Ultimate Note: The Calling

Fated Or Not

Wu Xie

Thunders keep flashing in the sky above them, illuminating the desert every few minutes while an unnatural fog formed all around their small temple, making it quite cold instead of the previous hot, so typical of the desert right in the middle of the day. The lighting storm had taken him by surprise, as he expect it to be further inside the Devil City, not so close to the outline of the ruins.

Regadless of why they had encounter it it so soon, there was still the need to see if they could pass it or they were going to be stocked in there for who known how long. As the most experienced experts there, Qiling and Xiazi had gone out to try see whatever or not it was safe to move on, but deep down Wu Xie knew there was no use. They were in the outskirt of the Devil City and it was not going to be easy to find their way into the tomb, especially one that was apparently not meant to be disturbed by humans.

Thinking about that, Wu Xie sat on a corner, as far as he could from the others and took out his grandfather's notes. All the information about Tamutuo was there to begin with. So he hoped that as he looked over at it one more time, he may find something he had failed to notice before that could be of use to decipher the mysteries of the place. However, there was nothing he had missed in all the years he read the content.

First, it was the sandstorm, then the lighting storm, which could be the one they were going to face next and finally, the northern lights that will open the way inside the tomb through an illusion. Aside from some vague information on corpse eating bugs and some other natural guardians of the tomb, there was nothing about a sudden fog after a red wave of ants that could eat you to the bone in no time.

"Grandfather... I wonder if that was all you encounter while in here, or hide the rest for me to find out on my own." Wu XIe whisper to himself, putting the notebook on his lap in resignation. However, as he did, something caught up his attention. At the other side of his resting place, there was a faint glow that didn't seems to come from the fire they had make to dispel the cold that had spread from the fog into their empty temple.

Driven by curiosity, Wu Xie put the notebook in his backpack and glancing at the others sat on the ground, having something to eat while they rested and waited for Shades and Qiling to return from their scout, he sneaked closer into the wall he saw the glow. For some reason, it seem to appear with the light of the thunders as they stroke above their temple, creating some kind of flare effect as the light from the outside came in through the small holes in the temple.

He sat there, staring at the wall, as lightings flashed outside and he could swear that each time one resounded around them, the image of a beast formed over the wall. Because the time it lasted was just a few seconds, he came even closer, just to try to distinguish the beast shape and the closer he looked the more he thought it resemble an ancient mystical one. A Qilin, a heavenly beast consider one of the four noble beasts along with the dragons, a protector of the innocent, gentle by nature yet, a fierce punisher of the evil-doers whatever human or otherwise.

It he goes for the legend of the Qilin's, in the moment he was born, it should signal him as a sage. Qilin's were associated with birth of benevolent rulers or sages, also bringers of good luck, but the last time he dreamed with one, it had been quite painful, as its fire was consuming him from the inside out... but still, he was certainly attracted to the flare of its image as a moth to a flame. He was so compelled by the strange phenomena, that he extended his hand toward the flashing flare, almost like in a slow motion.

"Wu Xie! Don't!" Zhang Qiling shouted as soon as he enter the temple and saw him slowly extending his hand over a lighting flare. Instantly Qiling ran toward him as fast as his inhuman body allow him, but too late to prevent Wu Xie from touching the Qilin mirage on the wall, that trigger a trap under his sitting body.