The challenger of Destiny

Hidden Secrets

An eerie silence fell over the basement. The ashes from Wei Zhang's scroll were still floating in the air when Jihan opened her eyes. His body felt like it was burning from within-as if thousands of needles of ice and fire were fighting in his veins.

“Wake up,” Lin Mei's voice broke the silence. “We don't have much time.”

Jihan tried to stand up, but her legs were shaking violently. His vision was still blurry, filled with flashes of golden light from the fight just now. “What... what happened?”

Lin Mei did not answer immediately. The woman walked around the room, her pale fingers touching the cracked pillars. “Kai Wen isn't dead,” she said finally. “He's too cunning to die that easily.”

“But we saw for ourselves-”

“What we saw,” Lin Mei cut in, “is only his broken physical body. His soul...” she let out a long sigh, ”...has not been bound to a single vessel for a long time.”

Jihan tried to digest this information as she forced her legs to stand. Her head was still spinning, filled with memories that didn't belong to her-or perhaps they did but had long been buried. She saw herself as a child, practicing waterbending by the river with her mother. Seeing the proud smile on Li Wei's face every time he managed to make a small wave...

“The seal your mother put up is starting to weaken,” Lin Mei said, as if she could read his mind. “That's how it should be. You're already strong enough to bear this burden.”

“What burden?” Jihan asked, frustration starting to show in her voice. “Everyone talks in riddles. Wei Zhang, mom, now you... What exactly are you hiding from me?”

Lin Mei turned to face him. In the dim light of the remaining torches, her reddish eyes seemed to flicker dangerously. “Why do you think Kai Wen is so obsessed with you? Why is Wei Zhang willing to die to protect you? Why did your mother choose to seal your powers and send you far away?”

Jihan was silent. Those questions had haunted him for a long time.

“Because you,” Lin Mei continued, “are an anomaly. A Guardian is not supposed to be able to control more than one element. But you...” she smiled faintly, ”you inherited the blood of both your parents. Water from your mother, and fire from your father.”

Jihan's world seemed to stop spinning. “My father...?”

“Yes,” Lin Mei nodded. “Kai Wen is your father.”

Jihan felt her knees go weak. She fell to her knees, her chest heaving with emotions. Hatred, anger, confusion, and the most painful-betrayal.

“Lies,” she whispered. “This can't be...”

“Kai Wen wasn't always like this,” Lin Mei said softly. “He used to be one of our best Guardians. Genius, talented, and... loved your mother very much.”

“Then what happened?”

“Ambition,” Lin Mei answered shortly. “And fear. When Li Wei was pregnant with you, we all felt an incredible energy from the fetus in her womb. An energy we had never felt before-a perfect blend of water and fire.”

Lin Mei walked towards the ruined altar, picking up a handful of Wei Zhang's scroll ashes. “Kai Wen is scared. He was afraid that your strength would exceed his. Afraid of losing his position as the strongest. And that fear...” Lin Mei exhaled the ashes in his hand, letting them fly into the air, “...turning him into the monster we know today.”

Suddenly, the floor shook violently. From the cracks in the wall, black smoke started seeping in.

“He came back faster than I thought,” Lin Mei swore softly. “Jihan, listen to me carefully. You must leave here. Look for the Five Elements Mountain temple in the east. There...”

Her words were cut off by the sound of echoing laughter-the same laughter that always haunted Jihan's nightmares. But this time it sounded different. More... inhuman.

“Telling my own daughter to run away from me, Lin Mei?” Kai Wen's voice rang out from every direction. “Isn't it time for a family reunion?”

The black smoke grew thicker, beginning to form monstrous figures. Lin Mei pushed Jihan towards the stairs. “RUN!”

But Jihan's legs refused to move. Something inside her was churning, demanding to get out. The water in her skin pouch trembled wildly, and for the first time in her life, she felt a familiar heat in her palms.

“No,” she said firmly. “I won't run away again.”

Lin Mei looked at him with a complicated expression-a mixture of pride and worry. “You're not ready to face it yet.”

“Maybe,” Jihan admitted. “But I'm ready to try.”

Kai Wen's figure began to form out of the black smoke, but this time it was different. His body seemed to be made of solid shadow, with eyes that burned blood red. “Finally,” he smiled-a smile that made Jihan's hair stand on end. “You're starting to show your fangs, my son.”

“I'm not your son,” Jihan hissed. The water in her leather pouch burst out, forming long whips that glistened in the torchlight.

But before the whips could touch Kai Wen, they froze in midair-turning into unnatural black ice.

“It's too early to challenge me,” Kai Wen shook his head. “You can't even control the fire in your blood yet.”

“Maybe not,” Jihan admitted. “But I'm not alone.”

Just then, Lin Mei darted forward at a speed impossible for her age. His hands formed an intricate seal, and instantly the room was filled with thick mist.

“Old tricks, Lin Mei?” Kai Wen laughed. “Have you forgotten who taught you this technique?”

From within the fog, Lin Mei's voice sounded calm. “No, I didn't. I just wanted to prove one thing to my new student.”

Jihan felt a strange pull of energy from Lin Mei. The mist around them began to swirl, forming a vortex that grew faster and faster.

“Pay close attention, Jihan,” Lin Mei said. “Because this is your first lesson in the true power of a Guardian.”

The swirling mist suddenly stopped-frozen in the air like thousands of crystal needles. Then, in the blink of an eye, the needles turned into brightly burning blue flames.

Kai Wen hissed unhappily. “You...”

“Yes,” Lin Mei smiled. “I'm also like Jihan. An anomaly you thought you killed years ago.”

The fight that followed was something Jihan would remember for the rest of his life. Lin Mei and Kai Wen move in a mesmerizing dance of death-ice meets fire, water fights shadows, air clashes with lightning. Every move brought destruction to the space around them.

And in the midst of the chaos, Jihan felt something rise within her. Every time Lin Mei transformed one element into another, she could feel the flow of energy that occurred. It was like music that she could finally hear after a long period of deafness.

“Now, Jihan!” Lin Mei shouted in the middle of the fight. “Remember what Wei Zhang said!”

True strength is in your heart.

Jihan closed his eyes, trying to feel the energy flowing through his body. Her mother's water-calm but deadly. Her father's fire-wild but full of life. Two opposing forces, but complementary.

When she opened her eyes, the world looked different. She could see the flow of energy all around her-like rivers of light flowing through everything.

“No...” Kai Wen took a step back when he saw Jihan's eyes. “No way... you can't be this strong yet...”

Jihan's normally blue eyes now sparkled in two colors-ice blue in the left eye, and fire red in the right.

“This is just the beginning,” Jihan said calmly. Her hands were raised, and for the first time in her life, she felt the perfect harmony of water and fire within her.

Lin Mei smiled proudly. “Welcome to your true destiny, Jihan.”

Kai Wen roared angrily, releasing a wave of black energy that shattered the pillars around them. But Jihan was no longer afraid. With one graceful movement, she made water and fire dance together, forming a spiral that engulfed Kai Wen's black energy.

“You think you've won?” Kai Wen laughed-a laugh that sounded increasingly insane. “This is only the beginning, my son. There are still many secrets you don't know...”

Before Jihan or Lin Mei could react, Kai Wen disappeared in a burst of black smoke. But this time, he left something behind-an old scroll that looked very familiar.

“That...” Lin Mei gasped. “The Five Elements Fate Scroll.”

“What is it?”

“The greatest secret of the Guardians,” Lin Mei replied seriously. “And also... a prophecy about the destruction of our world.”

Jihan picked up the scroll with trembling hands. On its surface, he could feel the same energy as he had felt from Wei Zhang's scroll.

“What should we do now?” she asked.

Lin Mei gazed towards the stairs leading up. “We must hurry to the Five Elements Mountain. Because if the prophecy in the scroll is true...” he sighed heavily, ”...we only have until the next full moon before Kai Wen awakens them.”

“They?”

“The Forbidden Guardians.” Lin Mei whispered. “Five ancient beings that even gods are afraid to name.”

Outside the temple, lightning flashed in the dark, as if the sky itself trembled at the mention of the name. Jihan looked down at her hands that were still emitting a combination of blue and red light, wondering what kind of fate awaited her ahead.

One thing she knew for sure-there was no going back from here.