The Dragon Awakens

I agree to meet up with Dai Xuan at sunrise, so we can use the daylight hours well. I’m glad I’m going with someone, since I wouldn’t really know where to go by myself, but also because I really like Dai Xuan, even if I have only known her for a few hours. It feels longer than that, since I already followed her journey in the drama, and I look forward to getting to know her properly.

After excusing myself for the evening, I linger in front of the building. There’s so much to keep track of, so many new bits of information, all these people… I close my eyes. Right. I have a goal to achieve, but I also need to be able to live until I can reach it. Murong Zhiyu’s power felt overwhelming when I channelled it. I need to know more about it. I need to know about her dragon people's legacy. If I can trust the drama plot, I can’t go to her family. Not yet. But I can go to Yueji Lake.

The qi flows easier this time and I can feel it throughout my body, dispersing in my muscles. With one leap I reach the nearby roof. Two jumps later I am on top of the tallest building, looking over Xiyang to one side and the desert on the other. The falling light tints everything a mellow blue and on the horizon, the stars begin to sparkle. Behind wispy clouds, the waxing moon shines, still faint. I take a deep breath of fresh air. Ah, I can’t get enough of it. Despite the dry desert environment, I haven’t experienced air this clean and sweet in years. Below, several people are chatting while they cross the courtyard. I take another leap and leave the area.

All of the water in the city, which fills the canals and makes it possible to maintain lush gardens and grow food within the city confines and the fields south of the walls, stems from a large reservoir in the cliffs above Xiyang. It is partially natural and partially artificial. Where there was already a lake in a deep valley, the people built a dam to store even more water and make life at the border of the Northern desert possible. There were many scenes which took place around the lake in the drama, but it was never shown how the characters got from the city to the lake. I mean, why would you? If no one gets ambushed or confessed to, has secret discussions or fights, travel scenes are usually quite boring.

I only know I need to reach the lake to carry out my plan, and walk along the cliff edge above the city to find where the valley with the river emerges. To avoid the city being ambushed by enemies from up here, there are watchtowers at regular intervals between Huoyun Sect at one end and the royal palace at the other. I take care to slip through the shadows so as to not be spotted. They will let me go once they realise who I am, but I’d rather avoid the hassle. Soon I find the river and follow it to its source through the falling darkness.

“Oh, wow…”

I can’t help but talk to myself as the reservoir comes into view. The wide valley beneath me is filled with water, stretching into the distance, the faint moonlight reflecting off it. There is a small forest surrounding it, the area green and fertile beyond anything that should be possible in this climate. The whole of Xiyang is greener than expected and the forest stretching out along the stream south of the city is an abnormality in this region. The people believe that the queen and her family are responsible for this wonder, and they aren’t entirely wrong… though not in the way they think.

The royal family living in the palace is of the dragon people lineage, which is the most powerful and revered of all the beast people—more so than even the mighty phoenix, dragon fish or any other. Yet it isn’t the family who makes the land prosper, it is the magical artefact kept at the bottom of Yueji Lake, which leaks life-bringing power into the water, making the prosperous life in Xiyang possible. The artefact is a secret kept only by the royal family, the head of the Huoyun Sect and the artefact keeper, who has always been of the dragon people as well.

And the current keeper is Murong Zhiyu.

“I’m really in the best position to turn this city around. Murong Zhiyu is at the centre of everything. No wonder she became the main character of the story. Keeper of the artefact, the reason for the downfall of Xiyang… poor girl.”

I dip my fingers into the water, wondering if I’m developing a habit of talking to myself and if it’s going to stay. The water is still warm from the sun, here at the shallow edges. It will be colder in the depths, but once I shift into the dragon form, it shouldn’t be an issue. At least it never looked like one for Murong Zhiyu in the drama.

Right, shifting. Into a dragon. That’s a thing I can apparently do. Like jumping on top of buildings and fighting with a sword. I left the weapon in Murong Zhiyu’s room for now. Maybe I should’ve taken it. As far as I know, the enemy is already scouting the area, waiting to make a move. Well, I can’t change it now, but I will take it tomorrow—not that I can actually fight with it.

So, how did Murong Zhiyu do this again? There are actually two stages of shifting shown in the drama, the first of which only changes the beast person slightly. Essentially, it gives them some features of the lineage, such as ears and tails. It also makes it easier to attune to the inherent magic of every beast. For example Feng Yu can already summon flames in his human form, but with a half-shift, he can summon mighty fireballs. In full-shift as a phoenix, he becomes a literal flamethrower. I wonder if it works the same way here.

“Murong Zhiyu’s affinity is ice. I wonder…”

I dip my fingers into the water again. How does one even summon ice? I suppose if you grow up with it, it’s natural. Well, her body remembered how to direct the qi, so maybe… I try to think about what it would look like if the water around my fingers turns to ice and for a moment, I feel my fingertips grow cold, yet nothing else happens. This won‘t do. I can‘t be defenceless if I have to fight the monsters tomorrow. Murong Zhiyu is supposed to be an accomplished disciple, and with her dragon powers I should be able to fight. I concentrate again, this time on the images I can remember from the drama. Ice crystals and snow, a frosted blade…

“You can’t use my powers because your soul isn’t of the dragon people.”

I fall over out of shock, landing with my hands in the water. From below I can see my own face staring back at me, reflected in the water. I swallow as it frowns at me.

“Murong Zhiyu…?”

“Present,” my reflection replies and crosses her arms.