Job from the pagoda

Kai felt the cool rock against his back, his sweat gluing his hair to his brow. The wolf approached slowly, it's eyes locked on Kai. He looked around, trying to find away to escape only to find that he was trapped. The wolf was too close, if kai tried to run to the side the Wolf would pounce immediately.

He watched the wolf slowly approach. Each step sucking the life of the nearby plant life, the grass going yellow then gray before withering and turning to dust. Kai smiled wryly and closed his eyes, raising his hand to his chest to feel his mother's ring. He was silent, waiting for the wolf to take his life and wake up back in the Spirit Pagoda.

After a minute or two Kai slowly opened one eye, realizing the pain hadn't come as expected. He was greeted with the close up of the white skull on the Wolf's head. Kai froze in fear, his heart dropping to his stomach, as he felt the Wolf's nose brush up against his hand holding the ring.

Before he knew it a series of whispers attacked his mind once more, clouding his mind and causing his vision to blur. He raised his hands to his head, his world shaking as his he felt as though his head were about to burst.

The wolf backed off, whimpering in pain as though it could hear the whispers alongside Kai. It pushed its head into the ground, covering its head with its paws as it squirmed.

Soon Kai began to feel a searing pain against his chest and hand, a cold that almost seemed to burn against his skin. The pain woke him from the whispers, Kai tearing the ring from his neck. The sound of the ring tumbling against rock was heard as it landed between the Wolf and Kai.

The wolf backed off in fright, the whispers disappearing. The wolf stared at the ring, its posture much more docile and afraid as it inched away.

"It desires freedom!" The whispers came back, seeming to yell unison. "The Key requires sacrifice."

The backed away hastily as the ring began to shake on the ground, rising into the air slowly. As the ring hovered in the air the whispers continued, "To serve is to exist in eternal glory."

The wolf tried to turn and run, its paws scratching and digging holes in the ground. It seemed frozen in the air, its body thrashing and struggling but unable to get away from the ring.

"Join the Key" The whispered seemed to declare, the voice overlapping over each other.

The wolf let out a shrill and hollow yelp as a black and clawed hand began to emerge from the ring. A glow of purple light being emitted as the hand slowly became an arm. It seemed to reach out towards the Wolf, its hand outstretched.

Kai pressed himself harder against the rock even harder, his breathing going rapid as he watched the wolf get dragged through the air. The continued to cry out, its tone frightened as it was dragged slowly towards the hand.

The black claw was soon able to grip the wolf around the ankle, the wolf disappearing out of thin air. The voices seem to cheer as the hand slowly retracted back into the ring, the surrounding returning to silence.

Kai breathed heavily as he stared at the ring warily, unsure whether it was safe to pick it back up. After a few minutes he hesitantly reached forward, picking the ring back up. He hung back on his neck. Observing the ring closely he saw how the cracks seemed to have spread, becoming much more prominent.

…

At the edge of the forest, Bjorn was lifted off his feet and pressed against a tree. Ashe had her hand covering his mouth, preventing him from talking or screaming. He face was pale as she looked towards Kai who was just picking up the ring.

She turned back to Bjorn, staring into his eyes. Bjorn's eyes were shaking, afraid of what he had just witnessed. Eyeing each other for a moment Ashe eventually dropped Bjorn to the ground. Bjorn fell to his knees.

"What was that?" Bjorn mumbled, dazed by what he had just witnessed. He and Ashe and arrived just as Kai had thrown the ring towards the Wolf. Confused they were both about to step forward when a terrible pressure enveloped the surroundings as a clawed and scaled hand emerged from the ring before causing the giant Wolf to disappear.

"What was that!" This time Bjorn yelled, looking up to Ashe. She had stopped him from calling out, she had to know something.

"I don't know" Ashe spoke softly, her face still pale from what had just happened. "Just promise me you won't tell the others about this."

"Don't know?! Just te- !"

"I'll owe you one, ok?" Ashe placed her hands on Bjorn's shoulders, gazing into his eyes. "You can ask for anything, alright? Anything."

Bjorn paused, stuttering slightly as his face went beat red, "S-sure."

"Good to see Kai's alright!" Jax's voice came from behind them, causing Ashe and Bjorn to jump.

Jax paid them no mind as he stepped out of the forest, approaching Kai. Taking a couple steps he turned, looking back to Bjorn and Ashe. "You guys coming?"

…

Evelynn sighed in relief as she saw Emma return to reality unscathed. She wanted to ask what was going on, but the scientist beat Evelynn to it, bombarding Emma with a round of questions to understand what was going on.

Apparently, some strange beast attacked her, but despite its strength it didn't try to kill her and just chased. Eventually she found the others, after a brief fight Kai decided to lure it off hoping that the emergency buttons would work once the Wolf got far enough.

"Why haven't the others come out yet then?" Evelynn asked.

"They…" Emma hesitated for a moment before answering. "They went to go help Kai fight the beast."

"Idiots…" Evelynn mumbled as she shook her head, a small smile appearing on her face. She then turned back to Kai's pod, warmly gazing at it as paramedics rushed into the room- ready for the worst.

The sound of air being released was heard as the others pods suddenly began to open, the other children returning normally. The surrounding personnel sighed in relief as Evelynn rushed towards Kai's pod, kneeling next to it and waiting for him to wake up properly.

"Master?" Kai mumbled weakly; his eyes somewhat glazed on confused as his mind readjusted to reality.

Evelynn quickly lunged forward, pulling Kai in for a tight hug. "Thank-god you're ok!"

Kai's mouth opened slightly, Kai trying to think of something to say before finally just returning the hug in silence. The were silent for a few moments as the others woke up.

"Master, there's something I'd like to tell you" Kai whispered, making sure no one else could here him. Evelynn pulled away slightly, nodding and encouraging him to continue. "It's about the ring, it-"

Just as he was about to ask the question a group of Spirit Masters burst into the room, followed by another group of scientists. Stepping forward, one of the guards spoke out as he revealed a Spirit Pagoda badge depicting him as a high-ranking member of the Pagoda. "Everyone needs to clear out, the Pagoda would like to run some tests on the children before they leave!"

The scientist that had been working on the Ascension Platform all looked to each other confusingly before begrudgingly agreeing and leaving. As the others filtered out of the room, Evelynn remained seated and unmoving- not wanting to leave her disciple alone.

"You too Miss Whyte" The guard spoke, seeing that Evlynn had not left.

"I'm staying" Evelynn declared, not moving.

"Miss Whyte" The guard said, glancing towards one of the other guards who swiftly left the room. "While we understand you are an achieved Researcher here, this is completely out of your scope. Let these guys do what they need to do in private."

"He's my disciple" Evelynn said, getting up form her seat and staring down the guard. "And I'm not leaving."

The guard remained silent as he observed Evelynn. Soon the sound of a phone ringing could be heard, the sound coming from Evelynn's phone. Eve's face froze, but she didn't move as she let the phone go to voicemail. The phone then began to ring again, this time Evelynn deciding to check who it was.

Her face scrunching up frustratedly she raised the phone to her ear. A moment later she screamed out in anger and threw the phone against a nearby wall. The metal sheet covering the wall caving in slightly from the impact. She then stormed out of the room, but not without leaving a warning for the guards.

"Anything happens to them; I'll kill you all."

…

Kai and the others were soon guided out of the room, each being led to their own personal testing room.

Kai lied down a strange bed before being pushed into a strange machine. After a couple minutes he was pulled back out before being given another series of different tests, none of which invasive. The scientist always explaining what they were going to do and what it would tell them, putting Kai at ease.

The scientist soon left, telling Kai to just wait for a moment until he returned.

Kai sat in silence, fiddling with the ring around his neck. Wondering why the whispers seemed to call it the 'Key' and what exactly happened to the Wolf. These thoughts didn't last long as the door suddenly opened once more, but instead of the Doctor it was Conrad.

Conrad gave a strange smile and sat down across from Kai. The two were silent for a moment, Conrad and Kai observing each other. Eventually the smile on Conrad's face disappeared, his mouth opening as he spoke.

"The Pagoda's got a mission for you Kai."