bluedragonauthor

VIP: The Blue Dragon: Chapter 24

Added 2024-06-20 15:00:09 +0000 UTC

-- CHAPTER 24: Diet Coke --

****

“Wait, that’s it?”

Angelika smirked at me, standing aloof with her arms folded across her chest with a haughty expression on her face. She wasn’t in the form of an internet model this time, instead in a version of her ‘Tianshi’ six-foot Chinese babe form, but with dark brown eyes instead of diamond-white, naturally pale skin instead of porcelain white, and regular clothing instead of her elaborate qixiong ruqun hanfu dress.

“What?” she challenged mockingly, her tone sounding even more severe with her cultured Chinese accent. “You were expecting elaborate Tomb Raider ancient booby traps?”

“Well… no. But I WAS expecting to find the next relic inside some sort of work of art, like the Zellij Fountain or the Fremont Troll,” I admitted. “The day we arrived in Rome and had no idea where to start looking, we pretty much just meandered around the city from archaeological site to archaeological site hoping we’d get lucky.”

“And how did that work out for you?”

I rolled my eyes, put out my hand, and muttered, “Just give it to me.”

Perhaps I had watched too many movies about ancient treasure hunts, and I probably should’ve known better than to think that anything about this quest would be predictable. Still, I was genuinely surprised to realize THIS was how I’d be getting the Feather of Zhuque, the Vermilion Bird of the South.

The four of us - me, Rae, Hannah, and Angelika - had departed Venice via Trenitalia Frecciarossa, a reverse trip of the high-speed Executive Class train service we had taken to leave Rome in the first place. I’d openly wondered about the wisdom of taking public transportation while the Carabinieri were theoretically still out to get us, but Angelika had assured me that no one would be recognizing our faces.

As if to prove that point, Angelika had taken Rae into the Executive Class car’s conference room - the one with the extremely thin walls with transparent stripes in the frosted glass - and proceeded to fuck the shit outta the petite half-Chinese cutie. Hannah and I had blushingly gawked at them from our seats, able to hear their muffled moans and cries of ecstasy while watching their blurry figures humping and writhing barely ten feet in front of us.

And as soon as they were done, Hannah had grabbed my hand, dragged me into the conference room, and bent herself over the table while reaching back to spread her cheeks.

We hadn’t bothered checking into a hotel or stashing our bags at an Airbnb. Indeed, Angelika had told us to leave our luggage in the Venice apartment, intending for this to be a quick in-and-out day trip. Rae had hailed us an Uber from the Roma Termini train station and then directed the driver downtown. We got out in front of the Museo Nazionale del Palazzo Venezia, and my first thought was that we’d find the feather inside some art piece within the museum. But to my surprise, Angelika had instead led us across the street, down the sidewalk, and then into a small alley with six small storefronts all in a row.

The first had a blue cross in the window, identifying itself as a local farmacia. The second was a coffee shop. And the third was a mini-mart with wine bottles on shelves right by the door and cases of plastic water bottles stacked on the ground, partially spilling out into the sidewalk.

It was into this mini-mart that Angelika led us. A wrinkled old Asian man behind the counter looked up at our entrance. Angelika said something to him in Mandarin, and the old man replied in kind. Without another word, Angelika walked right through the shop and over to the bank of refrigerated sodas and cases of beer.

She opened the glass door.

She reached inside.

And she removed a Diet Coke.

“Ahhh… refreshing…” Angelika pronounced with an evil grin after taking a sip and then taking in our puzzled faces. Even Rae looked confused. And the ageless beauty giggled musically before asking innocently, “Are any of you thirsty?”

But just before any of us could respond - either to request a drink or to wonder what the fuck we were doing here - the glass door behind Angelika opened again - all on its own. This time, however, the shelves of sodas and beer were no longer there. Instead, there was nothing but… emptiness. It was a yawning, depthless black void from which no light or reflection emerged. On the floor was a terrifying whirlpool of darkness that promised an eternity of torment and pain for any who dared to even dip a toe within. And still giggling musically, Angelika turned and walked straight forward, literally falling into that sphincter-tightening infinitely deep abyss, bringing her open bottle of Diet Coke with her.

Rae chuckled and shrugged, gesturing for me to go forward. “After you.”

I took a deep breath and squeezed Hannah’s hand in mine. When I glanced over at her, she looked rather nervous.

But Hannah gave me a brave smile, squeezed my hand back, and stated seriously, “You jump, I jump. Right?”

Ooh! Ooh! Titanic! I got that one!

I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath to collect myself. The pit of death before me made my stomach queasy, but I still stepped forward into the inky blackness with Hannah right by my side. My heart fell out of my chest as I abruptly fell into nothingness…

… and a moment later I found myself standing in what looked like an ordinary mini-mart storeroom with Hannah and then Rae right next to me. There were wooden crates of oranges and bananas, more cases of beer and plastic water bottles, cardboard boxes with known snack brands, and a variety of other pre-packaged foods to be sold in the store outside.

There was also a regular door in the far corner, which swung open while I was still looking around. The wrinkled old shopkeeper walked inside, grabbed a case of beer, and then walked back outside with the beer.

“I’m confused,” I said, frowning at Angelika. “If that door works just fine, why the hell did we need to go through the refrigerator with the inky black pit of horrifying darkness?”

“It was a test?” Hannah speculated. “To see if we would follow her into the pit?”

“Oh no. Not a test. There was actually a reason we needed to go that way,” Angelika contradicted, pointing behind me. She then chugged the rest of her Diet Coke and then casually tossed it across the room towards the far corner. But the plastic bottle bounced off of some kind of invisible barrier halfway across the room and fell to the floor next to me.

“People on that side of the room will only see - or feel - a physical wall,” Rae explained. This storeroom looks half the size from over there. It’s part of a stable illusion that hides this part of the room from outside view.”

“So you’ve been here before?” I questioned.

“Here? No.” Rae shook her head. “But I’ve seen this form of stable illusion many times.”

“Oh. Okayyy…” I then turned around to look for the inky black void from which we’d come here, only to find that there was nothing but a blank brick wall behind me. “So then, was there a secret passageway that we walked through to get here? Like a hidden door in the back of the refrigerator?”

“Something like that,” Rae stated with an impish grin.

I reached out to touch the brick wall, feeling around for any cracks hidden in the masonry and finding nothing. I also reached out to the empty space in the area where the plastic bottle had bounced, and even though I could see through to the other half of the storeroom, my hand bumped into an invisible brick wall that prevented me from passing to the other side. “Um, how do we get out of here?”

“Worry about that later,” Angelika dismissed. “Right now, I need your attention here.”

“Where?”

On the table beside her sat a small wooden box. Specifically, it looked like a vintage red lacquer Chinese jewelry box, with gold painted leaves around the sides, a small golden latch, and a painted stencil of… well… of a vermilion red bird on the lid. Not exactly disguised very well. Angelika smiled and tapped the lid. “Right here.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “What is that?”

She smiled. “It is a box.”

I rolled my eyes. “What’s inside the box?”

“Until last night, I did not know. But according to your hui friend, it is the Feather of Zhuque, Vermilion Bird of the South.”

I blinked twice. “Wait, that’s it?”

Angelika smirked at me, standing aloof with her arms folded across her chest with a haughty expression on her face.

“What?” she challenged mockingly, her tone sounding even more severe with her cultured Chinese accent. “You were expecting elaborate Tomb Raider ancient booby traps?”

“And how did that work out for you?”

I rolled my eyes, put out my hand, and muttered, “Just give it to me.”

And now you’re caught up.

Angelika took hold of the red lacquer jewelry box, and as she did so, her irises turned diamond-white and her skin became so blindingly white that it seemed to have its own inner glow. Indeed, her skin glowed so much that I was momentarily blinded, and when the blinding light faded away, I blinked several times and found that her clothes had once again transformed into the formal qixiong ruqun hanfu dress.

“For nearly two thousand years, the four relics have been hidden and rehidden around the world by the disciples of Shu Han. By us,” Tianshi stated solemnly. When she was in this almost alien-looking ‘true form’, I could only think of her as ‘Tianshi’ and not as ‘Angelika’. She seemed a little taller, a little more regal, and a LOT more severe as she continued, “The blue crystal key and the bamboo scroll map were hidden in America to keep them far away from Cao Wei strongholds, but we kept the relics of Zhuque and Baihu under our own control. They were never placed within any works of art for safekeeping. Instead we have protected them, awaiting the right moment… this moment… to be revealed.”

For some reason, I tensed up. Setting my feet apart, I put all of my senses on high alert, expecting the wall beside me to explode and have a whole platoon of Carabinieri come pouring in only seconds before Tianshi could hand me the box. And when Tianshi observed my abruptly agitated demeanor, she frowned and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Rae seemed to have figured out my thoughts, because she laughed and said, “He’s watched too many movies. This is usually the part when the bad guys come busting in.”

“Not just from the movies. The bad guys busted in on us right when I got Ziyi back.”

“Well… okay, point taken,” Rae conceded before she addressed her teacher. “Maybe you should just give it to him so we can get this over with and get out of here?”

Tianshi nodded her agreement, although she still hesitated before handing it over. She took hold of the box with both hands and stared down at it reverently, as if it were precious to her. Although her appearance was that of a young woman, there was age and wisdom in her eyes. I didn’t know how old she really was, nor did I feel like I could truly understand what it might be like to protect an object such as this - a literal treasure box she could never open by herself, nor even know exactly what was inside of it - for years… no… for centuries. And to now come to a moment like this when such a treasured object would finally, finally be revealed to her own eyes for the very first time…

No wonder she was crying just a little bit, and for a moment, some of that haughty demeanor melted away.

Still, she wasn’t ready to hand it over just yet.

“Three nights ago,” Tianshi began, struggling to maintain her composure, “we brought this box to Rome in preparation to meet you and Rae. I still do not know how we were compromised - security was tight, and I trust my people - but we must have been discovered. Carabinieri ambushed us at our rented villa, and it was all we could do to escape.”

Her expression fell, her eyes became downcast, and she shook her head slowly.

“Mingyue did not escape,” Tianshi added softly.

Hannah seemed sympathetically sad. Rae’s breath caught in her throat, but her expression said that she’d already learned this news last night. I looked up at Tianshi and - not knowing what else to say - muttered somewhat lamely, “My condolences.”

My lame attempt at sympathy must’ve shaken Tianshi from her doldrums, because she scowled and took a deep breath while regaining her regal bearing. “It was an easy matter for me to hide us from the Carabinieri, but as I told you, Magdalena of the Knights Templar was also present, hunting for this box. And she was able to track me even through my illusions.”

With a frown, I glanced at Rae, who told me, “Some abilities aren’t as effective against other supernaturals, as you’ve no doubt noticed.”

I nodded my understanding.

“We split up. I led Magdalena on a pursuit and eventually joined you on your train trip out of Rome. This box I sent with the other group. They remained hidden in Rome and placed the box here for safekeeping until our arrival. It is warded by enchantments, and as you can tell - this room has only one way in…” She let her voice trail off with a wicked smile.

“… and no way out,” I finished for her, reaching up to tap the invisible wall.

And consider this dismaying observation: this chamber has no windows and no doors. Which offers you this chilling challenge: to find a way out!

“How cool!” Hannah enthused.

But I frowned and asked, “Why not just bring the box to us in Venice? You said we were safe there. Instead we had to come back here, to a city where we’ve both already been ambushed, where the Carabinieri might still be looking for us, to where the Knights Templar might well be looking for us.”

Tianshi shook her head. “We could not risk transporting the box. Our enemies discovered us once already, and none of my people are strong enough to defend the box should they have been attacked en route. We needed to return here.”

I waggled my head, not liking her explanation but unable to argue a better course of action, either. “Okay fine. I’m here, the box is here, so why are wasting time? Like Rae said: Get this over with and get out of here.”

Tianshi nodded, but she didn’t merely hand the box over. Instead, she stood erect, closed her eyes, and bowed deeply at the waist. With both hands she raised it up - even higher than her head - in order to proffer the treasure box towards me.

I took the box from her and held it atop my left palm. There was a small golden latch in front, and when I rubbed it with my right thumb, the latch magically lifted even though there wasn’t any spring.

Rae gasped. Hannah hugged herself against me. And even Tianshi stopped breathing for a moment.

I raised the red lacquer lid of the treasure box…

… and my world faded into infinite white.

****

“Ohhh! Ohhh! Ohhh! Ohhh!”

My vision was still filled with infinite white that drowned out everything else, although I could feel the floor beneath my feet and hear the sounds of… sex?

“Ungh! Ungh! Ungh! Ungh!”

The smell of woodsmoke drifted across my nostrils as my sense of scent returned, accompanied by the crackling sounds of a blazing fire.

“Ahhh! Ahhh! Ahhh! Ahhh!”

The infinite white gradually faded away, revealing dark shadows and unsteady, flickering light on walls and ceilings made of massive sandstone bricks. There were no artificial lights as far as I could see - just blazing torches mounted to iron fixtures on the walls and pillars of what appeared to be some kind of underground… dungeon.

As I looked around, I realized that yes, this looked like an underground medieval dungeon. The walls and floor were bare rock. The only door in front of me was made of aging, dark brown wood with semi-rusted black iron reinforcement. A wooden rack held all sorts of medieval torture tools like knives, flails, tongs, and hammers. And there were two iron-barred cells right next to me.

But the sounds of sex were coming from behind me, and only then was I able to turn around and see what was going on.

“Ziyi…” I breathed.

My thousand-year-old hui lover was completely naked and standing spread eagle in a wide X-shape, her wrists and ankles bound by glowing electric ropes that connected to two of the dungeon’s pillars. Her head hung low, with her chin against her chest. Her skin was covered in sweat and grime. She was gasping for breath.

And she was moaning in erotic heat.

“Ohhh! Ohhh! Ohhh! Ohhh!”

A stunningly gorgeous, scantily clad, statuesque, dark-haired woman stood behind Ziyi, immediately recognizable. It was Magdalena, the Zeusian (Jovian?) demigoddess who had captured Ziyi two nights ago. Her dark-auburn hair was piled up neatly as if she were attending to a fancy ball, with a gold-leaf forehead diadem, earrings that surrounded her earlobes top-to-bottom, and other matching golden leaves in her hair.

Her outfit could only be described as some kind of burgundy leather BDSM attire. Her upper chest and shoulders were bare save for a high, uncomfortable-looking collar around her neck connected to a vertical leather band that went straight down her chest between her breasts before spreading out at her waist into what amounted to leather bikini bottoms. Her massive, buoyant breasts were completely exposed save for burgundy nipple shields held in place by thin straps connected to that center piece and around her back. And she wore thigh-high maroon leather boots with three-inch platformed heels. Burgundy dominatrix forearm sleeves finished off her look, and she strutted around Ziyi’s bound figure quite… well… cockily… before plunging two glowing fingers back into Ziyi’s cunt from behind, pumping them rapidly to make my dear lover moan in erotic anguish.

“Ahhh! Ahhh! Ahhh! Ahhh!”

“Cum for me…” the luscious Italian woman crooned. “Cum for me…”

“Ohhh! Ohhh! Ohhh! Ohhh!”

“Yesss… Yesss… Yesss…” she purred, mauling Ziyi’s breasts with her other hand.

“Ungh! Ungh! Ungh! Ungh! UUUNNNGGGHHH!!!”

Ziyi came. Her entire body trembled as sweat spread across her glistening skin. She quivered and shivered for several seconds, clenching her teeth against the exquisite agony before finally running out of breath and then collapsing downward, sagging against her bonds.

“Had enough yet, Jade?” the Italian woman challenged with a sneer, her golden-amber eyes glowing with an inner electricity. She rapid-pumped her prisoner’s pussy several more times before pulling out her digits that glistened from more than just her electric abilities.

Ziyi gasped heavily, trying to catch her breath. My lover’s inner thighs were heavily soaked despite her forcible violation. And her whole body quivered in quite a familiar way to me, evidence enough that despite her present incarceration, she’d been enjoying herself.

“No matter… what… you try… to do… to me…” she panted with a bit of a smart-ass grin and fire in her electric green eyes, “you will never… make me feel… as good as him.”

Ziyi raised her head, staring straight at me. Yet there was no flicker of recognition in her eyes at my appearance. In fact, I realized she wasn’t quite looking at me at all. It was as if she couldn’t see me, and when I raised my hand up and glanced down at it, I realized that -I- couldn’t see me either.

I was invisible.

Or I wasn’t really here.

I expected Magdalena to scoff at Ziyi’s response and take it as a challenge to redouble her efforts, but instead the tall Italian woman rolled her eyes, crossed her arms over her chest, and sighed as she took a step back.

“Jade, Jade, Jade,” Magdalena muttered in mild disgust. “You have only known this… Aksel Andersen… for what, a few days? After all we’ve been through together, are you really going to throw me to the curb for some stupid man?”

“No, Lena…” Ziyi replied while shaking her head, testing her bonds, and taking a deep breath to gather herself. “I am throwing you to the curb because you are keeping me tied up.”

“Come now, bellezza,” Magdalena (or just ‘Lena’?) crooned as she stepped back up behind Ziyi. Two of her fingers started glowing again, but she didn’t plunge them back inside of her captive’s pussy. Rather, she merely reached up between Ziyi’s legs and lightly dragged the glowing digits against the bound beauty’s little love button, making the Chinese girl shiver in response.

Leaning over Ziyi’s shoulder, she used her other hand to rotate the restrained girl’s face to hers, and she softly pressed their lips together before moaning into a passionate kiss that was… well… passionately returned as Ziyi kissed her back.

Magdalena pulled back with a smile. “Don’t pretend that you’re not enjoying this. Some of our best times together have come with you all tied up.”

“And vice versa,” Ziyi muttered right back. “Set me free, let me tie YOU up, and I will be happy to return the favor before I leave.”

“You have a deal… IF you tell me where to find him. The bounty is fifty million euros, darling. Plenty enough to share.” Magdalena hugged Ziyi from behind, fondling the bound girl’s big breasts. She leaned over Ziyi’s shoulder, started nibbling on it, and kissed her way up Ziyi’s neck before biting her ear and adding, “Let’s get a quiet villa in Lago di Como and make love until neither of us can walk straight, the way we did in Phuket last year.”

“Tempting, tempting,” Ziyi murmured with a sigh, leaning into Magdalena’s embrace. “Right now, I want nothing more than for the three of us to fall into bed together. I want to feel you screaming your orgasm into my mouth while his massive dick invades your asshole. Oh you do not know what kind of pleasure than man can give.”

Now Magdalena scoffed as she suddenly released Ziyi’s body, turned around, and stomped several steps away. “Hmph. As if any pitiful man could ever please me the way the right woman can.” The gorgeous, cultured young woman proceeded to hock up a loogie and spit it against a brick wall.

“I am serious, Lena. It is not too late. Join us, and I promise you will be rewarded,” Ziyi said earnestly.

“Rewarded? I sincerely doubt it.”

“You know the wealth of the Shu Han. Fifty million euros would be a drop in the ocean to them.”

“I also know the Shu Han would never spend a dime of that wealth on a viper.” Magdalena sighed while turning around and taking a seat on a plush armchair next to the rack of torture tools.

“Well… perhaps,” Ziyi conceded with a wince.

After settling into her seat, Magdalena shook her head, muttering, “I should have captured the fox spirit instead.”

“You should have captured Aksel instead of either me or the huli jing.”

“I was trying to. Your dumb fault for getting in the way.” Magdalena sighed again before twirling her fingers in the air. The four electric cords tying Ziyi to the pillars suddenly released and then reformed into four bands around her body, trapping her arms behind her back and snapping her legs together. For her part, Ziyi did not resist. She maintained her balance with her feet together, her figure erect, and her head held high.

But her expression was somber. “They will not exchange the relics for me,” Ziyi stated softly, and a little sadly. “You’re right. I am of no value to them. They will continue on their quest for Faguang Long without a second thought. You can keep me for as long as you like, but they will never come for me.”

“Not even your new boyfriend? I thought you said he loved you.”

“All men say they love a woman in order to get into her panties.”

“Don’t remind me,” Magdalena muttered bitterly. “But weren’t you just singing his praises a minute ago?”

“He is a phenomenal lover,” Ziyi stated seriously. “The best I have EVER had, including you.”

“Ouch…”

“But he is still just a man, and a man like him will have no difficulty finding other… holes… in which to thrust his manhood.”

“Such is the world we live in,” Magdalena grumbled wearily, holding her forehead and planting her elbow on the armrest.

The room went quiet for a minute.

“Let me go, Lena,” Ziyi said softly. “I am of no value to you as a hostage.”

“Don’t say that. If Ludovico starts to believe it, he will want you disposed of.”

“Oh, but you wouldn’t let him do that to me. You would beg to keep me as your private pleasure pet.”

Magdalena cracked a grin. “Yes. Yes I would.” But then her grin faded as she took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “But Ludovico will not necessarily get to decide. Shen Wu wields great influence right now, and if he decides you must be disposed of, I’m not certain I will be able to protect you. That’s why you have to give me something, Jade!”

“I have already told you everything I can,” Ziyi insisted.

Magdalena stood up, reached for a hook behind one of the pillars, and pulled out a long, knee-length cloak with a hood. It was rich velvet with gold trim, and when she covered up her spectacularly half-naked body, I let out a little sigh mourning the loss of such an incredible view.

But neither Magdalena nor Ziyi heard me. The Italian demigoddess raised her hand, and Ziyi’s bound figure rose into the air, hovering a foot above the ground. Magdalena started walking and Ziyi’s captured form followed, floating all the way into one of the open dungeon cells.

After depositing Ziyi on the floor, the four electric ropes left her body and instead formed a rectangle along the perimeter of the iron bars: left, right, top, and bottom. The space between them filled with a glowing, translucent force-field of some kind, sealing her in.

“Stay put,” Magdalena ordered.

Ziyi rubbed her sore wrists and stretched out her arms. “No promises,” she replied with sizzling green eyes.

Magdalena shook her head and then turned to leave.

My world faded into infinite white.

****

// NAAAAANTS INGONYAMA BAGITHI BABA / Sithi uhm ingonyama (ingonyama)

// NAAAAANTS INGONYAMA BAGIIIITHI BABA / Sithi uhhmm ingonyama (ingonyama) / Siyo Ngoba / Ingonyama

// Ingonyama nengw' enamabala / Ingonyama nengw' enamabala / Ingonyama nengw' enamabala / Ingonyama nengw' enamabala

My vision was still filled with infinite white that drowned out everything else. I felt like I was floating, and “The Circle of Life” from The Lion King soundtrack (the 1994 animated one) boomed in my ears.

// From the day we arrive on the planet / And blinking, step into the sun / There’s more to see than can ever be seen / More to do than can ever be done

For a moment, it felt like I could see miles and miles away into the distant horizon. I pictured the vast, wide-open African Savanna as viewed from the peak of Pride Rock, as rows and rows of the immeasurable legions of the animal kingdom bowed down before me.

// There’s far too much to take in here / More to find than can ever be found / But the sun rolling high / Through the sapphire sky / Keeps great and small on the endless round

The infinite white started to fade away.

// IT’S THE CIIIRCLE OF LIIIFE!!! / AND IT MOVES US ALLLL!!!

I really was floating. I was several feet off the ground, slowly spinning around like that ice-crystal snowflake I’d made for Hannah. My feet were together but my arms were spread out to the sides like Jesus on the cross. The music soared as I was surrounded by a holy light that glowed around me like a magnificent aura of magic and power.

// THROUGH DESPAIR AND HOOOOPE!!! / THROUGH FAITH AND LOOOOVE!!!

Energy roared throughout me, too much for my body to contain. I became suddenly aware of Hannah, Rae, and Tianshi before me, shielding their eyes against the intensity of my glow. And I could only imagine how utterly awe-inspiring the mere sight of my divine being might be for their puny mortal minds.

// ’TIL WE FIND OUR PLAAAACE!!! / ON THE PATH UNWINDING!!! / IN THE CIRCLE!!! / THE CIRCLE O--

“Aaack!”

Like the janitor had flipped the switch in this musty mini-mart storeroom, the light suddenly shut off. I yelped as I abruptly fell out of the air, unprepared for landing. My feet hit the floor at awkward angles, and I was lucky not to sprain anything. My left hip slammed into the concrete rather painfully, and I reflexively covered up my head with both arms so as not to dash my brains out as well.

“Aksel! Aksel!” Hannah exclaimed urgently.

My ears were ringing from the residual echoes of “The Circle of Life” song that was somehow still stuck in my head, but I cracked my eyes open and looked up from the dusty stockroom floor that was also rather icky from some unknown liquid that must’ve leaked from one of the cases and dried into a sticky paste beneath my arm. There were no more lights save for the harsh artificial illumination of fluorescent tubes in the stockroom ceiling. And I started to wonder if I’d only imagined myself floating and spinning in the air.

“Aksel? Are you alright?” Hannah asked with obvious concern.

“I think so,” I muttered, peering up at her. I blinked twice and took a deep breath, feeling as if I’d been underwater for hours and had completely run out of oxygen. My shoulders relaxed, I panted softly, and I glanced around the room for a second before returning my gaze to her. “What happened?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing.”

“When you opened the box,” Rae interjected, “this blinding light came out of it. Do you remember that?”

“I remember that,” I confirmed, sitting up with Hannah helping me. My head was still ringing and I rubbed it absentmindedly while raising my knees and wrapping my other arm around them.

“Then you started floating in the air and slowly spinning around,” Hannah added. “Your eyes turned completely red. Like… glowing red. It was kinda scary. I thought you’d been possessed by like a demon or something.”

“Did you see anything?” Tianshi suddenly spoke up from the corner. She was holding the open treasure box, an intensely focused expression on her face.

I nodded, took a deep breath, and looked at the other two girls before returning my attention to Tianshi. “I saw Ziyi. And Magdalena.”

Tianshi frowned. “Where were they? What were they doing?”

“They were in some kind of dungeon. Magdalena had Ziyi tied up and was grilling her for information about me.”

You left out the part about Magdalena fingerbanging the hell outta Ziyi while they were making out with each other.

‘On purpose.’

You’re forgetting she’s a mind-reader.

‘Oh.’

Sure enough, Tianshi’s eyes were fixated on me as she seemed to be scanning my thoughts, and when I once again started thinking of Magdalena fingerbanging Ziyi from behind, she promptly rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Concentrate!” she scolded. “Where precisely were they?”

“I… uh… I couldn’t tell. There were no windows, so it may have been underground.” I tried to replay my memory from the moment I’d arrived, not only for my benefit but also for hers. “I mean, it was dungeon. Torture devices on a rack. Big blocks of brick walls. Iron-barred cells. No electricity, near as I could tell, just torches on the support pillars and walls.”

Tianshi scowled and shook her head. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and seemed to ponder that information while slowly shaking her head. And her expression was that of someone who understood what it meant but didn’t like it one bit. “Did you see anything else? AnyONE else? Or just the hui and Magdalena?”

“No. Nothing else. No one else was with them.”

“Not with them. Did your visions take you anywhere else? To see anyone else?”

“Uh, no. Just the one vision of Ziyi and Magdalena.”

Tianshi pursed her lips and nodded slowly. She closed her eyes and raised her right hand to her forehead, pressing her thumb and middle finger each to one of her temples, clearly contemplating this information.

“You seem like you were expecting me to have a vision,” I stated curiously.

She nodded again, although she kept her hand on her forehead and her eyes closed. After taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, she finally raised her chin, opened her eyes, and turned to face me.

“Zhuque is the phoenix and represents rebirth and reincarnation. Zhuque exists outside of time and space, and one able to wield the relic of Zhuque has access to visions that can transcend what we mortals perceive as… linear existence.”

“The Feather!” I exclaimed suddenly, patting my pants pockets as if I’d lost my car keys. Not feeling any such feather in my pockets, I glanced around the floor as if I’d dropped it while floating in mid-air to “The Circle of Life”, before finally zeroing in my gaze on the empty box in Tianshi’s hand.

With a knowing smile, the woman tipped the box over to allow me to see its contents within, or rather, its lack of contents. The box was truly empty.

“The Feather is not an object to be held in one’s hand,” she explained formally as she set the box down on a table beside her and approached me. “Rather, it has become a part of you.”

She reached out to take my hand, and I gasped from a sudden rush of energy pouring through me. I knew she was a powerful huli jing fox spirit with powers and abilities far beyond my comprehension, but it never crossed my mind that she would somehow be able to channel some of her own energy into my body. On the underside of my right forearm, the imprint of a red feather began to glow. And for a second, I felt that infinite white flooding my vision.

But Tianshi released my hand before I could get transported through time and space once more, and the encroaching infinite white evaporated into nothingness.

When I looked down at my arm again, I saw the faint outline of the red feather in my skin like a subtle tattoo. But it wasn’t glowing anymore, and when I rubbed my hand over it, I couldn’t feel any bumps or indentations.

Tianshi stood before me, a solemn expression on her face. She then turned to Rae and Hannah, stating seriously, “We need to leave. Now.”

“Leave? How?” I asked, reaching out and tapping on the invisible wall right next to me that made a deep thumping sound.

Tianshi snapped her fingers, and I watched the invisible wall suddenly shimmer into visibility, but only as a strange distortion in the air. Then it abruptly fell like a curtain, collapsing into nothingness. And when I reached out once again, my hand didn’t encounter any barriers.

“Okay then…” I muttered, nodding slowly.

“Come. We have much to prepare for,” Tianshi instructed.

Rae nodded and Hannah looked around nervously, uncertain of what was going on but evidently willing to follow. But I spoke up and asked, “Come where? To prepare for what?”

The timeless woman returned her gaze to me. She pursed her lips, shook her head, and gave me a pained look that clearly said she couldn’t believe she was going to say the next words about to come out of her mouth.

“To go rescue your girlfriend.”

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Chapter 25 will post on June 24. For anyone who can't wait, Beta Tier will be maintaining a 7-chapter lead from that date on until the story is complete.

Remember that all authors thrive on feedback, so let me know how you're enjoying the story! Leave a comment here or come chat with us on Discord! And be sure to connect your Discord account here on the Patreon website to get access to the Patron-Only channels! https://discord.gg/fg3m6MdfN9

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Prologue & Chapter 1: The Ax Effect: https://www.patreon.com/posts/99894240

Chapter 2: Santa Monica: https://www.patreon.com/posts/100614606

Chapter 3: The Zellij Fountain: https://www.patreon.com/posts/100887440

Chapter 4: Euhemerism: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101140816

Chapter 5: The Fremont Troll: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101373122

Chapter 6: Jade: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101713211

Chapter 7: The Blue Gecko: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101962728

Chapter 8: Yaoguai: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102225122

Chapter 9: Rome: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102437581

Chapter 10: Seeing Sights: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102690886

Chapter 11: Liu Kang: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102919633