Tiger lily

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Master Jian’s POV.

“You should not disturb him while he meditates!” someone whispered outside of the chambers.

“This is very important and I will do what I wish” Came another voice, this time though, I knew exactly who it was. I could not forget that voice in a million years. The fact that he dared come back to the institute, let alone try to disturb me while I meditated, meant that something was seriously wrong.

“Let him in” I said, my voice sounding too loud after only silence and whispers.

The thick doors opened and in strode a man that appeared completely unfamiliar to me, but I had known him long enough not to be fooled. He wore a long, dark coat over black gi pants, the plain pants that karate was practiced in.

I wasted no time getting to the point. “What do you want?” I asked, my tone just short of hostile.

“Now is that any way to greet an old friend?” He asked.

“I asked you what you want, prophet. I have no patience or time for your games today”

“He has awoken” He replied curtly, apparently not appreciative of my short temper.

 “Who has awoken?” I asked, wondering if he could possibly get any more vague.

“The sleeping one” Wow. He just had, only this time I understood who he was talking about.

He smiled as all the color drained out of my face. He had done what he came to do and he turned on his heel and walked out.

A moment later, Master Chen walked in, looking confused. “I just saw-”

“His brother has awoken” I stated, cutting him off.

He froze, momentarily stunned. “We cannot believe what he says. You know he is a master at mind games. He is trying to mess with you.”

“He stayed for less than five minutes. Got right to the point, then walked out”

Master Chen looked at me wide eyed, before asking, “What will we do about the chosen?”

“This is no coincidence.” Was my only reply.

Lilliana’s POV.

Our second day on the road (or not on a road, which was currently the case) was painstakingly uneventful.

Christophe was sore from a full day of riding, and complaining about how much it hurt and how he was so not used to riding. Our conversation went something like, “Why do we even have to ride horses anyway? This is the twenty first century!”

“The institute is very old fashioned and does not believe in the new technologies for many damage the earth.” I quoted Master Chen, who had told me that multiple times when I had complained about exactly the same problem that Christophe was dealing with.

Christophe huffed, clearly not going to let this go. “And they couldn’t just make this one exception? I mean we are Chosen, whatever that means.”

“I had the same problem. Trust me it will get better, just give it time.” I said for the fourth time.

“You know, I don’t think so, Tiger. I mean you live in a karate institute and from the looks of it haven’t seen a car in years!”

I don’t know why he called me Tiger. Just because of some comment he made yesterday? It was kind of annoying, but I didn’t tell him to stop, because even though I would never admit it, I kind of liked it.

Hours passed like molasses until it was time to set up camp. As if by magic, we found another clearing, only after a moment’s inspection, I found it was the same one that we had spent last night.

Maybe it was magic?

“Is this the same-?” Christophe asked with an expression that probably mirrored mine.

I nodded mutely, wondering if we had somehow just gone in a big circle. But that wasn’t likely because what were the chances that just as we needed a place to set up camp we completed our circle? Not to mention the fact that our compass had shown we were going south all day.

“Either your compass is broken, or something is seriously wrong here” he said, walking over to the remains of our fire from the night before.

“Start setting up. I’m going to go meditate.” I told him before walking off.”

“Oh of course I have to do all the work.” He muttered, and I smiled a little.

I chose a spot on the other side of the clearing so I wouldn’t be in his way. I sat down and listened, closing my eyes. It’s amazing how your other senses compensate for one when it’s missing. Without my eyes, I surveyed the clearing, taking in all the sounds of the forest, plus the sounds of Christophe setting up.

Nothing.

There was nothing abnormal about the entire thing. I had sat in this exact clearing once a year every year for an entire day and listened to the sounds of the forest. There was nothing even slightly out of the ordinary.

Slightly frustrated, I closed off all my senses. Heard silence, smelled coolness, tasted air, and felt nothing under me. I was no longer in the clearing, but somewhere in my mind. Before I had tried to concentrate on my senses. Now, I blocked them out to give my full attention to the problem at hand.

Eventually, I came back to the clearing with the grass tickling my legs and the slight odor of the fire Christophe had built.

I sighed. Nothing. I had no explanation for how this could have happened.

I made my way back to Christophe, and we started practicing our Karate. He learned fast, but not fast enough.

Afterwards, we ate dinner and I practiced my violin before settling down on my sleeping bag. Sleep took me quickly.

Smoke.

“Tiger! Tiger!”

I opened my eyes and found myself surrounded by fire. I panicked. Fire was my weakness.

“Lilliana!”

There was no break in the fire.

I was trapped.

I couldn’t let Christophe die like my dad had, saving me from fire.

“Leave me and go!” I yelled to him.

To my frustration, he yelled back, “Hold on! I’m coming”

A moment later he found a break and came in. He ran over to me, grabbed my hand, bent down and took something that I couldn’t see because my eyes were filled with tears from the smoke. He pulled me behind him and made for the break he had come through.

Dad hadn’t made it out when he came in to save me. Would Christophe?