Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4 - 7 2018 | Page 109

Just that moment the King began to transform, his skin peeled off and his head began to expand
until it too peeled off. Underneath all that skin was another demon, seeing that it had totally caught me off
guard, it grabbed me and covered my face with its huge slimy hand until I fell unconscious. When I woke
up, I found myself tied up against a stone slab on the wall. The smell of rotten flesh filled the room, I looked
around and saw my friends each tied up in a specially made trap. In the corner of the room, I saw the real
king and queen tied up and their mouth stuffed with a piece of bread.
“Wow, I’m really impressed Xuanzang, you managed to evade capture from my brothers, haven’t
you,” said the Demon with a smirk. “Well this demon won’t let you escape that easily”
I looked to my right, I could clearly see that Monkey was using his cuff knife to slowly but surely
cut the layers of rope that restricted his movement and held him in place. I knew he needed at least a solid
minute until he would be able to cut through so I knew that it would be up to me to buy him the time he
needed.
“Hey demon, how much exactly are they paying you for the capturing and killing of us?” I said.
“Why should I tell you” replied demon
“Why shouldn’t you, we’re going to get killed by you either way”
Then without warning, Monkey jumped into the air and threw three knives, each of them barely
missing our hands and cutting the rope that held us to the slates.
The Monkey charged at the demon, raising his stick. The demon, caught by surprise, yelled:
“You stupid Monkey, how did you escape from my trap! Thats impossible.”
The monkey lunged at him, the demon ducked down.
The monkey plucked two of his hairs, whispered some words of enchantment and out of nowhere appears
two figures that looked identical to him.
“Come on then, monkey, show me your true power!”
The pig leaped up from his slab and landed next to the monkey.
“I got your back, let's take him down once and for all.”
The monkey charged at the demon once again, this time he was only acting as a distraction, while the
talking pig landed the final blow. The demon vanished in a cloud of smoke.
“So, your highness, I was wondering if I could have permission to read the sacred Buddhists that are
held in this temple,” I asked politely
“Of course, after all of your service you deserve to read it”.
After reading it, I was inspired to go back as a changed man, as a better version of myself.