The Heylin Eclipse || Xiaolin Showdown

Prologue

"As I look up from the ground, I see darkness all around."

~~~

》Though she had heard its legend, she had never seen a beast quite like this one before. The witch stepped forward, her bare feet barely skimming the dew-dampened grass, her wicked green eyes glistening with greed and awe. Taller than any building, the demon took the form of a canine. It had a shimmering brown coat decorated with various black pattern. Most curious of all were its tails; possessed nine of them, each brown with an inky black tip. The creature snoozed lazily, silent and still.

The witch would tame this creature, and with it, she would take over the world.

But the spirit did not seem to want to be controlled. In fact, it did not want to seem to wake up, it curled its tails around its nose and sighed deeply; its breath showed as fog against the transparent bubble it had been trapped in.

"I can't go around calling you the huli jing all the time, now can I?" the witch purred, drumming her long, slender fingers on her arm. "I'll call you Yaoguai for now. How does that sound?"

The demon did not answer. It continued to sleep, growling occasionally.

"You can't get out of there, Yaoguai," the witch cackled. "The Sphere Of Yun has yet to let anyone, or anything escape."

"Quite right." A second voice spoke as another figure approached the Sphere Of Yun. The figure was that of a broad-shouldered man; his face bore sharp, reptilian features -  even his eyes, his deep copper eyes, had slitted pupils akin to those of a snake.

"You did an excellent job capturing a jiuwei hu, Wuya" the man said, neither his voice nor his face revealing any emotion. "I expected a simple huli jing."

"You should know by now that I'm competent with what I do, Chase," Wuya responded dryly. "This one was hard to track down. It did not want to be captured."

Chase folded his arms over his chest. "We still need the talismans to control it," he said. "And I must admit that even I have no idea where they are - I doubt Dashi even knew where they were hidden."

"We can worry about who knew what later." Wuya took a step back as Yaoguai roared. "We need to make sure those talismans aren't found by those pesky Xiaolin monks. If they summon Xiezhe, our whole plan is ruined."

"Xiezhe has been asleep for a thousand years." Chase waved a gloved hand dismissively. "I am not concerned about it ruining our plan. Not even Xiezhe could stop the jiuwei hu at its full power."

Wuya bit back a sigh. She gazed up at her monster, her new pet, and narrowed her eyes. "You know neither of us can go search for the talismans on our own," she said.

Chase turned slowly to face Wuya. "What are you implying we do?" he inquired.

Wuya leaned against the wall and tossed her hair. "We send the boy," she suggested. Once the word gets out that he is searching for the keys to controlling the jiuwei hu, the Xiaolin monks will swoop in and undoubtedly taken them. And when they do, we set Yaoguai loose upon them and take the talismans before we are hurt."

Chase did not answer at first. He seemed to be contemplating. Then he sighed and snapped his fingers. Almost immediately, two great cats, a leopard and a tiger, trotted to his side, roaring and spitting at the sight of Yaoguai.

"Fetch the boy," Chase ordered, a look of disdain upon his face. "He has a lot of work to do."

Wuya gazed up at the sky. "And it needs to be done by the end of the month," she pointed out. "if the talismans are not found by the Heylin Eclipse, Yaoguai will destroy everything - immortals like us included."