Chapter 21: Escape

Bandit’s Home, Jade Empire

“H-hey stay right there!”, the sitting man called out.

“Go call a chief and tell them that the chains are broken”, the man commanded the previously laughing man.

“B-but, what do I tell him?”

“Does it matter? Just go tell him so he can fix it! Unless you can fix it?”

“Okay, okay”, the man stampered.

The man exited the cell and sprinted into the mass of houses, his hands over his head in a poor attempt at shielding himself from the rain. The remaining men diligently eyed Kai but as soon as the reporting man disappeared from view, he instantly dashed towards the man besides the door.

“Don’t you dare!”

Facing the approaching Kai, he placed himself in the opening of the cell, bent his knees, and prepared to grab him. In the midst of his running momentum, Kai immediately leaned back, dropped to the ground, and slid in between the man’s legs. The man clumsily grabbed thin air, then instantly spun around and saw the now-freed Kai.

“I’ll be taking my leave now”, Kai stated with a slight bow before sprinting for the exit of the stone pillared wall.

The two men blankly stared in disbelief at the results of their actions. A man recovered and bellowed, “Get back here!”

They chased his waning figure to no avail as Kai easily passed the wall and disappeared into the numerous trees. Unwilling to give up, they dived into the forest and split up, searching for even the slightest traces of Kai.

As they left, the reporting man returned with Mian by his side and they witnessed the empty cell.

“Where is he…?”, Mian questioned in an intimidating tone.

“Uh… um…”, the man stuttered. The chill of Mian’s voice heightened the cold from the rain causing him to uncontrollably shiver.

“Speak. Clearly”, Mian demanded, enunciating each syllable.

Before the man could gather his thoughts, the remaining captive spoke up.

“I know… if… water…”, he struggled to say as he leaned against the bars.

Mian coldly squinted at the captive. He gave the bumbling man another glance before taking a leather pouch by his side and tossing it into the cell. The captive fervently grabbed at the pouch and weakly unplugged it. He brought the gap to his mouth and greedily drank.

“Now tell me what happened.”

The captive lowered the pouch and diligently recollected the recent incident. When he finished, Mian swiftly pivoted and grasped the collar of the man’s shirt.

“Boss will not be happy with this”, he hissed, “but someone has to tell him and that someone is going to be you. Now scram!”

On his last note, he tossed the man aside. The man stumbled to his feet, gave a quick bow, then hurriedly sprinted in the direction of Boss’s house. Mian decisively turned and rushed into the forest in hopes of retrieving Kai.

Meanwhile, Kai continued to run deep into the forest with no direction in mind.

I haven’t been to this side of the forest before…

He halted and took in the unfamiliar landscape of the forest. While searching for a decent place to conceal himself, he heard rapid footsteps behind him. Turning his head, he saw the vague figure of one of the men. Shaking his head, he resumed delving deeper into the forest.

Do they have to try so hard?

Kai began to pick up the pace but almost immediately came into an abrupt stop. He cautiously gazed at the mound of brown fur before him. Curled in a ‘C’ shape was an enormous bear, peacefully sleeping under the protection of a large branch and it’s leaves.

This is the first time I’ve seen a bear… but I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised. This is a forest after all.

Desiring to leave the bear in peace, he carefully retreated in small steps. At that moment, the other man entered the bear’s resting area from a different path. Failing to see the bear, he immediately identified Kai. His eyes widened and before Kai could stop him, he called out.

“Ah! Stay right there!”

Shit!

Unsurprisingly, the bear’s eyes instantly snapped open. It quickly captured the sight of Kai and the man as it rose to its feet. When it hoisted itself, the man untimely realized it’s existence. He took small steps back in fear and before he could escape, the bear released a fearsome roar. The roar stunned the man on the spot as the bear emitted a brown light and swiped its paw at the air in the front of him, towards the direction of the man.

-Twosh-

The ground briefly trembled before a wave of dirt, rocks and grass surged forward, knocking the man off his feet. The man flew past several meters by the wave before violently colliding against a tree. Leaving a shallow indent in the trunk, the man pitifully dropped onto the ground. Glaring at the unconscious body, the bear growled in satisfaction before turning his gaze on Kai.

A Baron bear! Earth too from the looks of it. This isn’t good, it’s power is so much stronger than Mian’s…

Giving Kai no time to think, the bear swiped its paw in Kai’s direction. The ground trembled in front of him but unlike the man, he immediately channeled Essence to his feet and leaped to the left. A familiar wave of earth surged at the air, where Kai’s body would have been. The bear gave a startled growl but rapidly recovered and charged at Kai.

Kai hastily turned to flee, Essence constantly glowing on his feet as he exerted his utmost efforts to create distance between him and the bear. After several minutes of constant running, he twisted his head and was astonished to spot the bear.

It’s still there! How is it so fast even though it’s body is so big? Is this the advantages of being a Baron?

He sighed and persevered, maintaining his fastest speed.

If only it wasn’t raining, otherwise I wouldn’t be leaving such obvious footprints on the ground.

Sighing again at his horrible luck, he shrugged his misfortune aside and thought of a possible solution. Scanning the nearby trees for the lowest branch, he quickly found one and leapt onto it. Carefully positioning himself to compensate for the wetness of the rain, he continued to leap onto other branches before settling on an incredibly high branch.

Peering down, his eyes met the glare of the bear.

Please leave…

The bear held his gaze for another second, then released a fearsome roar that echoed throughout the forest. It heaved upwards and intimidatingly stood on its hind legs. With its paw still coated in brown light, it furiously swung at the tree Kai resided on.

-Smash-

The paw obliterated a broad portion of the trunk and the tree quickly began to topple.

Such power!

Kai expertly kicked off the branch, then at the nearby trees before somersaulting safely onto the ground.

-Crash-

Before he could breath a sigh of relief, the bear alarmingly neared his face. It charged at him the moment he jumped off the tree and reached him as soon as he touched the ground. Keeping its momentum, it stretched its jaws wide and lunged at him with a burst of strength, its sharp teeth becoming dangerously detailed.

With an explosion of Essence on his feet he hastily lowered his body and dodged to the right. He smelled the heated breath of the bear as it barely grazed past the side of his body. Rolling across the ground, he pressed his hand against the first tree he made contact with to halt his momentum and prop himself up.

The bear angrily turned its head, furious that Kai escaped him clutches for the second time. Wasting no time, Kai swiftly channeled Essence to his feet and fled once more. As he ran, he picked up a familiar welcoming sound.

-Swoosh-

Water! If I can find a deep river, perhaps I can successfully separate myself from this crazed bear.

With a fresh goal in mind, he changed the course of his previous uncertain path. The coursing water grew louder but the sound unsettled Kai.

Wait… the sound of the water is way too loud. It’s as if-

Kai’s thought was interrupted as his fear came into view. Raging water coursed in front of his eyes but instead of a standard river, it led to a massive waterfall! The savage current crashed against the helpless rocks on the cliff and cascaded down a seemingly perilous height, along with Kai’s hopes of salvation.

He tried to deviate from the deadly path, but was unable to find an alternate course. To his left was an unrelenting river, to his right was a sharp cliff leading to a suicidal fall, and up ahead was the massive waterfall.

Is this it…

As the intersection of the river and cliff came into view, and the space to maneuver grew limited, Kai halted and spun around. The bear appeared soon after and cautiously recognized the dead end. It smartly transitioned to walking and carefully inched towards him as it vigilantly eyed the borders of the river and cliff.

Ha… I suppose it was too much to hope for it to mindlessly run off the waterfall.

Kai stood his ground and returned the bears careful glare with his own. Just when he thought all hope was lost, an insane idea developed in his mind. He delicately glanced at the rivers and analyzed the many large rocks imbedded into the riverbed.

The rocks are ridiculously smooth from the constant waves of water… It’ll be hard but I have no other choice.

His eyes hardened with determination as he settled on his insane idea. The bear halted at that moment and growled as it heaved up. Instead of standing on its hind legs, it immediately crashed back down on its front paws and the ground trembled in front of it. A large wave of earth, covering all areas of movement, emerged from the ground and relentlessly surged towards Kai.

-Twosh-

Now!

Gritting his teeth, he channeled Essence to his feet and dashed in the direction of the river. He completely ignored the deadly wave of earth and solely concentrated on a particular rock in the river. Briefly, but carefully, estimating the amount of strength he needed to perfectly land on the rock, he braced himself and jumped.

The wave of earth missed Kai for the second time that day and the bear incredulously glared at Kai’s body in the air.

Phew.

The moment Kai touched the rock, he knew he successfully achieved balance and heaved a huge sigh of relief. Before he could even think of rejoicing, he felt an ominous feeling from his jumping point. Twisting his head towards the direction of the feeling, he saw the bear viciously swiping twice at him. Numerous rocks hovered off the ground and immediately zoomed towards him!

Caught unprepared, and with no time to choose another rock, he recklessly eyed a random rock and leaped to it. The rocks whizzed past his previous location but that was the least of his worries.

Shit! Too much strength!

-Splash-

Landing on the edge of the rock, Kai involuntarily slipped and fell into the raging river. As he fell prey to the savage current, he caught two men from the corner of his eye. Their image remained in his mind as the current brought him directly over the edge and he rapidly cascaded down the waterfall.

Mian and the other man? But they were too late…

Mian squinted at the river, the image of Kai’s falling figure fresh in his mind. He pulled the man by the hem of his shirt and retreated behind a tree, away from the bear’s view. Switching his grip to the collar of the man’s shirt, he pulled him into an intimate distance from his face. With a cold hard glare, he looked straight into the other man’s eyes.

“Run down the mountain and find. The. Boy!”, he snarled. “Don’t even think about returning until you find his body, dead or alive.”

He threw the man aside and grudgingly made his way back home. The man pathetically crawled back to his feet and gnashed his teeth, regretting everything he had done in the past hour. ‘What is the point? There’s no way the boy can possibly survive that fall’, he bitterly thought. The man, however, lacked the bravery to challenge Mian’s command and dejectedly searched for a path to descend the cliff.