Yijun sets himself carefully down the ground, afraid he will make a sound that will offend the dragon. It’s been five days since they parted from the villagers and they’ve run twice. Perhaps it was shock that made Yijun cling onto the dragon even though he saw him murder those villagers. Or fear of being alone, as he felt that stronger kind of fear moments before his fingers grip at the dragon’s robe and the dragon sped them away again. The dragon may be a cold-blooded murderer, but he wouldn’t kill Yijun for no reason.

 The dragon does not tell him to go away, but he does not pay attention to him either, just like the deer and small animals that occasionally accompany them as they walk through the forest. When Yijun sees the dragon walking in the direction of running water, he feels comfortable sitting down to rest also. By his observation, the dragon intends to nap. He does it quite a lot these days, always looking about for sounds of water when they stop running. He did not even notice Yijun tumbling forward at his feet due to the sudden stop. His gaze is always aimed at his front and he never spares a glance to those below him.

 Yijun’s eyes follow the dragon until he sees him reach the end of a clearing. He stands up and he sees the dragon is wading on the water, towards some rocks. When the dragons is doing the motions of preparing his bed to nap, he looks around him for a tree to climb.

 The forest is unfamiliar to him. Its trees were like posts of a temple, the trunks going up and forming a vast, green canopy that filtered the sunlight into dappled patterns on the forest floor. His feet pushes at the soft carpet of fallen needles and leaves while his hands grasp at the rough bark to pull himself up. As he climbs, he smells the thick earthy scent of moss and decaying leaves, mingled with the sweet, sharp aroma of pine.

 He finds a tree whose tops are higher than the rest and starts climbing. He has no idea where they are; the destroyed village is a distant memory now. While he was clinging to the dragon’s robes, he saw unfamiliar mountains speeding by. He must be a thousand miles away from his home village, so it is important that he not lose the dragon. Not only does he doubt that he can go home, he may be in an Enlightened Beast’s territory. It will not end well if he is left alone without the dragon to explain his intrusion.

 He finally reaches as high as he could go and part the tender leaves before him. A vista of endless mountains appears before him and as he suspects, the place is not familiar to him. There is no sign of civilization as far as he can see. Not a village or a hut he can inquire  or take refuge in.

 He sighs and climb back down. He will have to wait for night to get his bearings if the dragon does not decide to run again. While the dragon naps, he will take the opportunity to forage for his food. Before, he was too terrified to make a sound, so he endured not eating for two days. Fortunately, the dragon likes to naps in waters full of life, and as he sleeps, Yijun would be searching for lotus roots or catching fish. There is always food to find where the dragon decides to nap in, and Yijun very easily filled his makeshift pack made of woven grass with food. The dragon apparently does not eat nor object to Yijun catching waterfowls and fish behind his back. He does not pay any attention to Yijun at all.

 Yijun reaches the foot of the tree and as expected, he instantly finds food. There are mushrooms growing around, big and fragrant and his hand picks them quickly and roughly, almost snapping their tender stems in half. He has to admit he eats better than he did back at home, though his cooking is limited. He did not have any spice or cooking utensil on him, so he would have to make do on roasts. He thought of making mud-baked chicken, but it takes too much time to make an oven and the dragon might be gone by then.

 Aside from the mushrooms, he also finds some herbs. He picks the soft leaves off, thinking excitedly of the fowl meat he will wrap it in. Now he just needs some big leaves to roast it with.

 Setting aside the mushrooms and herbs, he looks around for other edibles he could get. There’s no lotus plants in the water, but beneath the clear water, he did see fish and crabs swimming around the dragon. There is no salt but there are a lot of dry foliage to smoke fish with. He also spots some berry bushes. At a distance he saw leaves of yams and he heads toward it.

 The light through the gaps of the foliage have already turned faint when Yijun finishes cooking his lunch. He picks up the steaming package from the coals into the grass where his yams are. He waits for it to cool down before he picks up the makeshift chopsticks he made and use it to pry open the burnt leaves. Juicy, pink meat opens before him and he uses his chopsticks to pry some flakes off. As he holds up the meat before his face, the fragrant smell reaches his nose and his mouth starts to water. The meat is dripping with juice and he quickly puts it in his mouth. He follows it up with the cold yam. Flavor bursts on his mouth and his mouth curves in a smile as he chews. The flavor of the herbs and the mushrooms complement the flavor of the fowl meat well and the yam’s soft texture adds a delicious feeling inside his mouth.

 As the warmth of the food he ate spreads from his chest, he feels his eyes beginning to water as a memory tries to resurface. He hastily blinks it away and gobbles down the yam in his hands. Keeping himself fed is more important than crying; his family would be disappointed if he starved to death because he missed them.

 The meat is nearly gone when he glances at the dragon. The dragon is still asleep, so Yijun continues paying attention to his food. Finally, the yams and meat are gone and Yijun leans back at the tree trunk with a bone on his hand. He sucks on the bone as his eyes go to the dragon. He does not much have entertainment these days, and though he’s too intimidated by the dragon, he’s not rendered a complete coward to take a peek now and then.

 The dragon is lying in the water with his head resting on a tree trunk. His head is tilted back, his silver hair flowing behind him and his white neck is exposed. His collar has fallen a bit and Yijun can see the black veins creeping from his chest to the root of his neck.

 Yijun remembers the dragons back at the mountaintop said this dragon is ill. At the time he was too awed and shocked at the revelation of dragons losing control of the world to think about it, but he does have the time now. Dragons are immortal and eternal; they are life itself. An ill dragon is nonsense; it is simply not possible. They have unmatched healing, or so the stories say. Dragons are the highest form of existence of this world and he shudders to think about what can injure them.

 He turns his thoughts back to the dragon before him. Everything is perfect; his form has no blemish, save the veins. The beautiful face, the graceful neck, the long and lithe limbs. It is unbelievable such a peerless creature turn to be a killer of multitudes.

 “How long are you going to sit there?” the dragon suddenly spoke without opening his eyes.

 Yijun makes a choking sound with the bone in his mouth. He immediately spits it out and curls down to beg for forgiveness. He was about to plead for his life when a voice booms behind him.

 “Aw, you caught me,” the stranger purrs.

 Yijun freezes. From the corner of his eyes, a giant tiger emerge from the foliage to the side of him.  He keeps his head down respectfully as it It stalks to his side but it continues on, completely ignoring him as he heads toward the dragon.

 The dragon by then opens his eyes, revealing his purple eyes the color of poisoned wine. He keeps it onto the tiger as he rises up from the water, like stormclouds rising from the sea. Rivulets of water run down his body like falling rain, showing the majesty of his body.

 The tiger and dragon glare at each other when the dragon’s eyes flick to the side. Immediately, there is a rustle and a big snake slides out. Its body is as big as a log as it slithers on the ground, tongue flicking, then it raises its head above the dragon, trying to gain majesty over him. But the dragon simply has a natural dignity about him that not even the tallest mountain can beat.

 This is bad, Yijun thinks. It’s bad enough to meet an Enlightened Tiger, but an Enlightened Snake too? From his experience, tigers are solitary and its rare for them to team up with other beasts. His own village was part of a territory of a Great Bear who is their patron god, and it did fight off a Great Tiger for the mountains. They were fortunate their god won, for tigers like human meat more than bears. Else they’d be choosing one of them as offering like those villages who worships tigers.

 He blinks rapidly and shakes his head a little to keep his mind on track. The point is, most Enlightened Beasts are territorial and solitary. Even if they have mates, they still don’t live together. Some Enlightened Birds do that, but a tiger is not a bird.

 His legs are starting to cramp but he dares not move. Curled up, he looks like a little rabbit trembling before them but they did not pay attention to him.

 “State your purpose,” the dragon bids their visitors.  

 “Can we simply bask in your presence, O Great Dragon?” the snake taunts.

 The dragon glares at it.

“Isn’t it clear what it our purpose is when you’re ill and we’re not?” the tiger replies.

“Insolent,” the dragon spats. “You will not succeed.”

 The law of nature is already ruthless but with Enlightened Beasts, even more so. Who knows how much of the forest they can destroy in their battle?

 Yijun shuffles his knees backward quietly, his eyes on the gods in front of him.  

 The snake wags its tail from side to side, its scales making an awful scraping sound against the ground. “We planned to give you a swift death, but your attitude…how arrogant.” Its tail curls into a coil and the snake’s glance grew sharper. “It’d be so much fun to crush it out of your throat.”

Yijun drops his jaw in shock. Dragons are holy and revered all over the world by humans and beasts so he is shocked to discover some beasts even think of eating them. It’s a blasphemy. Great Beasts do eat each other to increase their power but a dragon?

 Then again, never was there a time that a dragon is ill.

 The dragon narrows his eyes at the provocation. Coldness hardens his tone as he asks the beasts, “Are you the ones interfering with the Great Will?”

 The beasts glance at each other then back at the dragon. “What’s the point of even asking that? You’re a dragon; you tell me.”

 The dragon’s lashes drop slightly as he thinks it over. “Not likely,” he murmurs. Then his lashes rise as his wine colored eyes turn blood red. “But still, you shall die due to your insolence.”