The Storm of Chinatown

Late Night

Thunder roared and the small restaurant known as the White Tiger, the walls shook with the rumble and along with the heavy rain pounding against the roof it made sleep difficult for some. Leixia was one of them, as she had been unable to sleep for the last few hours because of the storm outside. She was tired from her work out earlier and should have fallen asleep rather easily but nature had a way of messing with her it seems.

'Damn it...I need to sleep.'

Looking over at the clock on the wall she saw it was just past two in the morning and she sighed loudly. there was a semi loud snoring being heard from above her bed, her younger brother Xian was fast asleep, his snoring almost as loud as the storm raging outside.

Leixia was used to her brother's sleeping habits and could easily sleep through it, but a storm was different.

Lying in bed for sleep to come got boring for her in a hurry, so instead she got up and trying not to disturb her brother she left the bedroom. Dressed in cyan blue pajama shorts and a loose black tank top, Leixia let her eyes adjust to the dark before walking into the hallway in bare feet. She went down to the kitchen to get herself something to drink. Thanks to the constant flashing of lightning she didn't need to turn on the lights to see where she was going.

Taking her time with her glass of water the teenager looked out the window that overlooked her grandfather's backyard. It was hard to see thanks to the heavy falling rain, but that wasn't the point. Earlier in the night Leixia and her brother Xian had been training in the same yard, and while they were supposed to train in friendly ways Leixia took it seriously and took it as a sparring match. And when it came to a fist fight, her brother could hit just as hard as she could--even harder if he was properly motivated. Her forearms and lower legs had bruises that could attest to that, and looking out at the garden made her injuries sting a bit in remembering.

No doubt their grandfather intended to train them again when dawn broke, and Leixia felt as ready as she could be for it when it did arrive.

'But today, he said we were going to try and use them this time,' she remembered.

Taking her glass back to the kitchen and setting it in the sink Leixia decided to make a detour before returning to her room.

On the first floor of the house there was a room that was a personal artifacts room of items and personal affects her grandfather had brought home with him after each of his visits back home to China. Most of it was ancient artifacts like suits of armor and old weapons he had bought from collectors, all of which were worth thousands of dollars, and the size of the room left a lot of space for him to collect more.

However, in the back of the room there was a tall red cabinet that reached the ceiling, ornately decorated with Chinese markings on the wooden doors. At one time there was a lock on the door to keep anyone from seeing what was inside, but a small incident between Leixia, Xian, and some street punks ended up with it being broken, and there had yet to be a replacement for it.

Without hesitating Leixia slowly opened the doors and while the cabinet looked like it might have contained something valuable inside, a single glance made most people turn away. Two Chinese jian swords hung on the back wall of the cabinet, both sheathed and looked like they were rusted beyond restoration.

Leixia knew better, however, as it had been less than a week ago that she had almost used one of the swords in a dire situation.

The swords had words etched into their sheathes, some of it was ineligible due to how old they were, but all she knew were the names of the weapons. The one in the dark green sheath was known as "Cóng tiānshàng páoxiāo" or the roar of the heavens, but Xian gave it the cooler sounding name of Thunder. The other, which was in a metal blue sheath, had the name of "Zhòng shén zhī nù" which roughly translated to wrath of the gods. Leixia instead gave it the name of Lightning. The name was perfect in a way as whenever she touched the handle she felt like she was grabbing onto a lightning rod, and the last time she had tried to use the sword sparks and small electrical bolts shot out of the blade.

Thunder and Lightning, appropriately together they made the Storm.

Legend has it that these two weapons were responsible for many of the wars in ancient China, created by the gods and infused with their power but stolen by mankind to use in their petty wars. Centuries passed before the swords eventually returned to the gods and were then lost to time.

However, a little over six months ago, Leixia and her brother stole the swords in Hong Kong and a tragic downward spiral followed that led them to Chinatown in San Francisco. Leixia still felt the pain, still feeling like it had happened yesterday, and though they say time heals all wounds, the loss she and her brother felt from that day on had not healed at all.

'All because we got so arrogant...' she thought before closing the doors, sealing the weapons in their storage until they were needed for training. She had never wanted to use the swords again, but it seems destiny always played a cruel hand with her and her brother.

Without another thought the girl turned and left the room, not offering the case another glance as she left.