The Bone Maiden And The Meeting of the Monkey King
With the sun setting behind her, the forest surrounding Azi suddenly felt intensely foreboding. Long, eerie shadows cast across the leaf-covered ground and obscured the path ahead. The dwindling light made it harder to see what lay ahead, and required each of her steps to be more measured than the last. . To top things off, the wind had picked up, shaking the canopy above and dropping the temperature from pleasantly cool to uncomfortably chilly. Her thoughts fixated on finding somewhere to bed down for the night.
As she traipsed along the gloomy path, she noted a dim glow in her periphery. Tentatively, she approached what appeared to be a campsite with the embers of a fire still crackling at its center. Surveying the area, she saw no signs of activity.
“Curious”, she pondered to herself.
Confused, but grateful for the serendipity of the situation, she slumped against a tree and relaxed, stretching out her limbs. As she did, she felt her hand knock against something hard. She quickly pulled back her hand in horror upon seeing the half-decomposed body of an old woman slumped against the tree next to her. Immediately to her right were a pile of disjointed bones. The corpse was in a contorted state, appearing to have suffered a devastating injury.
“Poor soul”, she whispered.
Suddenly, she became concerned for her welfare. Azi looked around to see if she could spot any kind of clue as to what had happened. She noticed two sets of footprints nearby — one clearly of the woman, the other belonging to what appeared to be some kind of animal. She tried to follow the footprints into the forest, but they quickly trailed off.
After spending a few moments more surveying the scene, she turned back towards the campfire, still unnerved, but determined to rest. As she took a seat once more, she heard a dull cracking sound that sent shivers down her spine. Turning, she saw the arm of the deceased woman twist and contort, planting itself on the ground. The corpse proceeded to awkwardly maneuver its other limbs into place and began raising itself up, standing on its feet. Simultaneously, the pile of bones that had lain haphazardly also started taking form. Azi was both bewildered and terrified.
The Bone Maiden
Azi stepped back from the decaying woman and skeletal creature that were now lumbering towards her. As the woman approached, her body began to glow, gently at first, then more intensely. Transfixed, Azi watched, mouth agape, as the recently-dead husk of a woman began transforming in front of her eyes, assuming the form of a beautiful young woman. The belle stood proudly in front of Azi, clad in a shimmering red silk dress with matching red eyes. The mysterious woman let out a hearty laugh, amused by Azi’s fear-filled expression.
“As you can see, looks can be deceiving!”
The woman proceeded to close her eyes and transform into the exact likeness of Azi.
“A simple trick, if you possess the same demonic magic as I” she said, nonchalantly transforming back to her original form. “You can call me Bone Maiden”.
Her confident tone and beauty were infectious, she wore long boots with flowing white hair and she carried herself with a graceful elegance. Behind her, Azi became aware that the collection of bones had now taken the form of what appeared to be a dragon.
“This is my faithful fylgja, Panhu. You definitely don’t want to get on his bad side” she cautioned.
Azi looked back with a defiant look in her eye.
“You two don’t intimidate me, I’ll show you what I can do!”.
Azi waved her hands in the air. For a few seconds, nothing seemed to happen, but then an audible rustling began emanating from nearby bushes and trees. Before long, the trio were encircled by a thick mat of spiders, completely obscuring the vegetation.
“Impressive,” nodded the Bone Maiden. “I have heard about the spider sisters before, your reputation precedes you. What brings you to such an isolated place so late at night?” she probed, “When I heard footsteps approaching, I thought my enemies had come back to finish me off!”.
“I wanted to visit the shrine of The goddess Arianrhod”, she replied, “she is the weaver of fate, she creates the paths we all lead”.
The Bone Maiden paused for a moment.
“Perhaps she brought us together” she responded, smirking. “Would you be so kind as to help me with something?”.
“Of course!” Azi responded, without hesitation.
Bone Maiden nodded in appreciation. “Then let me tell you a story about Sun Wukong, the Monkey King”.
20 minutes later, Bone Maiden had finished her tale. Azi felt frustration coursing through her veins — she couldn’t believe what she had heard. The ruthlessness of the Monkey King knew no bounds! His troupe, the Tang Monk and his disciples, were savages! The Tang Monk sounded particularly dangerous, with the power to grant immortality locked in his flesh.
“I can’t believe they would hurt such a beautiful, innocent woman. Of course I’ll help! My spiders can scout for me, we’ll find them in no time!”.
Azi waved her arms in the air once more and sent the blanket of spiders scuttling in all directions in search of the Monkey King.
The Monkey King
The sun reflected brilliantly off the towering mountain peaks ahead. Azi, the Bone Maiden and Panhu had been walking all night. The forests had now thinned into sparse vegetation, giving way to the grand rocky scenery that lay ahead. The Monkey king had traveled far since his encounter with the Bone Maiden, but the distance hadn’t proven insurmountable.
“There!” Bone Maiden exclaimed, excitedly. “You see them? You go ahead, they can’t see me yet, do you remember how they treated me last time? Stick to the plan!”
Azi nodded obediently. The Bone Maiden darted for cover under a nearby bush while Azi ran ahead, taking a position on a high ledge.
“Monkey King!” Azi Bellowed, “You terrible man. Your crimes against the Bone Maiden won’t go unanswered!”
The group spun round, caught off guard by the sudden intrusion. Before they could respond, Azi vigorously waved her arms, summoning a vast swarm of spiders that encircled the group.
“The Bone Maiden?” the Monkey King responded with a confused look in his eye. But before he could respond further, the mass of spiders unleashed a thick volley of web across the troupe, ensnaring them. The sheer weight and volume of fibers knocked them to the floor and held them in place, despite their struggles.
Seeing they were incapacitated, the Bone Maiden emerged from nearby bushes and sauntered over.
“Oh Sun Wukong, or should I say Monkey King!” Bone Maiden said, visibly gleeful. “You didn’t see through my tricks this time, did you sweetie?”.
Azi cast a confused look in her direction. “What do you mean, tricks?”
Ignoring her, Bone Maiden strolled over to where Monkey King lay, placing her high heel shoe on his chest.
“You’re the first person to rival me in strength and wit, you know” she said, gazing softly into his eyes. “You almost impressed me”.
With a wry smile, she reached down and plucked the Monkey King’s most prized possession — his golden fillet — from the top of his head. “You may have beaten me with your wisdom and divine strength last time we met but it seems this time, the pleasure is all mine!”
Azi had been motionless during the whole encounter, the grim realization dawning on her that she had been helping a powerful demon.
“How.. how could you?” Azi cried in dismay, “I trusted you!” Her voice shook from both anger and sadness.
Smirking, Bone Maiden turned and walked over to Panhu, climbing on his back.
“It’s nothing personal, kid. Sometimes you just have to do what it takes to get what you need. Panhu, let’s get out of here!”
She cast one final look over her shoulder at the Monkey King, holding his gaze for a second before taking off into the air.
Azi wasted no time in ordering her spiders to work on freeing the Monkey King, The Tang Monk and his disciples.
“I am so sorry, Monkey King, I made a terrible mistake” she said, her voice audibly heavy with guilt.
“You have nothing to be sorry for my child, Bone Maiden is a trickster, deceit runs thick in her blood. We came across her recently and she tried to split me away from the Tang Monk so she could eat his skin to gain immortality. Alas, this time she has taken my golden fillet, an artifact of divine origin. This will not be our last encounter!”.
