Standing in the midst of the endless void, An Fei found herself staring directly into the glare of two fiery suns.
The suns were of a size that threatened to swallow a notion of existence, but no heat radiated from their surface. As An Fei stared into the depths of the golden orbs, she felt the prickling sensation of cold needles brushing against her skin.
Her body trembled from the discomforting sensation, but when she opened her mouth to speak, her throat remained sealed shut.
The dragon too seemed disinclined to speak any further, instead staring deeply towards the young girl that clumsily stood before its lazy eyes.
A young girl from the mortal world stared solemnly at a heavenly dragon’s origin, and a heavenly dragon peered into the destiny of the mortal girl.
When time seemed to grind towards the end of its infinite march, the two suns of the heavens shattered as they blinked.
“You have changed far too much, even if you look the same.”
There was no earthshaking display of authority, nor did the void quake in the fury of a heavenly dragon’s roar. Instead, the dragon’s voice whispered directly into An Fei’s ears, tinged with a mixture of wistful sorrow and slight disappointment.
But An Fei’s lips unexpectedly changed from the words that struck at her soul.
“Changed?” the young girl curled her lips into a scoff.
“What exactly has changed? Are you also going to say that I am not myself?”
The words of the young girl were cold and bitter, causing the scarlet dragon to snap its teeth in annoyance.
Biting back its irritation after a quick sweep of the puny human before it, the creature of the heavens released a pent-up sigh.
“How could anyone know if they’ve changed? Realizing change upon oneself usually takes an observer’s perception. Otherwise, their conclusions are merely delusions based on inferiority and ego.”
The voice that rang in her ear was relenting and gentle, quite unlike that of the cold and biting sensation An Fei felt prickling against her skin. Her brows furrowed at the dissonance between the intimidating appearance and the soft, elderly voice whispering into her ear.
It was far too strange. She couldn’t define it, but the dragon’s appearance seemed a bit familiar.
“Not to mention, why do you ask whether I will question your identity? When did you become so fragile that even a mere <Jolt> could throw your entire psyche astray?”
Jolt?
An Fei wanted to blurt the harsh-sounding word from her lips to express her confusion, only to find herself awash with a strange exhaustion. The young girl fought to struggle to move her lips, yet found another wave of heavenly words sweeping over her head.
“In the past, you used to be able to reverse the intentions of a <Jolt> without even blinking,” the scarlet dragon murmured to itself.
“Perhaps after that incident, you’ve lost everything?”
“…the past? Lost everything?”
A young girl’s startled voice abruptly slashed apart the lull of the heavenly dragon’s soft whisper. The heavenly creature’s eyes flickered whilst continuing to maintain its gaze on An Fei, the twin suns blazing with a profound radiance.
She could speak again?
“Odd. You’re suffering from the malignant effects of a <Jolt> effused with the Divine Script one moment, but completely fine the next. Could it be that with your condition and the implementation of time in that environment, the effects are alternatively superimposed?”
“What do you mean by superimposed… – hey! What do you mean about my condition…”
An Fei’s soul shuddered as she witnessed the strength of her voice alternate between invigorated and utterly exhausted mid-statement, and her mind struggled to comprehend the heavenly dragon’s words.
The young girl wobbled on her feet, feeling utterly confused about the situation.
Ever since that odd figure whose appearance perfectly matched Wei An Fei of the Shattered Star Continent disappeared and the scarlet dragon manifested before her, she had lost all comprehension of her circumstances.
One moment, she could speak, comprehend, and move her body as she wished – just as though she were walking on the streets of Goeun. But the next, she felt as though her entire state of being had crippled itself to an infant – unable to understand her surroundings, and even trembling her eyes was a momentous task.
“After he disappeared from the Realm, the effects of a <Jolt> couldn’t inflict so much grave harm onto a soul…” the scarlet dragon ignored An Fei’s struggles, instead scraping its claws together in thought.
“Maybe because its been shattered – no, then that wouldn’t be logical, since the Construct remains untouched. Why does the matters of a simple <Jolt> have to be so complicated!?”
It was unbearable, as though something was attempting to claw itself out of her heart.
An Fei lashed her arms to her sides, attempting to obtain the scarlet dragon’s attention.
“…hey!”
“Compendium would know something about it, for certain… but that fool has yet to wake up,” the dragon sighed to itself.
“Alas! To think that I would be the last to sleep, but the first to wake up. Not to mention, I have the most incompatible problem hurled before my feet.”
“Hey!”
“Even the Nephilim Lord would be more suited for this kind of task, however much I hate that guy… though I think nobody can beat the Gracious Fairy for the matters of restoration and recovery!”
“Hey! Are you even listening!?”
“Hate that man for what he did! Ruined everything, and even cast a ban on all of us – yes, this old thing is listening to you, young lass,” the scarlet dragon twirled its eyes before the bemused young girl.
“Take a deep breath and calm down, An Fei. This is just one of the side effects of a <Jolt> – you’re massively overreacting to any stimulus hurled your way.”
“I’m massively overreacting!?”
An Fei’s chest bloated in anger. Unexpectedly finding her body in strength and pristine condition, the young girl ripped the taijijian’s blade from its sheath, pointing the tip towards one of the fiery suns hovering before her view.
The heavenly dragon puffed a hint of smoke in sarcastic appreciation, feeling utterly tempted to claw at the tiny bar of steel aimed towards its eye.
“See what I mean? You immediately pulled out my body towards me – isn’t this exactly what I meant when I stated that you were prone to ‘overreacting’?” the dragon curled its whiskers outside of An Fei’s view.
“Go on, put my body down, let’s have a calm and civilized discussion, alright?”
Feeling her confusion continue to pile up without end, An Fei lowered the taijijian until it pointed below her feet towards the infinite void.
The young girl tried hard to think as the hateful and inexplicable exhaustion began to settle in, ultimately blanking out save for a single question.
“…put your body down?”
“Look, you’re clearly confused and running solely on fumes,” the heavenly dragon consoled in a gentle voice.
“Go return to the Sanctum and rest – then we’ll talk about this, alright?”
“…huh? How do you know about the Sanctum? What do you mean by confused –“
“Return! In your current condition, don’t even dare trying to withstand a <Jolt> on your own!”
The soft yet stern voice rang deeply within the young girl’s ears, and An Fei witness the infinite void melt away into a myriad of streaming colors.
Her hearing deafened and the sensations on her skin morphing into a blinding haze of tranquility and blur, the young girl opened her eyes to stare into the streets of Goeun City.
She had returned to the same position before chaos had descended. The people streamed by on either side of the street, ignoring An Fei’s presence as they stared deeply at their hands in a mixture of eternal hope and disappointment, mired deeply in a cave of mundanity that they had climbed into of their own accord.
In the background, a handsome figure could be spotted as he dashed around, his hands cupped around his mouth. Unintelligible and fake words spewed from his lips, but the concern on his countenance was real.
“What just happened – I’m back just like that?”
An Fei murmured in disbelief, her fingers feeling all over her body to confirm her circumstances. Heaving a sigh of relief, the young girl sheathed the taijijian and raised her head, only to discover a character of shimmering light floating directly before her chest.
The character was written with stiff, concise strokes that emphasized speed over elegance, pragmatism over appreciation. It was a writing style she knew so well, and often used herself.
“Fool…” the young girl read in a soft voice.
Just by a single glance, An Fei could tell that the strange calligraphy before her was written by the young girl she had met earlier. Staring deeply into the familiar handwriting and commonplace word, the young girl’s thoughts scattered before converging into a single chord.
Shua!
The taijijian soared from its sheath as the blade was raised into the air and brought down at a blinding speed.
The character of shimmering light dissipated into the clear evening skies as another character was carved into the core of its existence by the lethal edge of the taijijian.
Dispelling the invisible diagram nestled in her heart and returning to the street of Goeun filled with a sea of busy people, An Fei turned towards the direction of the plainly decorated inn. As her foot left the ground, the young girl heard a quiet snicker.
“Who are you to speak? You say I hide my face behind a disguise – aren’t you hiding your face behind the world? What’s the difference?”
With a quiet snort, the foot lowered onto the cobbled stone ground with a distinct yet soft stomp. An Fei tightened the grip on the taijijian as she returned towards the inn, bracing herself to face an utterly infuriated Wen Jiu.
