His words were the kindest she had heard from him.
She had no time to dwell on them.
She spoke the incantation.
As he had guided her she sank into deep and peaceful sleep.
The feeling was strange.
She had no conscious thought yet she knew she existed.
She felt as if floating in warm water.
There was no fear of drowning.
She could not see.
She could not hear.
She could only feel.
After a moment she realized it was not water at all.
It was like something she had known in her own time.
A fluid that flowed yet held shape.
Wake up woman.
Fan Moxi sat guarding her and steadying the dragon’s spirit.
He did not know her name.
The voice reached her muffled and distant.
She did not stir.
Fan Moxi grew anxious.
The tether was a thread of his own soul woven into hers.
He saw everything she saw.
If she did not wake the dream would swallow her.
She would remain there forever.
Woman listen to me.
Fan Moxi spoke urgently.
It sounded like gurgling water to her still.
She did not wake.
She could not move.
She was part of the water.
She was the water.
Fan Moxi grew angry and afraid.
How can you be so useless?
Scarcely entered and already lost.
He struck the ground in frustration.
He had waited centuries for this chance.
Ji Xueqiao.
The name burned within him.
He would not wait another thousand years.
He steadied himself.
There was no choice.
He would have to force her.
His eyes glinted strangely.
He braced the tether.
It was like a ribbon of smoke yet rooted deep in her soul.
To pull it was to tear her very essence.
It would hurt as though her bones were being pulled apart.
He gripped the tether tight.
He pulled.
Her body reacted instantly.
Blue veins rose dark upon her skin.
Some burst.
Her flesh flushed deep red.
Sweat poured from her.
She trembled uncontrollably.
He spoke to her in his own harsh way.
Hold fast.
You must wake.
Within the dream —
Her soul felt separate from her body.
She felt no pain.
She was water.
She flowed freely.
Then the pull came.
It felt like a surge of electricity.
It coursed through every part of her.
It jolted her awake.
She opened her eyes.
She was submerged in dark red water.
The current still ran through her.
She held her breath and struggled.
Stop.
Please stop.
I am awake.
Fan Moxi relaxed.
Good.
She swam clumsily.
The water smelled of iron and stung her eyes.
She called out.
Is this all water?
Where is the little dragon?
What should I do?
He answered patiently.
He is a dragon.
Water is his home.
I do not know why it is red.
Swim and search.
Find him.
Learn what pains him most.
Help him face it.
Then he will awaken.
He will give you his strength.
You will leave.
She nodded.
She swam in every direction.
The dragon was nowhere to be seen.
She found something else instead.
The space was not endless.
She bumped against a smooth hard wall.
It felt like chalk.
She ran her hand along it.
She realized where she was.
Fan Moxi.
I think I am inside an egg.
A dragon egg?
No sign of him?
Fan Moxi frowned.
She shook her head.
She was growing used to breathing and speaking in the water.
The walls feel like shell.
Calcium.
I believe it is an egg.
But there is no one inside.
Fan Moxi pondered.
She kept searching.
It was dark yet she reminded herself it was only a dream.
There was nothing to fear.
No living thing appeared.
She called out again.
What if I break the shell?
Break out and search for him outside?