Chinese Touch

Chapter 27-Bright White Light

My breathing was laboured. The darkness was spreading through me, I could feel it. My blood was still warm. And the light was blinding.

It wasn't getting closer, nor farther away. It was everywhere and nowhere. It surrounded me, filled me, held me, never touched me. A shiver ran down my spine and I realised that it wasn't so much my back was cold but the rest of my body was warm. Warm from my blood. Maybe dying wouldn't be so bad. This was beautiful, perfect even. But where was Ai? I tried to close my eyes against the blinding brightness of it all but my eyes were already closed. A light so bright as to pierce through them should not exist. That was all the proof I needed.

I was already gone.

I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die...

"I don't want to die..." The whisper barely registered in my train of thought, but after it did an idea submerged from the murky depths of my mind. The whisper came from my lips. I opened my eyes to find that the glaring light was not as intense as I had first believed. I still couldn't see anything except the bright white light, but images, my surroundings, were slowly coming into focus. The light was dying down, revealing more of what was there.

My brother stood on Char's back, staring at the source of the light. He shouted, he screamed, he yelled. But all I heard was a fading whisper, and the dull roaring of the battle still raging in the Lair.

Hua shouted, screamed, yelled again. The words, once again, hit my ears as a whisper. "The Mega Light!" The what? Mega... Light... Dragon. The three little words surfaced and I realised what I had truly summoned. Had Yuan known? What the egg truly was? Had any of them known? Was he even sure? Was I dead and dreaming? Was I ever alive?

The dragon slowly came in to focus. A hatchling would have been tinier. Three times smaller, really. So it was. It was the Mega.at least I can go knowing that I've brought about something that can defeat Hua. At least I'll go in victory. At least-

He'll die.

If I die, the Mega will die.

And the blinding white light is coming back.

Why? Why does this have to happen? I heard an ear-piercing scream. How loud would it have to be for me to hear it like this? Another one, then another. If my senses were still dulled then whoever was screaming would have torn their vocal chords from screaming so loudly. Maybe my senses were coming back. I tried to move but pain spread through my racked, broken body. My finger twitched and the Mega moved. He turned to me and put his warm paw over my heart. He didn't seem to understand the blood.

Why wasn't he in pain? Why didn't he fall like Ai?

Ai!

"Ai." My cracked whisper had barely left my lips when he was running to me. He skidded to a stop behind me and placed his paw on my forehead. "Ai..."

"Ming..." He ran his nose over my cheek. I tried to lift my hand, to put it against his neck, but here was no feeling left in it.

"Why... So... Slowly..."

"You're going slowly because you're a strong fighter and you're holding on. Keep holding on. Keep holding on, Ming, hold on." The voice was male, but it wasn't Ai. It must be the Light dragon. "Crystal." As if he read my thoughts.

I closed my eyes and a claw pushed them back open. "Eyes open!" That was Ai. Or was it? It couldn't be Ai because his voice was different. And it wasn't Crystal because he was focused on Char.

Char.

It was Char.

'Why?' I whispered.

"For you. I don't want this for you. I don't want you to die, and I no longer wish to rule under Hua. He is cruel, and he punished me for nothing. He hates me, I believe. You, though... You. Your dragons are beautiful and happy. So hold on, Ming. Hold on."

'I'll free you.' I replied, fading. Char roared as I closed my eyes again, then I heard Hua scream. I opened my eyes to see the great dragon standing over the person he had once called 'Master'.

"No more!" He called, and I knew the other dragons could hear him. "No more from you! I'm leaving you! Without me, you're useless. You're just an insane Changer who wishes he was more. I'm that 'more'. You need me, and I'm gone! I'm gone! And I'll never be back!" Then he brought his paw down over Hua, forming a cage around his body. A smile spread across my lips and I closed my eyes.

"Ming!" I didn't bother opening my eyes. I'd recognise that voice anywhere.

"Yuan... You're leader now."

"No." Her tears wetted my pale face. "No, don't go. Don't leave me. We won, Ming. You have to show them yourself. You have to present yourself to the Changers! We won! You have to stay with me. Stay with me!" She cradled my body in her arms, my blood soaking into her blouse.

"Yuan... You're the... Empress. Look after... Ai."

She was still sobbing, still crying "No, no, no," into my wet hair over and over, still clutching me to her chest. But her cries were getting further away, her touch was leaving. There was no feeling in any of my body now. A single tear fell on my arm, leaving a dull tingling. Then I feeling completely and her whispers were gone.

Sweet darkness took me.