The Black Dragon soared into the sky. Faster than any bird, faster than the wind itself. Looking down, I caught my first glimpse of the Demon Realm, the city resting on an endless bank of violet clouds. Silk lanterns floated around, casting an ethereal glow over the houses of ebony and stone. Their roofs were arched with upturned eaves on each corner, glazed in brilliant shades, like jewels in the night. Towering above them was the palace I had fled from, its iridescent stone tiles shimmering with the elusive beauty of a rainbow.
The city was quiet, snared in the throes of slumber. Yet try as I might, I could not drown Wenzhi’s voice from my mind, and the anguish with which he had called my name. The Black Dragon’s powerful body covered vast distances in mere moments. Soon the Demon Realm vanished from my sight, as though it were a nightmare I had awakened from—except for the memories etched deep, and the pain shadowing my heart.
35
The air thrummed with power like that of a roiling storm. Glancing below, a chill sank into my limbs. A thousand or more black-armored soldiers sailed upon violet clouds, a creeping shadow across the sky. They were eerily silent, with neither a clank nor rustle, and I cursed their shrewdness in shielding their movements.
The dragon flew ahead until we had almost passed them. The soldiers at the front wore gleaming bronze helmets studded with onyx. As they raised their palms, shimmering waves of light streaked forth. The energy pulsing through the air thickened, an opaque mist forming with crimson glints tucked in its folds like scattered drops of blood. It swirled through the night, thin tendrils clawing at my skirt. A heavy sweetness suffused my senses, laced with the unpleasant tang of spoiled fruit—my lungs clogging as though I had choked on smoke. A dullness settled over my mind. I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself as my head swiveled from side to side, trying to make sense of my unfamiliar surroundings.
Where was I? How did I get here? And what were those lights darting through the sky like scarlet raindrops? My gut tightened at the sight of the creature that carried me so swiftly—of inky scales and golden claws, its whiskers streaming behind like silken ribbons. Magnificent, terrifying, though strangely familiar. A picture I had seen before, perhaps? Where was it taking me? I fumbled for my bow to defend myself, to demand an answer—but the creature swerved up, soaring higher to where the sky was black and clear. Half frozen with fright, I clutched it instinctively, the wind lashing my face as I sucked in a ragged breath. How fresh the air which filled my lungs now, expelling the cloying sweetness.
My mind cleared, though I was still reeling from shock. “I . . . I didn’t know you,” I told the dragon. “I thought you were an enemy. I almost shot you.”
Its silvery voice chimed in my head. The confounding mist is an enchantment of the Mind. Its victims can’t distinguish friend from foe, their memories blurred for as long as they inhale it. While less powerful than compulsion, this enchantment can be spread far wider.
“Across an army.” The Celestials would be defenseless against this, trapped as butterflies in a net. “How can we protect ourselves? A shield?”
Only the strongest of shields would work; the mist can find its way through the slightest crack or crevice. Such a thing cannot be easily dispelled, but you can evade it, disperse it, or cleanse it from the heavens.
Beneath us now, the desert gleamed burnished gold—the vast crescent of land which lay between the Demon Realm and the rest of the Immortal Realm. Hundreds of lights flickered just ahead, campfires fading in the dawn. Relief swept through me that I was not too late, the Celestial Army had not yet marched. As we descended, the soldiers’ heads swung to the Black Dragon—their fear mingling with awe—as we landed in a cloud of billowing sand. I slid off its back, stumbling onto the ground. Only then, did a few soldiers turn toward me, as though just noticing my presence.
Wait, the Black Dragon commanded. Its jaws parted, its pale breath rippling like frost across the bracelets which shackled me. The metal fractured, falling to the sand in shards. I rubbed my wrists to warm them. How wonderfully light they were, unbound.
“Thank you. For everything,” I told it, gratefully.
The Black Dragon inclined its head in return. With a graceful leap into the air, it took flight toward the Eastern Sea, its scales glowing like embers in the light of the rising sun.
Only then did I notice the soldiers encircling me. My greeting died on my lips at the sight of their faces, wreathed in suspicion and loathing.
“Traitor,” someone hissed, a soldier who had served under Wenzhi’s command in the Eastern Sea. “Were you plotting to desert us all this time, while you were eating your meals in the captain’s tent?”