Chinese Touch

Chapter 28-Bent, Not Broken

Sweet, pure darkness.

Beauty.

Bliss.

There was no pain.

No sadness.

No hate.

Nothing.

Yes, this was bliss.

Pure bliss.

Death wasn't so bad. It certainly wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be.

It was good, even.

I relaxed into the darkness, let it become a part of me.

What was that?

A bright light up ahead.

Sweet, sweet light. It burned my eyes. But I wanted it. I craved that light.

It was either true death, or my life.

I made my decision.

I entered the light.

~#~*~#~

"She's stopped moving..."

"Don't you dare do this, Ming!" A tiny voice. A young female. A slap on my cheek.

"Tao, stop. It's not helping."

"Ming. Ming. Ming, get up!" A deep voice. A dragon. The first dragon... A roar, a scream of pain. The pain only the heart feels.

"Get up! Get up! Don't you dare leave us, Empress! Get up!" A male, adult. Human.

Tiny arms wrapped around my cold body. The blood was all dry. A feather-light touch on my back, where the blade had exited. No motion from my body.

"Get up..." Ai's whisper. Hard scales wrapped around my back. A dragon's embrace.

"Ai, she's gone."

"No... Get up." The grip tightened just a little. "Don't leave me Ming. Don't leave me..." No motion. A long body curled around my small one. Tears fell on the dry blood.

"Ai, let her go. She's not coming back. It didn't work."

"Ming, it's Char. If you can hear me... Look, the others can't hear me, but if you can I want you to know that what you did... I know you didn't mean to die, but thank you. Thank you for freeing me. Thank you for being there when no one else was. Thank you for being you."

"She moved!"

"Ai, you're imagining things. She didn't move."

"Give her more! Give her more, she moved!"

"Did you feel anything?"

"No, but..."

"Ai... Come on, don't make this harder than it already is. You don't need to imagine it."

"Sis?"

"Yes Tao?"

"Why's Ai still alive? And Crystal. If she's dead they shouldn't be alive."

"It because I'm sustaining us." The sorrow in the dragon's voice was overwhelming. Crystal was sad because he was alive.

"No... No... Ming!" Ai pulled my body closer.

"Ai, please... Please just let her go."

"Yuan... Yuan, I can never let her go. I can never let her go."

"Please..." She took me from Ai. Then she pulled my body close and cried.

~#~*~#~

The light was stronger. So strong...

I held out my hand to touch it. For a second, nothing happened. Then my body was pulled into the light.

It was literally life or death.

~#~*~#~

Yuan held my body. Her tears wetted my mattered hair, running through the knots. She went to lay me down.

My eyes flew open and I sat bolt upright. I screamed as pain from my injuries reached my no longer numb body.

The hands that had held me were suddenly around my again. Three humans held me tightly, three dragons roared to the sky. Then I was whisked away from the humans, Ai pulling me into an embrace. I cried out as he bumped me, he loosened his grip slightly. Then he cried into my already wet hair. I curled up into a little ball, not caring how much it hurt. I was happy. I was where wanted to be.

I was alive.