Bye Bye Ape

The deafening clang of the gate reverberated in Xiao Zhou's ears. The giant stone door has been closed tight, shutting off the entrance to another dimension. There was no wall to climb over, no holes to go through, only a firm stone gate and two imposing fighting buddha statues.

Not wanting to give up, he sprinted towards the sand bowl, his heart hammering in his chest, the feeling of dread begins emerging within. 

The sand was in the bowl before where nowhere to be seen now. Still, he didn't give a second thought as he jammed his hand into the bowl, praying it would work just as he expected.

Nothing. The cold stone gate remained closed. Nothing can make it open again.

"Open! Open! Open!" sweat drenching and face turning pale, he screams at the gate, pushing his hand again and again into the bowl. 

Tears, a mix of frustration and terror, welled in his eyes, blurring the image of Wu Ming's cruel smirk. His breath hitched in his throat, a strangled sob threatening to erupt. The world seemed to shrink around him, the lush forest morphing into a suffocating cage, and the heavy footsteps drawing in near shrinking the cage.

"All it takes is one wrong decision." He laughed. His shoulders shook, a harsh, humorless laugh rattling out of his chest. Like a man gone mad, he laughs unrestrain, "One, single, mistake! And everything starts going south," his legs lose strength as he kneels on the ground, eyes up to the blue sky, his mind repeating the scene where he accepts the deal with Shan Bao.

"Why are you so stupid!" Why didn't you listen to your father!" memories of his father warned him about Wu Zhe resurface. 

"Wu Zhe are a bunch of power lusting animals," his father said.

"They will do anything, literally ANYTHING, to get what they want. Killing and betraying are second nature for them, and when they get enough power, the life of people beneath them become as insignificant as dust particles.

His father's warning in the past, now held the weight of giant mountain, "Remember my boy, never, ever, involved with a Wu Zhe," those very words gnawed at him, each syllable a sharp reminder of his colossal mistake. Regret, a bitter and corrosive force, consumed him from the inside out.

He locked his eyes on the vast blue sky, a stark contrast to the turmoil within. "It's like staring into an endless ocean," he thought, "and I'm just one of the fish – a weak, pathetic fish."

"Don't be the fish."

Another of his father's words surfaced, followed by a memory. He saw his hand stained red, gutting the fish alive while the others in the basket watched, silently waiting for their to die getting open up alive. 

"I am no fish.." His emotionless expression slowly changes, turning into a tightening teeth grind. A spark ignited within him, a flicker of defiance that refused to be extinguished by despair. 

Anger, hot and potent, coursed through his veins, pushing back the tide of despair and fear. 

"Wu Zhe," a burning force overwrites his fatigue as he stands up. Their smug faces, their callous words, the way they threatened him, used him, and how they abandoned him on a whim of their mood, all these fueled his determination, never had he has this feeling before, this burning emotion so strong that it could set him ablaze, the thirst of revenge.

He wouldn't let them win. He wouldn't allow them to break him. He will survive, no matter what, and go back to where he belongs.

A mouthful of air entered his body as he took one deep breath, slightly rejuvenating his strength and empowering his will to survive. 

"Need to get away from that stupid ape first," his brain working to its full potential as he tries to conjure up a plan. He looks at his surroundings, the object around him and lastly the black tortoise shell, his hidden trump card. 

"No, too risky," he discarded the idea of using the black tortoise shell, and instead, hastily collected a handful of palm-sized stones.

The footsteps are closer than ever. He looked at the stone gate and ran towards it, then quickly hid behind it.

Just right after he hid, a gigantic figure leapt out from the trees, landed on the clear with explosive force, blowing away the air which created a burst of wind wave, forming a small crater on the place it landed. 

The giant scarlet arm ape scans the area, its red eyes filled with murderous intent. When it couldn't find one of the humans that hurt it and killed his brethren, a thunderous roar escaped its throat as rage controlled its whole being, causing it to slam its fists to the ground repeatedly with the force of a battering ram. 

Xiao Zhou controls his breathing, helping him to stay calm, even with the behemoth looking for him, he needs to stay focused to execute his plan. 

Carefully, he took a sneak peak. The ape was still turning its head everywhere, sniffing the air to track its prey.

"It's now or never," taking a deep breath, he hurled a few stones with all his might, sending it flying into the undergrowth far from his position, which brushes leaves and tree barks along its way, creating a rattling sound. 

The ape's head snapped towards the sound, its red eyes burning with renewed fury. In a snap of a finger, it rushes into the undergrowth, towards where the sound can be heard. 

Seizing his opportunity, Xiao Zhou darted out from his hiding place and melted into the undergrowth. 

Feeling that he was far enough from the ape, his crouching turned into a sprinting form as he bolted off as fast as his legs could carry him, pushing through the dense foliage, his heart pounded in his chest, his lungs burning with each desperate inhale. 

He thought he still got plenty of time before the ape found out that it got tricked. Turns out that the monster was not stupid as Xiao Zhou thought it to be.

Just only a few moments of relief for Xiao Zhou before a monstrous roar of the ape echoing behind him.

No time of feeling shocked, he worked his legs even harder. Every step was desperate, his mind chanted "I will survive!" in a mantra-like manner, his heart burns with will to break through this hopeless situation. 

Suddenly, a blinding light burst out from his body. To be more precise, within his clothes.

He took out the blinking object, which turned out to be the black tortoise shell.

Confused by the sudden occasion, and feeling stunned by the blindly light, Xiao Zhou reflectively extended his arm away from his eyes, which also subconsciously pointed the shell towards a direction.

To his surprise again, the shell stopped blinking light as it went back to be the black boring tortoise shell.

Xiao Zhou thought for a moment, then held the shell and pointed another direction. The shell was blinking light again, slightly illuminating the dense forest. 

"This is…is it asking me to follow its signal?" he only pondered a few seconds before the roar of the ape closing in made him decide his next action in an instant. 

"This strange tortoise shell saved my life once. If it is showing me the way to escape this situation, even if it means to jump off a cliff, I will gladly do so!"

With unwavering trust, he followed the shell's frantic blinking, the pulsating light guiding him deeper into the undergrowth. 

When he finally gets out of the undergrowth, he arrives at an open area. There were four stone pillars, each with the statue of dragon coiling around it, and in the middle of those pillars was one big circle stone platform at the. 

Complex carving of letters was carved on the surface of the platform, and in the center of it was carved one big letter - "Move". 

"No time to be amazed now!" As the closing in footsteps broke his time of admiration on the structure, he looked at the shell on his hand, which was now ablaze with an intense light.

Xiao Zhou looked at the platform, at the center of it, "So I have to stand there, right?" he muttered, leaping onto the platform without hesitation.

"Now what?" Uncertainty gnawed at him as nothing seemed to happen. 

Just as despair threatened to consume him, the air crackled with energy. The air suddenly vibrates, followed by a force of energy that can be seen gathering at each of the stone pillars, gathering more and more lights. 

When each pillar was fully covered in energy of light, they shot out those light energy towards the sky, forming four light pillars. The platform beneath Xiao Zhou's feet also starts radiating with energy as the outer rim of it starts to rotate, faster and generate more energy, filling up all the letters on the carving. 

After all the letters are lit up, the letter in the center - Move, finally lights up, followed by an energy barrier that covers the entire platform.

Xiao Zhou was dumbstrucked the entire time, he did not know what was happening around him, all he could do now was to slowly close his eyes and pray as the blinding light slowly engulfed him. 

By the time the enraged ape reached the clearing, the light had vanished, leaving behind only an empty platform where Xiao Zhou once stood. He had disappeared without a trace.