Being Time Honoured

1. The Beginning Of Past

It was my first time in the 16th century. I was enjoying the wide open spaces, the weirdness of people around was amazing me, and why wouldn't it if you are in an era which is centuries older than in which you were born.

I knew it that it was going to be exciting as fuck but never imagined that it was simultaneously gonna be life, hell and heaven altogether and even my reason to live.

The smell of wind was amusing and refreshing. I was greatly amazed by the enchanting atmosphere. There was a gentle breeze blowing, with no obstacles to stop or divert it. The way wind brushed against my face was very relaxing . One would just want to feel it the whole day.

The sun shined bright. The sand under my feet was reflecting the heat. There were no metal roads, no vehicles, no pollution, the air was pure. I was walking, exploring a whole new, old world. Don't exactly know whether it was an old world or the one in a parallel universe which was just imitating ours.

While walking, I came across a few buildings, situated very far away from each other. And in between them, there were open grounds and gardens which were fenced from all sides. Some soothing sounds were coming out of one of the buildings . It was the only one which was built with stones,the rest were either made of wood and straws or mud and dry leaves. From the sound of gongs and the chorus it seemed to be a temple.

The prayers were very soothing although I wasn't able to understand anything. One weird thing I observed that it had a weird sign at the top, a black colored circle which inscribed a black inverted triangle, having two red dots separated by a black line. And then, the whole roof of the temple started glowing with different colors like it was emitting those. I was a bit confused what it could be.

But, wasting no more time, I stopped looking at it and started heading to where I was supposed to. I had been provided with a booklet, titled, 'The Black Book' , which would guide me further and the first thing it addressed was to meet Mr. Manchu Kangxi at a place named "Zobrecyn".

Having no idea where and what was Zobrecyn, I started searching for someone who could guide me. I didn't think it wise to go into the temple. So I went ahead in urge to find someone else.

Finally, I came across a guy. He was tall and muscular. From the amount of black smoke on his face, anyone could guess that he had frequent encounters with burning coal. Then also, he was working on a small furnace and seemed to be welding hot iron into arms and tools.

I went to him and asked if he knew where was Zobrecyn. He didn't seem to understand much but still he asked me "ofergenga"? cleaning his face with a cloth. I didn't know what he was saying. Then I remembered that there was a small dictionary at the back of the booklet in my hand. I opened it and found the word he said, it meant" traveller"?. I started translating the words and conversing with him. After a long conversation full of efforts from both sides, I came to know that he had never heard of that place before.

I sat there on a rock helpless and angry. I didn't know what to do. Then, a stone hit my head, which was probably the mischief of two young ones who were trying to run away. This even enraged me. I started running behind them. At last the chase ended in a closed street. I smiled and ran to get one of them. Suddenly, I was again attacked by those kids, I fell on a rope that they had planted. They snatched my black book. I got up as fast as I could but there was no sign of where they went.

But when I got up, I saw that in front of me, there were three buildings which seemed to have been built recently. Each having a big newly painted sign board which was totally different from the ones I had seen till then. Each having a part of "the" word written on it Zo-Bre-Cyn.

I was finally there, at Zobrecyn. But there was no one around. Then I heard some bustling in another building, it was like the normal ones but at least having some activity.

I went straight to it and knocked at the door although I had no idea what to speak as I had already lost my dictionary with my black book. After a while, a young man came out. He had a full view of me and smiled.

"You must be Brendon", he said. "I am glad you are here, come in." I was surprised that he knew me and spoke modern english, though he looked like an ancient chinese man with a straight mustache originating from the corner of the mouth, passing the chin in two tapered "tendrils".

"How do you know me? " I asked him while moving into the old wooden building made with a system of wooden brackets inserted between the top of a column and a crossbeam. He just smiled and moved on. "Do you have any relation with Mr. Kangxi", I asked. "You will come to everything with time" he smiled again and moved towards the stairs which seemed kind of weird to me. The steps were very congested, there was hardly any place for my second foot and obviously there was no railing on the either side. I managed to climb up the stairs somehow with a little fear of falling but lots of excitement and curiosity.

Now we were walking across a narrow corridor with a series of small rooms on both sides, some having people in them and others, through the content of dust and spider webs seemed to have been abandoned for a long time.

Suddenly while walking, a fierce animal came running towards me with open mouth as if he thought of me as the next human to be devoured by his blood thirsty jaws and long canine teeth which could tear any muscle and bite through any bone . It was as scary as weird it was to me as I had not seen anything of that kind earlier. It was almost at a foot distance from me when it stopped. "Rugtus stop", a stentorian voice which came from the last room was probably responsible for it.

It ran back to the room with even a higher pace and there came a man out of the room, tall, sturdy with simple ancient chinese robe on.
The frowns on his forehead and the glare of his eyes were bit scary and the deep cut on his neck indicated his wrathful nature. He had the famous chinese moustache and even a bun cut on his head . One thing I noticed there that everyone was without any footwear. Then we reached the last room, the one from which the "dog" came running. As soon as we reached, my escort bowed to the 'dangerous' man in there. As he introduced me, I came to know that he was the man I had been looking for, Mr. Kangxi. Finally, I had reached my first checkpoint after lots of trouble...