.҉
.҉
.҉
Madeline Liu moved with her mother to San Francisco at a very young age after her father died. When she was grown and after the death of her mother, which left her all alone, she got a job as a valet parking cars where she made friends with...
"Names are sacred, Ruiwen" the man continued "They connect us not only to ourselves, but to everyone who came before. A funny story. Some years ago, a terrorist from America needed a bogeyman to bring your country to its knees. So, he appropriated The Ten Rings. My Ten Rings" Madeline saw Shang lean his head on his arms over the table in boredom "But because he didn't know my actual name, he invented a new one. Do you know the name he chose? The Mandarin. He gave his figurehead the name of a chicken dish. And it worked. America was terrified. Of an orange"
Katy chuckled nervously as the man introduced himself as the known terrorist.
"The truth is, I've had many names throughout my life. The Warrior King, Master Khan, the most dangerous man on Earth. For years, I thought that was all I was meant to be. But when I met their mother, everything changed" the man's eyes changed at the mention of his wife "Just one moment. Who are you?" he asked Madeline as if just now seeing her.
.҉
.҉
.҉
"I'm...It's Madeline" she replied hesitantly as the attention was now brought to her.
"Madeline what?" the man asked her. She reminded him of someone but he could not put his finger on who.
"Salvatore" she replied. She had taken her mother's name after the woman's death to honor her as she had never really known her father and she knew who this man was. She didn't want him to recognise her mother's maiden name.
"Why did you bring us here?" Shang bit back at his father, turning his father's gaze from his friend to himself.
"After all those years, I finally found something worth growing old for. My real name is Wenwu. She was the only one who called me that. And when she died I was lost for many years. But I am not lost any more" the man said standing from his chair and leading them to his study "When you children ran away, I was so desperate to connect with your mother, I threw myself back into the studies of her village. The legendary Ta Lo" Madeline didn't know why but that name resonated something inside her weakly enough for her to be able to ignore "I wasn't able to find the secret path to the village entrance, but I did find what they are hiding. Theres a gate deep in their mountains. Your mother is waiting for us there" he turned to his children, and company "I know this is a lot. I might not have believed it if she didn't tell me herself"
"What are you talking about?" Xialing asked her father sa if the man had gone crazy cukoo.
Madeline could see Shang beginning to believe this whole crazy shit and tried to make him look at her, yet he continued to stare at his father fervently, waiting for an explanation after all those years.
"I was sitting right here in this seat, deep in my research and she spoke to me" he said, stroking the back of his desk chair "It was like she was standing in this room. I could feel her breath on my cheek and her hand on my back. She told me she needs my help"
"To do what?" Shang asked the man.
"To save her from her people" Madeline and Katy's mouths dropped open when they saw both of the siblings staring at their father, looks of actual belief in their eyes "After we fell in love, your mother wanted us to live in Ta Lo. She asked permission from the elders, and they refused. They said I wasn't worthy. She would still be with us. We would all be living there together. Ta Lo did this to us. They locked her behind that gate to punish her. Don't you see? She's leaving clues for us. She wants us to find her and bring her home, so we can be a family again"
"Dad, Mom's gone. She's not talking to you from behind a gate, and she's not leaving any clues for us" Shang said. His father smirked and reached over the table for the little engraved chest placed there.
"Then what are these?" he held up the two green jade pendants he had had stolen from both his children.
Ф
Madeline watched alongside Katy as the man that claimed all the crazy schtick from earlier walked up to the beautifully engraved dragon on the patio wall and stuck the two jades in place of its eyes.
Almost instantly she felt a surge of adrenaline that she held down by pinching the sides of her arms and tapping her foot incessantly, and the jades changed shade to a more golden sheen almost immediately.
Then the water fell on the floor and formed water started to drip out of the dragon's mouth until a whole cascade of the clear liquid filled the floor but never went beyond the place they were in. The water moved slowly in the air and Shang passed his hand through it watching the water flow around his hand. a sort of forest like structure on the ground that moved like a living maze.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"The passage to Ta Lo is guarded by a moving maze" Wenwu explained "But there's a direct path through the forest that only opens once a year on Qingming Jie. To get through, you need to know the route and the exact time it opens. Now I know both" he took the jades from the statue making the water retreat back to where it had come from and walking down the steps of the porch they had been standing under "Three days from now, we will rescue my wife from her prison and bring her home" he addressed the crowd of men that had gathered in front of the house and they cheered loudly, following their leader "This is why you're here. To help me bring her back to us"
"And what happens if they don't let you open the gate and you cant get her?" Madeline asked the man, a bit afraid of the answer.
"Well burn the village to the ground" yep, she was expecting an answer similar of the sort.
"What? You can't just march into our moms village with this bullshit. I mean, do you have any idea how insane..." Shang tried to retort.
