The Pearl of Fate in the Narrow Alleys
Chapter One
The Giant in the Ghost Quarter
Our story begins in a city of the country of China.
Behind a wall of shops and restaurants with big colorful billboards and flashing bright lights was a stretch of houses packed tightly together, many stained gray and black by time. They formed a maze of narrow, crooked alleys and roads with just barely enough room for a four-seat car to navigate through and around. Oftentimes, such cars would honk their horns to warn others of their presence.
In one particularly old house lived a little Girl and her family.
The Girl was unusually quiet for a child her age. In fact, many people around her doubted that she could talk at all. Even her parents wondered from time to time. Her father, by the way, worked as a hotel security guard while her mother worked at a restaurant located at a downtown shopping mall.
One of the Girl's most favorite hobbies was exploring the narrow alleys around the neighborhood. In fact, she loved it so much, despite the intense heat of the summer day, she was strolling outside instead of loitering at home in the comfort of air conditioning like her adult Big Sister, lying on the couch while staring intently into her smartphone.
The Girl walked past house after house, made turn after turn while hearing the occasional car honk and shrill cry of a speeding moped over the sound of her slippers' slapping and shuffling on the concrete ground, enjoying the overall quietness as she slowly spun her pink umbrella over her head. She had brought the umbrella to protect her skin from the sun's harmful rays and as a precaution in case of a sudden downpour of rain. Sometimes she would glance at the map on her smartphone to make sure she wasn't lost.
As she made a turn out onto a road that overlooked a long patch of green farmland down the hill with murky bodies of water, a loud, deep man's voice boomed out from the three-floor house behind the tall wall next to her, speaking in Mandarin. It sounded like a television commercial for a vitamin drink.
A mosquito buzzed near the girl. As soon as she saw it, she immediately clapped her hands over it. If there was one thing she could not stand, it was mosquitoes. It was to the point she had to exterminate any and every of those annoying parasites on sight. Her strike was successful and she quickly cleaned her hands with a disinfectant wipe, which she balled up and put away in her pocket to be disposed of later before moving on.
She turned back into the maze of narrow alleys and walked past a house with two elderly men having a loud, boisterous talk in the courtyard about the good old days, speaking in the local form of Cantonese.
Eventually, her feet took her to an even quieter area, the so-called Ghost Quarter. Houses of the Ghost Quarter were long abandoned and completely devoid of life. Well, maybe not completely devoid of life. Sometimes the Girl would spot a cat napping atop a wall, or a stray dog pass by. And there were always birds chirping somewhere out of view.
Naturally, the houses of the Ghost Quarter should be more dilapidated than the houses that still had people calling them home. But honestly, the girl didn't see any difference between the abandoned houses and any other old house in the neighborhood. However, the Girl's parents always warned her to stay away from Ghost Quarter, believing it dangerous because of its neglected state.
"There could be an accident, and no one can help you," her mom often sternly told her and her sister. "You could fall in a hole, or a house could fall on you. Wild animals might bite you. And don't get me started on the vagrants!"
Despite her parents' warnings, however, the Girl explored the Ghost Quarter numerous times. She always stuck to the roads and never went into any of the properties, invalidating their fears of an accident. Most of the abandoned houses were sealed shut at the gate anyway. She also never had any problems with the animals in the neighborhood. In fact, even the foulest mood beast would instantly stop growling when it saw her and lay its head for her to pet it.
One time her school friend saw that, he asked her, "Are you some kind of holy lady or something?"
The Girl could only answer with a shrug.
As for vagrants, she's never seen any in the area before and doubted one would show up. And even if one did, Big Sister taught her a move that was a surefire way to keep her safe: a peace sign to the eyes.
Pak! Pak! Pak! There was just the sound of the Girl's slippers slapping the pavement over the rustling of leaves in the gentle wind as she traveled through a long stretch of road. But then, as she passed by a house that was missing its front gate, the peace and quiet was shattered by a chorus of loud rumbling noises that ended with a crash.
"Eek!"
That scared me! The Girl thought as she put a hand to her chest while staring through the gateway towards the two-floor black brick house.
But the noises didn't stop there. There continued to be heavy tumbling, followed by what was unmistakably a very annoyed man's voice cursing at his misfortune.
Remembering her mother's warnings, the Girl thought, Oh no! Vagrants! I need to get away!
She turned to leave. But then, there was another crash, followed by an agonized, "Ow!"
The Girl stopped and looked back at the black house beyond the gateway. It sounded like the man inside had gotten hurt.
Concerned, the Girl walked towards the property and stepped into the courtyard. There were blankets of green moss all over the pavement which was cracked at several places. Clusters of weeds sprouted from the cracks, standing tall and proud to show how long it's been since the property had people on it.
There was another loud crash from the house followed by a man angrily spitting out a curse. His voice was gruff and deep. The crash also caused the house to shake, unleashing spurts of dust. Wood from the house let out a worrisome groan, reminding the Girl of her parents' warning about houses that could fall on her head and smoosh her into paste like a bug.
Having second thoughts, the Girl debated whether to turn around and leave or not. But before she could make a decision, the pair of wood doors that had remained shut for decades suddenly fell off their hinges and hit the ground with a loud -
BANG!
The Girl should have gotten a full view of the inside of the house. But she didn't get to see much because of something big and shined gold against the sunlight curled up at the doorway.
No, wait. It's not something, but some-ONE.
Slowly, the big shape emerged out of the doorway and straightened up to reveal itself to be a man. A really big man. The biggest man that the Girl had ever seen before. Standing straight, he was maybe more than a dozen feet tall. His head easily reached the house's second floor window. He may as well be a Giant from myths. Not only that, he wore glittery gold armor that made him look like a soldier from ancient times. Along the length of each forearm, there was a thick, metal slab.
Disgruntled by whatever happened in the house, he grumbled sourly to himself while rubbing his head. "Blasted ceiling. Why'd they have to make them so accursedly low? And of all places to land, it had to be the stairs!"
The Giant had his back to the Girl as he complained and swore. It wasn't until he turned around that he noticed her staring up at him with her mouth hung open.
With a good look at his face, it was clear to the Girl that the Giant was not human. For one thing, his face was all green like jade stone. Wild, wavy red hair rung around his face like a lion's mane. And he had a pair of fangs jutting out of the corners of his mouth, curved down like the trademark of the saber-toothed tiger.
Silence fell around Giant and Girl as they looked at one another.
Thus began for the Girl, the first of many strange, fantastical and impossible encounters that unknown to her would affect the flow of a great big battle over a powerful, magical item.
But what is this powerful, magical item? How did the battle over it get started? And why was it taking place in the narrow alleys of one little Girl's hometown?
To answer those questions, let us rewind time to just a few days prior during a night of rain, thunder and lightning.
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