Chapter 5

"You know, when you fought Mars, the pressure the two of you gave off was ridiculous!" Donghai said. "I really thought I was going to pass out just from being near the two of you!"

I tore hungrily into a meat bun, admiring the ingenuity that humans had when it came to food. Uninterested, I mumbled with my mouth full as Donghai continued to ramble about the choking feeling being near us caused.

"Is that so? I guess you're just weak then."

It was my turn to be on the receiving end. I finally understood what Donghai meant when he said that.

***

Yichen glared at Yunshu, who held his stare, not backing down an inch. Wind swirled around the two men, tousling my hair and forcing me to narrow my eyes. I braced myself against the wind, and for the first time, I truly felt powerless.

"I'm not going to ask again, Yunshu. Release my son immediately."

"You're asking me to release someone who took the place of your son, and could be a threat to your nation?" Yunshu asked. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Yichen. I swore loyalty to you when I married Meili, and that loyalty means I can't do anything to put you or this nation at risk."

"He didn't take the place of my son, he is my son!" Yichen yelled, bounding towards him.

Yunshu charged at him, meeting him head on. He grabbed his face, slamming his head into the ground.

"Your 'son' had no heart or core up until today, and suddenly he becomes conscious and gains the ability to use aura? You don't find that a little bit suspicious?" he hissed. "He's obviously an agent from Wrylim! That's the one place that has camazots!"

"Of course I think it's strange!" Yichen snapped.

Again, a sharp pain ran through my chest. I quickly pushed the feeling back, swallowing the lump in my throat.

"But he's the only thing I have left!" Yichen's voice cracked a little as he said that. Tears streamed down his face as the dragon around him faded.

"If there's even a chance that it's real, I'd take it. I can't- I can't lose him too."

Yunshu loosened his grip on his face. His expression softened as he bit his lip and pulled him up. He dusted Yichen off, then kneeled in front of him.

"I understand. I'm sorry." He said solemnly.

The chains wrapped around my ankles sank back into the earth. Yunshu trudged over to me and patted my shoulder. I looked him in the eye, and I saw mixed emotions. Anger, sadness, confusion, and nervousness.

"I've got my eye on you. I hope you were the result of a miracle, because I don't want to be the one to deliver your body to Yichen. He doesn't need to lose another loved one." he whispered threateningly before walking through a dark portal.

Yichen slowly paced towards me. He hesitantly reached his hand out and ruffled my hair. There was a faint shakiness to it.

"Sorry about that," he smiled, though there was a depth of sadness to his eyes. It was as if he had suffered through lifetimes of pain. "Yunshu does his job a little too well. He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"Uh, no?" I lied.

His eyes drifted to the red handprint on my neck. He raised an eyebrow quizzically and sighed.

"C'mon," he said, picking me up. "we can ask Yanjing to patch you up tomorrow."

I was asleep before we even reached my room. This damn body of a child tired way too easily. I couldn't wait to get older.

***

"Prince Xuefeng," Xiaoyue whispered, shaking me awake. "Prince Xuef-"

I jolted awake, grabbing her hand. She flinched and pulled it back quickly, shielding her face. I stuck out my tongue, experimentally sticking it out and pulling it back in. Great. Apparently sleeping with your mouth open wasn't possible for humans. I felt like I had been poisoned; the feeling of a dry mouth was the worst thing I had experienced, even worse than being impaled by that damned Archangel.

That damn Archangel! I needed to find out who he was, and why he sent me here. I slammed my fists on my legs in anger, forgetting about Xiaoyue, who winced in fear.

"Ah, sorry." I had completely forgotten that this girl was a coward. I smiled at her, thinking it would help calm her.

It didn't.

"Please don't hurt me! I'm sorry for waking you up! I'll see myself out!" she screamed, scampering out of the room.

I sighed. Is this really how it was going to be? Both in the past and now, people running in fear at the sight of me? Hopefully that wasn't the case, and Xiaoyue was just particularly cowardly.

Looking around the room, there was a large mirror situated in one of the corners. I stared into it for a moment, then grabbed at my face. How was this possible?

In the reflection, I saw myself. I didn't look the exact same as my human form, but it was eerily similar. My once-blond hair was now pure white; I had the same paper-white skin and deep blue eyes. Besides that, I was obviously younger, and I bore some resemblance to Yichen, sharing the same almond-shaped eyes. My heart sank a bit at the thought that I was missing the pink accents in my eyes, likely because of my inability to use mana.

Beside the mirror was a small table. Resting on top of it was a set of clothing, and what I assumed was meant to be my breakfast.

I sauntered over to the table, changing into the set provided for me. I looked at myself in the mirror. This was clothing fit for a king!

I was dressed in a smaller version of Yichen's outfit: a black robe, with red lining and interior. The ends of the sleeves were folded in, so the red fabric along with the patterns embroidered onto the interior were showing. Like Yichen's, the robe barely reached my feet, so the plain black trousers were mostly hidden, besides at the sides.

Finally, as I was struggling with tying the red sash around my waist, I heard Miss Zhang enter the room.

"Let me help you with that," she chuckled, tying the sash tightly. She handed me a wide ribbon that appeared to match my robe. In the center, there was a beautiful and intricate gold outline of two dragons chasing each other's tails, like a yin-yang symbol. I tucked it into the sash, letting it hang.

The clothing was extremely confortable, much more than the dull, scratchy, grey tunic and trousers I was dressed in before. There was only one thing missing.

"Where's the cloak?" I asked expectantly.

Miss Zhang laughed. "The white one with the gold outline and blue patterns on the sleeves?"

"I wasn't aware of the patterns on the sleeves," I noted. "Do you have another?"

"Unfortunately, no." At the sight of my face darkening, Miss Zhang quickly added. "But you'll have a chance to wear it eventually!"

I looked at her expectantly. "Is one being made for me?" I didn't know why I was so mezmerized by the cloak. Something about it just spoke to me. Perhaps it was how majestic it looked when Yichen wore it, but I felt something else about it.

"I'd be surprised if we could make another one." she said. "Supposedly, that cloak was woven by turning a gemstone enchanted by a dragon into thread; the purest magical silk possible. It's been in your family for thousands of years."

"So? Can't we go get another dragon to help us make one?" I asked.

"That would be impossible."

In my excitement, I had forgotten I was now a human. There was no way the dragons would take kindly to a small boy showing up unannounced and begging for a magic gemstone. I bit my lip in regret, cursing myself for being so stupid.

"Well, in any case," Miss Zhang smiled. "you should eat breakfast before it gets cold. Don't worry about the cloak, when you become king, you can wear it."

She placed a spoon and a set of chopsticks on the table before instructing me to meet her in the library when I was done.

I sat down in front of the meal. A large piece of breast meat rested on top of a bowl of shimmering golden congee. Beside the bowl were two meat buns on a plate, along with a poorly scribbled note in the common tongue that read, "Hey kiddo! Sorry about yesterday night. I was pretty rude, yeah? I wasn't really thinking straight, so here's a token of my apology! I hope you enjoy!"

I scowled. Despite the apology, he still suspected me of being an agent from Wrylim or whatever he called it. If his suspicions were completely cleared, he would have written it in Heinese, and not the common tongue.

I bit angrily into the meat bun so I could spit it out and show him before telling him the food was terrible. A wave of flavor washed over my tongue. It was extremely savory, with a hint of spice, and the meat was unbelievably tender, with a springy and slightly sweet bun. I decided to angrily eat both meat buns and tell him they were bad anyways.

I quickly finished up the rest of the food and left the room. As I walked out of the room, my vision darkened for a moment, and my surroundings changed.

"Hey, little man! Did you like my present?" Yunshu greeted me with a toothy grin.

"No. They tasted like trash." I spat.

He threw his head back and laughed loudly. "You've uh- you've got a little-" He cut himself off as he pointed to the side of his mouth.

I quickly wiped my mouth with my hand, checking it to see what it was. A little bit of meat was stuck on my hand. Embarassed, I tried pushing past him to get to the library. Thankfully, he had brought me there so I didn't need to look for it.

"Hey, eat a little slower next time!" he yelled after me.

"Wait," I said as I turned around. "How did you do that?"

"Hm? Do what?" he asked.

"How did you bring me here?"

"Just a bit of spacial magic, nothing too advanced." he giggled. "Do you want to learn, Mister 'I-can-use-aura-and-three-types-of-magic?'"

I clenched my fist as he laughed even harder. It wasn't even a funny joke. I can't believe this idiot was one of the most powerful people in the nation.

"Alright, thats enough," Miss Zhang scolded, slapping the back of his head. "Prince Xuefeng, come with me. I'll be your tutor from now on."

That's right. If I wanted to find that damned Archangel, I needed to learn more about this world. It obviously had changed a lot from my former life, judging by the strange types of mana that Yunshu used.

"I'm coming!" I announced as I rushed to catch up to her.