MY NAME IS NOT NIAN | ✔️

Unleashed

I'm sorry, Wei. I couldn't keep my promise. How could I stay here knowing what you were going through? I couldn't protect you during our lifetime together, so how could I let up when I know that I have the power to help you this time?

I waved away the scene that was showing on the all-seeing mirror and quickly returned to where I was staying to grab some items before leaving. 

There was only one way to leave the Heavenly Realm without being detected. And that's not through the main gates, it's through the misty doorway that Meng Po was stationed at most of the days. But she was a woman with a pair of eyes that were far too sharp. 

That left me with one option. To go through the doorway when one of the human spirits walked through it. But how to do that undetected? There were only open fields on both sides of the doorway. 

However, wandering the evergreen fields aimlessly for the past few years had its own benefits. That was how I accidentally picked up a bottle of invisibility perfume. Imagine my shock the first time I used it. A few sprits of this colorless sweet-smelling liquid could instantly make you invisible. Even to yourself. But the liquid would start to evaporate once it's exposed to air and would lose its potency when all of its vapor evaporated. This meant that its efficacy would only last up to ten minutes or so.

With the intricate glass bottle in my hand, I traveled to where the line of people who were queuing up for Meng Po's soup ended. The end of the line was still a distance away from Meng Po and the misty doorway. 

Looking around to see that no one was looking in my direction, I sprayed the perfume on me. Its effect was almost instantaneous. I didn't waste any time and walked briskly along the line of people waiting to be reincarnated. Thankfully, there was always a subtle breeze at the evergreen fields that made my steps on the grass less obvious. A couple of people did scrunched their nose at the sudden sweet smell when I passed them by but it didn't concern them too much to do anything about it.

I finally reach the person who was currently first in line and receiving her soup from Meng Po. I kept my distance. The human spirits might not have any second thoughts on the sweet smell that seemingly came from nowhere, but Meng Po would investigate.

I only joined the person when she was crossing the cobblestoned pathway to the misty doorway. I followed closely behind, tensed and in tuned with her movements. When she lifted her feet to enter the doorway, I did too and was immediately thrown into a dark limbo, the misty curtain rippled behind us.

Now, a lot, and I mean a lot of people let fate decide where they go when they passed through this doorway. Let me tell you something, if you picture a place clearly in your mind, you'll end up there. Wei was also probably thinking about his last days at the west when he was walking through this doorway and that was why he was reincarnated there.

The oppressive dark limbo finally gave way to light. As the first ray of light cracked the black, I yelled in pain.

Bones and joints were swiftly shifting inside my body. Was this what Wei had told me about? Am I turning into a beast? I've forgotten about it until now. Now, it was shouting in the form of pain that started deep in my core. I clawed at my chest, trying to rid myself of the pain that was so enormous that I didn't even realized that my chest was bleeding because my well-kept nails had turned into sharp talons. I looked at my hands, paws, in disbelief.

When I finally stumbled into the human realm. I was a fully-fledged beast. 

I landed on dried hay in an area that seemed isolated. The air was still. Like the bated breath before the clap of a thunder. Too still. And yet, I could hear movement that was happening far away. Of animals running in the opposite direction from where I was. Weird.

I could feel the curve of my spine that made me hunched over and no longer able to walk like how I always did. My paws landed one after the other as I trudged around the area. Everything was too bright. A reflection of light shone glaringly into my sensitive eyes. Before I could finish wondering if there was a body of water nearby despite the drought, I found the source and it was something's, or rather someone's liquid excretion. Apparently my nose was also sensitive, I could smell that this was human.

I looked at the liquid and scowled. I prowled around the body of water and looked my reflection. I was hideous. 

I was like no other animal in this world. First, I had a horn in the middle of my forehead, one that could conquer any rhinoceroses. Then it was the dark mane circling bulging black eyes, a snout and a mouth with wild fangs sharp enough to cut down century-old trees. And then came the scaly body with a paradox of green, blue, and red. Yes, red. Depending on the angle that the light hit the scales. My body ends with a dragon tail swinging as I moved to keep me balanced on my taloned feet.

Behind me, what sounded like fruit plopped on the ground followed by the sound of someone falling to the ground.

I smelled fear.