Czepta: Escape from Babylon: A Cyberpunk Cultivation Fantasy Novel (Light from Darkness Book 1) by Czepta Gold

Author:Czepta Gold [Gold, Czepta]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chronic Shock Entertainment
Published: 2019-12-07T22:00:00+00:00

// CHAPTER 14

Thaqib followed Judah down a long corridor and down flights of ancient steps. Atop the steps, stone dragons were carved, now in various states of decay. “Impressive huh?” Judah said catching Thaqib admiring the ancient remnants of a world long disappeared. “Imagine how it must have been.”

“Yeah, it’s crazy. I’ve never seen stuff that looks so old.” Stone pillars towered above, intricately carved, rising to the roof and holding up the remains of old mosaics. Crumbled stone lay everywhere, now illuminated by a tangle of electrical cables wreathed in L.E.D.s.

When Judah took him to through a large entry way at the end of the corridor framed by intricate shapes of weaved patterns, he saw something even more amazing. They entered a massive chamber, white stone adorning the ground, upon which he saw students practicing martial arts, sparring with incredible skill, some utilizing strange weapons. It was like something from a dream.

Racks of weaponry lined the walls. He watched as the students, each dressed in beige robes performed blinding fast strikes, parries and incredible feats of agility.

“Is this for real!?” Thaqib asked.

“This is where we train, where we study the ancient arts of our ancestors, to prepare ourselves for the coming battle,” Judah said. Thaqib looked on in wonder. “I thought you would be familiar with this, Rast has been teaching you right?”

Thaqib felt sudden shame. “He tried to, but I didn’t listen to him, I haven’t been taking it seriously,” he replied. “Now I get what he was trying to teach me. All those things he was trying to get through my thick head, they’re for real.”

“Don’t be hard on yourself Thaqib. Each of us only truly knows that which we’ve experienced for ourselves. These students have had the fortune of growing up in the temple, to be surrounded by it and its mysteries. Because of that, they’ve been able to grow at a quick pace. I understand your life out on the streets can’t have been easy. There is an open hostility toward what we teach here, and that we hold on to the old beliefs and traditions.”

“But I don’t get it,” Thaqib said. “Why are they so against it?”

“I believe it’s too painful a reminder of everything that has been lost. They prefer to lose themselves in the material distractions Babylon provides. And also, there’s a pride in ignorance.”

Thaqib watched two students fighting, a girl with dark brown hair dreadlocked in the same way as all the others. She fought a bigger student a male about his own age who was twice her size. He used strong lunging attacks but she was too fast for him, effortlessly dodging his punches, delivering impossibly quick strikes to his exposed areas. She flipped up, delivering a quick strike to his neck. When she landed, the boy stood frozen and then crumpled to the ground. The girl helped the boy up and they both smiled and laughed, the boy congratulating her on her victory.

Thaqib felt a welling of longing, as though he was staring into a world that he had always dreamed of.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.