The Definition of Beautiful (Shin-ah Love Story)

Chapter 5 - The Blue Dragon

Chapter 5 – The Blue Dragon

I panted heavily while leaning on a tree. Cries of the battle were heard from where I was staying. I didn't want to be protected. As a priestess, I should be the one protecting them—not the other way around. I held onto my spear—ready to charge for battle when someone pulled my hair from behind.

"Oh, who's this lovely lady?" a huge bald guy greeted me. "Tell me, are you with them?"

My spiritual energy was still drained up.

I was going to use my spear to cut his head off but I was struggling to even lift my arm up.

In a blink of an eye, blood splattered around me. I noticed that the man pulling my hair was already down. I looked behind me and saw Shin-ah.

"Are you alright?" he immediately asked and I slowly nodded. How was he able to get here so fast? I didn't have the slightest idea. "I remained close to you while Jae-ha is fighting farther,"

"I should be fighting too," I told him. "There's too many of them,"

"Just leave it to us," he patted my head. "You're still in no condition,"

He was right about that.

All throughout the fight, the gentle Blue Dragon lingered in my mind.

***

"We're back," Jae-ha greeted Yona and Hak who were in the garden where I saw them yesterday.

"What happened to Roo-na?" Yona worriedly asked. It was obvious that something was wrong with me because Shin-ah was carrying me on his back. It bothered me that I still didn't have the energy to walk. I hated being powerless like this. "Are you alright? Bring a doc—"

"There's no need for that, Queen," I interrupted. "Even if you did call a doctor, it's pointless. This is the result of my spiritual energy being drained,"

"She healed everyone in the village," Shin-ah explained to them.

"It seems that you can really heal people, huh?" Hak said. "Then aside from conveying God's word to us, you're going to be useful,"

"We also received word from the Water Tribe giving us their thanks," Yona smiled. I looked up and saw Shin-ah staring at her. Even with his mask, I knew that he was in awe. He found Yona's smile rather beautiful after all. "Shin-ah, can you please bring Roo-na to her room?" Shin-ah nodded calmly and started walking away from them.

"Are you happy to see that beautiful thing once again?" I teased Shin-ah. "Yona smiled. Does that make you happy?"

He nodded then added, "I think your power is beautiful too,"

That caught me off guard. I didn't expect him to compliment something about me. "What are you saying? Don't feel pity towards my power. It's a double-edged sword, just like yours,"

He stopped walking and looked at me. "How did you know of my power?"

"I've...seen you, in my visions," I responded nervously. Why did I let that kind of information slipped? He would of course ask the next obvious question.

"Why am I in your visions?"

"It's a secret," I stuck a tongue out to him.

He continued walking after that, "My power is a...curse,"

"It's not," I disagreed. "It's a gift to protect those people who are dear to you. It's up to you whether to use it or not,"

"But yours is beautiful," he explained. "You heal people, not hurt them...unlike mine,"

"How will you be able to convince other people that you're harmless if you think so lowly of yourself in the first place? If you want them to see that your power is beautiful, you should first see it for yourself. Self-pity will get you nowhere, Shin-ah,"

I knew that my last line was harsh but I wanted him to get my point clearly.

"How long will it take for you to fully recover your spiritual energy?" He changed the topic immediately. Maybe my words reached him somehow. At least he would be able to give it a thought and maybe change his perspective.

"It depends," I shrugged. "But probably I'll be back to normal tomorrow and full recovery the day after that," the both of us arrived at my room and he opened the wooden sliding door using his right foot. He gently placed me on my futon and sat comfortably beside me. "S—Shin-ah? What are you still doing here?"

"You might be lonely..." he trailed off.

I chuckled at him. He was so innocent of this world. Didn't he know that it was weird for a guy like him to stay in a lady's room? I was nervous but also amused at the same time. "Hey, can I ask you a question?" I took his silence as a yes then continued, "What will happen if a new Blue Dragon is born? I know that you lose your powers, but are there no side effects to your body? Since you're born with it, I figured out that it will not be the same when you lose it,"

"Ao went blind..." I remembered that this Ao guy was the Blue Dragon before him. "So, I probably will too. As I grew older, my eyes were able to see further. It's like it's taking away Ao's sight and adding up to mine. Eventually, when he lost his sight, he died."

"Well, at least you've got one less thing to worry about now, huh?"

"I don't understand..." he looked at me.

"Let's put it this way...even if a new Blue Dragon is born, you won't go blind. Your vision would be of a normal person,"

"How?"

"And that's where I come in," I sat up and smiled at him. "As long as you've got me, you don't need to worry about your eyes anymore."