The Trap Door

If you should go down into the temples basement, under no circumstances should you ever open the trapdoor that lay within.

Kuai had never been into the basement, he'd never seen this fabled trapdoor that they were warned so heavily against opening. It fascinated him though, because no one seemed to know what was actually down there.

Sure some of the elder boys tried to scare him with stories of what lay beneath. Sektor in particular was fond of telling him about the monster with 1000 teeth and slimy tentacles that they fed the flesh of traitors. Even Bi-Han got in on it occasionally, telling Kuai about the giant spiders that lay their eggs below, knowing full well those 8 legged creatures gave him the creeps. Tomas believed there was a werewolf down there, though he never actually explained his reasoning for thinking that. Cyrax tended to dismiss it, saying it was probably just something the elders were working on that they didn't want nosy students stumbling upon.

He'd tried to ask many of his teachers about it, only to get scolded for his curiosity. Only Master Hydro, his favourite teacher if only because he let Kuai get away with a lot more than most of the Masters, gave him any sort of answer. Granted the answer was “there's nothing down there you need to worry about”, but at least it was an answer.

Even so, Kuai had reached the point where he just couldn't take the rumours and uncertainty anymore.

So in the middle of the night, he rolled out of his bed, torch in hand, and slunk through the dark corridors until he reached the stairs to the basement. Using the torch to navigate, he kept it to the floor trying to locate the fabled door. He was surprised when amongst the stone floor he spotted something wooden.

There it was, the trapdoor. He couldn't believe it actually existed let alone that he found it.

He was even more surprised to find that it didn't have a lock on it. For all the warnings to never ever go inside, you'd think the Lin Kuei would have secured it. It did however mean that he could easily slip down and have a look around.

He placed the torch on the floor briefly, surprised by just how heavy it actually was. After struggling for a while he finally managed to lift the door up enough, and quickly side stepped to allow gravity to do the rest. The door banged as it hit the floor and Kuai winced, scared that someone would find him.

He shone the torch down the hole, finding a ladder and just about seeing the floor below. There didn't seem to be any tentacles or 8 legs or eyes awaiting him. He took a deep breath, ignoring the way his heart rate sky-rocketed, and put the torch between his teeth. He carefully started to climb down the ladder.

He reached the bottom in no time, surrounded in a eerie silence. There was however, the very distinct copper smell of blood, and he almost chickened out, tempted to just climb back up the ladder and run back to bed like nothing had happened. He'd come this far however, what was the point if he backed out now?

So he slowly turned around, shining the torch around the room. He could see bloodstains, lots of sharp things that looked like torture devices, and lots of strange equipment he'd never seen before. He took a few unsure steps forward, trying to decipher what exactly he was looking at. He shone his torch right in front of him, finding it reflecting back at him from something shiny.

He approached more, curious as to what exactly was in front of him, and once he was close enough to make it out, he almost dropped the torch in shock.

Whatever it was bore the shape of a man, but it was definitely not seeing as it was completely made of metal.

It didn't move, appearing to be completely lifeless. Was it some sort of new armour? Just beyond the metal man, there was what looked to be blueprints for whatever it was. The blueprints were labelled “prototype”, but what concerned Kuai when he looked at it was the picture of a human brain with an arrow pointed to the being.

What did that mean?

Feeling unnerved by the discovery, Kuai started to slowly back away. He didn't want to turn his back on the metal man lest it spring to life in front of him. He regretted it when he found himself backing into something solid.

Alarmed he went to scream, only to find a hand quickly and roughly cover his mouth. This only caused him to scream more, and he was sure he was going to destroy his voice box when another hand wrapped around his waist and easily hauled him off his feet.

He dropped his torch in the panic, but soon found himself being hauled up the ladder back to the basement, where to his surprise a light had been turned on. Once up, he found himself being unceremoniously dumped onto the stone floor, and heard the trapdoor squeak shut behind him. He flipped himself over and pushed himself to sit up, finding himself now face to face with a rather angry looking Master Hydro. Kuai couldn't help but gulp.

“What the hell were you doing Kuai Liang?” Hydro hissed at him, and Kuai felt himself wince because this was a tone he very rarely heard directed at him from his favourite teacher.

“I-I'm sorry, I just- I wanted to...” Kuai couldn't finish the sentence as he just started blubbering uncontrollably. To his surprise, Hydro's face softened.

“Calm down for me, Kuai,” Hydro said calmly, reach a hand to Kuai shoulder and squeezing. “Breathe, slowly, in and out.” Kuai tried to do as he was told. While he was still sniffling, he was definitely calmer at least knowing he was somewhat safer. “There, easy now.”

“W-What... What w-was that thing?” Kuai finally managed to question, noticing the way Hydro's face twitched slightly at the question.

“It is nothing that concerns you, and it can not harm you,” Hydro explained but not really because that didn't explain anything. “Gods, I should have known when you asked about this, you would come down here. Your curiosity is admirable Kuai, but one day I fear it will be your death.”

Kuai winced at that. He'd been stupid. What if there really had been a terrible monster down there? But not knowing things would slowly eat away at him and drive him to distraction. Death seemed a lot nicer than letting these things get to him, and at least he would die satisfied in the knowledge of the truth.

“Listen to me,” Hydro continued, now placing both hands on Kuai's shoulders, his voice sterner now, but not angry like it had been initially. “If the elders find out you were down here, they will punish you.” Kuai looked down to the floor, biting his lip. He'd always been weak when it came to punishments. “I will not tell them about this, but in turn you can never tell anyone what you saw down there.”

“But-” Kuai started, he'd hoped so badly to be able to discuss theories on whatever the metal man he found was with Tomas. Hydro cut him off with a shake of the head.

“Kuai Liang, if you tell anyone, they will know you went down there,” Hydro warned. “You must never speak of this again, do you understand?”

Kuai hesitated, but eventually with a short sob nodded in agreement. “I understand, Master Hydro.”

“Good, now come.” Hydro hauled both himself and Kuai to their feet, guiding him carefully to the basement steps. “If anyone spots us, I agreed to some late night one-to-one training, okay?”

Kuai hummed in agreement, following Hydro until they had made it back to the boys room, where he immediately crawled back into bed. Curled up under the covers, he couldn't sleep, the strange metal monster he'd found clouding his mind. He had so many more new questions.

It was not until years later, when the Lin Kuei commenced with the Cyber Initiative, that he finally found the answers he had been searching for.

He wished he'd never found them.

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