An Immortal Love

Betrayal

A force yanks Yijun back into a formless darkness that swallows him whole. He loses all sensation; even the awareness of his own body fades. His thoughts flicker like a dying lamp, and panic surges through him like a torrent. He thrashes and screams without words, but something seizes him, tugging him onward.

The darkness dissolves like mist, revealing a vast battlefield under a grim, gray sky. He gasps and breathes in the cold air as his eyes survey the broken earth that stretches out before him. The land is littered with the bodies of Beasts whose gleaming fur, scales, and feathers are now dulled and drenched in blood, their vacant eyes fixed on the indifferent heavens. Smoke and the scent of blood hang heavy in the air, a haunting reminder of a recent battle. Yijun reflexively covers his nose, then remembers he has no body. Behind him, he hears labored breaths and turns.

He sees the dragon making his way through the desolate field, his blood-soaked white robes whipping in the wind like torn sails. His hair, once flowing and shiny like silver threads, is matted with grime and blood, and his gaze is locked on a monstrous hydra across the field, its nine heads snapping and spitting poison. The dragon's eyes flash, and in a swirl of lightning and wind, he transforms into his full, white-dragon form.

The scene splinters apart, shattering into a torrent of color and emotion—blood-red rage, bitter gray despair, and searing white pain that wash over and through Yijun until, as suddenly as they came, the flood ebbs away, leaving everything in its rightful hue.

The dragon and hydra's deadly dance continues. The dragon's body are marred by deep gashes and scorched patches and scales fall like rain with each of his movements. The hydra fares no better; bloody stumps remain where some of its heads once were, and its body bears countless wounds. In a final, glowing tail strike, the dragon slices off the hydra's second-to-last head, forcing the creature to retreat, its final head gasping and dripping venom as it slithers away, cornered and crippled.

The dragon approaches cautiously, his tail lashing behind him, glowing with a fierce energy. The hydra's eyes widen in terror as it tries to drag itself back, leaving a trail of blood across the ground. The dragon raises his tail, which hums until it crackles with lightning. The hydra's gaze locks on him, filled with fear—but its battered body has nothing left, and escape is impossible.

The dragon's eyes narrow as he looms over the hydra. "How did you and the other mortals receive your power?" he demands.

The hydra laughs in ragged, wet coughs. "Will you let me go if I tell you?"

The dragon stills in thought. "Never mind. It doesn't matter," he concludes. He raises his tail higher. His scales crackle again with raw, unrestrained power. "Your death is all I need."

The hydra's grin widens, revealing rows of shattered, blood-stained teeth. "Ah, but it does matter," he rasps. "I'm grateful you asked—because it reminds me. We got it from you." He coughs again, a deep shuddering sound that seems to empty his lungs, until a glistening pearl falls from his bloody mouth.

The dragon's expression falters, a look of disbelief crossing his face as his gaze locks onto the pearl. His pearl. "How did you get that?" he breathes, voice soft with disbelief.

The hydra smirks, clutching the pearl with a defiant look in his fading eyes.

"Speak, or die without dignity," the dragon commands.

"Your kin may not have seen what you did here in the mortal world," the hydra wheezes, "but we do. I wonder, do they know about your little love affair with a mortal?"

The dragon's eyes narrow at the unexpected question. "It's too insignificant to violate destiny. It won't be a concern to them," he says flatly.

The hydra chuckles, a dry, mirthless sound, then spits a mouthful of blood to the side. "Oh, to be able to just rewrite heaven's rules as you please," he murmurs bitterly.