Blood Pact: Path Of The Dragon Book 1: Path Of The Dragon, #1

By Daren Gillingham

A dragon. A girl. A deal sealed in blood.Lightning flickered over the dragon's onyx scales. "You will have to walk through fire and death. You will have to fight for your life every step of the way. You will have to battle against people and creatures more powerful and terrifying than your worst nightmares. I need you to save my world and many others. It will not be easy. You may not survive," said the dragon.

A young girl lies in a hospital bed. Her body is broken but her spirit can never be. Even now, hopeless though it is, she studies and seeks to grow. To advance and reach for more than life ever sought to allow her. That's when a dragon appears and offers her a deal.

He promises to restore her health and bring her to a world where she can have more power than she'd ever dreamed possible. More importantly, he offers her revenge.

If she accepts, she'll have to refine the Essence of the Heavens and the Earth. She'll have to master her elemental affinities and grapple with the grand, cosmic mysteries of the dao.

But everything comes with a price.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Daren Gillingham
• Release date: Dec 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798224737352

Book preview

Blood Pact: Path of the Dragon Book 1

Daren Gillingham

Contents

Dedication

Copyrights

1.Hope

2.The Dragon

3.Revenge

4.The Stranger

5.Cultivation

6.Lessons

7.Feast

8.Martial Skills

9.The Road

10.The Crimson Academy

11.The Trial

12.Heavenly Moon Pills

13.The Satyr

14.Elder Shi

15.Customs

16.Round Three

17.Chen Huo

18.The Cultivation Chamber

19.New Skills

20.Invitation

21.Heping City

22.The Golden Carp

23.The Auction

24.The Conditioning Chamber

25.The Crimson Valley Treasure Hunt

Thank You For Reading

My Other Books

Appendix

Glossary

Note From The Author

Dedication

Dedicated to my grandmother for always believing in my writing. Rest in peace.

Copyright © 2023 by Daren Gillingham

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.

Chapter one

Hope

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Deep within an ancient temple on the outpost world of Verotas, four men stood in a circle around a dragon. At their feet was a complicated series of runes, circles, and symbols.

A large, resplendent, silvery door of polished starsteel blocked the only apparent entrance and exit to the ritual chamber, and beyond it came the sounds of a vicious battle. Explosions shook the foundations of the building as thousands of battle cries roared in a litany of defiance.

Hurry brothers, said one of the men, he's almost upon us!

As if to emphasize his point, the defiant roars turned to agonized wails as something slammed into the building itself like a wave. The starsteel door groaned as dust fell from the ceiling.

Silence followed. Broken only by the breathing of the men and the dragon in the room as though there were a dark, empty void beyond the starsteel door.

The men picked up their pace as much as was possible. Each of them released a cloud of vibrant, crackling energy that flowed into the complicated inscriptions at their feet. The runes lit up with a bright blue glow and a sphere of energy formed around the dragon in the center.

We're counting on you, Ming, said one of the men, We're sending you to a world with exceptional cultivators. Find one who stands out as a genius even among them. A peerless warrior capable of stopping even Fang Zhuyu's followers. Return to your home world with them and bring them to join the fight. Everything rests on you, Ming.

I will not fail in my sacred duty, elders, said the dragon as lightning crackled over his dark black scales. Though he hardly seemed to notice.

Then our sacrifice shall not be in vain, said the man, the sending is almost complete. May the heavens smile upon you.

Faint sounds came from beyond the starsteel door. Slow, lethargic footsteps and a chorus of overlapping whispers that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

The footsteps stopped. The runes on the starsteel door flickered like a candle in the wind and went out as the shining, polished metal groaned. Splotches of red, gold, and black rust bloomed upon its surface and raced across it as the smooth, silvery metal wore away.

The hinges broke apart into dust and the door fell with a tremendous crash, releasing a cloud of rust that swirled in the air like a thick, metallic fog.

Ming growled fiercely at the doorway, but the four elders didn't even turn around and kept their focus on their task as sweat beaded their brows.

From the shadows beyond the temple doorway, a dark figure emerged. A skeleton draped in shadow so thick it clung to his bones like clothes. Even in the light of the room, he remained utterly black as though the light refused to touch him.

He stepped forward onto the fallen door. The ruined metal seemed to boil with decay beneath his feet, rust rising like steam from every footstep.

I'd heard tales of the mighty lightning dragon cultivators. I'm disappointed with the truth. How can you hope to stop him when you cower before me? said the man with a dispassionate, hollow voice.

The four men said nothing, their focus entirely on their work, and the dragon glared at the shadowy skeleton.

"Hmm... a sending? You are desperate. Who could you hope to call to your side? Not that it matters. You were too slow and nothing in the universe has a hope to stop what's coming," he said.

He raised his hand, and a black sphere of roiling shadow appeared in his palm. Darker than the darkest night, it gave off an aura of danger and cold death.

He casually threw it at the elder closest to him.

The shadow ball smashed into the old master. Darkness stripped flesh from bone, turning it to dust and the bones of the wise, respected, kindly man clattered to the floor.

With the circle broken, the three remaining masters forced the sending to complete before it should.

Ming rose in the air, surrounded by the bubble of their energy. No! he screamed, but he could do nothing.

The three elders who remained charged the shadowy skeleton. He waved his hand and a wave of dark energy pulsed outward, stripping them of life in an instant. Their bones fell at his feet.

The shadowy skeleton looked up at Ming. The empty sockets where his eyes should be bored into him as though piercing his very soul. There is no escape. Only death and eternal service, said the skeletal man. His voice sounded tired and apathetic yet it was filled with palpable waves of power.

Another orb of purest darkness formed in the palm of his hand. He tossed it at Ming.

Ming's eyes went wide as the dark power soared toward him. The bubble of force around him rippled and glowed. It exploded in a brilliant flash of light, and he disappeared moments before the attack could land.

The sphere of shadow crashed into the roof and detonated, blasting a gaping hole in the ceiling.

The shadowy man looked at the space where Ming had once been and sighed.

It doesn't matter. The master will be freed. Nothing you do will stop that, he said.

Threads of darkness flowed out from him and across the bones of those he'd slain. Shadow wound around them like snakes, and their skeletons reassembled. The once noble elders rose to their feet, wreathed in shadow. Much like the one who'd slain them.

The skeletal man turned on his heel and walked slowly away and his slaves followed him out and down the long steps of the sacred temple.

Shadow poured from the skeletal man as he walked, oozing down the steps and worming its way into the mountains of slain disciples and temple guardians. Each of them rose as horrors in his thrall.

Yet, he scarcely seemed to notice them as one haunting whisper overshadowed the rest, speaking to the skeleton of shadow.

Yes, master, he replied, it shall be as you command.

Ming fell from the sky and landed in a heap on a foreign world. He shuddered with rage and grief. Thousands of god rank cultivators and the old masters slain like they were nothing... who could possibly stand against such power?

He took a deep breath and focused on his mission. He would find the most incredible expert the universe had ever seen, and bring them back to his world. He would make sure that the old masters' sacrifice and that of his martial brothers wasn't in vain.

He closed his eyes and focused on feeling the Essence of the Heavens and the Earth... of connecting to the energy around him, so he could sense the powerful auras of these peerless experts.

Only... he felt nothing.

He furrowed his brow and concentrated harder. Still nothing. He tried to cultivate. To absorb the Essence of the Heavens and the Earth and refine it within him, but he could not.

There was none.

This... this cannot be! he snarled.

He tried desperately to sense the energy of this foreign world in the vain hope he'd simply missed it. But, it was barren. Lifeless. If it had any Essence of the Heavens and the Earth there was so little that he couldn't even feel it.

He roared. The force of his voice tore through the air. The trees around him flew apart into splinters, and the ground beneath him cracked.

He stood among the splintered branches and panted with barely constrained rage.

This world had no Essence.

Everything here was pitifully weak! Just his voice was enough to destroy the trees in this forest. He didn't even want to think about what would happen if he released his full power.

He coiled up and sat on the ground, his head hung low.

The ritual had been ruined. Instead of a world filled with peerless experts that could save his world... he was sent here. A world with no cultivation. No experts. Not even weak ones. It was hopeless.

Ming sighed and looked up at the blue sky. So many had given so much for him to be here... to have this chance... he couldn't give up so easily.

Perhaps... perhaps there would be someone... some expert that had managed to cultivate even in this barren world...

The thought brought a spark of hope back to his being, and he took off from the ground.

He released a fraction of his energy, and a dark blue mist blanketed him.

He vanished from the sight of any he did not wish to see him, and shot across the sky like an arrow loosed from a mighty bow in search of one who could cultivate even here...

Three weeks later, Ming was going insane.

He'd scoured this pitifully small world multiple times in that time and studied the people here closely, but he hadn't found a single cultivator!

Billions of humans! But, their meridians were fragile and never used. One drop of his power and they would shatter! Less than a drop! Pathetic!

He had to give these humans credit though... they were weak, but they'd found other ways to make themselves strong. They had technology that was beyond his own world.

Horseless carriages made of metal with wheels took them where they wanted to go at a far faster speed than their weak legs could carry them. While strange metal tubes with metal wings soared through the sky.

Unfortunately, it was all worse than useless. Even children ran faster than their metal boxes, and any true expert could soar through the sky far quicker than those silly winged tubes!

Even their mightiest weapons were no match for his enemies...

He sighed and flew through another of these strange cities without walls, filled with buildings shaped like spears that stabbed the sky.

He sneered. How tasteless, he said, just cramming as many people into as small a space as possible... is everyone in this world to be treated like paupers?

He soared through the sky at a lazy speed. He could return home, but to go back alone... he would have no chance.

Maybe he should take back one of these humans? They were weak, but that was in this desolate world... perhaps in his world, they could cultivate.

He'd have to strengthen their meridians, so they wouldn't instantly explode from the atmosphere of energy. Actually, their whole body would need to be remade, so the gravity of his larger world didn't crush them like insects before they could draw a breath.

It would cost him dearly, but it was better than giving up wasn't it? Better than leaving his world to die, or returning alone? But who to choose? It would require a great sacrifice from him. Who was worthy of such a gamble? Who might pay off?

He studied the humans while they were blissfully unaware of his presence. He saw how some strained against metal and pushed their muscles to grow... how they forced their bodies to become stronger.

Of course, a child from his world could destroy them... but he admired that they tried at least. Maybe one of them?

They trained their bodies in this world... would they have the fortitude of mind, body, and spirit to do what was needed to become strong?

He turned his attention to the scholars and scientists of the world... they studied each and every day and bent their minds to solve problems.

It was they that had created such incredible contraptions... ways for these puny humans to overcome their lack of Essence... perhaps one of them?

How would their minds cope with the Dao? With cultivating endlessly? With the life and death battles that were to come?

He looked at the artists of this world... some of them made works that experts from his world would kill for. The storytellers, painters, and all those who exercised their imagination... they already dreamed of worlds beyond their own. Would they be the best chance for him?

He sailed through the skies and stared at the humans beneath him. The fate of his world depended on his choice. Who should he choose?

They would have to start cultivating from scratch. Maybe a child would be best, but the older ones showed more of who they were, and once they started cultivating their lifespan would increase anyway. How did they cope with such miserably short lives?

It was depressing.

Suddenly, he was torn from his thoughts when he felt... something.

He froze in mid-air and turned to the source. It was the first time he'd felt anything like it in this world.

He drew closer... it felt... odd... almost like the aura of an expert, but... different. Had he finally found an expert? Someone who could cultivate even in this world?

He flew faster and faster... and as he did, he noticed that the aura spread further than he'd first thought. How had he missed this before? It was massive.

Because there was no Essence, or other cultivators and just a general lack of auras and energy in this world, it carried incredibly far.

It would never have reached him so easily in his world. He flew closer and as he did so, he picked up more of this strange aura. It felt powerful... incredibly so. Yet, it lacked the distinctive signature of a cultivator's aura. Lacked the hallmarks that would allow him to sense the rank and power of the one it belonged to. How odd...

He flew for miles, and as he did so the aura grew thicker and more oppressive. Like a dark cloud hanging over their pathetic city and permeating it.

How could the humans not feel it? How could they not bow down and kowtow before the source? It made even he, a descendant of The Great Lightning Dragon, feel awed.

He soared closer to the origin of the overbearing aura.

What monster could this belong to?

Chapter two

The Dragon

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Finally, Ming found the source of this strange aura. He'd flown slower than he could because he was afraid to lose it, but even so, the distance it had traveled was incredible.

He hovered outside a hospital, almost choking on the waves of energy coming from it.

He'd seen these hospitals before... places of healing, usually. What would this expert be doing here? Were they injured from defending their world? Is this where they went to recover? Were they a healer perhaps?

His mind reeled with questions, and he found it hard to focus when this aura choked and clung to him. He slipped inside the building and flowed toward the source.

He felt her now. A girl with a powerful soul and determination so strong it came off her in thick waves.

The weakling humans must be exceptionally talentless not to sense... this. It should be suffocating them.

He'd never felt anything like it.

Ming drifted through the sterile white corridors of the hospital and found the girl in her room. She was alone, propped up in a bed with a tube in her arm connected to a bag of fluid. A machine next to her beeped steadily. Another device seemed to breathe for her with more tubes that went down her throat.

Ming frowned. Was she part machine?

It wasn't unheard of for an expert to replace parts of themselves with metal. He scanned her gently but found nothing aside from that strange aura. Not even a scrap of cultivation.

Yet, he didn't fall into despair. She was just too... interesting.

He glided closer to her until he was just a hair's width away from her. She didn't seem to notice, and her eyes remained fixed on a glowing device with what looked like an alien language scrawled on it. Yet, the words changed every so often.

He shook his head. Such a strange world.

He stared into her eyes and brought one clawed finger to her forehead.

He placed the tip of his claw against her pale skin, careful not to hurt her delicate body.

A blue light shone from the tip of his claw and into her head. And he scoured her memories, thoughts, and emotions.

He saw her happiness with her parents. He felt the smile on her lips when she looked at them. He saw the men who broke into her home and beat her parents to death before her very eyes.

He felt the agony as they broke her bones and left her paralyzed. All so they could take a few measly possessions...

He stayed in her mind and felt her agony day by day. He felt her helplessness, her thirst for revenge, and the heart-shattering grief that haunted her.

He felt hopelessness, and despair like he had never known as she learned from coldly professional doctors that she would stay trapped in her own body for the rest of her life. Dependent and at the mercy of others.

Forever.

The pain in her heart was so great that even he despaired. Were it not for the one emotion that overpowered all of that... he would've been lost inside her mind.

But that was what had drawn him to her. Determination. Determination so raw, intense, and powerful that she exuded it from her being.

She refused to buckle and bow down, accepting a hopeless fate. The device she looked at contained countless books, and she turned pages by twitching her cheeks... she'd studied at a level far beyond her peers.

In a few years, she'd put the scholars he'd looked at to shame.

She couldn't move. Couldn't breathe without the aid of a machine, and yet she drove on and pushed forward.

Ambition and a desire for revenge burned within her. He witnessed her countless daydreams of making the ones who'd taken her family and done this to her pay...

He broke the link before he could be drawn any further in. He stared at her. This tiny child... only eight years old, and she had a fierceness about her that dwarfed any other he'd ever known.

Her body was broken, but he would have to remake the body of anyone he brought with him from this pitiful world. The sacrifice from him would be extreme, and he may never recover. Was she worth the extra risk?

It would take her years to cultivate... no not years... centuries, but maybe just maybe... she could do it.

He smiled, and his fangs gleamed under the fluorescent lights.

What was he wasting time for? He'd made his choice the moment he sensed that aura. It had to be her.

Every human he'd seen on this pitiful world paled in comparison. She was weak, and her body was broken... but he doubted her spirit could ever be.

Who better to follow the difficult path of cultivation to become a supreme expert? With this raw determination... perhaps she could reach heights that others only dreamed of. It was a long shot, but long shots were all he had now.

He looked at her with cold, calculating eyes.

She would have to agree to it... she would have to swear. He needed to know that she would take on his cause and truly embrace it with all her heart. And he knew exactly how to do that...

Jie twitched her cheek, and the page turned. She felt a bit guilty for taking a break from her studies and enjoying a novel. But if she didn't, her mind got frazzled.

It wasn't exactly like she could go for a stroll in the park to clear her mind.

Besides, she'd studied for the last twelve hours straight. She needed a break. Her forehead tingled, but she ignored it as best she could.

If it started itching, she'd go insane. Better to focus on her book.

The tingling grew. She blinked and waggled her eyebrows, but it didn't help. It never did.

Suddenly, she found herself thinking of the day her parents were killed... and her life afterward... she tried not to, but it was like something anchored her mind to it, pulling her deeper into more vivid memories...

Tears formed in her eyes as she desperately tried to focus on her book. The text was blurry and distorted and she had to blink hard several times to clear the tears from her eyes. Her brain tingled as though fingers were combing through it.

The tingling stopped and the memories faded to a dull ache in the back of her mind. She'd have let out a relieved sigh if she could.

The screen of her electronic book flickered and went out and she found herself staring at her own crying reflection in the black screen. She frowned. Great. Now she'd have to wait for one of the nurses to come and fix it. And, when they did, they'd find she'd been crying.

Wonderful, Jie thought bitterly.

The air in front of her shimmered with a faint distortion that turned to a blue crackle of energy like lightning and glowing water, growing into an enormous serpentine form that seemed to take up the entire hospital room.

Gradually, the energy receded and as it did so, it revealed onyx black scales in its wake until Jie found herself face to face with a dragon.

The dragon was of an eastern style, with a long, serpentine body and four legs... though the front ones could easily have been large, taloned hands...

She would have leaped up and run screaming if she could've. As it was, she stared at it with wide eyes.

The dragon stared back. With massive slitted orbs the size of her head.

Hello, Jie, the dragon said. His voice was like the low rumble of thunder.

Jie's eyes flicked to her IV drip. What the hell had they put in there now?

Lightning played over the dragon's dark black scales and some small rational part in the back of Jie's mind wondered how it kept itself in the air without any wings... but of course, it was just a hallucination. It's not like it needed to obey the laws of physics.

The dragon frowned.

Ah yes... you can't talk, can you? Perhaps this would be better, the dragon said within her mind.

Jie blinked.

Please let this be the drugs... I don't want to be insane... she thought.

Let what be the drugs? the dragon asked but shook his head, Whatever... you can talk through the mind link I've created. This is good. Makes things easier.

Jie's heart leaped up into her throat. Clearly, she was hallucinating but the dragon looked incredibly real and those jaws were huge! It could bite her head clean off!

Put aside your fears. I'm not here to harm you. I'm here to make a deal. My name is Xie Ming, last descendant of The Great Lightning Dragon. I already know your name, Liu Jie. I also know you would give anything to be free of your injuries... to talk... to run... he said.

Jie frowned.

Should she talk back? Was that wise? If she engaged the hallucination... wouldn't that make it worse somehow?

But, it'd been so long since she'd talked with anyone. Even if it wasn't real... it'd be nice just to... talk. That guy in the movie had that volleyball to talk to when he was alone... maybe this would help her keep it together?

I would very much like that. Dragon Xie Ming, she sent back.

The dragon smiled. The smallest of his fangs were bigger than her fingers.

Then, I have a proposition for you, he said.

She felt weird talking to something that wasn't real... but at least it wasn't like anyone could overhear her.

Ming tilted his head. A proposition means a deal, he said.

I know what it means, Jie said, what's your deal then?

Ming smirked. Either that or he was about to eat her. She hoped it was the former. He had really big teeth.

Would it hurt if he bit her? It wasn't real, but she'd read about things like hypnosis and how the mind could create pain for the body... she hoped it wouldn't bite her.

How would you like to be free? To be healthy? Able to walk, run and move as you wish... Ming said.

She looked to the side. Was her hallucination just going to remind her of her problems? That wouldn't be much fun... but still, it felt good to talk to someone... or something... or not a thing. Whatever it was, or wasn't.

And how did it hear some of what she thought but not other stuff? Was it hearing everything right now? It should, right? If it was in her brain?

She stopped thinking about that before she gave herself a headache.

I'd like that more than anything, she said.

I can give you that. That and so much more. I can take you to a world where you can become more powerful than you can imagine. Not only can I make you healthy again, but you could become strong enough to crush mountains with your fist, Ming said, what would you say to that?

That would be amazing, she said, I go to worlds like that all the time though.

The dragon's eyes widened, and his jaw hung open. You travel across worlds even as you are now? he said.

Sure, she said with a mental chuckle, anyone can do it.

Show me! What power do you possess to travel between worlds with such casual ease? Do all of you possess this incredible gift? Ming asked.

He leaned closer to her, his hot breath washing over her, stirring her hair, clothes, and the hospital blankets that covered her. His mental voice had grown louder. It was like having someone with a megaphone in her brain.

Would you keep it down? she said.

Ming backed away. My apologies. I lost control of myself, but please tell me of this power, he said.

Jie rolled her eyes. It's called books, and your imagination silly, she said.

The dragon's enormous face twisted with rage as his lips pulled back into a snarl that exposed far too many long, razor-sharp fangs.

Don't toy with me! the dragon roared with such force that the room shuddered as the fluorescent lights flickered between darkness and such bright intensity that several exploded in a shower of sparks.

Jie's ears rang from the sound and the door to her room burst open as a nurse rushed in. What was that noise? What's going on here!? Are you okay, miss? she asked, her eyes passing over the dragon as though he weren't even there.

Enough of this foolishness, Ming said. He raised one taloned hand and released a wave of blue energy. The nurse crumpled to the floor.

What did you do to her? Jie screamed over their mental connection.

This wasn't real... no... the hallucination was just growing. She wasn't sure which was more frightening.

Relax, child, Ming said as he calmed himself and his voice settled to a more soothing rumble. The lights stopped flickering with those that'd survived returning to their normal glow.

I merely put her to sleep, he said, "As if I would belittle myself by slaughtering weaklings. Pah! Back to what I was saying, I can take you to a real world.

"Not some fantasy. A real world. A world you can see, taste, touch, smell, and hear. A world where you could walk on the clouds or split the earth. If only you are willing to do what it takes to gain such power.

I can make you whole again Jie of the Liu family. I can make you better than you have ever been, and help you along a path to becoming a goddess. What say you to that?

Jie wished she could massage her ears. They still stung. As real as all this felt, she was sure it had to be a hallucination, but it could cause her real pain. Maybe if she went along with it, the dragon wouldn't get so mad.

I would love that, she said, but there's always a catch isn't there?

The dragon smiled again.

Clever girl, Ming said, the catch is that you will have to walk through fire and death. You will have to fight for your life every step of the way. You will have to battle against people and creatures more powerful and terrifying than your worst nightmares. I need you to save my world and many others by stopping the followers of Fang Zhuyu. It will not be easy. You may not survive.

This was a weird hallucination. Maybe it was from all the stories she read? She was about to agree to whatever it said, but then she paused.

What if this was real?

Did it matter? If it was real, she would gladly suffer through anything to be free of the hell she was trapped in. What did she have to lose?

There was one more thing she wanted though.

In case you're actually real and not just in my mind... I would agree to this, but I want something else first, she said.

Lightning flickered over the dragon's onyx scales. Name your price, girl, the dragon said.

The ones who put me here... who did this to me and killed my parents. I want revenge, she said.

Ming leaned in closer. His breath washed over her once more, and for once Jie was glad to be paralyzed, or she'd have trembled.

I shall free you from this prison, and help you get your vengeance. In exchange, you will come with me to my world, and push through overwhelming odds to become powerful enough to save everything I hold dear, the dragon said, do we have an agreement?

That sounded good to her. If this wasn't all in her head then it would be an amazing bargain as far as she was concerned. I agree, she said.

The dragon smiled.

We shall have to do something more binding when we reach my world, but for now your word will do, he said.

Ming looked at the tubes that went down her throat, breathing for her. Must you be connected to these... things? he asked.

I have to... I can't move anything below my shoulders, Jie said.

Ming shook his head. That won't do, he said. He raised his hand and a green, glowing ball the size of a pea sprouted from one of his talons.

He brought it to her chest.

A warm tingle ran through her whole body. Numbness gave way to countless feelings and sensations that flooded her mind. It felt incredibly foreign and strange after so long without them. Jie gagged and coughed as the tubes that helped her breathe now suffocated her instead.

Ming frowned at Jie as she spasmed and trembled, her heart monitor beeping frantically as she struggled helplessly. She tried to pull out the tubes, but her hands were weak, and she wasn't even sure that she could anyway... wasn't it partly in her lungs?

Jie panicked and clawed at the tubes.

Ming raised his hand again, and an azure mist flowed out from him and down her throat. Using this strange energy, he pulled out all the tubes, the iv drip... everything. It didn't even hurt.

As he removed the last of the tubes, Jie took in a shuddering breath, relief washing over her like a wave.

Thank you, she rasped.

It hurt to speak, yet brought tears to her eyes just to be able to do so after so very long...

How long had it been since she'd last spoken? She couldn't even remember.

Ming smiled. Don't thank me yet. This is just so you don't die. Believe me, you aren't going to like what's coming, he said.

Jie looked the dragon straight in the eye. I don't care. I'll do whatever it takes. Thank you, she said.

Ming's smile grew.

He raised one clawed hand and lifted her out of her hospital bed as though he were plucking a delicate flower.

The dragon cradled her in his claws. Let us be off, he said, It's time for me to enact vengeance in your stead.

He shivered as he said the last words and a toothy, predatory grin split his lips.

Ming laughed as he surrounded Jie with a crackling shield of blue energy and flew through the sterile halls of the hospital at an insane speed. White and grey walls were a blurry smudge as he somehow managed to slither past doctors and nurses and squeeze through impossible gaps between them.

They raced beyond the reception area and Ming tore through the front door in his eagerness, sending it flying over the car park where it smashed against a large statue on a roundabout and spun away, coming to rest on top of several trees.

Ming chuckled. Whoops, he said though he seemed more amused than guilty.

He soared upward and the hospital dropped away, shrinking as though that era of her life were vanishing in an instant. Jie couldn't help but feel relief and excitement wash over her even as she wondered just what she'd got herself into.

Ming soared high into the night sky yet his barrier kept the wind from whipping Jie's hair. He dove into and out of dark, lazy clouds like a dolphin leaping out of the ocean as Jie took in deep, grateful breaths of the cool night air.

At the apex of their flight, Ming roared. Lighting flashed over the clouds as they drew together and thickened impossibly fast. Whether by his will or his mere presence, it began to rain. Rivulets of water ran down the energy barrier surrounding Jie as though it were a window. Ming's dark scales glistened in the rapidly disappearing shafts of moonlight as the sky darkened.

Ming's flight was winding and playful and Jie's eyes were wide as they flew over the world, the lights of millions of homes twinkling beneath her like stars. Moments ago he'd given her the ability to move once more. Not much, but some at least... and now he gave her the sky...

For the first time in what felt like forever, Jie felt free. A feeling she'd fully expected to never experience again. Her heart soared and she found her eyes were wet once more. Yet, for the second time since meeting the dragon, it was not from sadness but from a joy that choked her almost as strongly.

Jie looked up at Ming and the joy plain upon his face and his movements. To soar in the skies... how great it must be to be a dragon. Jie thought.

No noise from below reached her here. Only the gentle rush of the wind around the protective bubble Ming kept her in.

She basked in the freedom she felt. It was the most alive she'd felt in years...

That thought snapped her back to reality.

This couldn't be a hallucination. She was certain of that now. She was in control of her own mind, and the drugs they'd given her shouldn't be strong enough to do this.

She'd known that before, but how could she have accepted a dragon appearing out of thin air in her hospital room just like that? Now though... she knew this was real. That meant the deal she'd made was real too.

Jie smiled widely.

Ming had said she would gain the power to walk on clouds... then maybe she could feel as free as she felt now each and every day.

She looked up at Ming. How are we going to find them? she asked.

The dragon snorted, his breath steaming in the cool night air. We? I will find them and deliver your revenge. You will just sit back, relax, and enjoy, he said.

Chapter three

Revenge

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Ming was ecstatic. She had agreed! Just as he'd known she would. Even now as she rested in his hands like a hatchling, he felt the waves of determination pulsing from her.

There was no better choice for a savior. Of that he was certain. But, would it be enough? Could she get strong enough to stop Fang Zhuyu's followers in time?

He could only hope...

Besides, this was all a gamble.

It had been from the start. Even if he'd gone to the world he was supposed to, there was no guarantee he'd have found anyone suitable anyway.

Now, all he had to do was exact some quick revenge. The sooner they got back to his world, the sooner she could start training!

Finding their quarry shouldn't even be that hard. Nobody in this world cultivated. He doubted they had any way of masking themselves.

He snorted.

Everyone in this world was beneath him. Literally, he thought with a smirk as he stared down at their city.

He chuckled and flexed his scales.

He swooped down to the place where Jie had been attacked. Her home from three years ago. Thanks to her memories, it'd been easy to find.

To do this to a five-year-old child... he couldn't wait to rip them apart.

Such degenerates had no place in this or any other world! Except for Hell of course.

Ming smiled a vicious, bloodthirsty smile. They would be there soon enough.

He flew down to the front door and waved his hand. The door unlocked and creaked open. He made sure to be extra careful after accidentally destroying the one to the hospital.

Ming shook his head. Even the doors in this world were sorely lacking.

He carried the child inside, and Jie gasped as she looked around her old home. An elderly couple sat in the living room staring intently at a rectangle that showed pictures in quick succession.

What were those things called again? Ming wondered. Televisions?

The old woman turned around and looked straight at them.

The girl's eyes went wide, and Ming chuckled. They can't see us. Don't worry. We won't frighten them, and we won't be long, he said.

The girl seemed to relax at that. Ming smiled. She had a good heart. He knew this of course, but it still gave him a warm feeling.

You forgot to close the door again, said the old lady.

The old man frowned and rose on shaky legs. I swear, I closed it. I know I closed it... damn doors open on their own I swear, he muttered as he shuffled across the room and slammed the front door.

There? See? It's closed! Watch! It'll open by itself, he said.

Yes, dear, said the old lady without so much as looking at him.

Ming set Jie down on the floor, with her back propped against the wall. He'd healed her spine, but she was still so weak...

She needed to see this though. The more she witnessed of his power... the hungrier she would be to cultivate when they reached his world.

"Watch closely little one. Much of this will not make sense to you just yet, but we'll get there. Everyone has something called elemental affinities. Most only gain access to them once they open the middle dantian.

One of them is water, and I happen to have that affinity. It is through this affinity that I will track down the men we seek, he said.

He moved his hands, and his spiritual energy flowed through his meridians, vessels for energy within his body like arteries and veins were for blood, in the pattern he knew so well.

Blue mist spilled out from him and washed over the entire room.

"Water is one of the five elements in the universe. It flows at its own rhythm just like the universe. Everything within the universe is part of that rhythm, and we all create ripples as we move.

"Our actions move forward in time in ways we can never fully comprehend, brushing against the lives of those we may never even meet. Everything in the universe has meaning and power. Even the smallest ant sends out ripples that change the lives of giants.

"It is through my mastery of the element of water that I will look back through the ripples, until the day they came to this place, killed your parents, and broke your body.

From there, I will trace them through the ripples they've created since... and we'll find them, Ming said.

Jie nodded and watched intently. Her eyes gleamed in the soft blue light.

The blue energy swirled and crackled and Ming closed his eyes as images poured into his mind. He watched Jie's parents murdered anew and saw her body shattered.

Ming gritted his teeth. Such vile wretches... he couldn't wait to end their pathetic lives. When they were done, the echoes of the three men walked out of the door that fateful night.

It was only then that Ming allowed Jie to see the echoes of the men. As much as he wanted her to see his power, he wished to spare her from reliving the experience as best he could.

He scooped up Jie and followed the echoes out the door.

The door's open again, said the old lady, see? You don't close it properly.

I slammed it shut! It's these damn locks I tell you! They don't make them like they used to! There's no passion anymore! It's all just cheap junk! yelled the old man.

Ming chuckled. Love, it seemed, could bloom even on this barren world.

Ming felt better than he had in all the months since he'd arrived, and he whistled a cheerful tune from his childhood as he followed the echoes of his prey.

They glided over the city streets faster than a car could move, winding, twisting, and turning behind blue echoes of men who moved as though someone had pressed the fast-forward button multiple times on a movie.

And, as they did so, Jie had the growing feeling that Ming was an exceptionally weird dragon.

He'd taken her to her old home, released a cloud of energy, and now moments later they were chasing down the men who'd taken everything from her. Could he really track them down just like that?

That wasn't what made her think he was weird though. Using magical energy and doing impossible things seemed like something a dragon should do. Rather, it was the fact he'd started whistling that annoyingly cheerful tune!

They were on their way to enact cold and brutal vengeance! This was serious business!

And that damn tune was catchy too. It wormed its way into her brain until she found herself humming along to it, desperately trying and failing to fight a smile