Valley of Peace

The summer season was coming to an end as I slept in my bed. I had my brown sleepwear on and it was a peaceful night, that is, before my father charged into my room.

He busted through the door and shook me awake as he spoke in a hurried tone. "Come on and wake up, we have to leave quickly." He then helped me out of the house but forgot to bring my bells. He had said it would make too much noise and that isn't something we need right now.

As soon as we exited the house, the smell of smoke went through my snout instantly.

I can now deduce what the problem is, a bit more than before. Especially since I wouldn't have known about the fire unless it had come close to my room since heavy leather is put up to block the windows. But now that we are outside, all I could do was hold my father's paw and run with him.

We ran quickly throughout the forest, making turns every now and again since it seems like my father is trying to avoid notice the best he could. There would be no other reason for him to make these sudden turns and movements otherwise.

But as we ran we could hear the screams and shouts of people in the distance. Many sounded distraught and scared while the others sounded more like a battle cry filled with joy.

A smile creeped upon my face that I quickly hid, it sounded like some people were having fun and I was missing out.

This is fine though, even in my state I cannot be expected to fight so many people for the time being.

The sounds of screaming grew louder and softer as my father and I ran. "Don't worry about them, they will be fine. My priority is you right now and as long as we don't encounter any trouble we will be fine." Yet just as he said that, howling came from my left and right. I Heard my father grunt and roll to the floor as the sound of an arrow passed by my ears, but also, I could feel the wind of one passing closely by my leg which i bet hit my father's.

My father gripped my paw tightly all the while I heard him pull the arrows out one after the other with a growl before he got back up and went to run again. But not long after I heard someone run past and stab him with something. Making the Sable fall down onto the ground again.

"You damned wolves. Always in a rush to toy with anything in sight." My father said with anger in his voice while footsteps could be heard all around us before someone came up and put their paw on my shoulder.

"Hehe, small little thing has quite the mouth, interesting. And judging by this Hyena's eyes, he is blind so he can't see what is happening." The gruff voice said. "I wonder what you would do if I were to kill this… Boy of yours'' He said as his voice gets lower.

"Just kill me then, I will die in his place. The boy doesn't have to di-" My father suddenly stops speaking, and all I could hear now was him gargling something.

I guess they just slit his throat…

They went and killed someone who not only took care of me but helped me get stronger. And he was gone just like that.

I balled up my fists in a bit of anger, not out of the love I had for him, but more like the toy I played with had just been destroyed.

"Aww that's adorable." The wolf beside me said "Did you love your daddy that much that you want to take revenge? Well then. If it is revenge you are looking for then come back with an army. Otherwise you should not even think about redemption." The wolf chuckled with every word.

"If you don't want to die, then run." I heard him say as he gets so close to my ear I could feel his breath"

"RUN!!!" He shouted and I quickly started to run as fast as I could in a certain direction, pushing past any wolves that were there at the time. The sound of paws running after me along with the arrows and rocks being thrown at my head but are purposely missing it just by an inch or two to scare me.

Needless to say it didn't go as they expected, but while I was running I tripped and hit a number of things which only made me more aggravated. I trained for all that time, got all this strength only to be running away into trees and tripping over rocks.

I may have been beaten down and hurt in my previous life but this will be the first and last time that I will run away in this world. I just have to stay alive and keep running for now even though it pains me just to think that. But regardless I ran and I ran and I ran until I found a way out of this situation.

The way out quickly presented itself once I heard a river that seemed to be flowing fast. By now I have gotten far enough away from the wolves that they would not be able to find me if I were to jump here and now.

So as I heard the raging river get closer and closer I took a deep breath and jumped. Jumping a great distance before falling a greater distance downward, It seems like the fall was greater than I had anticipated.

Even worse, when I made it into the river, I sank under the water and could not swim upwards. The waves forced my body to spin around and force me down the river without any chance to fight the currents.

I was glad that i took such a deep breath but even that won't be able to save me at this rate.

As I continued to try and swim upwards with the difficulty of finding the right way up my chest started to hurt. I begin to get light headed. It was futile to try and do anything from the beginning.

And just like that I had blacked out. My body was flung around by the river into rocks, logs, and whatever else was in the way.

[A couple of minutes later]

I jolted awake, coughing out water that entered my lungs while I struggled to breathe.

After a few minutes of sharp inhaling I managed to catch my breath. I could hear the river behind me but it was no longer raging about and it was a nice and calm stream. When I look back I listen closely to see if there were any noises or sudden movements but that wasn't needed as I heard someone gasp.

I quickly turned my head towards where I heard the person and stared at that spot. Not moving my head away, not making any sudden movements unless I heard or felt something wrong.

"You are awake, that is good. I-I'm sorry I saw you in the river and decided to help. I have been here for a while trying to wake you up." A young womanly voice said to me. I could hear her come closer to me before she got down onto the ground beside me. "I am glad you are ok. You can come with me if you'd like to. I can take you back to where I live so we can get you to someone more professional than me."

I nodded and got up before she spoke again "Your eyes are funny. They are all white and foggy. Also when we get back we can get you some clothes since… You are not exactly wearing anything" She mentioned in a shy voice.

She was right, once she told me I felt up my body and saw that I was indeed naked without a shred of clothing left on me. They must have been torn up and ripped off by rocks or branches or whatever else snagged onto me while I was out.

"If it bothers you then dont look. Also don't get any ideas, I am not shy about being this way in public and I will not stand any touching of any kind unless it will get me to some help faster or lead me in a certain direction." I sternly said.

From there the little girl took my paw and began to guide me once I stuck out my paw for her to grab. I was not here for pleasure and I am not looking to bed any females or males. At Least not yet, even more so I am undecided and never paid attention to romance so I have no idea what my tastes are.

She guided me throughout the terrain, helping me around which I thanked her for throughout the journey. And not long after we first started on the adventure she stopped for some reason. She took in a deep breath and let it out "Would you look at that view! It sure is beautiful right?"

…..

"It sure is…"

"But you are looking in the wrong direction."

…

"Lets keep going" I said and we started to walk again as the little girl told me a bit about her town. But it wasn't just that alone, she told me something that made me smile.

"This is the Valley of Peace. By me being the first one to meet you here. I thank you and welcome you for visiting and possibly staying!"

This is the place my now dead father told me about huh? The place that has a great kung fu master residing atop a mountain called Jade Mountain. You had to climb all the way up the supposed one thousand steps to go where the master resides, inside of the luxurious Jade Palace.

Ever since I heard that we are going to the Valley of Peace, I started to walk faster albeit with some struggle, the cuts and bruises that I didn't realise were there started to act up but I ignored it. At this point it was the young girl trying to keep up with me while leading me away from sharp drop offs every now and again.

A few hours passed by, the sun was setting at this point yet it was still pretty high in the sky. Regardless, we had made it at last, at least from what the girl told me while leading me away from certain places outside of the town, saying it was bad to let others see me in such a state especially with everything showing.

So she went into town to go and bring me some clothes but also some bells since I had requested it. When she got back she helped me put them on even though she hesitated a lot when it came to my pants. But once everything was done she led me into the town where I heard the voices of many others around me. I could smell tasteful dishes all over the place and hear people bargaining at shops. And now that I had the bells I could see the outline of so many others around me.

I thanked the little girl and asked her if there was a place we could go eat since I could feel my stomach begging for something to eat. She nodded and led me to a dumpling shop run by a swan. I sat at a table with her and she ordered dumplings to share which were quickly delivered in a big bowl filled with hot dumplings. They tasted amazing. The juices that flowed into my mouth, the meat that was inside and even the outside of the dumpling was something that you would brag about eating. If I were to ever burn this town down I would give money to the owner to open a shop somewhere else. The food is just too good to ignore.

But when we finished I asked her for directions to the Jade Palace. She gave me directions and offered to take me there but I denied her request. She was quite cautious though when answering my question since she wanted me to get my cuts and bruises tended to first but I passed it off saying I was fine thanks to her.

So I left her alone. Leaving the amazing dumpling place and going to the Jade mountain steps. It sure did take a while to get there. But regardless I stood at the steps either way. I took a deep breath "Nothing I have not done before" I said to myself before starting the journey upward. Running up the steps as fast as I could. I skipped steps and continued to run without missing a beat, getting into a rhythm with each step. This would be something that I would do just to make sure that I always had a temp going. Fighting was like dancing or so my father taught me. And with dance you need to go with the rhythm, once you lose the rhythm you can end up getting lost and you will soon find yourself failing.

But that is besides the point right now, father was not kidding when he said that these were 1,000 steps. Not just anybody could walk this let alone run it straight.

[around twenty minutes later]

"Pant… pant… finally made it..." I said with my hands on my knees. I have not been that exhausted in a long time but it was well worth it seeing how I am in front of the Jade Palace in all its glory, big pillars and all. There were two large doors in front of me now which were the doors to enter. I took a deep breath and walked towards the door. Raising a paw before knocking at the door.

Knock. Knock. Knock.