A Love Beyond Time

Where Ashes Remember Light

There are things that do not die when they are broken.

They wait—

in ash, in silence, in the hollow between breaths—

until the one who remembers them returns.

The Celestial Kingdom—Jade Palace (翡翠宫), current times

"Your Celestial Goddess." Lao-Jun bowed low. "That is excellent news. I am glad that His Highness is safe and free at last. But—"

He stroked his long beard, his face tight with unease. "Is it truly wise to continue working with that Fox, Your Celestial Goddess? It is cunning and cruel and holds no allegiance to the Kingdom."

The Grand Advisor paused, memories flickering across his eyes as he recalled his previous meeting with that creature, reliving the words it had spoken and the images it had revealed to him.

That terrible devastation that would befall upon the entire immortal realm, at its whim.

He shivered violently. It was a monster through and through, no less insane than the one who currently wears the Crown. Perhaps it was even more so, for not even the latter had sought to destroy an entire realm in his obsessive quest.

"Lao-Jun." He blinked, turned towards the resplendently dressed Xiwang Mu. "I know what you mean. But fret not, it is nothing but a mere beast. No matter how sentient or how powerful it might be, it is no match for true immortals like us."

Hawkish black eyes gleaming with a cruel light, she rested a hand firmly on the bearded Deity's shoulder, fingers digging lightly into his robe as she leaned in. "We are simply using it to get what we need, nothing more. And the moment it fulfils its promise is its moment of demise."

===

The Valley—Central Regions, Current times

Shion stopped. His heart was pounding madly—a taiko gone rogue. He inhaled, and cold, crisp air stabbed his dry throat, swirled in his aching lungs, then spread through him. His mind and senses sharpened, his body lightened, but his heart...

Remained a rogue taiko.

He let out a sigh, casting his unseeing gaze over the winding path and toward the edge of the forests. He swallowed hard, then wiped his still clammy palms on his pants, steadying himself.

Earlier, Seimei had woken up, bright-eyed and chirpy, ready to gather the quintet of gremlin menaces and return them to Zhong Kui. But Shion volunteered to do that instead.

Because he wanted his sweet pearl to get as much rest as possible. He also did not want the Deity to change his mind about taking back his five ugly nuisances if he saw them clinging to a cooing Seimei. Shion wanted them gone, and his pearl to himself at night.

Although the very last thing he wanted was to be within proximity to the Demon Vanquisher in his current unique condition.

No longer human. Not fully dragon. Maybe a demon.

But his pearl came first. And Shion was very, very, very serious about his priority.

That was how he came to be, trekking up the forest path, heaving a sackful of squirming ghosts. They had made a terrible fuss: clinging to Seimei and wailing, ghost toddlers wrenched from their dearest mama (NOT). Shion simply resolved it by hammering their heads and tossing them into a sack.

Rounding the final bend, he found himself standing upon a vast carpet of dew-covered grass beneath a tapestry of rich indigo. Nonetheless, stunning as the view might be, it held little attraction to the silver-haired male.