Read Out of the Mountain Online
Authors: Violet Chastain
Out of the Mountain
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
No part of this work may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.
Published by Kindle Press, Seattle, 2016
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CHAPTER ONE
I burst through the heavy wooden doors of the monastery with as much noise as I could manage, my bare feet slapping the cold stone floor and echoing in the empty halls that led to my room. Some might call my antics a childish display of defiance, but I figured if they insisted on treating me like one, I may as well act the part. It was silent time, but I wasn’t feeling all that cooperative at the moment considering the extra chores that Master Ryu had doled out in order to “allow me time to reflect” on how my actions affected others—my actions being that I had accidentally slept in ten measly minutes late this morning and knocked his tightly planned day slightly off schedule. He hadn’t mentioned that though, no . . . he hadn’t said a word about it until I was preparing to leave his lesson. I had almost thought he hadn’t even noticed. The monks in this mountain were equally astounding in their endless patience, always believing that things happened for a reason and that there was a lesson to be learned from each mistake. I, however, was not known for that finer quality and refused to reflect on anything other than my resentment of cleaning the already-spotless floors.
Rules, rules, and more rules. That’s all I have ever known. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself, and not “reflect on” how Master Tatsu had shown up at the exact moment that I had finished my chores to take me into the garden and promptly kick me where it hurt. I winced at the ache in my muscles as I closed the door to my room and sagged against it. His insistence that I control my temper and morph it into mastering his seemingly countless fighting techniques was nothing new. There were twelve monks in the Mountain Monastery of Velia, and each of them had taught me different forms of fighting; grappling, kicking, punching, joint-locks, leveraging, and throwing. Eventually it all started to blur together, and Master Tatsu had taken over to teach me to use them all together. This might have been more fun if he ever actually let me hit him. The basics were instilled in me as a child, and now it was hours of practice formations, repetition, meditation, and conditioning. On fun days I got use my finely honed skills on a homemade practice dummy. It was exactly as anticlimactic as it sounds.
There was a knock at the door and I turned, defiantly crossing my arms before it opened.
“Vivienne?” I heard Master Liung call, and I relaxed my posture.
“Yes, come in,” I replied quickly as the door swung inward to reveal my favorite monk.
“I hear that you have had quite the day today.” He smiled as he entered my room. His almond-shaped eyes were bright with humor, and I couldn’t help but smile back. He wore the same thing all the monks wore: a simple robe with sandals. For outsiders it was hard to tell them apart, as they were all short and thin with bald heads and clean-shaven faces. My eyes, though more round than theirs, still held a hint of the same almond shape. I might have been able to pretend I was related to them, if that wouldn’t have been where our similarities ended.
I stood a head taller than them, even though I only reach five foot seven. My hair was a dark brown, almost black that waved down into the middle of my back. Their almond eyes were a warm chocolaty brown, whereas mine were an icy blue that some found alarming. My body was thick compared to their thin and small frames. I had just enough soft curves to keep the muscle from making me appear too hard. At least that’s what I liked to tell myself when my self-esteem needed a boost.
“I really do try to be reasonable, but it’s hard for me. I’ve sworn no oaths like one of you ancient, all-knowing beings! I don’t have an endless supply of kindness and patience. I wish they could remember to understand that. You seem to be the only one who gets it.” I whined, walking across my small room to sit on the bed. The specifics of the oaths the monks had taken were unknown to me, but I made sure to bring it up often when I felt they applied too much pressure to be perfect.
I didn’t have much of my own, but even then I still had more than the monks kept. My room in the Mountain Monastery was sparse. I had tried to spruce it up over the years, but it was technically a cave, and there wasn’t any hiding that fact. I was the only other person who lived in the walls of the mountain with them, and it was a primitive way of living, that was for sure. The inside of the mountain held a strange kind of beauty for those who were lucky enough to witness it. The halls and doorways were sculpted into intricate arcs of stone by deft hands long before I or anyone I knew had been born. The ceilings were more roughly hewn, but they held deposits of ore that shone in the light of the lamps.
I loved making trips into the valley with the monks, but they were few and far between as of late. Velia was a small village that rested in between two mountains. I had spent my childhood roaming the streets and playing with the other children while the monks attended to their business, but the older I got, the more segregated I became. The people of Velia loved the monks, but they shied away from me. I was an oddity. A girl raised by monks with no family or magic to be seen.
It wasn’t that I hadn’t tried a fair share of times to wield magic: Water, Air, Fire, and Earth. In fact everyone I had ever met could wield some form of elemental magic, with the exception of my twelve buddies and me. These magic-wielding people were called Conduits, and they were fascinating to behold. As a girl with no magic, my studies were somewhat different than the school that the children of Velia went to. So, yes, that meant as well as being trained by the twelve monks, I was taught.
The monks of the mountain were a multitalented group, and I quickly realized that what I saw as normal for the monks, would leave others in awe of their abilities. They taught me in almost every subject that they deemed fit, and my lessons were anything but orthodox. They had no qualms in pushing their thoughts into mine in order to further explain their teachings: how to plant my feet for a certain kick, how to bring down an opponent by leveraging my weight, the way to center my body, and the feeling of peace and Zen they can achieve when I am being overly emotional. They are masters of the mind. Some call them seers, but in truth they are much more than that title allows.
I have overheard many prophecies and premonitions, quickly written and locked into a room of scrolls. I thought the people of Velia must know how powerful the monks really were, because all of my life I had lived here, and not one of them had appeared to have aged a day. Even so, no one had ever questioned it. I, on the other hand, never ran out of questions for them. One of the most important questions being, how exactly had I ended up here with them? Which was always met with a talk about patience and their token “all will be revealed in time.” I sighed aloud at the thought and watched as Master Liung crossed the room, pulled out a chair, and sat in front of me. He seemed to be thinking long and hard about something, so I sat in silence and waited. I was used to the thinking silences these men took, as if they needed to sift through their minds to find the right thoughts. It was better not to break the monks’ concentration.
“Vivienne . . .” he began, before abruptly sucking in a sharp breath, his eyes going blank. His mouth formed a hard line and he sat perfectly still, not another breath leaving his lungs. My heart dropped in fear as I quickly realized that this was something else.
“Master Liung?” I asked before reaching out to touch his arm.
A shock of pain went through me as our skin touched and my vision blanked. I blinked, trying to focus my eyes, and what I saw confused me. It was night and the moon was full and bright in the sky. I was standing in housing district of Velia and people were flooding into the streets in panic. Screams cut through the air, and my blood ran cold as I tried to find the source of their fear. Monstrous creatures were attacking! Their bodies were covered in patches of dark fur, features stretched in unnatural angles, as they tore through the streets. The sight was unlike anything I had ever seen. As buildings burned and bodies were strewn about. My eyes were drawn to the rivulets of blood streaming from them, and a scream escaped my throat as I saw shadows moving of their own accord. One of the shadows grabbed a man by the neck, and suddenly where there had been nothing but darkness, bloodred eyes and rows of long, razor-sharp teeth appeared.
As blood dripped from its fangs, it hissed, “Where is the girl?”
I cried out as pain shot through my head, and I was back in my room, now lying on the floor. Master Liung was still blank faced, but his hands were outstretched, and I had no doubt that he had pushed me away. Another second of confusion passed as I jumped to my feet, and then he was back with me, pale and sweating.
“What was that?” I whispered as terrified flashes of what I had seen kept playing in my head.
“I am sorry that you bore witness to such horrible things.” He sighed, eyes concerned for a moment before he turned toward the door.
“We must confer.” He continued quickly as he rushed out of my small room. I paused only a moment before I ran after him and stumbled to a halt, taking in the sight of all twelve monks gathering in the hall: Masters Manchu, Arach, Drache, Ryu, Tatsu, Yong, Drage, Smok, Zmeu, Ajddrha, Rong, and Liung.
“It is time.” They said in unison, which would have been creepy if I hadn’t just seen evil creatures murdering innocents in Velia.
“What is going on?” I demanded loudly when they stood facing one another in silence. I assumed they were communicating through their minds, tuning into their own telepathic network. Anyone who spent any amount of time around them could see that was what they were doing, and it got really old really quick.
“Master Liung, was that real?” I asked when no one answered.
“She saw?” Master Rong asked with about as much surprise I had ever heard from his usually dull tone.
“Vivienne was pulled into my mind when she touched my arm,” Master Liung replied quietly, and they all nodded before sharing a look and seemingly communicating with their minds again.
“So it was real? We have to do something! All those poor people! What were those things? Wait . . . it can’t be happening now; it’s not even dark!” I exclaimed as words tumbled out in a rush and my mind fought to catch up with my mouth.
It was a premonition. I had seen a premonition through Master Liung.
“We have to do something to prevent this!” I cried, pulse racing in my ears. The monks all shared a look and then bowed their heads. Master Manchu looked up at me and frowned sadly.