This is dedicated to Bruce Lee, Grandmaster Ted Sandy (nature fist system), Sifu Abu Aziz (my personal instructor, nature fist), and Sifu Wayne Quwintine (Bruce Lee’s JKD, my first teacher).

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“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

“Empty your mind; be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” – Bruce Lee

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“Win the battle before it is fought.” – Paraphrase of Sun Tzu

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“It takes thousands of great students to make a Grandmaster.” – Toa

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Chris Alan and Autumn had fully “recovered” from their honeymoon. Its last few days were full of both pleasure and the painful reality that it had to end. After Chris Alan had returned from the swamp, the couple had spent three weeks together. Then they had spent a few days with Chris Alan’ parents, who poured out buckets of love on their new daughter-in-law. Even Chris Alan’s father was more emotional than usual. The sight of his parents made Chris Alan feel at ease.

In addition, Chris Alan had made some good friends on his last mission, and he kept contact with him via the Nexus. But now the next mission was to begin, and Chris Alan had to turn his mind toward the future.

< “All good things come to an end,” > he thought when he reminded himself of this. < Or maybe a better quote would be, “there is a time and a place for everything.” >

For his next mission, Chris Alan had to travel to the far northeast of Ge as measured from its geographic center, to a location many Adamim had not been for thousands of years: *The Temple of Pain*. Its name alone gave Chris Alan an uneasy feeling. He was looking forward to exploring the relic, which was built by the first Lightchildren, but the “fame” of Grandmaster Toa also brought dread. The Lord had a knack for naming people and things what they truly were; and Chris Alan knew that the names “Temple of Pain” and “Disciple of Pain” hadn’t been given lightly.