I inhaled the cool night air deeply, listening to the sounds of birds, insects, and water all around me. The scent of fresh, damp soil and blooming flowers filled my nose. A sound like jingling bells joined nature’s song as I called forth the power I used to destroy Blighted creatures.

At first, I thought nothing was amiss with my power. It wasn’t until I delved deeper that I found something akin to a lock. Something restraining me, keeping me from what was rightfully mine. I bit back a scoff. At least my body was my own. If I had been shoved into Xiuying’s body… Well, it seemed unlikely to me that a mere human would have been compatible.

Darkness slid gracefully down the pathway behind me, accompanied by the sound of a guqin. Tendrils of shadow circled around my place of meditation, dancing in and out of reach.

When the dark presence grew closer, I opened my eyes to find the emperor’s mismatched glowing red and violet eyes staring back at me. Shadows spread outward from him in every direction, coiling around my prisms of light as if to snuff them out. The tighter they coiled, the more melodious the hum of my power.

“You aren’t going to attack me?” The emperor inquired, his voice a low rumble.

“No. I am going back to my meditation,” I stated, closing my eyes.

“Is it not light’s duty to snuff out the darkness?” The emperor’s question was accompanied by a blade pressing to the side of my throat. However, I found his tone to be sharper than the weapon.

“Light and darkness are part of an eternal dance,” I began, opening my eyes and flicking his dagger away from my throat. “I care about intent, not what you are aligned with.”

The emperor studied me. “Intent…”

“Light has been used for just as many evil deeds as darkness has. Anyone who claims otherwise is a fool.” I closed my eyes again and released a small sigh when his darkness loosened its grip. Why does his power make mine sing?

“And you know this how?” The emperor’s question made me pause. “No memory, yet you speak so confidently of concepts most mortals fail to accept.”

“I know I’m right,” I spoke slowly, opening my eyes to look at the amused emperor. “Wherever I came from, that belief must have been pounded into my head.”

“I will join you in meditation.” The emperor abruptly turned and strode to the rim of the terrace to sit. He made a motion with one hand, summoning a guqin from somewhere behind me. The instrument flew to rest on his lap. He paused, his fingers hovering above the strings. “That is, if my playing will not disturb you.”

“It will not.” I closed my eyes, choosing to put the strange man from my mind. There were more important things for me to consider. I needed to figure out just what that lock’s specific purpose was, and how to get rid of it. Perhaps I could even figure out a way to destroy whoever was responsible for it.

My thoughts shifted when the emperor began to play his guqin. I cracked an eye open, glancing in his direction. His eyes were closed, his fingers flitting expertly across the strings. Tendrils of darkness danced around his arms and hands, his long hair lifting into the air. Biting back a small sigh, I closed my eyes again. Curious as I was about his meditation method, I had my own problems to attend to.

Some time later, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Shui smiled at me when I glanced up at him.

“My lady, we should return for the evening.” Shui bowed slightly.

“Very well.” I sighed and rose to my feet. A small frown came to my lips when I glanced around. The emperor was gone, yet I couldn’t recall when he’d stopped playing his guqin, or when his presence had faded.

The following day, with my studies concluded, I asked Shui to take me somewhere to meditate again. I couldn’t get the lock off my mind. I wanted it gone so that I could properly focus.

I followed Shui through the moons-lit gardens outside of the palace, past ponds, streams, and waterfalls. Birds and insects chirped, accompanied by the distant sound of a guqin. I glanced at Shui out of the corner of my eyes. The sound of the instrument made him hesitate ever-so-slightly before continuing to lead me down the path.

When we exited the gardens and strolled out onto a wilder terrace overlooking a river, a small frown tugged at my lips. Robed in layers of ebony and violet, the emperor was perched on the far side of the terrace. Shui had wanted to take me somewhere I could be alone…but alas.

He was the source of the beautiful music.

Shui leapt back defensively the next time the emperor’s fingers danced across the strings. I stayed put, narrowing my eyes as the blast of sound split to curve around me. The emperor’s head shifted slightly, revealing nothing of his face but the smirk upon his lips.

“Have you a death wish, Mingzhu?” The emperor set the guqin aside and gracefully stood, turning to stride toward us. The shadows around us quivered and lengthened, curving toward me.

“I am indifferent,” I stated, crossing my arms within my sleeves. The emperor’s glowing eyes narrowed at me. “If we are disturbing you, I can meditate elsewhere.”

“Shui.” The emperor glanced toward the other man, who promptly bowed. “Return to the lady’s rooms. I will escort her there when her lesson is finished.”

“Lesson…? Y-yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Shui dipped deeper before fleeing as told.

“A beauty pale like the moon,” the emperor mused, walking a slow circle around me. His fingers flitted from my cheek, to my shoulder, then my hair. “You seem less timid than you were when we first met in the city. Good. What did you come here for?”

“To meditate,” I reiterated.

“You are forgetting something.” The emperor raised an eyebrow at me.

“As did you.” I shifted to give him a defiant glare. “You gave me a name and I thank you for it. However, how can I be expected to address you with reverence or respect when I haven’t heard your name?”

He laughed, his lips curving into an entertained smile. However, his eyes remained cold. “Emperor Xing Yahui, unifier of the Gāoyáng Continent and favored by the Gods of Chaos and Darkness. I am also the founder of the Xing Sect.”

Chaos and Darkness? I kept my expression passive for the moment. That certainly explained how he had gotten away with practicing dark arts. Given his reaction to me upon our last meeting, I could only assume that most people didn’t approve of his path

When his eyes narrowed at me, I realized I was taking too long to speak.

“And you would have me refer to you by title?” I scoffed, shaking my head.

“We will determine that by how you perform, Mingzhu.” Yahui strolled away from me, his hands clasped behind his back. “I will taste this power you have. You are clearly not helpless, else you would have failed to help the villagers against their Blighted attackers.”

“I came to meditate, not to fight…” I sighed heavily when a pulse of power rippled through the shadows around us. The dragon shifted to shoot me an amused smirk, his mismatched eyes glowing brighter in the dim light. “Very well.”

“Use whatever techniques you wish to defeat me.” Yahui gracefully spun on the balls of his feet to face me from several yards away. “I will not use any of my abilities unless you can force me to.”

Without another word, I closed my eyes and made an upward motion with one finger. The air around me vibrated, a faint tinkling sound echoing through the air as my weapons took shape. Darkness roiled around us, nudging at my body and power alike. It was warm, unlike the emperor’s seemingly cold demeanor.

Is he so damaged he can’t even mask himself properly? I cracked my eyes open to study the stoic man. He stood calmly, his expression holding no hint of emotion. What will crack first—him, or his mask?

Glints of prismatic light scattered everywhere as my conjured weapons rushed toward Yahui. The dragon stepped aside, his gaze focusing briefly on the magic weapons as they whizzed by his face. I felt the darkness pulse and countered by stabbing daggers of light into it.

“You aren’t afraid of darkness?” Yahui’s voice from behind me sent a chill down my spine.

Light of the Crescent Moon, sever my foes! I called a blade of moonlight, slashing through where I sensed the dragon.

“Close,” Yahui murmured from beside my ear. When I turned to run him through with a blade of light, he grabbed my wrist and stared down at me. “You do have a death wish.”

“A body without memories is already a corpse.” I glared at the dragon when the corner of his mouth quirked.

“You are strange for a creature of light.” Yahui tightened his grip on my wrist, his darkness sliding up my legs to root me in place. “Is it your aversion to darkness that drove you to try killing me? ‘Righteous fury,’ perhaps?”

“Light and dark are nothing without each other, and intent is the only thing that matters with either,” I stated flatly, the feeling of dealing with a stupid child welling up within me. “As for a death wish…you told me to fight you.”

“That I did,” Yahui remarked in a mysterious tone, an unreadable glint in his eyes. “You are weakened. I believe my initial assessment was correct—your power has been sealed away. Poorly, but still sealed. While pretty, there was little strength in your attacks.

“If meditation will not allow you to break through the barriers, we will have to seek out other options. Until then, I will not permit you to leave palace grounds unattended. You are lucky the Blighted haven’t already killed you.”

“Let me go.” I gave him a defiant glare.

“I’m not done with you.” Yahui closed his eyes and, in the next moment, my vision was filled with nothing but darkness. I could still feel his body near mine and his hand around my wrist, but my sight was useless to me.

I attempted to call lances of light to pierce his darkness, but instead my head swam, and I felt my body wobble. Yahui’s power tightened around me like the coils of a snake and pulled me downward toward something that felt like sleep. Mustering my willpower, I lashed out with my free hand and caught the emperor in the jaw with a ridge hand strike.

“Your muscles seem to have their memory, at least.” Yahui laughed and let go of me, folding his arms within his sleeves. “You must have had a vicious Master to have retained so much. Perhaps training you won’t be so difficult.”

“Humph. You would waste your time on a corpse?” I strode past him and sat down cross-legged. “No matter. I came here to meditate, not fight. Leave me be.”

“Hahaha, and yet you still have the audacity to speak in such a manner to an emperor?” Yahui’s mirthless laugh made me glance over my shoulder at him. “Perhaps those teachings were forgotten…or do you see yourself as above even emperors?”

…I do feel that way…but why? I released a small sigh. “Whoever I am, I know you didn’t rescue me out of the goodness of your heart. You have some other aim, and it is not to protect the weak. I will not show respect to someone who attempts, poorly, to mask their true intentions.”

“So you will show me respect if I mask my intentions expertly?” The question made me twitch. This time, Yahui’s laugh was genuine. “You aren’t ready to know why I chose to harbor you, Mingzhu. I won’t reprimand you for your behavior…but you should keep your defiance private. I will not have my position as emperor weakened because of your tongue.”

“…that is fair.” I breathed a small sigh. “I don’t mean to imply that I’m ungrateful.”

“You have every reason to be suspicious.” He stopped beside me and glanced down with a small smirk. “You may have entered a den of dragons, but you are safer than if I had let the humans take you.”

“That, we can agree on.” I closed my eyes, resting my wrists on my knees. “Now, if you don’t mind, this corpse wishes to meditate.”

“Shui. Keep watch.” The dragon’s voice carried a tremble of power with it. I opened my eyes and glanced to the side. What had changed his mind about being the one to see me back? I watched in silence as the emperor began to walk away from me. “Mingzhu, if you need a reason to keep living…then live for me. I am taking great risks to harbor you. Do not insult my efforts.”

I shifted to ask Yahui what he meant, but his body burst into shadows and disappeared. A small frown came to my lips as his presence faded. He was…harboring me? Taking risks? Why? I released a heavy sigh. If that was how it was, then he should have banished me from the city instead. If he had no intention of helping me regain my memories, then I was doomed to remain a corpse.

“Lady Mingzhu.” Shui appeared beside me on one knee.

“Shui…what are these ‘risks’ the emperor is taking?” I murmured, shifting to face forward finally.

“My lady is powerful…” Shui hesitated, his gaze shifting away from me as he searched for words. “My lady must belong to a powerful clan. Even if that isn’t the case…a husband is likely at the very least. Given His Excellency’s reputation, a clan or a husband will get the wrong idea when they learn you are here.”

“I see…” I let my gaze fall to my lap. “There is no way I have a husband. I wouldn’t disgrace myself by marrying someone my soul doesn’t resonate with.”

“Resonate… My lady, such a thing is unlikely to find. How can you be so sure you did not waver?” Shui stared at me in disbelief. He attempted to hide it, but I caught the subtle shift of his eyes in the direction the emperor had gone.

Still spying? No matter. I shook my head. “I’m certain. An eternity of loneliness would be preferable to settling.”

“You speak with such conviction.” Shui sighed softly. “Lady Mingzhu, you don’t have long left before we should go back inside. I will keep watch while you meditate.”

“Thank you.” I closed my eyes and relaxed my shoulders, taking in a deep breath of the night air. Perhaps, with some luck, I would discover the way through the lock that was keeping me from myself.

The faint tinkling of chimes filled my senses when I grasped my power and called it to the physical plane. My skin tingled as a cooling sensation slid over it. I eased through the now-foreign passages of my mind, tracing my way to the infuriating lock. When I found it, I reached out to touch it.

A sharp jolt shot through my body and sent me careening backward. I should have hit the side of the cliff, but instead my back slammed into something soft and warm. Shui gasped by my ear, his breath leaving his lungs. We dropped to the ground, and I hurriedly turned to check the foolish dragon.

“Shui, are you alright? That was a dangerous—!” I cut myself off when my vision swam. “What…”

“Lady Mingzhu, I am fine,” Shui stated calmly, “but you are not. Breathe as if you were still meditating, my lady. Whatever you were pursuing isn’t done with you yet.”

I attempted to do as he said but my strength was fading fast, as if being drained somewhere. Before I realized it, I was on my back staring at the night sky. I would have sworn I saw a black dragon coiling high above before my consciousness failed me.