17TH Century, Tibet

In the past, the monks were responsible for carrying on the apprentices' initiation rituals. As the new ones had their heads shaved, they listened to the mantras sung during the ceremony. Bells tolled to announce the arrival of the elders in the temple; a monk would strike the gong in order to balance the mind's energies. Their leader, the Dalai Lama, would watch the whole ritual attentively as he concentrated on the next steps.

Among the people, two individuals paid close attention to the developments full of curiosity. One of them was wearing Tibetan clothes, including the typical hat, while the other one could not be seen, for he was invisible. If anyone in the crowd saw that creature, it would cause a great disturb; everyone would get scared and run.

"We couldn't have arrived at a best occasion, Fratello, a ritual of initiation. Let's take advantage of the opportunity to invade the main temple while they're all distracted. The Book of the Dead, my object of desire, is there."

Sneakily, they both walked among the crowd. Klaus passed his hand over his body to produce a spell that transformed him into a monk. He was wearing a yellow mantle, the chogyu worn by the monks, an apparel meant to express wisdom; the donka with a V neck that symbolized the Lord of the Death's jaws that could arrive at any moment; the bald head, like the others, which represented the absence of vanity and the desire to reach a true flow of peace; the zen, a red mantle over the yellow one, a sign that indicated those who had reached concentration.

"I feel like an idiot on these clothes," Klaus protested arrogantly.

Nevertheless, he would do anything to pull the book out of that place. His shadow was a bit darker than the others, once it belonged to two people. It was almost noon and he knew that that was his opportunity.

The temple's doors were closed, but Klaus and Fratello passed across them as if they were a thin wall of water. The main Lama, Yan Jin, noticed the abnormal shadow as well as the evil presence. He looked at the man on his side to show him a dark spirit had just broke into the temple. At once, he gathered a group of monks to protect their sacred relics, in special the literary work. It should not be stolen by someone with obscure intentions.

"Chang, Qon, Jet, gather your best men and follow me. Someone has broken into the sacred temple."

"Yes, master Dalai," they agreed and ran fast.

When the Sun shone onto the stone among the other stones on the wall that hid the Book of the Dead, Klaus looked at the pottery wide-eyed, and then touched it to move it outwards. Behind the artifact lied the so coveted compendium. Klaus took it and felt the soft dark cover illustrated with obscure symbols that seemed to belong to an ancient writing.

The image of a key stood out amongst the other pictures. Maybe the key represented the device meant to open the door to the realm of the dead.

Klaus handed the book to Fratello, who had turned into his horrendous form. It didn't take long for the monks to arrive. They were in an uncountable number, and they were circling the oldest of them, Dalai Yan Jin.

"Leave here what doesn't belong to you, dark creatures! Get back at once to your realm of filthy spirits," Yan Jin ordered.

The beast laughed loudly, as his master smiled sardonically.

"Are you going to obey the orders given by an ordinary Human Being, master?" Fratello asked.

"From now on this book belongs to me," the warlock answered, disdaining the supreme monk.

The Lama went into concentrated flow, and then made the book levitate from Fratello's hands to his. The elders were gathered outside the temple in a circle of prayers which intention was to drain the creatures' spiritual energies and, at the same time, empower the monks inside the temple. They were all in a sitting position in a state of flow while the Lama faced Klaus and Fratello.

Some younger monks crossed the temple's portal holding wood sticks, their weapon to fight the Kung Fu. They also had shurikens and nunchakus, the other weapons that they also used regularly.

And thus, the battle began.

On monk clothes, Klaus pretended to be one of them. However, he could not fool men spiritually evolved. They attacked Klaus and hit him so many times that the warlock got seriously hurt. His lips bled; his abdomen had been scratched as he dodged the sharp shurikens.

Klaus was being kicked and punched on all sides, and then he was thrown out of the temple. The invisible Doppelgänger was fighting the book's defenders with his own lethal weapons. Some of the monks fell dead on the ground as Fratello punched them with its sharp deadly claws.

As soon as the Dalai used his powers to see the creature, he took powder from the offerings table and blew it on the creature, so that the other monks could not only see Fratello, but also defend themselves from it. They started to throw their shurikens on it, but they simply crossed its unscathed body. The monks tried to hit him with their nunchakus and sticks, but they were useless to attack an ethereal beast.

"Enough!" The warlock shouted full of anger as he walked inside the temple again.

Even though he could not fight those monks, and after being injured uncountable times, Klaus put his palms together in a gesture that resembled a Buddhist prayer, but it was far from being so. He conjured the air and the water by raising his arms and creating a great storm.

Dark clouds covered the sky. Lightning and thunder turned the day into night. The monks were scared by such huge power. The temples were greatly damaged by the bolts. People ran to escape the fire that spread everywhere. Some monks tried to put out the flames while others encircled the warlock. The Doppelgänger came near its master and showed its claws and aggressive teeth to protect him.

Although the monks were handling their nunchakus and sticks with great expertise, Klaus and Fratello managed to dodge all the blows by bending their spines backwards and their bodies to the sides. The lethal weapons could do nothing but just swiftly touch their bodies. The warlock produced a ball of fire with his magic powers and threw it towards his enemies. Yan Jin asked him to stop, and made a sign with his hands as he saw a child climbing down the stairs to watch what was going on.

It was the promised girl, the enlightened one that would be the next Lama, a precious jewel of inestimable value. Klaus noticed the way that the Lama looked at his pupil.

"Enough! I don't want to fight, for I have something more important to do," said the Lama, worried about the child's safety.

"Give us the book, and we shall leave the temple for good." The warlock noticed that all the monks were really worried about the girl's safety.

"You are not aware of the thing you're dealing with, warlock." Yan Jin became anxious when he felt the extense of Klaus's desire for the book.

"What is going on here, great Lama?" The girl asked full of curiosity.

"Stay away, sweet child. Get back to your lodge, Mei Ling! Please..." Dalai implored.

While he was worried about the child's safety, a strong wind blew close to him and unexpectedly took the manuscript off his hands. He immediately weaved a camp of spiritual force that protected the book, retrieving it from the Doppelgänger's hands. The leather cover was tied with a belt engraved with magical symbols, amongst them, a serpent. The book had a locker to prevent the pages from being read. Everybody observed as the book floated in the air.

Outside, the elders were singing mantras and praying for the increase of the strength of those who were facing the evil.

The creature tried to catch the manuscript, but he couldn't due to the vigorous energy that protected the book. Klaus tried to catch the object as well, but two monks attacked him with their nunchakus as he tried to defend himself with his sword. Other monks were fighting Fratello. However, the creature pierced its deadly claws through them, ending their existence on Earth. Klaus was receiving severe blows from the monks, when he finally raised his hands and threw them against the walls. Some monks had their bones broken.

Afterwards, a vortex passed by the monk and carried their weapons out of the temple. Suddenly, the doors were shut abruptly. Inside the temple there was only the girl, who had her eyes on everything, the Dalai Lama and the two invaders.

"Now it's between the two of us, old monk. Give the book to me, now!"

At the same time, the monk paid attention to the book where he concentrated his energy, on the child, his greatest worry, and on his rivals.

"Go upstairs, Mei! Hide yourself in that place that I showed you."

The fight began. The book was floating while the creature had its eyes on the monk and the girl at the same time. Klaus turned to Fratello and then pointed his finger towards the girl.

The monk delivered many Kung Fu blows on Klaus, who struck back with his sword. The Dalai grabbed the stick and tried to defend himself against the sharp blade. Klaus ended up cutting the stick in half. The monk kicked the warlock so strongly that Klaus was thrown so far that he got dizzy, almost beaten.

As soon as the creature noticed that its master was in a bad situation, it flew towards the girl to catch her. But the Lama protected her by directing his camp of spiritual power and channeled the energy of those who were praying outside to build a shield that protected the girl from the creature's attack. Mei Ling was absolutely frightened and paralyzed, scared to see that the demon was getting closer to her to destroy the shield that protected her.

The book fell on the floor. The warlock considered that his reward was waiting for him to get it. He stood up slowly, and taking advantage of the Lama's worry about the girl attacked by Fratello, weaved a spell.

"Come to me, sacred relic. I command thou with all the power that I have harvested from those that I defeated. Come to me..."

The Dalai Lama was not sure whether to protect the girl or the book. He could only channel his energy to one at a time. He should make his decision very quickly. So, he decided for the enlightened being.

He directed both arms towards the girl to channel all the necessary energy do defend Mei Ling. He saw Klaus taking the book. The creature stopped attacking the girl. The monk was victorious and defeated at the same time. The girl was more important to the continuity of Buddha's great lessons.

"We must leave now. Let's get out of here, Fratello. We now have what we want. Besides, the positive energy flowing here is disgusting."

The creature nodded.

The warlock moved his hand through the air and created a portal. After he and Fratello had passed through it, the monks entered the temple again and tried to catch them, but it was too late. The portal had closed.

Yan Jin pursued his lips and took Mei Ling by the hands. They walked towards the temple's door. The council of the elders stopped praying. One of them said to Yan Jin and Mei Ling, "What happened here today is not good at all. Our ancestors trusted us to keep that dreadful book in safety due to its destructive power. Whoever owns the book, will be able not only to talk to the dead, but also to break the line between life and death."

"We'll try to get it back. However, I heard once an old prophecy about someone with the power to restore the balance. Let us pray and ask the wiser spirits to assist that one," said one of the oldest monks.

"Yes! Let us pray... The most important thing is that we saved the child." The Dalai Lama agreed.

The temple restored its calmness again. The clouds went away. After the first combat, it was time for the monks to be united again in prayer and faith, for hard times were about to come.   

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