to utilize as he came toward me again. It felt as if I could read his mind or see right through him, knowing his strengths and weaknesses are without keeping an eye out for his arms, hands, or feet.

Effortlessly, I countered and defended all assaults right away. Refusing to be defeated, Chung came at me with greater rage, but he couldn't touch me. His strikes were useless and he hated it with a passion! Chung was so accustomed to winning that he couldn't figure out what was happening and why the hell I wasn't coughing up my lungs or spitting out any plasma onto the floor? The students were just as shocked as he was, if not more.

Everyone could not believe their eyes as Chung Lee found himself kiss the ground with his face, after an incredible roundhouse kick from me to the side of his head, with my right leg. Oh my God!! wish you could see the look on his face as he kissed the ground. Surprisingly, I was untouchable. I didn't understand what was happening, but it was like a new "me" had emerged and it felt fucking great! Reminded me of the time when Spiderman got bitten by a spider and out of nowhere, Peter Parker became New York City's superhero within a day or two. It was difficult using the spider web and learning how to spin, jump and so on, but he adapted sooner than later.

I had a feeling that I would face the same dilemma with my new superpowers, of course.

Chung Lee's rage escalated and went overboard as he came swinging at me with a flying kick. I slid underneath him and came standing behind him. As soon as he landed, I dropped a fast kick onto his backbone, which left him crashing on the floor. He was angry and embarrassed as he managed to get himself up and came rushing to attack me again, even though he was already bleeding from his mouth. I turned to everyone and said, "Who's the loser now?" No one replied, just stood still in awe of what had just occurred. I knew what they were thinking; How did that spineless twerp become so good at fighting? Quiet as kept, that was the same question I pondered, as well.

"Enough!" Master Longwei commanded, loudly. It was obvious that the fight was too much for him to handle for one day. I assumed the pupils felt the same way too, including Chung Lee. "That's it for today. Class dismissed." Everyone bowed and went into their room to study or do whatever else they felt like doing. Precipitously, I felt normal again. Before, I felt supernatural but as soon as we stopped fighting, I felt like a normal kid again. Darn it! I was just starting to like my superpowers.

And now all that energy and power disappeared from my frail, little body.

"Come with me Lui." Master Longwei said, instructing me to follow him. Oh shit!!.... Now I'm in trouble, I thought. He sauntered away, so I followed him behind. "Get some rest, Chung Lee. Go see Master Wang Xui Ying and get yourself treated." Master Longwei instructed, while walking away. Soon, we were in his office, a small room which had an ancient wooden bookshelf in it. The bookshelves contained some old and new scrolls and books. There was a table with three books and some scrolls on top of it. There were also two chairs. We both sat down, facing each other. I was waiting to be scolded.

"What happened out there?" Master Longwei asked.

I was very careful not to answer wrongly to avoid any form of punishment. At the same time, I made a vow to myself and the Monks that any powers I received from here on out would be strictly confidential. Besides, how many people wake up one morning being their usual selves only to wake up the next day to become the toughest person alive? It's like winning the lottery, only to give half your cash to someone who hadn't even earned it.

"I don't know Master." I replied, shrugging my shoulders. That part was somewhat true. I really did not know what had happened because I was in the zone. Even though my body was present, my mind was focused on kicking Chung Lee's ass. Hence, whatever feeling I felt that time was not relevant. "I guess I got lucky today. Who knows? Got a hunch?"

"Don't get smart, kiddo!" Master Longwei said, wagging his index finger at me. If my superpowers hadn't faded, I would've bit off his hand, but since it vanished, I remained quiet and careful not to push his buttons. "I'm just trying to get to the bottom of things. I just can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that you defeated Chung Lee with one kick to the head in two seconds." he pointed, amazed. "How'd you do that?" he asked, adding;

"I mean, you're the least skilled kid in the class but suddenly you became a master champion out there. What can you say about that? Come on, don't leave me in the dark."

I might have been a shy, quiet kid that wouldn't hurt a fly if need be, but I was far from moronic. The new master wanted one of two thins, my superpowers or he was an informant for another gang. Either way, he could not be trusted. No one could. At first, the man pitied me for my poor martial arts skills, now he wanted to befriend me. He could keep his so-called nice mannerisms and shove it where the sun doesn't shine because I wasn't going to tell him or anyone a thing.

Quickly I replied,"Master… I do not know what happened. One moment I was down and the next minute, I was incredible. I don't know how I won the competition, I just knew that it felt really good to win for once." I replied, with a smile and some look of excitement. It felt awesome to have whooped Chung Lee's ass. Master Longwei stood up and grabbed a scroll from a box seated at a corner in his office. I didn't notice that initially. The box looked old and somewhat dirty. I wondered if that was the same box I saw in my dream.

"Yeah! maybe so, but something happened to you." he pointed, sounding a tad bit envious as if he wished that he had what I have. "Did you notice that your eyes turned completely white just before you began defeating Chung Lee?" I was having a depersonalization experience during the match! How was I supposed to know that my eyes were turning white during that time? "Did you feel a sense of change within you?" he asked, wanting to know more about how I turned from geek to Superman within seconds.

I made a mental note to beat around the bush, so this new Master could get off my case. It's called competition, dumbbell, I pondered. Everyone gets hurt, but only one wins the game. I won. He lost. End of story.

Then again, I began to ponder if I was being too hard on the new Master. Maybe he's not such a bad guy at all. He was the one who stood up for me when the students made fun of me when I was getting my butt kicked by Chung. What the heck? Why not let Master Longwei in on my secret? What could go wrong? "Yes I felt this indescribable energy inside of me. It felt like lightning hit me and I was gone," I told him. Master Longwei nodded, exhaling heavily, then he handed me the scroll to read.

The scroll talked about Zhèngyì zhī wáng, the Lord of Justice. "That's the tale of the Zhèngyì zhī wáng, a legend from thousands of years ago. Jinhai was a young man who hated evil. He was upright, pure, and he cared so much about the people of his village. Everyone loved him. The village was a prosperous land until evil arose and spread its foot across the entire land. A Samurai named Lord Keung became a tyrant over the people of the land after giving himself to the influence of dark sorcery, which motivated him to terrorize the people of the land. Extorting money from the people, killing, raping women and all sorts of evil but soon his tyranny was over as Jinhai was blessed with the power of the Lord of Justice and became Zhèngyì zhī wáng, the greatest warrior that ever existed. At last, he single-handedly defeated Keung and all his men. The people were liberated, and evil was vanquished from the land. Jinhai vanished, never to be seen or heard from again. Had he become a maladroit, living in the islands where no one could find him? A strong possibility. Had he finally found a decent woman and became a father that he always wanted to be? Perhaps. Who knows? Although he's gone, his legend lives on forever. People think it's just a tale, but it isn't. The legend of Zhèngyì zhī wáng is real and I think you have possessed that power," Master Longwei explained incredulously. "Tell me I'm wrong and I'll leave you alone."

He waited for my response with his arms folded, tapping his forearms with his fingers, slowly and deliberately. He couldn't wait to hear me tell him that he's right. After hearing the story, I was tempted enough to tell Master Longwei my secret, so I told him about my dream. I realized that the dream I had wasn't just a fantasy like I thought it was. I was eager to understand what was happening to me, so I explained every detail of my dream to him. "Zhèngyì zhī wáng… that's the name they called me in my dream but like I explained, I thought it was just a dream." I said, sounding surprised. Master Longwei exhaled heavily and said, "I don't think it is." Then he leaned back into his chair with his eyes gazing firmly into mine and added, "But there's only one way to find out if truly you're Zhèngyì zhī wáng." I knew things would never be the same again if what he said was true. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was prepared to be a Zhèngyì zhī wáng. I was too young and haven't had my life figured out yet. What was I going to do with such a great power if truly I'm the Zhèngyì zhī wáng? That was the question that kept reappearing in my head as I sat, staring back at Master Longwei.