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...
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