The Fourth Disciple
Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School , Yu , Justin - 11
The air was dead , the land was bare and the plants were badly dehydrated . The monk Xuanzang was still persistent to continue on his quest . The quest to go to the west to claim a Buddhist scripture . There was sweat down the brows of the quartet , each carrying a heavy load of essentials , each sack was as heavy as lead . Suddenly , there was a gust of wind , cool and humid , in contrast to that of the dry atmosphere . From the middle of nowhere , there was a man , definitely not Chinese , sitting on horseback , staring at them . “ Who are you ?” The Monkey King demanded . “ I am a merchant , I need help finding a way out of here !” The stranger yelled . Xuanzang put his hand in front of the Monkey King , signaling him to shut up . Then he nodded at the stranger , “ I shall help you find a way out this dessert , my job is to help those in need ,” he calmly says to the stranger , “ Join us .” The stranger galloped towards Xuanzang and gave him a thankful look .
Night was falling , as the hot dessert starts to cool down . Now it is as cold as if it was snowing , but no flakes of white fluttered down to the ground , just a cold lump of sand underneath their feet . “ We will stop here for the day ,” announced Xuanzang . The Monkey King took out some matches and lighted them while Pigsy took out some dough and spring onions , wrapping the dough clumsily around the green onions , causing some of the filling to fall out . Then , the Friar took the dough and baked it over the fire , cooking the scallion pancake . When the pancake was done , Xuanzang gave a piece to their new friend . The newcomer thanked the rest of the group and started eating . The taste of the pancake filled his mouth with a slightly salty , yet appetizing flavour , he had never tried , nor seen this sort of food before . This was an all-new experience for him .
The next day , the newcomer saw the other four waiting for him . He felt slightly embarrassed , for the fact that he woke up late . Xuanzang led them to the end of the dessert . Everyone was sweating hard , there was no water they can drink , the land was still dry , but there was grass . That is always a good sign . “ Can we rest for the rest of the day ?” asked the Friar . “ I am tired of all this walking ” the Monkey King complained . “ I am starving ” wailed Pigsy . “ We ’ ll stop here for today ” Xuanzang answered . The newcomer was thankful . He was awfully tired , he never had to walk this far of a distance in one day , usually , the running work is for the horses , and he never had to do it . He lacked sleep and food , he had to get used to all this walking , starving and drowsing , because he just had to find a way home .
The newcomer woke up early today , not like yesterday , when he overslept . This is the day they leave this torrid , unforgiving dessert .
“ Be careful of any creature that is trying to attack you , remember to always back away when you are being targeted , do not fight back ,” Xuanzang reminded .
The huge wet grassland biome wasn ’ t nearly as lifeless as the dead dessert . Now , their biggest problem is not to use water wisely and slowly , but to avoid being any creature ’ s mid-day meal . Life was hard for them , but he had to accept the fact that he was not with anyone who is just really nicely showing him the way home , he was with a monk on a mission .
They made their way through in a couple of weeks . The newcomer spotted a unicorn and got really excited . He also shot a glimpse of a human like small hairy creature . He also saw a fifteen foot long snake shining its teeth in front of him . Xuanzang said that he had never seen these unique animals in his life too , therefore they must be well preserved and should not be harmed , after all , they are still living creatures .
This team also figured some mystical plants that included nuts as big as heads . They picked a few for eating , figuring out it was filled with glorious , yet slimy liquids , sweet and fresh .
The newcomer then found something familiar , a gondola that leads to home , something he had been longing to see for ages .
He thanked the other people on the team for showing him the way home and giving him the chance to experience new findings . Then , there was a gust of wind and he disappeared into the distance . He was homesick , he missed his family and friends , he can ’ t wait to become a merchant again .