Skip to main content

Dark Market II

Dark Market Part II

Begin Chapter 2
"I didn't know you catered to vampires," the king finally admits after taking a few moments to let his anger cool.
"I'm not breaking the law," Shen says.
"No, you're not old friend, you're not breaking the law," the king agrees.
"They're not very good customers anyway," Shen says.
"Well...business is business," the king says.
"I've been training again," Master Shen confides to the king.
"Training? You do seem a little out of shape," the king jokes sarcastically, knowing Shen is hiding dense muscles under his modest garments.
"I must confront my old enemy," Shen admits.
"Another battle in the kingdom?" the king asks.
"Not this time," Shen answers.
"What do you mean?" the king asks in confusion, "you just said you are training to confront Chen?"
"I am training to avoid a battle when I do confront Chen," Shen explains.
"I don't understand Shen, if you are training, and you are going to confront your old enemy, then how can you possibly believe that won't end in a bloody battle just like last time?"
"There will be no battle this time, I can assure you," Shen replies.
"I don't need your assurances old man. You are no longer a Zenster anymore. You have grown, matured, and taken on many new responsibilities over the past year," the king states.
"Thank you your majesty," Shen responds with a curtsy of sorts.
"I just don't understand how you of all people could be so naive about the bad blood between you too," the king says.
"Rumors spreading wider with each gust of wind have certainly worsened the tensions between us," Shen agrees.
"Then you agree with me? You two will always be at war," the king concludes.
"That is the fear that motivated me to begin training again," Shen explains.
"Tell me then Shen, what are your intentions with Chen if not to fight?" the king asks.
"I believe the time has come for the two halves to unite as one," Shen begins before an unexpected interruption.
"Excuse me your majesty but..." the servant begins before a wave of the king's hand pauses his words mid-sentence.
"Not now!" the king orders, quelling the commotion occurring in the courtyard right outside.
"Yes your highness, it can wait," the servant backpedals out of the room, careful not to turn his back on the king.
"My intentions?" Shen asks.
"Yes, you're intentions," the king repeats, "joining forces, you were saying?"
"Not joining forces, but more specifically, uniting the two halves as one unified entity to travel great distances at speeds that exponentiate the speed of light to powers beyond a hundred," Shen explains.
"That's impossible!" the king mockingly interrupts.
"No ship can exponentiate the speeds of light," the king replies, including his signature pluralization of the word 'speeds' when referring to light.
"No vessel has ever been engineered from start to finish purely by a Zen master," Shen argues.
"Have you built this ship already?" the king eagerly asks.
"I drafted some blueprints, but without another master to reciprocate my efforts in building and flying this newly designed craft, there's the inherent risk of the slightest mistake tearing a hole in the universe and swallowing up our whole galaxy."
"So that's why you need Chen?" the king finally asks, confirming he understands Shen's motives and breathing a sigh of relief that the kingdom would be spared another one of their decades-long feuds, the last of which destroyed half the main kingdom and claimed the lives of thousands of citizens, witches, goblins, and vampires alike; no one was spared the rippling wakes of their thunderous assaults.
To be continued...

Continue to the next dark market.

Read about the Queen

Skip to the path of Denny

Begin the tale of Hoblin v Govlin

Go back home

Popular posts from this blog

The Dark Market

Dark Market Once upon a time, and that time is now. Shen do Shen owns a small business in the dark market, which he keeps hidden in the back room of a legitimate business in the royal marketplace. The front business, also known as just a front, is a dry cleaning store. In the back room, Shen sells various spices as a luxury commodity to the wealthier class of citizens in the kingdom. Today is a special occasion for which the dry cleaner's store is closed and no visitors are permitted into the back market. The king has requested a visit a few days ago to purchase spice. Aside from the fact that the king wants the store to himself because he is very busy and doesn't have time to get tangled up in long lines at a busy market, Shen knows the king will purchase a large quantity of spice. So Shen can afford to close the market for one day and still earn a day's worth of profits just from what the king will spend. "Your majesty, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Sh

Hob v Gob (Hidden Beginning)

Welcome to Goblin's Hidden Game. In this puzzle, you have to decode the hidden meaning of the words spoken with a thick accent that makes it sound like other words were spoken instead. Click the links (...) at the end of the coded sentences to play. Scroll down to the bottom to see if you guessed right on any given puzzle set. The answers appear in the story after each play. My responses to Hob are hints at what he was trying to say. The best part is after you finish the puzzle, you can start over, and they'll still be just as difficult to solve. Difficulty ratings are provided. Even I can't figure them all out, and I'm the one who wrote them, so hopefully you'll enjoy the challenge... Goblin's Grammar help " Juan's supper knit, I'm dare! Wassup? Bee gain hand? ... " he says. L1 "Right? Beginning... go on..." I answer. " Hand edge; jostle happy! inn satay Miss now ... " he continues. L2 "Okay? Rig

111 Semicolons (English)

Home >> Grammar Style Guide >> Semicolons Understanding Semicolons Semicolons have a number of useful reasons to be included in a sentence or paragraph. Where colons can be useful outside of sentence structures, semicolons are typically limited to separating text in paragraphs or similar constructs. You may think semicolons are the halfway point between commas and colons, and in some respects, that assumption wouldn't be far from the truth. Where a comma offers a pause and a colon introduces something, a semicolon can be considered a halfway point between these two attributes. However, a semicolon adds value to a sentence with its own merits. At times, only a semicolon can offer the clear interpretation of text intended to be set off in a manner that other punctuation might not be able to achieve as precisely and clearly. Using a semicolon in a sentence may not be as forgiving as a misplaced comma or period , so special consideration should be taken before tr