Avatara

Bhutan has a mountainous terrain challenging for any aircraft to land on but that was what the v-800 tilt rotor plane was good for. Near the target, Thampeng monastery in the mountains there was a large ridge on which a plane with vertical landing capabilities could drop onto.

The loud rotors 'whirred' as the plane landed, the forces making the small trees and bushes blow side to side. A locale that was quiet to a point of torpor, found itself distrubed by the toxic goals of man-made machinery.

Knightmare-Grimm had an interesting flight where one of his consoles told him that Sheldrake had been breached. However, he relaxed as it informed him that the invasion had been resolved by termination of the intruders. The security systems had worked as d.e.s.i.r.ed. It left him with a mild feeling of uncertainty. Life is a risk and he took a big risk by leaving Sheldrake unguarded. But real men take the risks that are required.

Knightmare-Grimm scanned the field of view. He could see Thampeng monastery on the mountains side ahead and behind it in the sky, the sun shining over it and other mountains as well.

"What fresh clean air," he said, breathing in with closed eyes, deeply through his borrowed body. He opened his eyes.

"I see for my land," he said to himself.

He jumped out of the exit on the right side of the craft, a few feet onto the Earth. He felt better in an instant than he did on the plane. Not because his borrowed body had stopped decaying, or because he had destroyed the extraneous personality of Brian Burnside in his psyche. They were not valid reasons at all. Byron Grimm was afraid of flying; a fact that he never admitted to anyone, such as fears could never be revealed. 'Never show that you're vulnerable,' was his belief as to do so confirmed weakness.

Perhaps that prospect of claiming his target, also raised his confidence and put him in a cheerful state. Along with him the plane carried eleven other men and ten thousand pounds of cargo, including guns. Lots of guns.

He motioned to one of his men to inform the pilot to stop the engine and the other men joined him on the grass. They still needed to track along the mountainside on the path but that path was the only way to and from the monastery. The monks did not have any means of escape.

"We only have one target," said Knightmare-Grimm to his troopers. "He's the one they call Yi. A monk of great power. He has a large red mark on his head, identifying him as different from the others. He is the one we save. The rest we take care of suitably."

They marched along a path with a small incline. The distance to the monastery was about a kilometre. Knightmare-Grimm's men carried battle rifles in their hands and semi automatic pistols in their c.h.e.s.t holsters. The man himself only carried a sword, sheathed and held to his side by a belt. A man covered in armour with a cloak, he looked like a knight from the medieval ages ready to joust or lead a crusade.

The end of the path marked a level clearing, a flattened dusty rectangular area of ground, of forty yards in width and fifty yards in length. In the middle of this patch ahead of the temple, an old man stood in orange robes, supporting himself with a cane.

"It appears we have ourselves a formidable army to fight," laughed Knightmare-Grimm. The other men laughed with him.

"Still it is wise to be cautious," he continued. "They are magical monks after all. It could be a trap and possibly we'll see flying monks jumping in on us from the clouds." One or two of the men laughed nervously but quieter this time.

Heedful, they walked towards the man as a group; Knightmare-Grimm in front. The short old man did not flinch, readjust himself or move in any way. Absolutely motionless from his taken position, Knightmare-Grimm found him unnerving. Up close, the old man's eyes were wide open, defiant and wild looking, beneath a pair of bushy eyebrows. He looked Knightmare-Grimm straight in the eyes, not breaking eye contact.

"You must be the leader of this place. I always knew I would be here someday after the one they call Snow Globe told me about it," said Knightmare-Grimm.

"I am the Abbot of the monastery and you are trespassing."

"Ah you speak English," said Knightmare-Grimm. He walked closer to the Abbot.

"I thought you Buddha types are not attached to anything?" he said.

"What do you want?" replied the Abbot firmly.

"The boy," said Knightmare-Grimm "The most powerful monk in the world. The one who can do astral projection across large distances."

"You are not in the right place," said Abbot. The Abbot's words made Knightmare-Grimm feel uncertain and internally Byron Grimm felt his hold on Knightmare weaken a little. He steadied himself for a second.

'I should have struck this monk dead immediately! He's messing with my head, I know it. I should kill him now but I am struggling to move my hand to my sword.'

"Don't mess with me old man," said Knightmare-Grimm. "Bring me the one called Yi and I will spare you and the other monks your lives."

"You're in hell," said the Abbot.

Knightmare-Grim froze. Not only did he freeze but his men did as well. Twelve frozen men stood in front of the Abbot. In Knightmare-Grimm's mind time felt as if it was moving excruciatingly slow all of a sudden. His thoughts seemed to split apart the psyches of his various personalities staring at each other on seeing each other as separate. Byron Grimm, within the beast of Knightmare-Grimm felt cold and eerily peaceful at the same time. An exposure that made him feel defenceless like an abandoned child.

'What is this? What am I feeling?'

And then he caught it. The impression of the Abbot within his mind at the corner of his eye.

'Get out of my head!'

He reached out into the darkness within his mind and caught him. The Abbot's shocked eyes facing the menacing ones of Grimm, all inside the mind of Knightmare-Grimm.

'You don't belong here, said Grimm. No mind is stronger than mine.'

The psyche of Knightmare rejoined him firmly.

'I am Knightmare-Grimm. Get out of my head!'

Back in the real world, the Abbot staggered. His attempt to take over Knightmare-Grimm's mind left him exhausted. The strength and vigour present only a moment ago, replaced by frailty and resignation.

"I commend your attempt to control me old man," said Knightmare-Grimm. Recovering with his men behind him who also returned from their fugue state. "But you are too weak."

Knightmare-Grimm withdrew his sword from its sheath. A glistening article that shimmered at the blade ridge in response to the sunlight above. The Abbot looked up at him in misery.

"Of course, I was never going to spare any of your monks. Those who run off to the mountains to escape the struggle of real life with its competition deserve to be slaughtered like the cowards they are."

"Spare him," said the Abbot, falling to his knees. "He's only a boy."

Knightmare-Grimm ignored him and continued with his monologue. "As Byron Grimm I bought this katana from a sword dealer ten years ago. It seems fitting to bring it out here to Asia for some exercise. I know you're not Japanese but it's all the same to me."

Knightmare-Grimm drew the sword back in a crouched stance. The Abbot trembled on the spot with wild, rattled eyes.

"You're… you're pure evil," he said.

"Yes," said Knightmare-Grimm. "That is what I like to see. The look of fear."

Knightmare-Grimm thrust the sword forward piercing the Abbot's upper belly. It tore his flesh, muscles, internal organs and blood vessels. The blade exited his back on the right side of his spine, skewering him. The Abbot looked at Knightmare-Grimm with staring eyes that made him look surprised. Then his pupils became fixed and dilated. The muscles in his neck weakened and his head flopped to one side. Knightmare-Grimm withdrew his sword and the monk slumped into a pile on the ground, he then shook the weapon to flick off some of the blood.

"All of you put your infra-red vision goggles on," he said to his soldiers. "This monk controlled us with his eyes and probably the others can do it too, especially the one called Yi." The men took a quick moment to put them on.

"Find the boy, Yi," said Knightmare-Grimm. "Kill the others."

The men marched ahead of him towards the entrance of the monastery. Knightmare-Grimm stepped over the body of the Abbot and followed.