Prologue III

-Days later-

Jin Xiu laid on a bed of damp grass motionless, his white scales tainted with the thick red liquid spilling from an open wound on his neck. He didn't know how long he could keep this form for. Probably not much longer. He inwardly cursed those mortal farmers who had spotted him.

Their voices still resonated and pounded in his head painfully.

"Did you kill the serpent?"

"No, I hit it hard though. It shouldn't survive much longer."

"Where is it?"

"I don't know, probably crawled someplace to die, I suppose."

Those damned humans.

His vision was darkening and his consciousness was fading. This is where he will fail, perhaps even where he would never be able to awake. Jin Xiu wished he could regain his divine gifts just to end them, but that wasn't possible. His eyelids lowered, he wanted to give in to the compulsion of sleep in where there was no more energy to resist.

Suddenly, he felt something gently run across his scales. The deity immediately coiled and hissed as instinct with the last bit of will power he had. The mortal gasped faintly and retracted their hand for a moment as his blurry vision tried to make out the small frame in front of him.

"It's okay, you'll be okay. Don't be afraid."

Strange.

The quivering voice was feminine and oddly calming; It was sweet and reassuring. Jin Xiu wanted to protest, but he couldn't. His mouth was dry and would not open, his mind was growing fuzzy, and his muscles would not obey his command. He allowed himself to be picked up by the stranger, body limp and flaccid in her arms.

Her arms were warm and trusting. Perhaps even familiar, somehow.

Jin Xiu with a shaky breath, could not resist the weight of his eyelids any longer.

He surrendered himself to the lure of unconsciousness.