Chapter Five

In front of the academy, hordes of students can be seen leaving the premises. Parents picking them up from the front gate or walking to their parents vehicles before driving off. Anna walked closer to the school. Children snickering as she passed. She ignored them and made her way to the front of the school to oversee the school yard. She sniffed the air for a wiff of her perpetrator. A woman behind her who almost looked her age gasped lightly and tugged at her dress, "ah, excuse me?" She turned to the woman, she noticed she had looked her up and down, "you can't walk around like that! Do you want to embarrass yourself, fine. But your child will be ridiculed in school if you show up wearing your uniform like that!" The rude woman huffed, "just.. come with me!" She grabbed her hand and dragged Anna to her car where she opened her back door and rummaged through some articles of clothing. "Aha! Here!" She pulled out a thin sweater and placed it over her head. "There, now you won't be judged so easily." Anna tilted her head and looked at the woman, "don't worry about it! You can keep it~ we have to look out for one another you know?" Anna parted her lips to respond to the woman, however she was cut off, "lately there have been kidnappings in town. Turns out that the 2 missing children used to come to this school. Us parents have to support one another so we can report anything suspicious you know?" she finally turned to Anna again as they started their way back to the gates. "I'm sorry, where are my manners, It's a pleasure to meet you. You can call me Miss Young," the woman presented Anna her hand. This was the first time Anna had witnessed this type of greeting. She was raised in what many would refer to as a space where life never grew. The spirits of man and beasts always acknowledged one another with a bow in the dead realm. Depending on the strength of the deity of course; would be the nature of the bow. A mortal with no qi, in her case would be nothing but a light nod. For they were deemed one of the weakest beings in all of the realms. "Uhm, are you ok?" The woman asked. Anna shook her head, she was lost in thought. She finally decided to humor the being and offered her hand as well, "apologies, it is an honor to meet you madame Young," flustered, the woman shook her hand and quickly withdrew it from her, "ah.. You don't have to speak so formal. I'm not much older than you, haha.." miss young broke out in a cold sweat, then coughed into her fist, "ahem, a-anyway, since we are well acquainted now, what should I call you?" Anna looked away to ponder for a moment before answering, "I go by many names.. but you can call me-" "Mommy! Mommy!" Both of the women turn to see a girl who was running from the school to greet her mother with a hug.

300 years ago

"Mommy! Mommy!" A young wolf pup called as he returned to his mother. The pup was ambushed by his brothers and sisters upon his arrival. Meanwhile the mother wolf was preoccupied speaking with Wang whom carried an infant. "I am not sure what your asking me my lord," he presented her a handful of herbs and acorns. " take the babe under your wing. Teach her the basics. I will return to her when the time is right.." the being bowed to him, "I have no knowledge about raising such a creature my lord. Im afraid the basics will be incorrect. Our literacy isn't as complex as the heavens or the underworld," he just smiled sheepishly, "that is all she requires," the man knelt beside the wolf and started a small pile of dried sticks, leaves and some straw. He then placed the herbs over it and circled the placement with acorns. Once he finished his preparation, he placed the child about two feet away from the fire place and began to pray. A blue flame enveloped the foliage, burning the very materials. The flame eventually burned everything and quickly ceased. The smoke becoming thin from its wake. The smoke surrounded the child that was wrapped in its blankets and a small whimper escaped her lips. Wang stepped before it and unwrapped the child who had now transformed into a small black wolf pup. The mother wolf stepped forward to take the new runt of her litter and gave wang a bow before returning to her young pack. Wang quickly turned on his heels and made his way out of the lost forests of limbo.

"Search the entire realm. Any sign of the babe, you kill it on sight," stated Lee to a guard of the human realm entrance. The guard placed his fist to his chest and bowed to the being. "Yes sir!" After his departure Lee sighed and folded his arms before the gates of the earth realm closed. 'Damn child, if it wasn't for the woman, she would be dead, and I would have been the strongest among us,' he looked down at his fist and clenched it at the thought of his deception. He grew tired of being a mere spirit of nature. He wanted to create chaos on a higher scale, where others would praise him and offer their very lives for peace in all of the realms. 'If that fool hadn't exposed himself, there would still have been a chance for me to overtake his power.' "That idiot.." he murmured to himself. He then walked the planes of the underworld until he reached mirror pond. A realm within the underworld. Legends of the pond are said that many were lost to it, and so the spirits were advised not to set foot in its entirety. Lee however, dipped his legs into the water, and for a moment, watched his reflection as it slowly started to move. The reflection being chained and screaming in anger at the Lee who was free, "ah, so you survived another day. I'm impressed." Lee had hovered his face close to his reflection until the pond enveloped him and he was now in a cryptic dungeon, beside the other Lee who was in chains. His arrival, due to a bowl of water that lay beside the prisoner. Lee removed himself from the bowl and a guard opened the gate for him. Unlike the guards from the other realm, these guards are but a black mass of shadows with armor that are as black as iron and many battle scars on the steel to the point where it seems that the armor itself had melded with the wearer. The guard bowed to Lee, " we welcome your return master," Lee turned back to his chained self, then glanced at the pile of flesh in the stall beside his. "Did it give you joy to see your comrades physical form die? He's still alive you know. Heh, the chambers of hell are admirable indeed," the Lee in chains attempts to lunge at him from the gate, however the chains keeping him captive keep him from doing so. He lets out a shriek, "I'll kill you!!" Lee just began to chuckle, and it evolves into a menacing laugh. "What can you do when you succeed? The curse I laid on you will kill you if I die," he stops laughing abruptly and looks down on him. "What a shame that your life is my own now," he turns to walk away and the imprisoned Lee thrashes about in attempt to free himself. The imposter, now walking alongside a guard toward the exit of the prison and many other lost spirits can be seen chained in the same manner. Pleads for mercy and empty promises of forgiveness and even words of never returning are thrown in the air while the guard is following his every move. Upon the exit of the prison chambers, the view of a gigantic black castle can be seen towering over what seems like a replica of the underworld. Black clouds, streams of lava flowing around the small city until it dips into a hole in the middle, signifying the entrance to the chambers of hell. Lee took in the air and sighed. "Let's get back to work," he mumbled before taking off into the air with his subordinate and headed to the castle.