The Silent Guard (mxm)

Chapter 4

(Soooo, this chapter took quite a turn, then a turn, then a turn.)

Zen got himself situated right at the edge of the water. He had something extremely important to get done as soon as possible, so his entire focus was already turned toward pulling energy from the flower. Unfortunately, he was taken by surprise by how much power Qi had actually managed to put into the little item, because when he tried to extract a small amount to send out his sensing ability to check the surrounding area, he unintentionally tripled his power, making a wave of pressure equal to a slight change in actual gravity, instantly spread throughout the entire palace grounds and pavilions. 

He quickly tried to reign it in, but he was struggling to simply get ahold of the energy bursting through him from the flower. It was almost humorous how much he'd underestimated both the flower's ability to hold spiritual energy, and his master's ability to seal it inside of something. 

Good afternoon, Zen.

Zen's eyes shot open, expecting to see the owner of the voice he'd just heard in his ear amongst all of the jumbled nonsense that was coming in from his ability, but what he saw before him definitely wasn't who, or really what, he'd expected. 

A black vulture with eyes like obsidian stared back at him from where it perched atop one of his crossed legs. 

But that had sounded like prince Yuen's voice... 

The vulture blinked and rustled its feathers, then leaned forward and opened its beak to tug at a piece of Zen's long hair. 

So you do have a voice, little guard.

Zen leaned his head away, hoping that the vulture would release his loch of hair, but it didn't seem to pay any mind to his action and instead hopped forward up onto his shoulder and began nipping at other sections of his head. It was oddly weightless, making him realize that his eyes must not truly be open. He was somehow stuck inside of someone else's thoughts. 

Very good. 

He saw nothing good about it. 

Release me, he stated calmly, though he knew that he was beginning to show his growing nervousness. 

A tsk'ing sound echoed around him, though nothing but the vulture appeared visible in the blurry area. 

It has been quite some time since I've seen something so intricate. Quite some time, indeed. 

Zen focused his ability on where he sensed prince Yuen within a pavilion at the other end of the palace grounds. The blurred area around him shuddered briefly before he heard a faint laugh in the back of his mind. 

That ability of yours is quite interesting. I would love to continue our exchange, but I'm afraid that our time has run out for now. 

Before Zen could respond the vulture perched on his shoulder suddenly became frantic and flapped its wings repeatedly in his face, loosing charcoal black feathers as it squawked several times, then shattered as if it were made of glass. At the same time, the blurry landscape around him broke apart, too, returning his mind to his current surroundings. 

He blinked several times as his vision got used to the darkened area around him. He was still sitting beside the pond, though the sun was now on its way down. To his surprise, a blade rested beneath his chin, its owner an unknown, masked man clad completely in black. 

"To think that he would allow such a weak point to return when the courts are in such turmoil around him. What a perfect chance to get rid of an old inconvenience, once and for all," the man said, his voice and words seemingly holding an air of authority.