Take Off Your Shoes

Master Shi De stood at a reasonable distance from Zagan and spoke in a firm voice.

"You should remove your footwear when you come to a place like this you know?"

Zagan did not look bothered by what the master had said. Ever since the day of the attack, he had lost every will to live and right now, he only views life as an unfathomable deep dark hole which swallowed everyone he had ever cared for.

He stared at master Shi De like a lost lamb. This was exactly what master Shi De had been scared of all along. The darkness is slowly creeping in. According to the legend he had heard, the first weilder of that amulet also lost someone precious to him which made him loose his way.

The old monk walked pass him and said nothing. He sat in the water and crossed his legs then closed his eyes. Afterwards he began to inhale and exhale and when he was focused, he opened his eyes and said, "Come"

Zagan took two steps forward and just as he was about to take the third, there was a forcefield stopping him from moving any further. This forcefield surrounded master Shi De like a big globe. He stared confused by how that was even possible. He just saw master Shi De walk pass him just now, comfortably so why couldn't he do same.

He stared at the man who sat quietly in the globe and didn't even make any effort in tearing the shield down.

The old man spoke again, "I said come. What are you still doing over there?"

Come closer? Was this old man blind or something? Didn't he see what happened just now? Zagan could not understand how the old man's mind worked.

Still sitting in the water, the monk probed further. "Don't be a lazy weakling. Come here."

Zagan took a few steps backwards and then ran towards the shield again. This time, the shield pushed him back with twice the force which he used on the shield sending him close to the edge of the mountain. He furrowed his brow and vented all his anger on the shield but then, he was hurting himself instead.

As he punched the shield, he remembered how weak he was when Leah was dragged away. He recalled when he used to seat at the top of the castle tower everyday with limited people to talk to. All he did was eat, sleep and bath nothing more. He blamed himself for being so useless, if he had not been so useless, probably Leah would still be with him now, probably he would have contributed in protecting the Shaolin temple, maybe he would have even saved his clan. He had a father but would never see him again; he never even got to feel the love of a father. He had siblings but had never seen the; he doesn't even know what they look like. Never got to cry on his elder brother's shoulders when he was hurting, he never knew what it felt like to chat with people he called family. How pathetic?

He kept punching the shield until finally, he knelt in the water and began to sob. It hurt. It really did and no matter how much he thought he could live with it, it wasn't enough. He just wanted to let it all out. He just wanted to satisfy his rage. Sometimes, he felt like giving up; just leaving everything behind and visiting the eternal bliss and spending more time with Leah and somehow he felt that was the only way to find peace.

Master Shi De watched as the poor boy knelt on the ground hitting the shield. He felt bad for him but he didn't move a limb. He waited patiently for Zagan to sobber up.

When he was finally sobber, he stood in front of the shield with his head bowed. He was just about to leave the mountain when an old cracky voice came from inside the shield simply saying,

"All you had to do was take off your shoes."

Zagan stared at him stupefied. 'My shoes? Why didn't he say that from the beginning?' He thought. Then he remembered that the monk had actually asked him to take off his shoes so in a nutshell, blaming the old monk would be inappropriate.

He gently took off his shoes and placed them far from the shield and walked to the shield. When he got close enough, he closed his eyes and placed his palm on the shield which instantly sank into the shield. Zagan opened his eyes wide and sighed. "Indeed my shoes had prevented me from going in. How pathetic!" He thought

He finally got into the shield and sighed. This part gave a serene and peaceful feel. He couldn't help but relax.

"Sit with me son." Master Shi De gestured for zagan to sit opposite him.

"I'll tell you everything I know."

Obediently, Zagan sat in the water with his legs crossed. He stared at the old monk but Master Shi De said nothing but rather, closed his eyes. Zagan raised his brow. What exactly was the old monk doing? Was he indirectly asking Zagan to meditate?

After a few minutes, he opened his eyes and said, "I don't know much about your amulet but legend has it that a long time ago, gods roamed the earth, men and gods leaved together in peace and harmony." Master Shi De stopped talking for a while and shook his head. He looked disappointed but still continued.

"Hmmm.... but like they say, there is no peaceful era that lasts forever. Evil came, corrupting men and slowly, this evil started spreading from men to gods."

"Then, war came, famine and even death, causing affliction through out the lands. Man fighting man over unreasonable things even the gods started exhibiting greed. Noticing that something was wrong, the ruler over the gods decided that gods should part from men but then, a calamity befell them."

At this point, Zagan was deeply immensed in the story. After all, this had to do with his future because he was the wielder of the amulet now. The story felt like a memory, probably because master Shi De was a very good storyteller.

"The evil that corrupted men was indeed a god. The god of the underworld. The more men were corrupt, the more powerful he became let alone gods. His powers were growing to unimaginable heights. He caused the famine, the war and even death. All that was left, was pestilence for the apocalypse to happen. Humans became helpless without gods and that was when the god of the underworld decided to take full control over the world."

"With his minions, they invaded the earth corrupting every living human causing the gods a great deal of worries. With the powers the underworld god had accumulated, no god could stop him. Not even Hadad the god of the other gods. I'm sure you know who this god of the underworld is."

Master Shi De tilted his head and raised his brow in askance. Zagan was fully immense in the story that he didn't even hear what master Shi De said. His imagination had taken him to places where no man had ever stepped foot. What a story.