Bookshelf Battle

Mei-Ling swung across the open expanse of the tower. Her trajectory took her lower and lower until she crashed through the bannister of the tenth floor. The silent warrior bunched up two ends of her robe and tied them tightly around the staff. She then backed up to the open edge of the floor, hopped backwards, fell and caught the bannister of the ninth floor with her hands.

Clear on the other side of the tower, Bohai and Junjie did the same. All three fighters fell and caught, fell and caught until they rejoined Niu and the master on the bottom floor.

Junjie, Bohai and Mei-Ling fanned out into a circle. They traded glances. They paced about. Mdi-Ling untied the staff and held it out in front of her as if it were a bo.

“Ha,” Bohai said. “Do you honestly think that the Clan of the Sacred Yet Inscrutable Tiger Claw will take orders from a woman?”

Mei-Ling furrowed her brow at Bohai.

“Brother,” Junjie said. “Our sister has made it to the ground with the staff. The test is over.”

Bohai’s nostrils flared. “This is over when I say it is over!”

“This is over when the master says it is over,” Junjie said as he looked to the old man. “Master?”

The old man shrugged his shoulders. “Meh. I could watch for a little longer.”

Two razor sharp swords hung on the wall. Boohoo removed both weapons and tossed one to Junjie, who caught it by the handle.

“I will fight no further,” Junjie said as he dropped to his knees. “Bohai, join Niu and I in yielding to the Twentieth Infallible Master.”

Niu perked up. “Oh, I have not yielded yet brother. I am still in this fight.”

“Idiots the both of you,” Bohai said. “Especially you, Junjie. What? You think if you just hand Mei-Ling this power she might give you a little kiss?”

Embarrassed, Junjie cast his eyes toward the floor. “I have given her nothing.”

Bohai turned his attention to Mei-Ling. “If you’re still alive after this, I’ll let you be my chamber maid.”

Many fighters would have felt the sting of Bohai’s insult, but Mei-Ling ignored it. She raised the Staff of Ages up just in time to absorb Bohai’s attack.

Clang, clang, clang! Bohai and Mei-Ling clashed in a series of spectacular blocks and thrusts, some of which caused sparks to fly as metal struck jade.

“Oof,” Bohai said as he took the ruby end of the staff to his stomach. Bohai fought through the pain and launched a kick at Mei-Ling. It connected and sent the silent warrior flying backward.

Amidst the confusion, the staff fell out of Mei-Ling’s hands, skittered across the floor and bumped into Niu’s leg.

The big man opened his eyes and looked down and reached for the treasure. “The fates giveth…”

Junjie stepped on the staff, preventing Niu from picking it up.

“…and the fates taketh away,” Niu said as he closed his eyes and returned to his mediation.

When the handsome hero picked up the staff, the ruby glowed brightly, almost blindingly. Junjie tried to look away but he couldn’t. He was mesmerized.

The grunts and smacks of the fight between Bohai and Mei-Ling snapped Junjie out of the trance. Bohai assaulted Mei-Ling with sword swing after sword swing, but Mei-Ling ducked and dodged the blade with perfection.

Junjie tossed the staff to Mei-Ling. As soon as she caught it, the ruby’s light went dark.

Bohai looked at Junjie. “Pathetic!”

Slam! Mei-Ling bashed the ruby end of the staff up against Bohai’s head. Enraged, the smarmy warrior hurled himself into the air, performed an airborne somersault, then connected his feet to Mei-Ling’s torso, sending her to the ground.

The crushing blow caused Mei-Ling to drop the staff.  Miraculously, it landed right in front of Niu again.

The big man smiled and reached for the staff.  “The fates favor me once more.”

Alas, the master was too quick for Niu in reclaiming the coveted object.

“Make up your mind, fates,” Niu muttered.

“Mei-Ling!” Junjie cried.

“You cannot interfere now that you have submitted, my son,” the master said calmly.

Bohai had Mei-Ling pinned. As he straddled her, he held out his hand as if it were a tiger’s claw, twisting it to and fro as if he were turning the lid of an imaginary jar. If Mei-Ling was afraid, she didn’t show it as she remained stoic as Bohai’s claw hand came closer and closer.

The master banged the end of the staff on the floor. “Enough!”

The Infallible Master released the staff, but it did not fall. Instead, it floated slowly – up, up, up towards the top of the tower. The quartet watched as the coveted symbol of power hovered past the stone figure of Longwei, the clan’s founder and first master. Longwei’s humble nature, as evidenced by his wide grin and thoughtful eyes, had served as a source of inspiration for countless generations of disciples.

The staff continued its ascent, passing a different stone preserved master along the way. The seventh master, the eighth master, the ninth master. Good men but all three presided over the clan during times of peace. Peace makes for happiness but provides little in the way of interesting stories.

Aiguo, the Tenth Infallible Master, was a particularly angry and foul mouthed leader. His scornful, contemptuous visage masked a deep love of his country and emperor. He wasn’t remembered for being very kind, but was revered for the role he played in aiding the Emperor with the resolution a bloody civil conflict.

Eleven, twelve, thirteen…the staff finally rested near Cheng, the Eighteenth Infallible Master and Yaozu’s immediate predecessor. Due to his buck teeth and crossed-eyes, Cheng was also considered the ugliest of the Infallible Masters Past, but he was still very much beloved all the same.

“Life and death,” Yaozu said. “These are the diametrically opposed forces that the Staff of Ages bends to its will. Just as it extended the life of so many masters, so too did it extend my existence well beyond my natural lifespan, thus allowing me to share my wisdom with the clan for many centuries.”

The Infallible Master basked in the sunlight peaking in through the window in the ceiling. “When I expire, a new level will constructed. The next master will use the staff to preserve my remains in stone so that I will be able to join our ancestral leaders in watching over the clan.”

“A well-deserved honor, master,” Junjie said.

The master shrugged his shoulders. “Meh. It’s kind of creepy if you ask me. Personally, I’d rather my carcass be burned but what are you going to do?”

“Very good, master,” Bohai said. “But enough with the song and dance. Let’s get my staff down here so I can stone you up and start running this place.”

The master chuckled. “I’m not dead yet, my son. The staff will still be mine for as long as it chooses to keep me alive. Maybe a few days, maybe a year, maybe a decade. I do not know. All I know is the staff demands a successor and therefore, I deduce that it has selected the day upon which my mortality will no longer benefit from its protection.”

Bohai rolled his eyes, then began to walk away. “Yeesh. Thanks for wasting my time then. Call me when you start to feel sick.”

The master stomped his foot and shouted, “Bohai!”

The cocky fighter stopped in his tracks and turned around to face his leader.

“What makes you so sure that you will be chosen as the Twentieth Infallible Master?”

Bohai snickered. “Why wouldn’t you choose the best?”

“Are you the best?” the master inquired.

Bohai’s head looked as though it might explode with rage. In his mind, he was so clearly the right choice that he could not comprehend the master’s inability to see it.

“Is it not obvious?” Bohai asked. “I train the most. I study the most. I know the most.”

“You are formidable,” the master said. “But no more than your contemporaries based upon my observations.”

“Bah,” Bohai scoffed as he looked away.

The master stepped towards the brash young man and looked him in the eye. “You make a mistake…”

“The only mistake I made was staying in this clan for so long,” Bohai said. “Surely there are other clans that would recognize my accomplishments.”

The master’s face filled with sadness. “There aren’t as many clans as there used to be thanks to Dragonhand, young one. Be thankful you have found a home here filled with people who care for you, despite your best efforts to exasperate them.”

“The Clan of the Mystifying Monkey Slap would be happy to have me,” Bohai said.

The master openly guffawed. “Oh young one. We masters differ in our teaching methods. Whereas I prefer to allow my students to make their mistakes so they may learn from them, the Vengeful Master would have cut out your insolent tongue and monkey slapped you with it by now.”

Junjie butted into the conversation with an “Ouch.” Niu followed it up with, “The fates would almost certainly cause that to hurt.”

As usual, Mei-Ling said nothing.

The Infallible Master paced about the floor. “Now Bohai, before I was so rudely interrupted, I was about to tell you that you make a mistake in assuming that I choose the next owner of the Staff of Ages.”

“Who chooses then?” Bohai asked.

The master pointed a finger toward the high ceiling underneath which the staff was hovering. The ruby was glowing red once more.

“Why, the staff itself, of course.”

The students looked at one another. The master clapped his hands.

“Have at it,” the old man said.