Chapter Text
The Yellow Dragon is nothing more than a molten mess when it crashes into the Heavenly Court. Honestly, it doesn’t deserve to be called a dragon anymore— it’s basically just a shiny Yellow Blob. And I can barely be called conscious when we finally make it to our destination. Whatever I thought the afterlife would be like, I didn’t think it would be this painful. It takes me more time than I’d like to admit to finally open my eyes and realize that I have not, in fact, died. When I do, I am rewarded with a splitting headache. Well, no good deed ever does go unpunished. Qin Zheng groans beside me as he too processes the fact that he made it.
“We’re alive,” I gasp, wheezing as I crawl my way out of the wreckage, taking care to avoid melting my spirit armor any further.
“But no longer in the realm of mortals,” he replies. And he’s right. What little I can process right now looks utterly unfamiliar. As we stumble forward, I look up and gasp.
The Heavenly Court is even more beautiful than I imagined. Low houses with lines of colorful pillars of support crowd together beneath rows of sleek skyscrapers with pagoda-like roofs on every story tower over us. Their colors range from Water-black to Earth-yellow, and in fact, I think…
“Spirit metal.” Qin Zheng voices my thoughts, startling me out of my reverie.
“What?”
“What, Your Majesty.” I look at him in disbelief, and he sneers in return. But eventually, he sighs and elaborates. “It is what you think. All of the buildings are made out of spirit metal.” He’s right. Beyond the color, I can feel the metal pulse with qi. Hesitantly, I touch the side of a particularly tall skyscraper, and sure enough, I feel my energy start to recharge. I press my hand more firmly, and enjoy the rush as my fatigue melts away. By the vigor with which Qin Zheng copies me, I can tell that he sees the qi meridians lighting up across my body.
As new awareness comes back to me, I take another look at our surroundings, and my breath catches again. Further above the skyscrapers is the metal roof of this spinning ring, but… there are buildings hanging upside-down from it. And they’re just as tall as the ones soaring above us down here, arcing all the way around the outside curve of the ring as well. It shouldn’t be possible to have a view like this. As I turn my gaze outward, I notice hexagonal interlocking windows interspersed among the buildings. Through them, I can see my home planet, the batwing coastline of Huaxia fallen into the shadow of the night but shining brightly with thousands of city lights. It’s all too large. It’s all too much.
“What even is this place?” I mutter. I want to keep staring into it forever, but Qin Zheng sends a cutting glance my way.
“I suppose you’re content forgetting what we are here for in exchange for staring into nothing?” I send him a fiery glare, but he’s right. Now that I’ve replenished some of my Qi, it’s time to take down the gods, and get out of here. Huaxia is still waiting for us. Shimin is waiting for us. For me. I tear my eyes away from this new world and take a deep breath. As I stretch out my senses, I feel a spirit signature farther in front of us. Multiple spirit signatures. And they seem powerful. Is that where the gods are? Is it finally time to face them?
One look at Qin Zheng tells me that he senses the signatures too. We exchange a glance, and start running towards the source of energy. As he runs, he makes dragon wings sprout from his spirit armor and starts to flap. By the time I catch up to where he just was, he’s already airborne. Cursing, I struggle to manipulate my own armor in order to keep up with him. Even when I manage it and finally catch up, I’m aware that mine are nowhere near as detailed and beautiful as his. You can barely see any definition on mine— on his, I can practically see every tiny scale. By the smug smirk he shoots at me, he’s aware of it too. I bare my teeth at him, too exhausted to waste my breath on a verbal retort.
From the sky, more of the Heavenly Court reveals itself to us. I was too busy looking up to see what was next to me when we first arrived. Now, I see from above what I missed from below: collections of beautiful colored plants, red, and purple, and yellow, and every color imaginable, in leafy shapes I didn’t know were even possible to evolve. It would be breathtaking, if I had any breath left to take.
I don’t get time to enjoy it however. With a grunt, Qin Zheng points toward a building lower than the rest, with slanted roofs colored in Earth-yellow, Fire-red, Water-black, Metal-white, and Wood-green, as well as some other colors I’ve never seen in spirit metal. The add-ons around the building are symmetrical— one at each face, extending out and out and out into what resembles a palace. To its front is a long, wide staircase branching from a railed courtyard. The entire place thrums with energy.
I crash in front of the entrance, too tired to stand properly. My wings instantly dissolve back into my armor. To my immense chagrin, Qin Zheng lands gracefully on his feet, serene and catlike. He doesn’t laugh at me, but I see a muscle twitch in his face as he offers me a hand. I ignore it and struggle to my feet, sweaty and heaving. One of these days, after we’re back in Huaxia, I’m going to get Shimin to teach me how to exercise.
Shimin.
The name accompanies a painful twinge in my heart. I’m so close to him. I can feel it. I’m this close to getting him back. Still breathing hard, I let Qin Zheng drag me towards the ornate doors of the palace. Before he can knock, or break open the door, or whatever he was going to do, they open. We glance at each other, and I can see apprehension in his face. Neither of us were anticipating finding the gods to be this easy. But there’s nothing to do except walk in. As we do, the door slams shut behind us. I ball my fists to keep from yelping. And then, we hear voices.
“Wu Zetian,” they say. “Qin Zheng.” Then a clearer, deeper voice, low and menacing.
“Neither of you are leaving this place alive.”