Chapter Five: Life and Death

I snuck through the palace grounds, a hood over my bright hair, and a mask over the bottom half of my face. The palace was so incredibly boring, and the Blighted never drew near to it. Yet, there was so much dark power radiating from just outside of the city. I had no intention of staying trapped in the palace and training against inanimate opponents. After all, I had already killed plenty of Blighted before Yahui had me brought to the palace.

When the sound of a guqin drifted to my ears, I slowed down and crouched in the shadows, tensing. The entrancing melody came from the same direction I felt immense dark power radiating from. A knot formed in my stomach as I crept closer to the suffocating waves of power. From a distance, I couldn’t determine if the guqin was responsible for slaying the Blighted I sensed…or if it was summoning them.

I crept closer until so that I could see what was taking place.

Beyond the gates, hordes of deformed undead people and creatures ran toward the Obsidian Terraces without regard for their surrounding allies. The creatures climbed over each other, pushed others out of their way, and yet others even stopped to eat their fallen allies.

The guqin played, sending wave after wave of dark energy flying into the horde, cutting the creatures cleanly in two. Between the creatures and the gates stood dozens of intimidating constructs. The constructs were made of darkness, which flowed inside of intricate silver and crystal cages. It seemed that the purpose of the cages was to help them maintain their corporeal forms.

Directly in front of the gates, Yahui floated in a simple, dark hanfu. He sat in the lotus position with his guqin in the air above his lap. With every graceful motion of his hands, another wave of Blighted fell. Any that managed to escape were cut down by the shadowy creatures that seemed to belong to him.

He…isn’t being corrupted by his dark arts? Does that mean he’s already been corrupted? I clenched a fist to my chest while I observed. Furthermore, where is his escort? I don’t think I’ve seen him without an escort outside the meditation garden…

“Are you just going to stand there?” Yahui’s breath against my ear made me freeze in place. He released a low laugh that made me feel like the next target of his lethal techniques. “If you have time to stare, you have time to help.”

Did I lapse on my control of my stealth ability? Or… I let out a small sigh and shifted to peer at Yahui over mask. “With two of us, they should die quickly.”

“And after, you will explain yourself.” Yahui drifted past me and slid his fingers along the edge of his guqin before shooting me a dangerous look.

I let out a long sigh. “Very well…”

After a moment of brief concentration and a motion from both my hands, daggers of prismatic light formed in the air around me. The Blighted immediately changed direction and made their way toward me instead. Yahui slew the first several waves with quick notes from his guqin, and the shadow beasts killed many more. Even so, more of the foul things made it through to me.

“Mingzhu, get ba—” The emperor started to give me an order, yet fell silent when I dashed into the throngs of creatures.

My blades of light tore the monstrous things to shreds, leaving coagulated blood in their wake. I flipped my grip on one of the conjured daggers so I could strike one of the larger ones under the chin with my fist. With that one dead, I turned and kicked another, sending it staggering into Yahui’s line of attack.

Several bells later, the remaining monsters were slain, and I was attempting to catch my breath. Yahui lurked a ways from me, investigating the worrying number of corpses nearby.

I need to work on my endurance… I breathed deeply, shutting my eyes for a moment. If I had grown exhausted at any point during that, we may not have survived… Why was Yahui put here alone?

A startled noise escaped me when a hand wrapped around my throat, hefted me off the ground, and slammed me back-first into the city’s outer wall hard enough to crack the stones. Yahui glared at me with unrelenting ferocity as I gripped his arm and attempted to struggle.

“What were you thinking?!” Yahui demanded. “Were you so eager to seek out a true death that you chose to disobey my orders? Or was the prospect of destroying darkness too much temptation for you to resist? Did you think that I was summoning the monsters?”

“N-no! I just…training in the palace is dull! I know I can kill the Blighted with ease, so—” I clawed his hand harder when his grip twitched tighter, cutting off my ability to speak.

After a moment, Yahui’s grip loosened and he set me on the ground, but he didn’t let go. He leaned over me, his gaze fierce.

“A corpse doesn’t struggle for life like that,” he stated quietly. He gingerly released my throat and wandered toward the nearby gate, leaving me at a loss. When I didn’t move to follow, he shifted to look over his shoulder at me. “We are going back to the palace. Come.”

I hesitated before moving to join him in silence.

“What would you have done had I not been here?” Yahui inquired after we had already made it halfway through the city.

“Taken out as many as I could,” I stated blandly.

“With no regard for the people who may miss you?” Yahui shot me a chastising look. “It’s no wonder your abilities are a strange color, for you are a strange creature.”

I frowned. “A…strange color?”

“I’ve only ever seen light techniques with a golden hue.” Yahui shook his head.

I fell silent until we were back at the palace. “And here’s where we part ways. Good—”

“I am not going anywhere until I’ve seen you to your rooms myself,” Yahui cut me off. He stalked in the direction of my rooms without another word, leaving me to hurry after him.

“Your Imperial Majesty, Lady Mingzhu is—” Shui trailed off when he spotted me behind the emperor. He immediately dropped to his knees and pressed his forehead to the floor. “I have failed you, Your Imperial Majesty. I will endeavor not to let Mingzhu trick me again.”

“See to it that she doesn’t…and that any wounds she sustained are taken care of.” Yahui let out a tired sigh and turned away, making a lazy motion with one hand. “Mingzhu, I will deal with you later.”

Shui promptly ushered me into my rooms. He closed and locked the doors before turning to me with a frustrated, albeit worried, expression on his face.

“My lady, I know the palace bores you…” Shui paused to search for the right words. “His Imperial Majesty is allowing you to stay here to keep you safe, especially from the other clans. If you continue to insult him with disobedience…”

“Can a corpse insult an emperor?” I shook my head and strode past Shui, heading for the bathroom.

“Please…do not say such things, my lady,” Shui murmured in a soft, pained voice almost too low for me to hear. I glanced over my shoulder at the sulking man, but a moment later he stiffened and glanced toward the door. “I will return shortly, my lady. Please do not leave your rooms unattended again.”

The dragon hurried out of the room and closed the doors softly behind him. I raised an eyebrow in the direction he had fled. His reaction gave me the impression his precious emperor had called him…but how?

I put the thought from my mind with a small shake of my head and quickly bathed. Once dressed for bed, I returned to it with a sigh. This luscious lifestyle…am I deserving of it?

For a while, I simply stared at the ceiling and thought on the things that had happened since coming to the palace. For the most part, I wasn’t sure what to think of Yahui and his men. Shui was pleasant, even if I didn’t understand his subservience or apparent loyalty to me. However, for all I knew, I could have been a peasant from a kingdom or clan that was their worst enemy. Yahui, in particular, clearly had strong feelings about people who used light abilities.

Then there was the issue of my arrogance. I sighed. There was no reason for me to act in such a way. It conflicted with my feeling of being a corpse. Where did that behavior come from? Someone with no memories, no training, and no status had no right to the arrogance I often displayed.

“My lady, I have retur—” Shui cut himself off and gently closed the bedroom door.

“I’m still awake,” I spoke quietly.

“Might I get you anything, my lady?” Shui offered, and I found myself thankful he couldn’t see my expression from where he was.

I doubted he realized his subservience made me feel even more isolated. Asking him to come keep me warm was out of the question too. He would just misinterpret my desire for someone to hold as something…else.

“No thank you,” I murmured, keeping my gaze on the ceiling. “We should both get some rest.”

“My lady…you are uninjured?” Shui knelt beside my bed, his gaze downcast.

“I’m fine, Shui. There were many Blighted, but it seems His Imperial Majesty’s powers and mine work well against them.” I shifted so I was laying on my side and looked at the uncomfortable dragon. “That said, I was surprised to find I wasn’t the only one to sneak out of the palace to hunt. In all the time I spent killing Blighted in the weeks before coming to the palace, I never once saw someone other than the guards or occasional student fighting the creatures.”

“Complementary powers…?” Shui muttered before shaking his head slightly. He sat up, a small frown on his face. “His Imperial Majesty was alone?”

“Alone with those shadowy beasts of his.” I made a dismissive motion.

“His Imperial Majesty is in no place to chastise you for sneaking out then.” Shui sighed heavily. “You are both equally guilty.”

“Shui, how well do you know His Imperial Majesty?” I asked, settling my gaze on him.

“Fairly well, my lady,” Shui answered neutrally.

“Was he born a dragon…or did that dark power of his corrupt him and turn him into a dragon of darkness?” I watched as Shui gave me a baffled look. “When I was still hiding tonight, I noticed his arts didn’t seem to be causing him harm.”

“His Imperial Majesty was born a dragon, my lady.” Shui slowly shook his head. “Beyond that…I am afraid you would never get to sleep if we spoke of it now. You need to rest. His Imperial Majesty told me how much power you spent.”

“But…” I started to protest.

“I’ll tell you what,” Shui smiled and reached out to tuck my hair behind my ear, “in the morning, I will tell you His Imperial Majesty’s story and answer your questions over breakfast. If you sleep now, you should still gain a good night’s sleep.”

“…promise?” I asked begrudgingly.

“Of course.” Shui’s smile broadened. “My first concern is your safety, my second is your health, and third is helping you relearn this world. Knowing the world’s players is a necessary step.”

“Very well.” I sunk back on the bed and let out a long, contented sigh. Shui promptly pulled the sheets up to my shoulders before rising to his feet and moving to retreat to his own part of the room. “Good night, Shui.”

“Good night, Lady Mingzhu.”