It is midday the next day when the dragon finally opens his eyes. Under a shade of a tree, Yijun is fanning the flames over his campfire. Two fish on a skewer are placed around the fire while root vegetables roast in the center. Wild apples and berries are placed leaves on the side. A tasty aroma wafts from the fire. Yijun rubs his hands together excitedly as he watch his delicious meal cook when suddenly, alarm flashes through his mind. He looks over. His eyes connect with the dragon who is looking at him through half-lidded eyes.

His smile drops. The dragon doesn’t notice me much of the time but why now? Yijun thinks. Heart racing, reasons explaning how heave gotten the dragon’s notice run rapidly across his mind. One hasn't settle yet when the dragon rises up and walks over to him.

His alarm goes into full-blown fright as the dragon stands over him. He drops to his knees, kowtows and asks for forgiveness and to spare his life but the dragon does not respond. Yijun looks up and sees the dragon was looking at the fish cooking in his camp fire.

 “Um, are you hungry, my  lord?” he asks.

 The dragon did not answer, merely staring at the fish.

 Yijun slowly plucks the fish skewer out the firepit and offers it to him.

The dragon then shifts his gaze from the fish to him. The air around them immediately goes cold as the dragon recognizes his presence. His icy amethyst eyes rakes him from head to foot.  Yijun cringes and the skewer in his hand trembles.

Offering a water god with a water creature may not be such a such a good idea, he thinks sadly and belatedly.

He feels his body about to turn completely frozen when the dragon finally speaks.

“Getting sustenance through flesh, how low have I fallen,” he murmurs and takes the skewer from Yijun’s hand. His face is crumpled in displeasure as he brings the fish to his mouth and bits it.

His face relaxes in surprise as the taste of the fish hits his tongue.

Yjiun may lack many qualities but being a good cook is not one of them. The fish was not just simply roasted, but stuffed with herbs and glazed with a sauce he made from the fruits he gathered and sesame paste he made the night before. Not even a god will say nay to it.

As the dragon enthusiastically munches at the fish, Yijun plucks out the roots from the coals and peels the skin off. He then places the peeled roots on the broad leaf he prepared beforehand.

“Please, enjoy, my lord,” he says with his head bowed as he offers the roots.

The dragon does not respond and continues polishing off the fish. When only the head was left, he looks around and bends down to pluck the second fish skewer from the campfire.

Yijun holds his bowed pose as the dragon eats his lunch, internally telling his stomach to stop growling and scratching inside him. When finally, he hears no more sounds of eating, he cautiously looks up. The dragon is licking the last of the fish and when there is nothing more to be eaten, throws the skewer to the side.

Then he looks down at Yijun.

Yijun quickly ducks his head.

“Why are you still here?” the dragon ask.

“I wish to assist you, my lord,” Yijun answers. He dares not ask help to return him to civilization. At least not this early. 

“A foolish wish. What can you, a mere mortal, offer as help to me?”

Yijun does not answer immediately. He racks his brain on how best to answer. He did carry him away from being eaten by wild animals back at the battefield but he's not sure that will be enough. What if the dragon answers that he can take care of the wild animals himself? Besides, what if he remember that Yijun nearly killed him by assuming he’ll be recuperating from his injuries with the warmth of a campfire?  

While these thoughts pass inside his mind, his gaze lands on the fish heads on the ground.

The dragon’s eyes also follows his line of sight and understands what Yijun wants to say.

You ate my fish.

An awkward silence falls on them.

Yijun bangs his head on the ground as he pleads. “Please let me stay by your side, my lord.” He keeps his forehead on the ground as the the dragon mulls it over.

“Do as you will,” he finally answers and walks away towards the water’s edge.

Yijun does not raise his head until he hears the sound of water splashing, which means that the dragon is going to nap again. He peeks where the dragon is and waits to unfreeze his body until he sees the dragon preparing to lay down in the water. He picks up the untouched roots cold from being ignored and finally indulges his wailing stomach.

Be sure to collect as many food as he can from this area, he reminds himself as he eats while watching discreetly at the impossibly handsome man floating on the water. 

The sun is halfway to the top the next day when the dragon finishes his rest. By then, Yijun is ready to bribe him with food made by his expert hands. This time, he roasted a duck he caught at the edge of the lake yesterday, fearing fish might offend the dragon. When he sees the dragon coming towards him, he quickly kowtows to welcome him and offers him a duck leg. The dragon takes it from his hand, sits down beside him and starts to eat.

The aroma of roasted duck and herbs spread through the air as the dragon's pearly white teeth rips into the juicy flesh and make his lips shiny with oil and juice. Yijun watches in fascination as, even though the dragon might have been extremely hungry, he still eats primly. He holds the duck leg firmly and elegantly with his fingers and not a drop of juice spilled on his pristine white clothes. 

“Is your lordship well now?” Yijun asks when the dragon is halfway to finishing the leg, thinking it the great time to test the dragon’s level of tolerance. Beasts don't like being interrupted while eating and the dragon may not be so different. 

The dragon pauses eating and turns his head towards him. “Well enough,” he answers shortly, his lavender eyes lacking the coldness Yijun was used to. 

A little bit of happiness twitches in his heart. Even though the dragon’s answers are short, he actually acknowledges him now like a companion instead of being a part of the scenery. He praises himself for rubbing the duck hard with herbs before cooking as its magic seems to be working.

The dragon looks around the lakeside with a frown.

“This isn’t where I fought,” he murmurs.

“Ah, sorry about that. This servant took you here as it wouldn’t be safe around the enlightened beasts’ corpses. This servant hopes your lordship forgives this lapse,” Yijun answers, bowing his head.

The dragon thinks it over then continues eating, which Yijun interprets as accepting his action. He thinks he must let the dragon have his fill first before saying his request. He carves the duck and plates it on a leaf before handing it over to the dragon.

“I never thought dragons liked cooked food. If we knew, my village would have offered their finest delicacies,” Yijun chatters to break the ice.

“We don’t normally eat. Eating is unnecessary for us,” the dragon answers between bites. “However, I am not at my full strength. Furthermore, this food is familiar to me.”

Yijun’s brows rise in surprise. He does not expect the dragon to answer, intending to fill the silence with his chatter but the dragon actually takes him seriously now. They're actually conversing!

“Which food are you familiar with my lord? Tell me and I’ll gladly make it for you,” Yijun asks happily, eager to please.

The dragon slight frown at the gnawed duck leg he’s holding. “Nothing in particular. Just the taste.”

Yijun takes a moment to think over this answer. Dragons never interact with humans; humans can only see them from afar. But not only is he having a conversation with one, this dragon also implied that he interacted with humans before.

“Have you met my family before?” His cooking techniques were based from his family’s style so the dragon being familiar with them means he might have met them.

The dragon’s eyes slightly narrow at him. “I hardly know you, much less your family.” He continues eating, putting the duck meat slice delicately to his mouth. The oily, juicy meat slides smoothly past his lips. He chews and swallows before he adds, “Besides, it was five centuries ago since I ate human food.”

It might be his ancestors’ cooking the dragon tasted then if he assumes the dragon never left the mountains near his village.

“You, um, haven’t killed the people you ate food from?”

The dragon stops eating to glare at him. Frost comes back to his voice. “No. It was not their fate.”

“So the village you destroyed earlier, it was their fate to die?” Yijun presses. He knows he's treading dangerous ground but he cannot ignore the compulsion to ask this. 

The dragon’s brows compress more in confusion than anger. He turns away from Yijun to contemplate the ground. “Everything under the sky is fated to die eventually. However….. those humans have to die early,” he says with a frown.

“Why?” Yijun asks before he recalls himself. “If I may ask,” he adds.

The dragon’s gaze flicks to the horizon. “The balance of the world is upended. I need an equivalent amount to restore it. To do so, I must transform the living into inert elements. Which, you mortals understand, as death. ”

Yijun recalls what the dragon asked the enlightened beasts from before and what the dragons of the mountains have said. The dragon before him may be a disaster, but the disasters occured before he appeared.

“So you’re the lord of disaster but not all disasters were made by you?” he presses to confirm.

“Yes. The force of destruction had gotten out of hand due to the imbalance so I came down to this world  to restore it.”

 Why did you suspect the enlightened beasts back then as the source of the disaster?”

“Because a mortal’s enlightenment takes up much of the World’s Willpower to themselves. I have to free the equivalent amount of Willpower to remove the deficit.”

 Yijun nods as if he understands the terms the dragon dropped. But actually, he has no idea what Willpower is. It sounds extremly profound. Even just hearing it creates a pounding in his head and he suspects asking about it may just split his head open and make him ascend to heaven immediately. “If you killed them, then the balance must be restored now, right?”

“Partly. It was merely buying time to find a permanent solution. They were not the cause so the deficit remains.”

 Are you going to destroy another village then?” Yijun asks carefully.

“Not necessarily a human village. Any pool of humans will do,”

 Yijun understands that maybe he might be able to steer the dragon away from killing innocent villagers. Perhaps he could direct him to a bandit camp?

“Anyone will do? Then you wouldn’t mind killing wicked people instead of innocent ones?”

The edge of the dragon’s mouth slightly curls at him as if smirking. “We dragons have no concept of wickedness or innocence. Everything is equal to our eyes. As it should be, if you truly understand the world.”

He means being enlightened and unfortunately, Yijun doesn’t have the ability to be wise. No one at his village were enlightened or even met an enlightened person. Such people would be kings ruling over from a distant place. Humans do worship Enlightened Beasts as deities but such gods would not be willing to teach their ways to their human followers.

 However, being killed for no reason does not sit right with him. What are gods for if they are unjust?

 Much as that resentment boils in his heart, Yijun keeps his mouth shut about it. The dragon is a supreme being and if he says there is no justice, then it must be true, though hard to swallow it may be.

 Still, if the dragon requires sacrifice but does not mind the purity of the offering, then Yijun will offer him what Yijun thinks best. A band of bandits may well satisfy the dragon’s requirement.

 With that thought in mind, Yijun feels better about the dragon by his side. He can work with him now instead of being put off by his apathy to humans and his lack of remorse.

 “Why does it have to be humans?” Yijun asks him.

 “It’s quite humanlike to pay attention only to humans,” the dragon softly chides him. “I also make the land barren of living plants and animals, if you cared to notice. But humans takes up life force much faster than any living creature so they are a priority for the culling.”

Yijun shivers hearing the word culling. Humans practice it often enough on their livestock with no problems but with a dragon talking about inflicting it on them, it suddenly doesn’t sound good.

By then, the dragon finishes his meal. He stands up and with a swish of his sleeve, the grease from his fingers vanishes. He looks to the horizon and Yijun sees that he must be thinking where to go next when his face returns to its usual lack of expression.