by Eric Vall
Chapter One
The forest was silent as we made our way down the island from the Qianlong sanctuary. We’d gone up a few hours prior with our weapons in hand to fight and defeat the sorcerer Tuzakeur. Instead of coming back down with just our weapons and the satisfaction that we’d killed the man who’d tortured Rana for so long, we came down with the blue dragon in tow.
Heijing was everything we expected and more of the Qianlong. She was highly intelligent and cunning, and she’d asked to be brought along with us. I’d agreed to it since she would be an excellent ally to us and would take Rana on her journey to find her family. I hadn’t decided yet if the Qianlong could be trusted, but her thoughts were pure, and her intentions seemed to be the same. I glanced over at her, and her icy blue eyes met mine immediately. She’d been scrutinizing my face this entire time; it didn’t throw me off, but I had many questions to ask her in the future.
For one, Heijing knew my holy name, the only other person who knew it was Haruhi, and she’d only learned it from reading the expansive books in the library. I had to wonder how and why the Qianlong had learned of it and me. She didn’t seem frightened of me; in fact, she looked more intrigued than anything else. Her eyes never left my face as I gazed down at her.
I couldn’t ask her these questions while in front of my other minions, maybe while Haruhi was present but my other four companions didn’t know my true name, and I wouldn’t tell them until the time was right. This was something that Haruhi and I had an understanding about; she wouldn’t tell them no matter what happened because it was my decision to keep it a secret.
The woods were lively with the sounds of bird calls and animals rustling through the underbrush until about halfway through our journey. Neither Carmedy nor Rana seemed to sense anything, but I felt something was off. I couldn’t place it, but the woods around us had gone deathly silent, and I turned my head to listen for any sounds, but there were none.
Heijing placed one of her tiny hands on my arm and stopped me, the Qianlong’s icy blue eyes narrowed, and she breathed in deeply like she was sniffing the air. I didn’t know what the dragon was smelling, but then I felt it, the pounding of three unfamiliar human hearts. I turned abruptly and looked directly into Carmedy’s wide, emerald eyes. I raised a single finger to my lips for all of my women to be quiet, and they watched me with interest.
“Carmedy, there are humans who live on the island, correct?” I asked in a hushed voice.
The alchemist’s black brows furrowed as she looked at me, confused.
“Yes, a handful here and there but they’re nothing compared to the cat-people population. Why do you ask?” Carmedy questioned as she looked between Heijing and me.
“I sense something here,” I stated as I turned my head slowly and scanned the trees surrounding us. “Three humans.”
“Maybe it’s just some people going for a walk? Or a few rowdy teenagers or something?” Rana questioned as she turned to Carmedy, and the feline shrugged.
“No, these are not people of the island,” Heijing stated in her cold, emotionless voice and the air around her began to sparkle. “they reek of filthy white magic.”
Two things happened simultaneously. First, I pulled the God Slayer from my void pocket, flipped it in my hand then slammed it down onto the grassy forest floor. The second, Heijing screamed, and the sound was loud enough to rustle the treetops above our heads. The sound was too big for her small body, but white and golden light pulsed around her as she transformed into her dragon form.
Heijing’s body was shrouded in tiny, golden lights that looked like sparks and her body elongated and changed color. The Qianlong towered over our heads, and before any of my women could react, the dragon’s mouth dropped open in a second, mightier roar and blood-red flames spilled from between her teeth. Heijing swung her head slowly over the trees to our left, and they were quickly engulfed in flames.
A man’s agonized screams reached our ears, and a black-cloaked figure dropped from the fiery trees. I advanced on him just as Heijing did, and one of the Qianlong’s taloned hands slammed out and gripped onto him. Heijing brought him in front of me right as his hood fell back and exposed his mage-marked face.
“Holy Band scum.” Heijing’s voice boomed in my head as the Qianlong bared her teeth and brought her pointed snout closer to the mage.
From behind me, all of my women drew their weapons and Haruhi unclipped her revolvers and held them shakily in her hands. Rana placed her hand over the middle of her chest as she retrieved the eye of Alipsis from within her. Emerald light surrounded Morrigan’s hands as her dark eyes moved over the woods and Annalise grabbed both Bloodscale and her unnamed sword and held them in defensive positions in front of her body. Carmedy grabbed her slingshot and began mixing a potion in a small burlap bag as her black tail twitched behind her.
“What a lovely surprise,” I growled as I took in the bubbling burns that Heijing’s fire had inflicted on the mage’s face and skin. “Where are your friends? Or shall we suss them out as we did with you?”
The mage didn’t answer, his eyes were slits against the pain, and his mouth was pulled down in a grimace as Heijing tightened her hold on him.
“Answer him, or I will burn you again.” The Qianlong hissed through her teeth, and the mage barely managed to look up into her terrifying face.
Instead of the normal white cloaks with the large golden sigils, this man wore a tighter fitting black outfit, a cloak with a hood and tucked into a sash around his waist, a large, blessed dagger. The dagger I assumed that he and his companions planned to use to steal my lifeforce, but there was one important thing that all of them forgot. I was an all-powerful god, and puny mages couldn’t lay a hand on me.
“I will never…answer…to a false…god such as…you.” The mage growled through gritted teeth and in a split second, his squinted eyes moved over my shoulders.
I chuckled darkly and turned halfway with my right arm held out. My dark power surged outward and effectively stopped the four-bladed shuriken midair. The throwing weapon stayed absolutely still in the air for a moment then dropped to the grass harmlessly as I turned back toward our captive.
His pained eyes were wide, and streams of sweat dripped down from his forehead. He, like the other two hidden men, thought that this would be an easy mission, but they were very wrong. The Holy Band thought three mages with barely any power and some blessed blades could take me down? It was a shame; I would rip their men to pieces just for fun.
I glanced up at Heijing once and sent two words up to her mind. Her icy blue eyes flashed as her lips pulled against her teeth, almost like in a smile.
“Let go,” I called to her, and in an instant, her tail ripped free from the man, and he stumbled unsteadily sideways.
I pulled my right hand back, curled it close to my chest as an orb of my dark energy surrounded it, and then slammed it forward. The sphere of black magic flew through the air and impacted directly in the middle of the mage’s chest. He didn’t even have time to scream as the orb punched a hole all the way through him. The mage teetered on his legs as I brought up my left hand and held it beside my right. I closed my hands into fists then ripped them apart viciously.
The mage’s arms separated from his body with a terrible ripping sound, and a wicked grin spread across my lips as I let my left hand drop and lifted the right. I tensed my fingers and slowly made a fist as I stared down at the bleeding mage. He struggled against my power, but it was futile. I concentrated on his beating heart within his chest, and it beat faster and faster. I gripped my hand into a tight fist as his heart burst.
The mage slumped forward dead, and blood trickled from the places where his arms should’ve been. I turned and right as I did, the other two mages emerged
from the tree line. They carried the same type of blessed blade that the dead mage did, and I could tell which one had thrown from the three shuriken hanging from the black belt around his waist. I didn’t move toward them as my minions fanned out protectively in front of me. Heijing stood tall and whipped around me like a ribbon, yet another line of defense against the assassins, not that I needed it but I appreciated it. My women and the Qianlong were protecting me even though they knew I was a powerful god that didn’t need it.
“You come for Master; you come for all of us!” Rana yelled as she lifted the claymore into a defensive position in front of her. “Come and get it, assholes!”
The two mages glanced at each other nervously. They were severely outnumbered, but if they tried to escape, it would be no use, we had a dragon on our side that could easily track them from the air. The two assassins doubled down and held onto their daggers even tighter. Their boots pounded the ground as they raced forward.
I wouldn’t step in during this fight, since there was five of my minions and two of the assassins. I wanted to see how quickly and easily my women could take down these two enemies without my help. My women were capable, and I’d seen them take down many men before, but these were two trained Holy Order assassins.
My women parted from their formation, and Carmedy stepped into the open space with her slingshot raised. The feline brought the cradle back and let the small bundle fly through the air. The bundle turned through the air and met its mark perfectly between the two assassins. The packet exploded as a loud crack resounded around the tree line and clods of dirt lifted into the air. The two assassins were thrown in opposite directions but didn’t even have time to land before my women were on them.
Annalise and Morrigan converged on the first assassin as he landed on his shoulder with a crack, then writhed on the forest floor for a moment. The high queen’s blade was a flurry through the air as it tore into the mage’s flesh. As he tried to escape, emerald balls of fire sent by Morrigan caught him and set him aflame. I turned my head at the sound of a gunshot and saw Rana standing beside Haruhi, her paws covering her mouth in horror. The second assassin lay motionless in the grass as the sage held one of her smoking guns aloft.
“Shit, Haruhi!” the redhead breathed through her hands. “I didn’t think…oh my god, you got him in one shot…that was so amazing!”
“I-I closed my eyes and just pulled the trigger…” Haruhi replied in a shaky voice as she looked at the fox nervously, but Rana burst into a fit of giggles.
“You got a headshot with your eyes closed! Congratulations! That’s our sharp-shooter!” Rana cried as she threw an arm around the sage’s shoulder.
“N-no, I-I’m not! It was an accident!” Haruhi protested, but the fox was having nothing of it as she steered the librarian back over to me.
I smiled to them and bowed my head in congratulations. I was proud of them, it’d taken them mere seconds to kill the assassins, and I knew that all the training I’d put them through hadn’t been for naught.
There was one thing that surprised me, and I glanced up at Heijing as she towered over me. Her icy blue eyes moved over the trees to make sure there were no more enemies, but she stood protectively curled around me. I’d initially doubted that the Qianlong was with us for the right reasons and I’d just been proven wrong. Heijing had protected me without being asked to, and when I caught her eye, I bowed my head respectfully to her.
With the excitement over with, I gathered my women and Heijing around me and started our trek back to the city. The Qianlong transformed back into her human body and moved elegantly down the path. I watched her out of the corner of my eye but she seemed unbothered by the trek. We made steady time and soon, the town came into view below us.
We entered back into the city with Heijing, the last Qianlong in tow. We surrounded her almost like bodyguards, but once we made it deeper into the city, the tiny woman broke away from us and took up the front beside me. Heijing walked imperiously with her icy blue eyes locked ahead of her, and her presence commanded respect as people moved out of our way. The Qianlong paid them no attention as they crowded and followed behind us.
I could tell from the eyes following us, that the people of Nekoka were intrigued by the tiny, strange looking woman. Heijing’s shoulders were thrown back and her head held high as her blue hair billowed out behind her like a whipping flag. There was something otherworldly about her, and from the faces of the citizens around us, they wanted to know who she was and what she was doing here.
The Qianlong was regal and elegant as she moved and soon a trail of people followed after us towards the town’s square. I wasn’t sure how Heijing knew her way around the city, but it seemed to be some sort of instinct for her. Maybe it was from staring down at the city for so long from above, but she knew her way around perfectly. Though the Qianlong was a tiny woman, her feet moved quickly under her, and my women had to hurry after us to keep up.
The library came into view as more people poured into the street to see the new visitor and whispered amongst themselves quietly. Heijing turned and looked out over all of the crowd; her icy blue eyes never stopped moving for a second as she took in all the cat-people and the stray humans around her. I spied Adrian and a tall cat-man coming out of the library, and the two men stood on the steps of the massive building and waited. Even from this distance away, I saw Adrian’s eyes widened and focused on the form of the blue-haired girl, and his mouth fell open in shock. We’d found the Qianlong, and the old librarian was in absolute disbelief. I assumed that the young man beside him was Haruhi’s brother from the similar hair color and family resemblance.
In the middle of the courtyard was a massive bubbling fountain and Heijing crossed to it with a determined expression. The Qianlong regally lifted herself onto the lip of the fountain and looked out over the enormous crowd of people. It looked as if the entire town gathered around us. The dragon looked tiny compared to the massive metal statue behind her in the water, and it took me a moment to recognize who the statue in the fountain was. Standing directly behind the tiny woman, emblazoned in copper was the tall figure of Anteng, none other than Heijing’s father.
The resemblance between their faces was frightening as both the figurehead and the dragon stared down at the citizens of Nekoka.
It seemed that the citizens also took notice of the resemblance between the woman standing before them and the statue behind her, and a hush settled over all of the townspeople as they waited for the tiny woman to speak. From the way she held herself up on the edge of the fountain, she looked like an army general addressing her troops.
“The powers that rule Canarta have lain dormant for too long!” Heijing shouted for all to hear, and her feminine voice boomed all around us. “It is time that the islands step foot into a new era, a new dawn and a new age.”
“Who are you to demand such things from us?” a man shouted from the crowd and whispers exploded up all around the group.
I looked towards Heijing as her expression hardened, and she stood even taller as she glared down at the crowd of catkins.
“I am Heijing Komaj Vuzira, the first and only. Fire-blooded and dragonborn of the Qianlong and Akalong tribes. The only daughter of our great leader Anteng and the warlord of the Akalong tribe, Guoshe.” The Qianlong roared as she kept her face stoic and calm and more whispers lifted from the throng around us.
“There is no such a person!” a cat-woman shouted as she came forward and pointed at Heijing.
“The dragon kind of old have been dead for hundreds of years! Even if Anteng and Guoshe had a daughter, she would have been dead by now!” the man from before shouted as he stepped forward in front of the rest of the group and pointed at Heijing’s chest.
I slid out in front of the blue-haired dragon protectively as the man took a step closer, and I felt her heated gaze crawl up my back
“Is she going to do it?” Rana whispered excitedly to herself, and Carmedy glanced at her sidelong. “Oh, please, o
h please, do it.”
“Do what?” the feline hissed over to the redhead, but Rana didn’t answer.
Heijing lifted her head towards the sky and breathed in deeply. The air shifted and glittered around her as her body changed and morphed. The magnificent creature we’d seen before emerged into thin air before us.
The crowd of Nekokian people gasped and took a collective step backward away from the colossal beast.
Heijing towered over the crowd in her dragon form, and her blue scales glinted in the sunlight and reflected hues of scarlet as she wrapped herself around the fountain twice. Her dragon form was lithe and moved like a ribbon as she turned her massive head to look out over the whole crowd. Her icy blue eyes stabbed into the citizens one by one. There was no denying now that she was a dragon, she’d showed them her true form. She was beautiful and terrifying at the same time, and if I were any other man, I would have been shaking in my shoes at the sight of her.
“It’s true…” a man to the right of me cried.
“As I said, the Canartian islands have been too lax for hundreds of years without a ruler and leader in place,” Heijing’s voice thundered all around us. “As the last remaining Qianlong, not only on the islands but in the world, I would have been your leader, but I am instead handing it off to someone more qualified.”
“What?” the woman from before whimpered as she looked to the people around her for clarification. “D-does this mean that we will take part in wars with other countries? Do our beliefs that have stood fast for hundreds of years mean nothing to you?”
Heijing rose up into the air, and the crowd went silent in fear as black smoke billowed from the dragon’s nostrils. Her blue eyes hardened on the singular woman, and the cat clamped her mouth closed.
“Your beliefs and views are based on those given to you thousands of years ago by the Qianlong tribe. You think that you are pacifists by choice, no, my kind are the ones that made you that way. There is no denying it; your rules and principles can be traced all the way back to the beginning of my kind. Everything on this island was created because of my people, we allowed you here, we allowed you to cohabitate with us, and for that reason, I will be the one to decide who your new leader is.” Heijing stated, and a silence settled over the crowd as they stared up at her glorious form.
