The Red Peony

Rated: K+

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Appearing in a swirl of dark magic, Chase Young opened his golden, reptilian-like eyes to take in his surroundings.

After sensing a new Shen Gong Wu activate, he had immediately teleported from his citadel to what seemed to be an overgrown garden. Just peeking out of the mass of weeds and other growth were the battered and very old remains of buildings, barely escaping their lush, green burial to touch the warm sunlight like it had so many centuries ago. Vines wound their way intimately around the ancient Chinese architecture, welcoming the man-made structure back to nature. Red flowers-peonies, he quickly deduced-blossomed along the ground in groups, their stalks brushing gently against the warlord's ankles as he followed his magic to the location of the Shen Gong Wu.

The place had a fairytale-like feel-undisturbed and peaceful, not meant to be seen by mortal eyes-yet there was an air of familiarity about it. Perhaps Chase had been here once upon a time, when he had once been human? He felt as if he would have remembered if that were indeed the case, but he chalked it up to simply being the passage of time that prevented him from recognizing this place. It was, after all, entirely plausible that as an immortal, all the places he'd been to would eventually blend together and become blurred in his memory if he did not visit them frequently.

Yes, he thought to himself, that was surely the case.

The Shen Gong Wu he was looking for was the Desiderium Blossom. Theoretically, it caused one to long for something lost so ardently that they would be unable to think of anything else and would therefore be useless in battle. Chase, however, had never seen the Wu used in combat or had even laid eyes on it, but knew that it had taken the form of a peony. Among the masses of peonies that had made their residence in the ancient site, he assumed that it would have been difficult to find if he did not have his magic to guide him. For a brief moment he pitied the Xiaolin monks, who had yet to grace the area with their boisterous presence. Dojo, he knew, had come down with some sort of dragon cold recently and would be unable to aid them in their search of the Desiderium Blossom. Without his magic senses, the monks were practically lost.

Well, it wasn't as if they would make it to the ruins in time, anyway. Chase would surely find the Wu and be back at his citadel before they arrived.

At this, he suddenly pondered Jack Spicer's whereabouts. The techie goth also had yet to make his appearance, but that was nothing new. He would often arrive to the Wu locations after everyone else, and had as of late begun skipping Showdowns, either leaving early or refraining from coming at all. This pleased Chase; perhaps the bumbling child had finally realized his ineptitude at fighting? Make no mistake, Spicer was truly a genius-his common sense, however, left much to be desired. Chase had been entertaining the idea of taking up his fan's offers (more like pleadings) of apprenticeship if Spicer wisened up and used his impressive IQ for more useful and productive things.

Of course, Spicer's lack of appearances could just mean that he was caught up in another frivolous project or another, and would resume being his usual annoying, persistent self in time.

Sighing in frustration to himself, the dark warlord scanned the landscape as he walked, his sharp eyes landing on each peony as his magic reached out to analyze its magical content. Curiously, Chase noticed the all the peonies were the same color-a bright, scarlet red. There was no variation; they were all the exact came shade. How odd, he thought, since peonies' range of color partially depended on time. The blossoms in the ruins could not all be the same age, could they?

Before he could continue his thoughts, something odd happened.

"Timeless," his friend, Guan, described to him, gesturing exaggeratedly with his large, calloused hands as he spoke. Chase felt himself raise an eyebrow in questioning, turning his head to the monk as they made their way into the heart of the city. They walked close together in the crowd as they spoke, not wishing for anyone to overhear them.