The Ticking Contingent: The Countdown vo.2

Masters of Chi

Of course, not every story was happy, and as the large group drew closer and closer to the panda village, the older pandas, including Li and other parent pandas, eventually relayed what had happened after Lord Shen attacked their village:

There had been fire everywhere....Wolves stalked the land.....Every panda did their best to try and fend off the danger....Li was quite good with a hoe and had used it to fend off one of the wolves and protect Po, allowing his son and wife a chance to escape through the nearby forest in the dead of winter.....Running was so difficult when you could barely catch your breath and yet you felt compelled to because you knew that if you didn't run you'd have swords or claws buried into your head and you'd be left behind dying and dead in the snow, never to see your loved ones again. Fire kept melting the snow around them until the village was nothing but ash and dried grass, smoke rising from each timber of wood that fell as the structure weakened from the attack. And Lord Shen and his wolves could be heard moving deeper and deeper into the woods, chasing down any pandas who were fleeing. Everyone was encouraged to flee down river. It was frozen over enough, so I figured we could at least slide down it. It'd be faster that way. I didn't know who was with us or not. It was hard to tell. The village elders promised to do a count and let me know and I went back to the village to see if anyone was left behind or if someone turned around and came back. Two people were trapped in a house. Good friends of mine. Lu let me help his wife out...but there wasn't enough time to help him....I felt awful....Bai kept telling me it was fine...I saved her and her son....everyone kept telling me that. I gave orders, I helped the elders...but it doesn't feel good knowing you couldn't save everyone, you know. And I've had to fight that feeling for a long time. I'm a lot better now. But sometimes I still dream of that day. Dream of coming back and knowing there was nothing left.....Only one person turned around and came back to the smoke. And ash. And flames. I just led them down river. You could still hear screams coming from the forest.....I'll never forget the screams....And I just hoped and prayed none of them were you or your mother......We kept going down river....the elders refused to let us go back. It was too dangerous. Lots of us were missing. I knew a lot of them were gone. I couldn't sleep. Couldn't eat....and then one night I...I saw something. A vision, I guess. I think I might have fallen asleep, but I didn't feel rested, so I don't think so. I saw our dead. Some were buried by the ashes....some were buried by the snow.....I saw.............................................................

When I got that vision, I lost all hope of getting you two back. But I did see a few people still alive, huddling in the forest with wolves still lurking around. So against the leader's judgment I took a few people and went looking for them. We only lost one, just to hyperthermia though. Everyone else was still alive by the time we reached them. It was so scary walking through that forest. Every shake of the trees, every howl of the wind...we just hoped it was the weather and not Shen or his minions. I wanted to go and hold your mother one last time. Hold you, wherever you possibly were in the glimpse I saw...but that was way too risky. The mission was risky enough. So we left. Went back to the river...it felt like forever......and we finally got all our living to safety. And we left. Trekked as far away as we could until we eventually found the mountains. And there we've been for years. 

"I...I saw you fighting when I got here and all I could think of was what if someone else killed you? I guess I still have to accept the fact that you're fully grown butt kicker," Li finally said as he and Po walked through the valley, attracting a lot of attention from the residents with their big group. "I have to work on the overprotective bit, I suppose." 

"That's cool," Po promised him. "I know I didn't react very well when you told me you lied. I was just worried about everyone."