Book 2: Chapter 34: Devastation and Friends |
Shui sighed for the hundredth time, staring at her master when he wasn’t looking. Wondering how to brooch the topic and what words were good enough to convince him to let her go back and grab her friends from the vacation spot. They were all probably alone and lonely without her and Mr. Mo Mo to keep them company, just like her without them by her side.
All of the fights they got themselves into against the ugly guardians and monsters.
The victories they achieved as a team.
Then there was all the gold and treasure she had looted out of the massive room with them too.
Everything any vacation could have possibly been in a single trip without having to go anywhere else. What more could she want with so many friends around her?
Now she was mostly friendless and downright poor without all the spacial pouches she had taken. Her Ancestor had snatched them all up and refused to provide her with all the hard won loot she had acquired through hundreds of battles. Treasure she had found herself and not by the help of Mr. Mo Mo, though he did open the doors and destroyed any defenses so she could explore.
She sighed again, this time just a bit louder when she noticed her Ancestor was in a better mood to talk, starting a conversation with Rong about something she didn’t focus on. No one bothered him when he drank tea, especially if their Hu Clan tree had been brought out to join him.
Yin Hu turned to her with a slight smile on his face. “Shui,” he waved her forward. “Come here.”
What happened next left her in a state of devastation and sorrow beyond anything she had ever experienced before this. She felt her heart catch, the world fade into the background, and her vision incapable of finding anything except to focus on the face of her Ancestor.
She wouldn't meet one of them ever again.
Not Bluey, the white tiger with blue stripes and wings.
Not Eagly, the red-feathered phoenix.
Or anyone else for that matter, except for Mr. Cupcake and Mr. Mo Mo.
A hiccup escaped her throat.
She understood that her Ancestor was speaking to her, trying to console her, but none of his words seemed intelligible. They were nothing but a distant echo that she could not hear over the thumping of her chest and the whizzing sound that overwhelmed her ears.
Rong tried to help her break free of what she was experiencing, yet, not even the thought of having another playdate would be enough.
Yin Hu eventually brought out a bouncing ball that had been in his spacial pouch and handed it to Rong in the hopes that it may help her stay distracted from the thought of having witnessed such a loss. Maybe escape the grief that had assaulted her without any defences in place to lessen the blow.
I should have brought them out with me. I could have saved them.
Shui stumbled away as a distant image appeared in her mind of her mother smiling, her father's stoic expression. Of fire and death. Red blood that caked the ground around her. Tears that streamed down the faces of many who had huddled together.
Then everything else felt vague after that as the images came to her one by one of the things that happened in neat order from the moment she escaped with Jun and into the wilderness that surrounded the Hu clan.
“Lady Shui,” Mr. Mo Mo called for her. “Lady Shui, listen to my voice–”
At some point, Hu Shui found herself sitting on a log in front of the camp fire by herself. Rong stood at a distance away, keeping an eye on her and guarding from any threats.
“I will always be here for you,” he continued, his presence calming her confused emotions. “Your master will always be here for you. So will Lady Jun and everyone else in this camp now. Lord Rong will die before he sees harm arrive to your being as well."
“So shall we,” Six ancient voices rumbled in her mind, drowning out even Mr. Mo Mo’s. They spoke in unison. “Never feel alone. Never feel isolated. To you we can lend our voices and presence. Failure we shall never endure again after the days our Master suffered lonesome. We shall never abandon you!”
None of the six had spoken to her in what felt like months. She couldn’t recall what had been their last conversation. Was it during their escape? Or when her Ancestor summoned the evil Spirit of darkness to kill the black widow assassins? They rarely ever made their presence known like Mr. Mo Mo or the She-Devil that Jun had around her at all times.
“A gift,” said Xukerod, the leader of the six dragons. “One we have held for some time in hopes they may arrive in full might. Satisfactory for our Master’s heightened expectations. Premature it may be, but it is applicable enough, Lady Shui.”
The bushes directly in front of her shook and trembled.
Rong appeared before her none the wiser to the conversation she had with beings far greater than he could imagine, even as a Spirit. His hands transformed into claws and blades that did not fit the figure of a little innocent boy with wide eyes and a massive, toothy smile. “Get back, Shui! I didn’t sense their approach!”
Shui stood up from her seat, eyes red and puffy. She walked past the guarded Rong, much to his surprise. A distant part of her mind felt the gargantuan shadow that her master cast upon the entire forest when he focused on anything that could potentially be dangerous. The threat of his anger enough to make even the most ancient creatures cower from fright.
The bushes shook more violently this time.
Rong tried to step in front of her, but Shui raised her hand. “I-It’s okay.” Her voice was raw and harsh.
Shui dropped to her knees near the bush as it shook one last time. From it six dragons erupted out and crashed into Shui, making her tumble backward as they circled around her. Some in the air, others on her as they licked her face, tickled her ears, and nipped at her hair. Six little hatchlings, each about two feet long.
Cute baby dragon faces with overly large whiskers that made them look like they were wearing adult clothes too big for them. Extra red stripes of fur and hair stretched along their faces that pushed back to the base of their necks.
Hu Rong stepped back from the chaotic mass that had assaulted her, head looking back at the stunned Yin Hu, Jun, and even the terrified face of Da Ruis.
Six mythical creatures just so happened to run into Shui’s lap the moment she started crying about lost friends.
Yin Hu stepped closer with narrowed eyes. “Why do they look so familiar?”
Shui froze.
“So weird. Like I know them?”
“W-What?” Shui faked a boisterous laugh, much to Yin Hu’s confusion. “There’s no way you know them! I just found them! Isn’t that right, baby dragons that don't swim in cave ponds?”
“Cave ponds?” Yin Hu said in the most confused voice he could make.
Shit! I need to bring Ancestor’s attention away from the little Koi fish turned dragons. I bet he would eat them! Koi fish turned dragon stir fry!
Hu Shui gave Rong a meaningful look before pushing the little hatchlings to him. She then walked up to her Ancestor, grabbed his hand, and guided him away gently from her new friends. She’d lost too many already. Losing six more would have been devastating.