The Night of the Dragons

[Alex]

Hong Kong, Tseun Wan, 21:00 - June 1995 ​ An eerie silence had taken over Hong Kong since its Handover five months ago. Eight hundred thousand had abandoned the city for nations such as Australia, Canada, and the United States in the past twelve years, leaving behind empty husks of a once vibrant metropolis. Those who remained did so in silence, afraid of the eldritch feeling which had possessed them. The freedoms and happiness that they once had under the British Empire was no gone, replaced by fear of censorship and subjugation that had taken the place of the Union Jack. The puppets of the Communist Party of China ran the streets, day and night, no one dared complain of the People's Republic nor speak of the British. No one dared anything. But deep in the bowels of Hong Kong, within the town of Tseun Wan brewed an intrigue. While the Chinese government may believe they own the city, there was still a treasure greater than territory and population to own. There are some who would wage war for this treasure; the true ownership of the Pearl of the Orient. They had blindfolded the young man so time ago, captured as he walked among one of Hong Kong's many parks. He could not see where they were taking him, but he could feel and hear all of it within they car they stuffed him in as they bumped and drifted beneath the numerous buildings of Hong Kong's quiet and cramped streets. The majority of the people that would have been in his place would have, far before now, have resisted and fought against those would have kidnapped them. But not Yong, he knew what he had brought himself into, he knew he could have backed down countless times before now but he didn't care - he was going to see this through. The vehicle came to a sudden stop and the doors opened just as quickly, a large hand gripping him by the shoulders and pulling him out of the back seat. They lead him by the back of the neck for no more than a mere minute before he was halted and they knocked on a door that he could not see: Bang! Bang! Bang! It took a moment, but the door eventually opened and they were greeted by a man with a orotund voice. "Is this him?" It asked. "Shi." Replied the man that held him. "Good, and the gift?" The kidnapper handed him the envelope that he had taken from him. "Wonderful, bring him in." They pushed him through the door way, closing it shut behind them. They lead him up three flights of stairs before bringing him through another door way, there they finally removed the clothed hood from his head. His eyes took some time to adjust, but he was able to see the room that they stood in quite easily. It was a traditional location; white walls, wooden floors covered in red and black carpet, wooden columns supporting the overhang, the windows were wooden with shutters of the same material, and the door to the room was a sliding one - this was a room that meant something, it was not a Hong Konger's room: it was Chinese. The man stood in front of Yong, but behind him he could see it; a shrine to the general Guan Yu. "The Wo Shin Wo welcomes you, Initiate." The man spoke, snapping Yong's attention back to what was at hand. "It is not everyday that one passes our initial riddles and tests, you should rejoice. But know that once you do this, there is no going back, there is no back out. The only way out for the Triad, young Yong, is death. Do you understand?" "I do." Answered Yong, his voice tremulous. "Then we begin." As the Triad leader walked to the shrine of Guan Yu, the members stayed put - it was now Yong's turn to follow, out of his own initiative. He did, without a second of hesitation. The shrine to the Warlord General was covered with dozens of miniature sculptures of him, incense littered alongside them, and within the hands of the largest sculpture laid a weapon, a han jian. Between them stood an altar made of hard stone, stained in red. Sitting on the altar were three items: a butterfly sword, a goblet, and a wine bottle. The leader bowed before the sculpture of Guan and grabbed the sword. He unsheathed it, revealing its double-edged blade. "Bring forth the sacrifice." Within a second two men rushed out of one of the sliding doors, a white cock in hand. They forced it down on the altar as it squirmed and wiggled against their grip, but the leader of the Wo Shin Wo made quick work of the animal when he swung down the han jian blade and decapitated it in the singular swift blow. It took a moment, but the blood eventually began to flow from the amputation. The sword swinger took the animal and poured some of its blood into the goblet. "Come before the altar, Yong." He did and the man handed him the butterfly sword. "You must add your own blood to the mixture." Yong promptly pushed the blade against his palm and pulled down, cutting open his skin and let the blood of the wound drip into the goblet. Then, finally, came the wine which made up for the rest of the mixture. The Triad leader mixed the three liquids before handing the goblet to the initiate. "Drink." Salty iron and sweet alcoholic grapes, it burned and nearly made his choke as he sipped away, but he drank it all - every last drop. As he drank, sixteen members of the triad formed behind him, eight on each side. They all unsheathed their own han jian sword and they raised them to the roof, touching the tip of each other's blades. The leader handed him a thin piece of paper, upon it was written thirty-six lines. "You must now walk beneath the arch of swords and recite your oaths." And so he did, taking his first step he began to recite. "To keep secret everything from my wife and family, for fear that something may be leaked before strangers; even so that as a father I do not tell it to my son, and as a brother I do not tell it to my brother. We must live and die together and be attached to each other as if we were born from one womb. I will not give out untruth for truth, and deceive my brethren, neither shall I conceal the Police and betray the trust of my brethren. If the master has appointed a meeting I shall most surely not conceal policemen within the precincts, in order to show them the secrets. To conceal them is to mix serpents among dragons. If I, of the Wo Shin Wo, lends clandestinely my diploma and proof of membership to other persons in order to curry favor with them, or if I sell them for money and betray the secrets, I shall be put to death. I shall not bring policemen clandestinely within the Council, in order to show them formalities and objects... and falsely let them pass for a brother. The punishment of which is death. I ought to consider the affairs of the brethren as my own. If one of them has smuggled or escaped the duties or has some secret affairs, or trades in smuggled goods, or cheats strangers, or the Police, I must keep it secret and not let it leak out. If I know that a heave price is set upon a brother, and I do not think about saving him... but betray him to the government, or if I give myself the thread in hands or lead the way to make him prisoner and injure in this way a brother may I be struck by thunderbolts. If a brother, having committed a crime, enters the house of a brother and beseeches him to help him to escape over the frontiers, and if I do not help him to escape or prevent him from escaping, I will be punished... If a brother is seized for a crime by government soldiers and is transported, and if the I do not advance and free him forcibly and prevent the soldiers, I shall be punished... If a brother has committed a crime and is seized by the authorities and suffers imprisonment and all the brethren have contributed money and entrusted this money to me, that it may be used in mitigation of the punishment of the arrest brother and if I pocket the money for myself, I shall be put to death. If a brother has killed someone in the public interest and wishes to escape to another district or country, if then I inform against him so that he is caught, I shall be put to death. If a brother commits robbery afloat or ashore he shall observe well the signs or recognition before he acts... If I knew certainly that it was a brother but pretended not to have recognized him... I shall be punished. If a brother has become implicated with the authorities, or if a price is set upon his person, it shall not be allowed to betray him to the authorities and be the leading thread by which a brother is caught. The punishment is death. Neither shall I seduce the wife or concubine of a brother. I must observe the etiquette of this society and keep its regulation. When the wife or concubine of a brother passes me on the road, I shall not address her rudely or dally with her, for this is a heavy offence against propriety." And with the last line, Yong stepped through the final blades of the arch. "Liu Yong," addressed the master, "you are now a 49 of the Wo Shin Wo. Welcome, brother." "Thank you, Dragon Head Zhou Asano." Yong bowed. "Go dress your wound, brother. For we and our brethren have much to discuss for what is to come."